[Nina1111]

I'm from Canada (so you know how much snow we have) and am looking to retire to Florida (just for the wintersw and come back for our beautiful Canadian summers. I read you comments and am worried that I can't find a nice community that has a home-feel. There has to be communities in Florida where this is the case??? Let me know!!

[Nina1111]

I agree. Studies show that people that live in the northern hemishpere are more likely to be depressed during the winter months

[Retiredcoach]

Originally Posted by Nina1111

I'm from Canada (so you know how much snow we have) and am looking to retire to Florida (just for the wintersw and come back for our beautiful Canadian summers. I read you comments and am worried that I can't find a nice community that has a home-feel. There has to be communities in Florida where this is the case??? Let me know!!

Relocating to Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, is part of a package deal... you have to be willing to accept both the positives with the negatives. The nicest parts of the Florida package have to be the beaches and the comfortable winter weather (for most people). Once you get beyond these "nicest parts", the waters become murky. Your tolerance for the negatives (the costs of living, closeness of family, the taxes, the questionable schools, the hurricane potential, the crime, the unemployment & poor job outlook, HOA's, devalued housing ....) all need to be considered on your life's balance. Florida could become a "dream come true", or "your worst nightmare", depending upon your objectivity and willingness to deal with those murky waters.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Nina1111

I agree. Studies show that people that live in the northern hemishpere are more likely to be depressed during the winter months

teenager. They even suggested sun lamps. February always was, actually still is, the worst time. However, as she got older it started happening in the summertime too. Maybe not enough sun even in the northern summer. Well, as an adult she checked herself into the hospital (in August). After a whole lot of time and tests, they found her to be BIPOLAR.

She is now fine, but the winter months are still shacky, even now that she is living in FLORIDA.

Sun is no cure for ANYTHING.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Mrs. P

ODL LOL !! traveling to hockey games is not like living in stuff all winter.
Not fooling me either. I know Buffalo winter and I know of Manhatten's winter, two completely different scenarios. I digress we have been told a hundred times how much better NY is than the entire rest of country. Have at it, I hope you get to go home someday soon.

But please really? don't tell anyone from WI MI OH Illinois, parts of NY parts of PA, parts of WV IN, ND SD MT and the like that traveling to a hockey game, is the same as living in the stuff for 6 months...aye carumba

through March. We didn't fly anywhere. We drove. Tournaments were holiday weekends and Christmas break. They weren't local either. She played for a Ct. team one season. Those games were in Ct., Ma., RI. We would drive up there and drive back in the same day; hundreds of miles in many a snowstorm. She went to school in MAINE. We went up there all the time and stayed with my husband's friend and family from the Air Force. However, I suppose none of this putting on thousands of miles in the dead of winter through New England counts.

My husband also has an Air Force buddy who lives in Buffalo, actually Hamburg. He didn't drive a car to work. He snowmobiled to work. Did that for 40 years. Now you would think he would be just DYING to move to Florida. HE experienced everything YOU did, maybe more so since he worked shifts (nights). He told my husband that since he is now in Florida, my husband will have to come to Buffalo to see him. He used to come downstate to see us. My husband offered to pay his plane fare down to Florida. The man REFUSED to come to Florida. He flat out said he has no desire to even visit Florida, let alone retire here. Wouldn't you think all these people living in these places with these severe climates would just KILL for a FREE trip to Florida in the middle of the WINTER? Apparently NOT.

Maybe downstate doesn't get all the snow, but it certainly DOES get very cold. Many, many times the windchills are -5, -10, -15 degrees. The windchill last weekend was -5 degrees when I was there. That alone you think would be enough to send half the population down there. Not happening. My husband and my younger daughter used to come here just about every February for Spring Training games. My older daugher and I stayed home. We didn't care about even "visiting" this state even to get away from the cold of February. Not everybody cares. They are many people who like it where they are, even in the middle of winter; just like my husband's friend from BUFFALO.

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by Nina1111

I'm from Canada (so you know how much snow we have) and am looking to retire to Florida (just for the wintersw and come back for our beautiful Canadian summers. I read you comments and am worried that I can't find a nice community that has a home-feel. There has to be communities in Florida where this is the case??? Let me know!!

Of course there are places for you to live.

Florida is a big state. You need to narrow it down to what your wants/needs are, and your housing budget.

[D-R-B]

Originally Posted by Nina1111

I agree. Studies show that people that live in the northern hemishpere are more likely to be depressed during the winter months

Florida is located in the Northern hemisphere.

[reako]

Originally Posted by D-R-B

Florida is located in the Northern hemisphere.

Thanks for clarifying D-R-B!

Originally quoted by Nina1111: Studies show that people that live in the northern hemishpere are more likely to be depressed during the winter months

A more accurate statement would be:
SAD occurs in both the northern and southern hemisphere, but increases with distance from the equator. (Source: BBC Cornwall)

[Artsywoman]

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

Relocating to Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, is part of a package deal... you have to be willing to accept both the positives with the negatives. The nicest parts of the Florida package have to be the beaches and the comfortable winter weather (for most people). Once you get beyond these "nicest parts", the waters become murky. Your tolerance for the negatives (the costs of living, closeness of family, the taxes, the questionable schools, the hurricane potential, the crime, the unemployment & poor job outlook, HOA's, devalued housing ....) all need to be considered on your life's balance. Florida could become a "dream come true", or "your worst nightmare", depending upon your objectivity and willingness to deal with those murky waters.

That is a good description about relocating. I am realizing there are more negatives here in Tampa, Florida than there are positives. I think I thought, like many northerners think, that its all sun, fun and the beach! Unfortuantely, the warm weather and beach do not outweigh the negatives here for me. It is hard to really get a feel for a place until you live there. I wish I had found city-data before I made the move!

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Artsywoman

That is a good description about relocating. I am realizing there are more negatives here in Tampa, Florida than there are positives. I think I thought, like many northerners think, that its all sun, fun and the beach! Unfortuantely, the warm weather and beach do not outweigh the negatives here for me. It is hard to really get a feel for a place until you live there. I wish I had found city-data before I made the move!

So many of us keep saying this. Unless your are RETIRED, you will still have to work for a living. That alone is nothing like vacationing for a week or two.