Pros and cons of relocating to Hawaii vs. Florida? (foreclosure, house)

[mermaidmichelle]

Florida Flat?! Jungjohann, are you forgetting Mount Trashmore (i.e. the dump) south of Miami? I believe it is the highest point in the state.

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by wondermint2

Hi! I currently live in St. Louis, MO and I want to relocate to a tropical climate. I am currently torn between selecting Hawaii or Florida for my move. Have any of you that have lived/live in Hawaii previously lived in Florida (or vice versa)? What would you consider some of the pros and cons in comparing living in Hawaii versus living in Florida? Thanks for your input -

You may want to consider South Alabama - cheaper to live in than Hawaii or Florida and fewer hurricane issues, especially if you live more than about 10 miles inland. My parents have had a condo in Daphne, Alabama for about 20 years now and love the area. I have been there many times. It is much safer, weatherwise, and cheap to live in.

[KAILANI]

Who would you rather live around:

a) Highly competetive, materialistic, inconsiderate, reckless-driving r/t cell-phoneified ears, who are in a rush all the time.
-or-
b) Slipper wearing, aloha with da shaka greeting, laid back "whatevea" living, no need for show-off, pidgin talking locals who will trade their fruit with you or have you try their aunties lau lau, type of people..

I like them c) "howdy y'all, can ya fix my chevy, wanna drink some beer, "hey honey, cook us up some hot dogs would ya" type of people!!

Actually B or C will do,

[fatandugly]

florida has totally different people/lifestyles in several different areas of the state. i'll comment on where i'm from in southwest fl (specifically Sarasota/Bradenton.) this area, especially sarasota, is truly beautiful. the entire area south of tampa has some of the prettiest beaches on the mainland us. winter is very mild with less than 15 days a year 45 degrees or below. very sunny year round. sarasota is very upscale with tons of wealthy people and celebs living here year round to help with the tax base so the city is always pretty, clean and nice. very artsy town with the famous ringling museum and lots of cultural stuff going on. semi laid back vibe close to the water but the traffic is terrible during the winter. the BAD NEWS: pay here is pretty low for a regular job. mostly service industry work...very little manufacturing. professionals do well as there is a huge wealthy retired population here. the housing market is among the hardest hit in the nation with lots of foreclosures and terrible sales (2 of my friends have had their houses for sale for 2+ years with no luck.) the heat here is unbearable from july through september...i'm talking 95-100 with the highest humidity you can imagine. it is miserable to the point of being dangerous in the summer. it's even hot at night...low to mid 80's with high humidity. i've lived here for 41 of my 42 years and i truly hate the summer. i avoid the outside as much as possible from june 1 to october 1. we vacationed in denver during august and the 91 degrees there felt like our 75 degree winter in florida. in fact, i'm on this site to research moving to hawaii. the gulf of mexico water is very murky. if you are a scuba or snorkeler, the east coast is no good...swimming/beaches great, diving bad. west coast (key largo and south has much better water visibility.) in fact, my trip to hawaii ruined me for florida. snorkeling all day in the waters off maui, hanauma bay and hilo was incredible. the HI weather was perfect as well. the spirit and friendliness of the HI people was beautiful and welcoming. in this part of florida, everyone is from somewhere else in the usa...mostly friendly though. we are so far south, it is a 6 hour trip to get out of the state. as for sarasota, i can't imagine living anywhere else in the lower 48, but hawaii was beyond magnificent and life is short.

[drsmiley06]

Okay someone clue me in as to the big deal about florida because apparently I don't see it. I have never seen so many people move to a state only to move out within 1 or 2 years, and I'm not kidding either when I say this. I have a brother that lives in boynton beach/west palm beach area and it looks nice but there really isn't much there other than retail stores. I've never seen so many Walgreens in my entire life until I visited florida. But for some reason I still keep meeting people that want to go there and settle there. What is it about florida that appeals to people? The weather? Most have told me that it's horrible in the summer in regards to the humidity. The job market? Are you kidding me? I'm not even going to ramble on about that one because there's nothing no one can say to me that leads me to believe that florida has a great job market, so don't even try it! I just met up with an old friend from high school who lives in orlando and is moving back up to philadelphia because she lost her job down there and she's told me that there's nothing there. Again, someone clue me into what the big deal is with the state of florida. Is there something I'm not seeing? It's absolutely unbelievable how many people I meet that at one time lived in florida and have moved back to the northeast portion of the united states. "Oh I didn't think it was going to be like that down there, we didn't expect the jobs to be like that." Say what? Listen, and pay close attention to what I'm about to say. Unless you have some sort of degree or marketable trade there's absolutely nothing in florida, and even that's a stretch. Even a degree these days doesn't gurantee you anything. Someone give me more insight about the state of florida.

[TexasCasey]

Originally Posted by drsmiley06

Okay someone clue me in as to the big deal about florida because apparently I don't see it. I have never seen so many people move to a state only to move out within 1 or 2 years, and I'm not kidding either when I say this. I have a brother that lives in boynton beach/west palm beach area and it looks nice but there really isn't much there other than retail stores. I've never seen so many Walgreens in my entire life until I visited florida. But for some reason I still keep meeting people that want to go there and settle there. What is it about florida that appeals to people? The weather? Most have told me that it's horrible in the summer in regards to the humidity. The job market? Are you kidding me? I'm not even going to ramble on about that one because there's nothing no one can say to me that leads me to believe that florida has a great job market, so don't even try it! I just met up with an old friend from high school who lives in orlando and is moving back up to philadelphia because she lost her job down there and she's told me that there's nothing there. Again, someone clue me into what the big deal is with the state of florida. Is there something I'm not seeing? It's absolutely unbelievable how many people I meet that at one time lived in florida and have moved back to the northeast portion of the united states. "Oh I didn't think it was going to be like that down there, we didn't expect the jobs to be like that." Say what? Listen, and pay close attention to what I'm about to say. Unless you have some sort of degree or marketable trade there's absolutely nothing in florida, and even that's a stretch. Even a degree these days doesn't gurantee you anything. Someone give me more insight about the state of florida.

Well, I am not sure weather to actualy reply to that or not... If that was some kind of joke, I guess the butt will be on me... However, I am going to assume that was some sort of swat at an entire state, because you have some type of personal situation going on.

First of all, I must say that I happy the whether in sometown, PA is perfect all the time.
I am also happy that every person in sometown, PA has managed to keep their jobs, during this economy. That is truly amazing!!!
I am also happy that you are happy with the perfect ratio of pharmacies, in sometown, PA.
I am not sure weather it is good or not, but I assume that in your opinion you must be happy that every single person who has ever moved to sometown, PA, has never left.
From the text of you message, it sounds as if you visited 1 time. It also sounds like you had only 1 opinion of your own (lots of Walgreens) & that all other opinions were from other people.
I also find it amazing how the city you are describing can have almost nothing but retail... Yet the economy sucks & noone has jobs???

I am not going to bother re-reading above to see if I covered the basses or if I am making an arse of myself. I am also NOT defending Florida. I am realy just happy that sometown, PA is SO PERFECT! Please do not read the next paragraph, as you will probably have a stroke...

In 1968, when I was 1-ish years old, my family - Dad, Mother & 5 kids including me - moved to a suburb of Pittsburgh, called Zellinope (dont know the spelling, but something like that, starts with a 'Z'). While there in August of '68 my baby sister was born in Pittsburgh (we still tease her about this all the time). In March of 1969, My entire family (8 of us by that time) left! In know, & I am sorry that hurts you, but, yes in less than 1 year - We all moved away, to Long Island, NY. I won't finish this family story as noone cares... But I have know 8 people in my life that lived in sometown, PA... & the ALL left.

[mom2max]

I was born in Tampa, FL and was finally able to leave!!! If I had the opportunity to move to either Florida or Hawaii, I would pick Hawaii. Here are my reasons for not moving to Florida:
1. It is HOT year round. The humidity is horrible. There is nothing like going out at night and having the temperature be 89 degrees with no breeze. The humidity is there 10 months out of the year.
2. It is flat! You'll have to drive more than 12 hours to see mountains.
3. The people do not know how to drive. They drive 40 MPH in the parking lots, 40 MPH in school zones and 40 MPH on the HWY.
4. The economy sucks down there.
5. If you plan on buying a home and you are near the water or anyplace that floods, good luck trying to find homeowners insurance.
6. Did I mention that it was HOT?
7. The people are not as nice.

I'd move to Hawaii...you'll have mountains, a nice breeze and it usually never gets over 84 degrees.

[VanHa]

wondermint2....let me give you some friendly advice..."never come to a Hawaii Forum to ask about Florida!

[SavannahPalm]

Just for fun I put together a slew of categories and the winner in each one:

Education: Florida (probably not by much)
Scenery: Hawaii - Big time.
Gardens and Plant Life: Hawaii
Hiking: Hawaii
Watersports (swimming/surfing/snorkleing/kayaking/canoeing): Hawaii
Running/tennis/golf: Florida
Biking: Florida
Beaches: Hawaii
Hospitals and Healthcare: Florida
Allergies: Hawaii (guessing)
Cost of Food/Necessities: Florida - Big time
Cost of Mainland Vacations: Florida
Cost Of Europe Vacations: Florida
Cost of Asian Vacations: Hawaii
Cost of Shipping from Mainland Vendors: Florida
Cost of Air Conditioning: Hawaii
Cost of Electricity: Florida
Shopping Variety: Florida
Ethnic Food: Hawaii
Seafood: Hawaii
Diversity: Hawaii
Aloha Pace of Life: Hawaii - valuable to many.
Number of White Collar Jobs: Florida
Bugs: Too close to call.

Of course many of these will depend on the specific location you might be considering. These are just generalizations-for what they are worth.

Which one is better? Depends on what is important to you.

Savannah Palm

[HockeyGirl]

Originally Posted by SavannahPalm

Bugs: Too close to call.

EeeEeek!

I can handle any bug.. any of 'em.. except the dreaded cockroach!