The other side of the Coin from up North! (Cape Coral: transplants, for sale)

[Twobeach]

Greetings all,,,,Were so thinking, hoping & praying and preparing of a RELO to the Cape Coral Area. I know people bash us Northerners- HOWEVER< you guys have to hear our side of things! Just as many of you folks already in aka Paradise, We are going thru the same things. Bad economy, Skyrocking Taxes, cost of Living, Crocked Politians, No Work,ect, ect. This is what we are leaving and just the decision to leave is one of the most difficult things in life we have ever done. We have lived thru things life has dealt us, we would not wish on our enemies [personally]. We are hard working people who put our hearts into making our homes and neighborhoods a better place, never with the intention of ever leaving Our home. For us it is Long Island NY. We are leaving paying some of the highest Property Tax rates in the country. My Little 75X80 Waterfront Lot w/ a 1600 sq/ft house completely remodeled. Note, we Renno'ed the house with Nickles and our own Blood , Sweat and Tears, no Loans, we did it the Old Fashioned Way. Taxes are now just under 9,000.00 a year add in the Monthly Mort of $2500, Insurance, food, Utilities Ect ,,, you need roughly $5000 a month to survive, this is not blown out of proportion to make a point mind you. There is nothing left for the Piggy Bank at the end of the month! Next year the Mortgage will jump probably to a whooping $2800 a month as we are all losing our Middle class Star Rebate Program! We are sick of paying a fortune and being prisoners in our homes 9 months a year, during those Gray Days of Winter, the kids are sick constantly, we love 3 seasons, winter you can toss you know were,, the cost of Heating fuel is thousands a year,& Yes we have a Woodburning Stove. Add in the winter wardrobe..There is absolutly no quality of Life here for families. Drugs and Crime are eveywhere. As Mom would put it, "its all relative". Us too, our home was up for sale in the Hey Day for 800,000. now were lucky to get 500,000!
So were hoping you will Welcome us with open arms. We so look forward to Sunny Days, Polite People, a slower pace, a reasonable cost of Living, a less demanding lifestyle and to finally get off the treadmill we call the Rat Race. We will own our home outright so there will not be another forclousure in your neighborhood. We want to aid in the community and raise our children with others who embrace a better place to rear our children and whom also escaped this old idea old Paradise. Life cannot just be work, work work for the Almighty Dollar and hearing from our Reprsentivies, we are resilent, we will continue to strive ahead, IN N.Y. were done striving, we want to watch you do it for awhile Mr. Senator, Congressmen, ect,,,,you have Broke us, our Spirit and our Hopes and Dreams. We are now what you would call the "Endangered aka Middle Class New Yorkers". In 10 years there will only be the Super Rich & the Poverty Level. Farewell NY, good Luck Lady Liberty, I will visit you in my dreams.

[hiknapster]

You are preaching to the choir.

I have no idea why you would not feel that you would not be welcome in southwest Florida. Transplants FAR outweigh natives. In fact natives are hard to find.

Because there are mostly transplants, these people that live in southwest Florida know very well the troubles that are occurring in other areas of the country. Just understand that you are not going to find paradise, you are going to keep some of the same problems, trade some for other ones and may not come out ahead.

First of all, let's see if you actually sell your house, unfortunately. And if you do, for the love of God, please check the schools and understand that there is crime everywhere. You may be having it rough but there are areas of the country that are worse off, and the area you want to move to is one of them.

Do you understand that your area's unemployment rate is 8.1 percent while Lee County's is 12.2?

Southwest Florida has been written up in numerous publications including front page articles in The New York Times, plus write-ups in The Economist and Time Magazine, just to name a few, and they weren't rosy pictures.

But understand that you most certainly will be welcome, in fact there are thousands of people that would LOVE to sell their home to you.

Now that I've thrown that cold bucket of water, I wish you the best of luck. I just want you to go into the situation with your eyes wide open.

[yachtcare]

Originally Posted by Twobeach

So were hoping you will Welcome us with open arms. We so look forward to Sunny Days, Polite People, a slower pace, a reasonable cost of Living, a less demanding lifestyle and to finally get off the treadmill we call the Rat Race.

You're welcome, come on down!
Oh, you'll still be in the Rat race....just different rats, with better tans........
If you work for a living, the pace is the same. Wherever you are, it's all relative. While the taxes, and cost of housing may be less, so are the wages, IF you can find a job at all.
I havent done the research, but you should...you may find the ratio of wages to cost of living might be better where you are.

[Twobeach]

We are so burnt out from this tredmill,,we need rest and to do something that feeds our souls, is rewarding and something we very much enjoy doing. We have just concluded we are done with Construction in the NE. PS, I could dig the better Tanned Rats, they are Polite for the most part~

[tommy-105]

As a former Long Islander (Freeport) who moved down here six years ago I think you will find plenty of New Yorkers on the cape. I never was aware of a cold reception from anybody. Most of the people you meet are not natives.
I'm just writing to warn you that if your occupation has anything to do with residential construction this is not where you want to be. I'm a carpenter and I've been out of work since early March. The pay scale here is low due to the cheap labor from the south, and now there's no work to be found. Do some searching on Craigslist for jobs before coming here. On the other hand if you are in the medical field, there seems to be plenty of work.
Good luck to you.
l

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by Twobeach

We are so burnt out from this tredmill,,we need rest and to do something that feeds our souls, is rewarding and something we very much enjoy doing. We have just concluded we are done with Construction in the NE. PS, I could dig the better Tanned Rats, they are Polite for the most part~

I've read your other posts and agree with hiknapster and the rest. You will be a transplant like the rest of us. That won't be a problem.

Then I got to this post. That first sentence sent all kinds of bells off in my head.

I would caution you to have a balanced, realistic perspective on what life is like here.

Getting off a treadmill and feeding your soul sounds great, but that won't magically happen just by moving here. And it won't pay the bills. Neither will the weather.

The success stories on here all have something in common: they arrived in Florida with a solid job in hand, have a rare, in-demand skill, or are retired or very wealthy.

The other stories we get here consist of posters who are cold and miserable. They move to Florida with no research or unrealistic expectations, figuring if they are going to be miserable, they might as well be warm and miserable.

[yachtcare]

Originally Posted by RMD3819

The other stories we get here consist of posters who are cold and miserable. They move to Florida with no research or unrealistic expectations, figuring if they are going to be miserable, they might as well be warm and miserable.

I would change one word in that last sentence. From "warm" to "hot".

I think that sums up the majority of the folks that head here as a new place to dwell. And that's all fine and good, just remember. It costs $$ to run that air conditioner, just like it does to run that furnace. And when you're a newbie from up north here, you'll be running that AC......alot.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Twobeach

Greetings all,,,,Were so thinking, hoping & praying and preparing of a RELO to the Cape Coral Area. I know people bash us Northerners- HOWEVER< you guys have to hear our side of things! Just as many of you folks already in aka Paradise, We are going thru the same things. Bad economy, Skyrocking Taxes, cost of Living, Crocked Politians, No Work,ect, ect. This is what we are leaving and just the decision to leave is one of the most difficult things in life we have ever done. We have lived thru things life has dealt us, we would not wish on our enemies [personally]. We are hard working people who put our hearts into making our homes and neighborhoods a better place, never with the intention of ever leaving Our home. For us it is Long Island NY. We are leaving paying some of the highest Property Tax rates in the country. My Little 75X80 Waterfront Lot w/ a 1600 sq/ft house completely remodeled. Note, we Renno'ed the house with Nickles and our own Blood , Sweat and Tears, no Loans, we did it the Old Fashioned Way. Taxes are now just under 9,000.00 a year add in the Monthly Mort of $2500, Insurance, food, Utilities Ect ,,, you need roughly $5000 a month to survive, this is not blown out of proportion to make a point mind you. There is nothing left for the Piggy Bank at the end of the month! Next year the Mortgage will jump probably to a whooping $2800 a month as we are all losing our Middle class Star Rebate Program! We are sick of paying a fortune and being prisoners in our homes 9 months a year, during those Gray Days of Winter, the kids are sick constantly, we love 3 seasons, winter you can toss you know were,, the cost of Heating fuel is thousands a year,& Yes we have a Woodburning Stove. Add in the winter wardrobe..There is absolutly no quality of Life here for families. Drugs and Crime are eveywhere. As Mom would put it, "its all relative". Us too, our home was up for sale in the Hey Day for 800,000. now were lucky to get 500,000!
So were hoping you will Welcome us with open arms. We so look forward to Sunny Days, Polite People, a slower pace, a reasonable cost of Living, a less demanding lifestyle and to finally get off the treadmill we call the Rat Race. We will own our home outright so there will not be another forclousure in your neighborhood. We want to aid in the community and raise our children with others who embrace a better place to rear our children and whom also escaped this old idea old Paradise. Life cannot just be work, work work for the Almighty Dollar and hearing from our Reprsentivies, we are resilent, we will continue to strive ahead, IN N.Y. were done striving, we want to watch you do it for awhile Mr. Senator, Congressmen, ect,,,,you have Broke us, our Spirit and our Hopes and Dreams. We are now what you would call the "Endangered aka Middle Class New Yorkers". In 10 years there will only be the Super Rich & the Poverty Level. Farewell NY, good Luck Lady Liberty, I will visit you in my dreams.

I lived on the North Shore of LI for over 20 years and raised my family there. My daughter and her fiance just bought a house in Levitown and my other daughter lives in Lindenhurst. My future inlaws live in West Islip. Their daughter lives in Port Jeff.

If EVERYBODY thought the way you do, there would be nobody left there, but the YOUNG are still moving and living there.

Super Rich and Poor? That is Florida RIGHT NOW.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by yachtcare

I think that sums up the majority of the folks that head here as a new place to dwell. And that's all fine and good, just remember. It costs $$ to run that air conditioner, just like it does to run that furnace. And when you're a newbie from up north here, you'll be running that AC......alot.

Out of curiousity, how much does it cost to cool a 1800-2200 sq ft house in SW FL?

Although my places in the midwest have had air conditioning, I have never turned it on. I figured that I pay for heat, why pay for the cooling?

[RMD3819]

My electric costs an average of $306 per month from last May to October. High of $368 to a low of $227.

2500 sq ft house.