Negativity (Orlando: property taxes, insurance, vacation)

[Muggy]

I still find all of this funny. Yeah, there are some intentionally misleading posts, and yes I've at times spun the wheel. But seriously, I can't make stuff like this up, I just photograph it:



I've posted this photo a few times. When people come here looking for information I honestly feel like I am helping them by providing these photos. It may be a disservice when I throw in my snide remarks, but I'm not sure how else to approach it. The reason while I feel inclined to "call Florida out" is mostly because its development has accelerated in eras which better decisions should have been made. This is real; this is where I live. I am not looking for absurdities. I simply became part of the circle when I crossed the state line.

Everyone should go read "Tourist Season" by Carl Hiaasen. When you're done, note the year it was written.

[firemed]

Originally Posted by Muggy

I still find all of this funny. Yeah, there are some intentionally misleading posts, and yes I've at times spun the wheel. But seriously, I can't make stuff like this up, I just photograph it:



I've posted this photo a few times. When people come here looking for information I honestly feel like I am helping them by providing these photos. It may be a disservice when I throw in my snide remarks, but I'm not sure how else to approach it. The reason while I feel inclined to "call Florida out" is mostly because its development has accelerated in eras which better decisions should have been made. This is real; this is where I live. I am not looking for absurdities. I simply became part of the circle when I crossed the state line.

Everyone should go read "Tourist Season" by Carl Hiaasen. When you're done, note the year it was written.

Great book! but you still crack me up.

[HIF]

I think that misery loves company. Maybe we need a curmudgeon forum and they can go there and talk to themselves!

The people who kvetch about things that can't be changed need to relocate. Life is too short.

Originally Posted by Floridabound09

From someone who reads other boards, the negative post are painfully on purpose, the purpose is not to help people at all. At least the huge majority of them are on purpose.

Sure I want to know something that will help me in my decision, but the same posters who "HATE Florida" so bad, well, they never post anything POSITIVE, therefore they cannot be trusted for the words they write.

Newbies like me on this board read all the negatives and laughed at them. But my wife sit down and read this board while I was at work and was immediately drawn into her mothering protective instincts when she read 4 threads in a row with nothing but hate negatives in them.

It is a shame that people twist and turn and force personal preferences into post knowing that if they just keep one person or family from moving to Florida then they have accomplished something.

Negatives are all around us, not just in Florida, but to purposely post hate negatives ALL THE TIME is going beyond what I believe is the purpose.

Sure, posting fact filled negatives is fine by me, I can sort the info out myself, but what I see is a select few on this board who take personal aim at anyone who can argue there point as being wrong and call them on there "out of touch personal opinion" post.

All the post about crime, gangs, heat, low paying jobs, cost of A/C, housing, COL etc are getting old, the constant bumping up of this kind of personal opinions do not do anyone any good, all it does is scare newbies and people who do not have other outlets to find out for themselves.

I think those posters know that and continue to be happy about what there REAL intentions are.

Other boards DO NOT ALLOW negative troll type poster to continue to disrupt and flame others just because they are unhappy or selfish people themselves.
They allow fact filled info only. One mod on another board put a sticky at the top

" If you post a negative, you better back it up with facts from a reliable source or it will be deleted"

Now for me.

I have traveled Florida for more then 25 years, been in almost every town on the map or drove through it, we have traveled every year for 20 years 2 times per year on vacation and spent more then 100 days a year on business in your state, I have seen it all and can say, there is nothing, nothing that I can say I have seen that can back up all those negative post with any concrete evidence.

I know people all over the state and never have found any of them ever be so negative about the state of Florida. Fact is 99% of them tell us you need to move here, its well worth it!

I have seen more crime in Baltimore, Maryland in one week then I have seen in 25 years in Florida, get caught in the middle of a gang fight and you will know.

I have seen the hurricanes, we were in Myrtle Beach on vacation when Hugo hit.

I have higher heat bills then most any of you A/c bills.

My property tax, insurance, community fees etc are just as much if not more then the areas I am looking to buy in Florida.

Heat is easy to handle, cold is not. Read the post, most of us in the snow and cold belt all post how tired we are of it. But only a few of you complain and whine about how hot it is.

I believe it is a total shame that someone can sit down, take the time to post nothing but negatives when you know you are outnumbered by thousands with your opinions.

My personal thoughts are this.

Nothing you Florida hatters post will impact me, I will not allow it. If I was a Florida resident, I would be ashamed of you. Sure, some post some facts, but 99% of the time they are just your personal opinions with links or facts that only point your way.

You live in a wonderful place, full of charm, good people and life is much better then others have it, you just have not experienced the other side.

For those Florida haters, at first I read your post and took offense to them because I felt they were trying to convince me to not come to Florida, but after a couple PM's and some emails and a phone call to my brother in law in the Ft. Lauderdale area, I knew it was nothing but hate in your own hearts that make you take the time to post nothing but negatives.

We are coming to Florida with open minds and open hearts and there is nothing you Florida haters can post that will scare me off. With all these wonderful people on this board and there are allot of you, we have decided that here always will be people like you haters everywhere we go, we will just do what out parents told us to do " Surround yourself with good, hard working positive people and it will pay off "

Those Florida haters need to really ask themselves something.

" What good am I doing by purposely trying to convince people to stay away? " and " What can I do better with my time instead of this? "

I would be willing to bet if you answered those two questions you would be allot happier with your own lives instead of trying to make others lives miserable.

[Floridabound09]

Originally Posted by firemed

Great book! but you still crack me up.

We do not have signs like that in Columbus, Ohio

Our signs say:

"Protect yourself and our community, fully loaded M-16 free with any purchase of two or more ski mask."

[firemed]

Originally Posted by Floridabound09

We do not have signs like that in Columbus, Ohio

Our signs say:

"Protect yourself and our community, fully loaded M-16 free with any purchase of two or more ski mask."

In Florida its a AR-15 the last time I had a M-16 was just before I got a DD-214.

[pianogal]

FloridaBound Wrote: From someone who reads other boards, the negative post are painfully on purpose, the purpose is not to help people at all. At least the huge majority of them are on purpose.

Sure I want to know something that will help me in my decision, but the same posters who "HATE Florida" so bad, well, they never post anything POSITIVE, therefore they cannot be trusted for the words they write.

Thank you...thank you...thank you! Thank you for taking the time to state so eloquently the state of this board. I have signed off many times thinking it would be my last. IMHO it is shockingly irresponsible to exaggerate and lie to people who are coming to this forum asking advice concerning such important life decisions.

[MB2]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

Is the Florida forum too negative? I've made similar posts before but it's starting to bug me.

People say "we need to expose all sides of Florida"; to me the only side being exposed is the bad one.

I realize crime is bad, cost of living is bad, etc, but is it really helping to sit here and moan?

The positives are only rarely exposed.

One complaint I do NOT understand is heat. Don't most people know Florida is hot year round? What's the shock? If you're so happy when a cold spell comes, why not move somewhere else? I'm not trying to be mean. I'm seriously wondering.

Anyways, I'm not trying to stir the pot, but I'm wondering, is Florida 100x worse than every other state (as you'd think from reading the 100x more negativity here than the other forums), or is it overblown?

Well, from what I see, feel, read....people are just very frustrated, angry and very confused about what is happening to this state. You know...they vent the anger and all, but nothing is changing.
I can tell you from personal experience that I am not moaning about the heat, since I knew FL was hot BEFORE I moved here. Yes, I knew that hurricanes were a possibility.....but didn't have a clue that, when I would move down that I would be welcomed to this state by the "welcome commitee" Fances and jeanne....lol
I was fortunate enough to"only" substain $26,000.00 worth of damage on a brand new home, instead of losing it all. But, it is frustrating as hell to live trough it, deal with it, feel helpless, and dealing with the aftermath. Now the tremours remain, and we are all dealing with increased prices and fees to just about any and everything.
We are in a limbo, until politicians have made up their minds what they will do, and how else they can make our lives a bit more miserable. Drop our property taxes, but raise other taxes sky high instead? I truly believe, that they give and take, and it will not make us happy, and we will be of worse then before.
Most of us have no money, struggle every day to make ends meet, live paycheck to paycheck, and are being driven out by the costs we simply can't affort no more. Prime example....me and my family. Doing the same job just like up north. Just making now the same amount i got up north 4 years ago! My husband had a $60,000.00/ year job, working now for half of that. We have 2 children, the one going to college (which has to be paid too, since we don't want him to end up like us!)
We managed ok, until....HOI and taxes pushed us over the cliff, and broke our necks. Depleted our savings to live, finally sold our house (it was either giving it away for nearly nothing, or just having it go into forclosure to join all the other ones)
FL just has way to many issues to be dealt with all at once, and all the people are just feeling all the pressures from ever which angle and side.
This is an open forum, created by people for the people. So, let them speak, vent, moan, complain...whatever they need to do to communicate why they don't like something, and let them explain. The best way to find out if the complains and warnings of people have any merit at all, is to experience it for yourself. But all in all does the forum get my thumbs up, makes me wonder, makes me laugh, makes me think...and sometimes makes me mad...lol. It has been a neat experience, made some good friends trough here (and some enemies as well....lol ), and was/ is tremendously helpful in a lot of ways.
So, even the negative stuff has some good stuff in it!
~SMILE, Y'ALL~

[luvthatmouse]

Most of the people posting negatives are actually living in Florida. Many have been living in Florida for years. Some for generations. They obviously do not hate the state just what it is becomming. I moved from MA. My parents moved from NY city. The cost of living is more here. The pay is less. It is very expensive to live here now. If you are selling a home up north and will have plenty of money in the bank you will be ok. If you are young and need to find a career or have a family it will be a struggle. Do your research. Have a job before you come. Have plenty of money in the bank.

I hate the cold and wanted to move to Florida for years. We would have been better off staying in MA and just coming for vacation several weeks a year. We made over $20,000 a year more up north and our cost of living was less.

People just have to do it for themselves though. Come on down and try it-it may work out for you!

[firemed]

Originally Posted by luvthatmouse

Most of the people posting negatives are actually living in Florida. Many have been living in Florida for years. Some for generations. They obviously do not hate the state just what it is becomming. I moved from MA. My parents moved from NY city. The cost of living is more here. The pay is less. It is very expensive to live here now. If you are selling a home up north and will have plenty of money in the bank you will be ok. If you are young and need to find a career or have a family it will be a struggle. Do your research. Have a job before you come. Have plenty of money in the bank.

I hate the cold and wanted to move to Florida for years. We would have been better off staying in MA and just coming for vacation several weeks a year. We made over $20,000 a year more up north and our cost of living was less.

People just have to do it for themselves though. Come on down and try it-it may work out for you!

I was born here and my family has been here for generations, I have been called every name from redneck to hillbilly. Yeah, I have cattle and a masters degree.(who would think ) But I see the worst of florida each day. I see the crime, hurt, despair, and depression each day. Do you know anyone that called 911 to have a party? Most of the stuff I post is fact for prevention. I'm not trying to sell people or keep them from moving here. The picture Muggy posted was a joke to lighten up the stress it was meant to be funny.

[pianogal]

I have a question and please know that I mean this in the most sincere way...not trying to be a smart you know what.......

Several have posted that they were making so much more up north, etc. Then why would you move down to take lower paying jobs? DH and I are looking into retirement possibly in TN or northwest SC. We thought we may move a little earlier and 'ease' into retirement....but there is no way. Jobs in our fields there pay up to 1/3 less than what we make here in Florida. So unless things change it looks like we'll stay here.

So again, why would you move into jobs that pay so much less?