Young family looking to move (Tampa, Pembroke Pines: real estate, apartment, homes)

[121804]

Originally Posted by th3vault

I know... the Northeast does have much better schools than Florida, I'm not even going to try disputing that.

But a LOT of the people on the Gulf Goast are from the Midwest...and it irks me when they keep going on and on about how FL schools are so bad and OH/MI/IL schools are SO much better.... if your from the NE or Mid-Atlantic complaining about FL schools, I suppose you have a point. But these people from the Midswest that keep bashing FL schools don't really have a leg to stand on....

The SW states were there to show how the "alternative transient" states compared to Florida.

You are right about the retirees....I'd view any community that's gated with suspicion.

We are back in NEOH & our school district is one of the best in the state. COMPARED to Fort Myers, it blows it out of the water. But not so sure about every other county in FL, so that's why sometimes these things are hard to compare. I am sure that there are places in FL that outrank our current city or maybe not. Thankfully, I don't have worry about it since moving back to SWFL will happen as quickly as, well, it will never happen A person really has to compare county to county rather than blanket statements, which is ridicously ignorant.

I would just question a person's judgement who is moving to FM during these times. Not saying that no one should ever mover there. AND, the personal situation is key. Retiring parents is one thing. Bringing down your kids is a completely different thing.

A person cannot stop "living" during these times. And for some, moving right now may be the best time.

There are other areas in FL with better schools & less retirees. If the OP is ok with a population that is majority retiree & lackluster schools, go for it. If the OP doesn't need an income, hey, FM is probably perfect.

I found our gated community (non 55) in PG to be hysterical. There use to be an older couple who would ask my then 1yr old not to splash water in the pool b/c it was "loud". Personally, I always think 55+ communities suck the life right out of a person. And they only make the divide b/w younger & older that more apparent. At the same time, some of these communities are a godsend to older people who have the income but not the strength or desire to do yardwork & do not want to hear children playing outside, etc. My neighbors are 84 & 82 & are surrounded by children on 3 sides plus grandchildren. They say it is why they are still alive & say that they would have to be drugged if they lived in a retirement community. But, hey, different strokes for different folks.

As for the "gated community" mindset: facade, facade, facade...the bad guys can still get in...

[th3vault]

Originally Posted by 121804

We are back in NEOH & our school district is one of the best in the state. COMPARED to Fort Myers, it blows it out of the water. But not so sure about every other county in FL, so that's why sometimes these things are hard to compare. I am sure that there are places in FL that outrank our current city or maybe not. Thankfully, I don't have worry about it since moving back to SWFL will happen as quickly as, well, it will never happen A person really has to compare county to county rather than blanket statements, which is ridicously ignorant.

I would just question a person's judgement who is moving to FM during these times. Not saying that no one should ever mover there. AND, the personal situation is key. Retiring parents is one thing. Bringing down your kids is a completely different thing.

A person cannot stop "living" during these times. And for some, moving right now may be the best time.

There are other areas in FL with better schools & less retirees. If the OP is ok with a population that is majority retiree & lackluster schools, go for it. If the OP doesn't need an income, hey, FM is probably perfect.

I found our gated community (non 55) in PG to be hysterical. There use to be an older couple who would ask my then 1yr old not to splash water in the pool b/c it was "loud". Personally, I always think 55+ communities suck the life right out of a person. And they only make the divide b/w younger & older that more apparent. At the same time, some of these communities are a godsend to older people who have the income but not the strength or desire to do yardwork & do not want to hear children playing outside, etc. My neighbors are 84 & 82 & are surrounded by children on 3 sides plus grandchildren. They say it is why they are still alive & say that they would have to be drugged if they lived in a retirement community. But, hey, different strokes for different folks.

As for the "gated community" mindset: facade, facade, facade...the bad guys can still get in...

I would not recommend FM area for anyone between 18-35 or so, it is not the greatest area for young professionals. .

But FM is not that bad for those of high school age or below.... Lee County schools are about middle of the road for FL.....it's places like Miami-Dade and Hillsborough that really drag down the FL rankings.....at least Lee County doesn't have an entire police force just for the K12....like MDPS or Hillsborugh....and remember a lot of the Panhandle is gonna be your "typical Southern schools".... probably gonna also drag down the ranking. I'd say Lee County is middle of the road.... FMHS is a Silver medal schools by US News, a pretty good ranking...

Yeah there are a lot of retirees here, but where in FL aren't there? Miami?....has other problems, and frankly I'd take some grouchy grandpas over Miami's problems any day..

true...you're not going to get rich in Fort Myers, but there are very few parts of Florida with those sky high salaries.... but during normal times, there are plenty of stable gov't jobs and a growing economy, so it's better than the constant decline of areas such as Michigan....

You can't really judge Fort Myers just because of the current situation, I read somewhere that the only states yet unscathed are South Dakota and Wyoming....the whole nation is hurting, it's not just a local issue here in FM...

As for the "better parts of FL".... perhaps, but different parts of Florida have different problems. Miami has a serious crime and corruption problem, Orlando has a major traffic problem and a toll problem, Jacksonville is not the transient Florida that many think of Florida as, Tampa is another retiree heavy area, Tallahassee is a sleepy southern town...with weather much worse than the rest of the state in both summer and fall........ in short no part of Florida is perfect, just as no part of the USA is perfect. A decision on where to live should be based on the area that has the most positives that are important to you, and the least negatives that are a major concern to you. There is no utopia.

Hmmm as for the "ridicolously ignorant" comment you made...... could you please tell that to some of the Florida bashers.... ,they love making negative blanket statements about FL based on a single isolated issue they have with FL...

[LSUTigerFan]

I am flying into FM this week to look at housing in CC due to a Relo. I don't know what to think of all the chatter ! I am second guessing my Relo there. My job allows me to move anywhere in SW Fla, if you had your preference where would it be ?

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by LSUTigerFan

I am flying into FM this week to look at housing in CC due to a Relo. I don't know what to think of all the chatter ! I am second guessing my Relo there. My job allows me to move anywhere in SW Fla, if you had your preference where would it be ?

That's a tough question and much too general, since it depends on your budget, your personal likes & dislikes, etc. There are beautiful communities all over SW Florida.

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by LSUTigerFan

I am flying into FM this week to look at housing in CC due to a Relo. I don't know what to think of all the chatter ! I am second guessing my Relo there. My job allows me to move anywhere in SW Fla, if you had your preference where would it be ?

That really does depend on a lot of things. Where are you moving from? What do you like, and what things are you looking for. CC will give you very inexpensive housing, but IMO not much else (except canals) as it's still developing. Ft Myers has a plethora of housing options, and gives you lots of shopping, some beach, and some nightlife. Naples is beautiful, but is somewhat fake and expensive. Sarasota County is nice, but other areas are still "up and coming" like North Port.

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by 121804

We are back in NEOH & our school district is one of the best in the state. COMPARED to Fort Myers, it blows it out of the water. But not so sure about every other county in FL, so that's why sometimes these things are hard to compare. I am sure that there are places in FL that outrank our current city or maybe not. Thankfully, I don't have worry about it since moving back to SWFL will happen as quickly as, well, it will never happen A person really has to compare county to county rather than blanket statements, which is ridicously ignorant.

I would just question a person's judgement who is moving to FM during these times. Not saying that no one should ever mover there. AND, the personal situation is key. Retiring parents is one thing. Bringing down your kids is a completely different thing.

A person cannot stop "living" during these times. And for some, moving right now may be the best time.

There are other areas in FL with better schools & less retirees. If the OP is ok with a population that is majority retiree & lackluster schools, go for it. If the OP doesn't need an income, hey, FM is probably perfect.

I found our gated community (non 55) in PG to be hysterical. There use to be an older couple who would ask my then 1yr old not to splash water in the pool b/c it was "loud". Personally, I always think 55+ communities suck the life right out of a person. And they only make the divide b/w younger & older that more apparent. At the same time, some of these communities are a godsend to older people who have the income but not the strength or desire to do yardwork & do not want to hear children playing outside, etc. My neighbors are 84 & 82 & are surrounded by children on 3 sides plus grandchildren. They say it is why they are still alive & say that they would have to be drugged if they lived in a retirement community. But, hey, different strokes for different folks.

As for the "gated community" mindset: facade, facade, facade...the bad guys can still get in...

We are moving back to NEOH from Ft Myers. Where are you located? We are moving back for many of the reasons in this post. We aren't down on the area, and really enjoyed living in Tampa Bay, but have not so much in Ft Myers. Too transient, too many white hairs, grocery stores never have what I need...it's either rotten or out of stock (anyone else notice this problem with the Publix grocers down here?) Schools are bad in the area, no sense of community etc. I could make a huge list. However, on the flip side, I could probably make a positive list too for the right people. I just don't think this is a fabulous area for younger singles, or young families.

[elliswyatt]

Jennva,

VA is a wonderful state! I born there, went to college there, and have relatives there. I lived in the Fan right after college. If I were to compare something similar to west Richmond, it would problably be more fragmented in Fort Myers. In Virginia a good part of the population was born and raised Virginians (many are born and raised Richmondonians). There's an identity, and people within the same socio-economic "class" had common interests. Look at the sports bars in Fort Myers - so many openly support a different team from somewhere else in the nation (i.e. outside of Florida).

With all of the older folk around, you'll have to work a little harder at making friends, and many of those friends might move away in a couple years time. While I am not religious, I would say that churches and golf/tennis would be the easiest ways to meet similar people.

RMD3819 was right about her daughter only graduating with a couple of the people she started out with.

That said, there aren't many places in the world where you can hop into your boat in the back yard, and go out for a fish after work. In December. There are some beautiful areas to live in and around the city, and being 2 hours from either Tampa or Miami is nice.

My wife and I are returning to FTM for family reasons, and as a young married couple, we're facing some of the same questions you are. I think that the FTM area will get better, it just grew so quickly so fast that a "community" really hasn't had time to emerge.

[justNancy]

I don't understand all the negative comments about "older people" and "white hairs." There was a movie in 1968 called called Wild in the Streets where mandatory retirement was at age 30. Then these "old people" were sent to a camp and kept permanently stoned on LSD. Anyone named Max Frost on this board?

Seriously, this ain't exactly the boondocks ya know. There are many choices if people want to meet others with similar interests. You can join a number of social groups, political committees, churches and synagogues. There are boating clubs, tennis clubs, choirs, theatre groups, animal rescue groups, and plenty of nonprofit organizations. You can even teach your children about community service and visiting the elderly since, as people have pointed out, there are many of them!

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by justNancy

I don't understand all the negative comments about "older people" and "white hairs." There was a movie in 1968 called called Wild in the Streets where mandatory retirement was at age 30. Then these "old people" were sent to a camp and kept permanently stoned on LSD. Anyone named Max Frost on this board?

Seriously, this ain't exactly the boondocks ya know. There are many choices if people want to meet others with similar interests. You can join a number of social groups, political committees, churches and synagogues. There are boating clubs, tennis clubs, choirs, theatre groups, animal rescue groups, and plenty of nonprofit organizations. You can even teach your children about community service and visiting the elderly since, as people have pointed out, there are many of them!

You make good points. It is all in a person's preference. It is not the boon docks, and could be nice for the right people. Everyone is just voicing why they like it or are leaving it. There are many retirees and old people where we are going. We don't need to be away from them. Just looking for non snow-birds and people that have strong roots in an area. Most of the retirees here aren't tied to the area and came to escape a climate. Thus, there isn't the community feel you might find elsewhere. That's all. However, again...IMO only. If i had the time in a day to be involved in all those things, I might think differently. The beauty of FL for retired couples, or couples with no children is the ability to use all the free time to do the great Florida activities. When you are working full time, running around after your kids, and still making sure that the house is clean, the errands are run, the hubs is taken care of (and vice versa), friends are met up with, appointments made and kept, there is very little time for lounging at the beach, volunteering, hangin' by the pool, visiting retirement homes. We want to experience all the great things in FL on vacation when we can give it 100% attention and 100% relaxation. Otherwise, it's just another hot place to live. IMO again.

[121804]

Originally Posted by LewLew

We are moving back to NEOH from Ft Myers. Where are you located? We are moving back for many of the reasons in this post. We aren't down on the area, and really enjoyed living in Tampa Bay, but have not so much in Ft Myers. Too transient, too many white hairs, grocery stores never have what I need...it's either rotten or out of stock (anyone else notice this problem with the Publix grocers down here?) Schools are bad in the area, no sense of community etc. I could make a huge list. However, on the flip side, I could probably make a positive list too for the right people. I just don't think this is a fabulous area for younger singles, or young families.

Wow, sorry to hear that LewLew, b/c I remember you being quite excited about the move...

While NEOH is not necessarily the hotspot of America (if I remember correctly you are orignally from here??), it's not SWFL. And that, alone, it what brings a smile to my face when the weather is less than desirable. Decent schools, varied demographics, change of seasons, communities with community activities that revolve around every age group, and good restuarants (also home to Iron Chef Micheal Symon ). January was a mess for those WHO DID NOT live in the snowbelt, but the snowbelt is suppose to be getting about 8-12" tommorow & that's the only area...give & take.

Plain & simple...SWFL is not for young families or young singles. Not sure it ever was nor will it ever be...

Just be glad you didn't test out Punta Gorda... I still have to remind myself that not all retirees glare at children. But, I will also state that I am sure there are some very nice older couples in the area & younger families who probably love it there.

Best of luck with your coming adventures.