[krochele]

In December I was visiting a friend in Rockledge and fell in love with the place! Any suggestions on the job market for a pharmacy tech or decent rentals?

[brevard_resident]

there are alot of rentals available. jobs i would check spacecoasthelpwanted.com
where do you live now? what type of home would you be looking for what price?

[krochele]

I'm interested in living in Rockledge. I am living in Ohio at the moment, but when I was there we stayed in a condo across from Andersen elem. I am looking for a 3 br condo/townhome/apt...something that is low to maintain. Thanks for the job website!

[annerk]

Please, please, please do not make that type of move because you visited a place once and "fell in love with it."

Living and working here are very different than vacationing here. You need to visit during some other seasons and spend some more time in the area before taking that step.

[krochele]

I have actually been to and from Florida several times since I was 5 years old, it wasnt until I seen Rockledge that I feel "in love" with Florida. What is wrong with the place that is so bad in other seasons? I have visited in other seasons to know weather conditions, etc...now that I am an adult with a career I feel I am prepared for a change, and a new life.

[psouth]

All you have to do is read thru the various Florida forums and you will see what the issues are. Too many people come down to Florida after a divorce or some other downturn in their lives hoping the warm weather and sunshine will cure all their ailments. The warm weather might help an old person with arthritis or whatever but that is different. If a person can't make it where they are then they won't make it in Florida either since there is less opportunity and the worst pay and benefits if you can get any. Florida is culture shock from Ohio. Every one speaks English up there and there are the midwestern values system, etc. It is the opposite in Florida. A heavy dreamer population and lots of transients. Trust is a big issue here as well.

Moving to Florida on a whim is a huge mistake and can lead to extreme unhappiness when your expectations aren't the same as they were when you were on vacation. I would do lots of homework and read thru all the issues first. Then make sure you have a good paying job with benefits before you move. There are well over 1 million unemployed in Florida looking for work and there are far fewer jobs to go around. You really need to be making at least $50K per yeare with the expenses down here. YOu can get by on less but it won't be pretty. An $8 per hour store job won't cut it. Ohio is much cheaper and you can get by on much less. A friend of mine just moved back up to Dayton afer living here for over 20 years. He just couldn't afford to live here any more and found a place for half the cost up there.

Living here is not the same as being on vacation. After the newness wears off it is like anywhere else.

[Sunny-Days90]

COL analysis shows that you can live 20% cheaper in Florida with all things considered then in Ohio.

PS- I am in Ohio and know Dayton well, Dayton is a bad area to live in, homes have never been very expensive there. Sure he can get a home for half the price but he either paid to much for his home in Florida or will be buying a much less of a nicer home in Dayton.

Jobs are not any better in Ohio PS.

Op- if you move to Florida just do not make the huge mistake of buying a home right away, many people moved to Florida and over paid for homes and now are leaving Florida because they could not afford the home in the first place and now are looking at finding cheap homes in other states.

It's not Florida fault most of these people made the mistake of paying to much for homes and had issues. But all to often they blame Florida for their mistakes and we usually never really find out the real truth as to why people leave Florida other then they cannot afford to live their anymore.

Florida is less expensive to live in then many other states, I have used the COL analysis and typed in a huge amount of different cities to compare and find that you can live in Florida much cheaper then in most mid sized towns I typed in.

Do not forget the tax cut you get for moving to Florida.

OP- I agree with PS, you really need to do your research on this one and ask yourself why do you want to move to Florida? We all know several here who moved to Florida on the whim and failed miserably and now blame Florida for their failures and leave Florida with their tail between their legs.

Research and planning are key for you. Be in no hurry and spend some time in the towns of your choice.

Florida and Ohio currently have the same unemployment rate while Ohio seems to move into the 12-13% range a lot in our history, Florida history shows it maxes out at 9.7 percent as an all time high.

Most all midwestern states are far worse then Florida is currently, Mich, Ill, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky are equal to or higher in unemployment then Florida is.

[krochele]

Thanks for all of the much need information! However it is sad that as I do this research there is less and less that most of you have nice to say about the place you call home. Ohio is not such a terrible place to live....I just hate the winters and have lived here all my life! As Sunny-Days, I too have done cost analyst and most of you should as well when bidding out information about living expenses. Again thanks for the advice that has been given and I know that the ultimate decision is mine and mine alone!

[mango23]

Originally Posted by krochele

Thanks for all of the much need information! However it is sad that as I do this research there is less and less that most of you have nice to say about the place you call home. Ohio is not such a terrible place to live....I just hate the winters and have lived here all my life! As Sunny-Days, I too have done cost analyst and most of you should as well when bidding out information about living expenses. Again thanks for the advice that has been given and I know that the ultimate decision is mine and mine alone!

You have to try to read between the lines. It says more about the posters then it does Florida. They are unhappy and need to have something to blame. They can't imagine their lives being better or different.

Coming to Florida could be the best thing you ever did or the worse and anything in between. Most of it is up to you. You may have to make sacrifices but it may be worth it. It is not good to operate out of fear. Do your home work and make a decision. Either way don't make decisions out of fear. Any decision can be rectified, modified, corrected, altered, reversed or enjoyed. Indecision just sits there and dies along with possibilities of what might have been.

[dmccauley]

Originally Posted by krochele

Thanks for all of the much need information! However it is sad that as I do this research there is less and less that most of you have nice to say about the place you call home. Ohio is not such a terrible place to live....I just hate the winters and have lived here all my life! As Sunny-Days, I too have done cost analyst and most of you should as well when bidding out information about living expenses. Again thanks for the advice that has been given and I know that the ultimate decision is mine and mine alone!

I am sure after reading so many of these threads your head is spinning. Like another poster said you will get to know who you can believe on here and who you can't. Some just like to type the same old story over and over again and seem to thrive on starting a fight. My advice is if you can take a long vacation, for more then a week, and stay in Rockledge do it. Stay during the summer months so you get a feel for what everyone is talking about, maybe it won't bother you. Bring your kids and see how you manage. I am not sure of the age of your kids but research the day care or after school program expenses if needed. You may find they are the same price as where you are. A question to ask yourself is if you had to take a cut in pay to make the move here will you be able to survive with the other expenses remaining the same as your paying now.