Moving to the Orlando area from NY

[E39Chris525i]

Originally Posted by Wilshire81182

I have lived here about 3 years now, and I tend to get around and have friends who live in just about every part of town so it gives me a fairly good understanding of the area. There are good positions within Disney/Universal but I do not think they appreciate their employees as much as some of the "real" employers in the area or as much as they used to. Some of them do pay pretty well though. People like to complain about the pay in Orlando but I know a few people who work in IT in Disney making around 60,000 and some others who quote their pay around 20 dollars an hour. Those jobs are out there but there is more competition for them here with the influx of people, the job market, and type of jobs in this tourist/service industry driven market.

My goal is for us to start applying at jobs now and take it from there. We will be in the area around early August for a bit to check out locations, traffic conditions, etc... I lived in Miami in the past for a short time and the traffic is by far worse than NYC traffic. Leaving the house at 5:30am to be at work at 8am (and just barely making it on time) was no fun.

[Andzia74]

Originally Posted by E39Chris525i

Thanks for the quick reply. So just stay away west of I-4. You aren't the first person to tell me this, so I see the trend. With regards to traffic, most commutes into downtown would be at worse an hour and change if one lives say 20 minutes away from downtown w/o traffic? As regards to employment, I know you have the Orlando Sentinal paper and also theflyer.com/careerbuilder/yahoo hot jobs, etc... Are their other classifieds that you guys use that I am not aware of? I have also heard that the tourist area (Kissimmee) isn't that great to live in and that Poinciana is too far......

I moved to Orlando area 6 yrs ago, and now for 3 weeks I am back in NYC. I do not like Orlando at all. Job market is really down. Very low pay jobs. Disney offer to my husband $8/hr. My husband is very experienced chef form very well known Deli in NYC. I have friends in orlando without jobs for months, they are engeeners, and high class specialists. Thinks twice before you make finall decision. Is really hard to get jobs down there these days! I am so happy I left the Orlando area for NYC, but in the other side of the story I never liked Florida.

[E39Chris525i]

Originally Posted by Andzia74

I moved to Orlando area 6 yrs ago, and now for 3 weeks I am back in NYC. I do not like Orlando at all. Job market is really down. Very low pay jobs. Disney offer to my husband $8/hr. My husband is very experienced chef form very well known Deli in NYC. I have friends in orlando without jobs for months, they are engeeners, and high class specialists. Thinks twice before you make finall decision. Is really hard to get jobs down there these days! I am so happy I left the Orlando area for NYC, but in the other side of the story I never liked Florida.

I am well aware of the common saying that the job market/pay rate is nothing like NYC, Philly, Chicago, etc... However, I have been applying to jobs in the Orlando area for about two weeks now and I have gotten phone calls for interviews already for more than what I am making here in Pearl River, NY (near NJ). People from up north (just like me) might assume that since they have all the skills that they could sleep-walk through the job searching process and that FL companies will do whatever it takes to get that NYC/Philly/Chicago/any other northern city that I missed, etc... worker to work for them. Someone can have 25 years experience and have a BA, MBA, PhD, etc... and not land a job because IMHO the resume isn't strong enough and/or they bomb the interview. NY is a nice place to live, but I have lived up here 95% of my life and its time for a change. Sorry that things didn't work out for you in FL. I happen to enjoy FL and hope for the best........

[Andzia74]

Originally Posted by E39Chris525i

I am well aware of the common saying that the job market/pay rate is nothing like NYC, Philly, Chicago, etc... However, I have been applying to jobs in the Orlando area for about two weeks now and I have gotten phone calls for interviews already for more than what I am making here in Pearl River, NY (near NJ). People from up north (just like me) might assume that since they have all the skills that they could sleep-walk through the job searching process and that FL companies will do whatever it takes to get that NYC/Philly/Chicago/any other northern city that I missed, etc... worker to work for them. Someone can have 25 years experience and have a BA, MBA, PhD, etc... and not land a job because IMHO the resume isn't strong enough and/or they bomb the interview. NY is a nice place to live, but I have lived up here 95% of my life and its time for a change. Sorry that things didn't work out for you in FL. I happen to enjoy FL and hope for the best........

Good Luck!!

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by Wilshire81182

I have lived here about 3 years now, and I tend to get around and have friends who live in just about every part of town so it gives me a fairly good understanding of the area. There are good positions within Disney/Universal but I do not think they appreciate their employees as much as some of the "real" employers in the area or as much as they used to. Some of them do pay pretty well though. People like to complain about the pay in Orlando but I know a few people who work in IT in Disney making around 60,000 and some others who quote their pay around 20 dollars an hour. Those jobs are out there but there is more competition for them here with the influx of people, the job market, and type of jobs in this tourist/service industry driven market.

Don't forget that most people in Orlando lie about thier pay to make themselves feel better,lol.

[dbansal]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Don't forget that most people in Orlando lie about thier pay to make themselves feel better,lol.

Add me to the list of people who knows many people who make high salaries (they do have skills of course). And yeah some people on this forum have a pathetic need to bash Orlando (even creating multiple accounts to do so) and say something negative every chance they get, lol.

[cmls529]

We moved here 2 1/2 years ago from Long Island and lets say it was a huge mistake. My husband is a plumber and he took 1/2 cut in pay. Cost of living is the same is most areas but pay is no where near. Also Florida is a no fault state so employers don't care (you can be fired for anything it seems). If you don't like your situation than leave is what my husband has experienced. My pay is less than what I earned 10 years ago in NY. I teach Pre-K and it pays for some groceries and gas. I personally like Orlando (we are in Oviedo) The people are very nice. The area is clean. My kids and I have made good friends. I have been happy with the schools. We thought that life would be a little easier here but we were better off financially newlyweds with a new baby. We have hit one disaster after the next. Really watch housing prices. A 400,000 house here is fabulous but make sure your salary can pay for it. We purchased a 4 bed 3 bath home with a pool. In NY it would have cost well over 600,000. All of our family is in NY. We have no one that way and it really stinks to know we made this mistake and there is nothing we can do about it. Good Luck with your move......Colleen

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by cmls529

We moved here 2 1/2 years ago from Long Island and lets say it was a huge mistake. My husband is a plumber and he took 1/2 cut in pay. Cost of living is the same is most areas but pay is no where near. Also Florida is a no fault state so employers don't care (you can be fired for anything it seems). If you don't like your situation than leave is what my husband has experienced. My pay is less than what I earned 10 years ago in NY. I teach Pre-K and it pays for some groceries and gas. I personally like Orlando (we are in Oviedo) The people are very nice. The area is clean. My kids and I have made good friends. I have been happy with the schools. We thought that life would be a little easier here but we were better off financially newlyweds with a new baby. We have hit one disaster after the next. Really watch housing prices. A 400,000 house here is fabulous but make sure your salary can pay for it. We purchased a 4 bed 3 bath home with a pool. In NY it would have cost well over 600,000. All of our family is in NY. We have no one that way and it really stinks to know we made this mistake and there is nothing we can do about it. Good Luck with your move......Colleen

This is true for so many hard working families that move to Florida. Its best to stay in States that pay well and then move to Florida when you are retiring or close to retiring.

[E39Chris525i]

We aren't looking to purchase a house soon. We are just looking to rent for a few years, then buy. Our retirement home will be in Miami (thanks to my mom). We will not move until one of us (wife and I) has a job, then look for an area around Orlando to move too. We do have family all over FL, so it will be a tad bit easier. Just as long as I get the YES network................

[Andzia74]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Don't forget that most people in Orlando lie about thier pay to make themselves feel better,lol.

I agree!!!!