Relocating from Indiana to Florida (Sarasota, North Port: sale, credit, homes)

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by Rainbow girl

He is a cook but will do anything in a restaurant. He currently cooks,hangs signs, cleans the lot, unloads the truck and rotates and orders stock. He will do whatever he has to do to get the hours because labor is tight here as well and food places always want to send people home early to cut costs

Unless he goes corporate, he'll have to wait till he gets here to look. Server, manager & chef positions are here but it's fierce competition. One italitan restaurant, downtown put an ad on craigslist. A friend of mine went in to apply, they had over a hundred applications in an hour.... You can check craigslist sarasota/bradenton for job examples in hospitality. There isn't anything much listed in the newspapers.

[tommy-105]

Originally Posted by Rainbow girl

I did most of my research on line and over the phone, I used nurse recruiters and I also looked up hospitals in the areas I liked and then put in online applications. There are alot of jobs in the medical field especially during "the season". I did come down several times for interviews, the job I accepted is in Port Charlotte at Peace River. I hope my kids like it there. I have a 6,8 and 15 year old coming with me and they're pretty excited. We love to be outdoors and enjoy water activities alot.

Welcome to Peace River Regional.

[seain dublin]

Cjohnson. I applaud your attitude and I hope things work out for you. I am just relating stories that dozens of people have told me when you hear their stories in regards to FL. Nine times out of ten when I ask people do you like living here(and I don't give my views one way or the other) they say not really.

Now many of these are working people and the main gripe is the low salaries. When you cut your income by 50% but your only cutting your expenses by maybe 20% people get behind the eight ball.

Granted many came from the NE so maybe the salaries in IN are similar to FL. But many have told me they are struggling much worse down here than where they came from.

A lot of people have this idea FL is cheap, it used to be. But when you factor in car insurance, homeowner's insurance, groceries( we're from Southern CA and the stores are more expensive here). I don't know how some people get buy here. Our electric is $250 a month and we are conservative with the A/C keeping it at 79 during the day.

We are retired and while we aren't multi millionaires we are comfortable. But I see so many here struggling on $10 an hour jobs. I just saw another article where many here are putting their utility bill on a credit card.

You have to have the A/C on here most of the year 24/7 so what you save in heat up north you pay for in AC. In Southern CA we maybe had the air on one month out of the year, and the same thing with the heat.

It isn't an option here to open a window and get a cool breeze when it is 85 degrees at 11pm with 90% humidity....LOL.

But good luck and I hope the best for you. You sound like a nice woman I will keep your family in my thoughts.

[cjohnson5077]

Thanks, Seain! I really appreciate it! Up here in Indiana, our gas bill runs $285 in the winter while our electric still runs $100 in the winter, so for our lights and heat it is $385 a month. And, no we do not live in an old house with windows that leak. We built our house 11 years ago and have new windows. I got 2 calls today from employers in Sarasota and I have only been looking seriously in Sarasota for a couple weeks. Here in Indiana I have put in over 500 resumes since July and have had one call back and one interview. So, to me, it seems like Sarasota has my name written all over it! I read in another post that a couple moved from another state to Florida without jobs and they have kids. The kids are doing well adjusting to the new school, the wife just got a job and the husband is still looking. It sounds like a plan to me. Today we worked in our yard and mulched. We will finish up the mulch tomorrow. We boxed up all the extras in the house and moved them to storage. We are getting the house ready to put on the market. The inside is freshly painted, including the ceilings. We have porcelain throughout the home which we had imported from Italy. The bedrooms have new carpet. The kichen has new slate backsplash. The bathrooms have new fixtures, tub and custom slate mirrors. The house is ready. A house down the road from us just sold in 8 days and they got the list price out of it! I am really motivated and can't wait to say I live in Florida! My Mustang GT Convertible is ready for the warm weather! It doesn't do well in the snow, so we need to hurry up and get the house sold so we can head south!

[cassey346]

I'm also from Indiana, North Vernon which is a very small town and me and my husband are also looking to maybe move to sarasota if he can find a job. As of right now I dont work but plan to if we move there.
My husband is a HVAC and yes he still has a job here where we live we really like florida alot and want to move there and stay there we have two children 11,14 and they also want to move there. Unemployment rate is so high here we are like 16% which I feel is very high.

If anyone has any info where he could find a job doing HVAC that would be great he has been doing this work for 12 years so he has alot of exp.


Also housing price's seem to be very good right now what area is a good area for kids and very close to the beach?

[Rainbow girl]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

Unless he goes corporate, he'll have to wait till he gets here to look. Server, manager & chef positions are here but it's fierce competition. One italitan restaurant, downtown put an ad on craigslist. A friend of mine went in to apply, they had over a hundred applications in an hour.... You can check craigslist sarasota/bradenton for job examples in hospitality. There isn't anything much listed in the newspapers.

Well hopefully he will get something! Like I said he's a hard worker so once he lands one he will keep it. I just have to believe that everything will work out for the best.

[RMD3819]

Has hubby seen these?

Recertification - Emergency Medical Technician - Recertification

employment

This thread has generated nine pages in about a week. You can feel the enthusiasm and positive momentum, which is good.

I don't want to be a downer but I am going to throw my two cents in. A few things about your posts smacked me in the head, so here goes....

Like seain said, we get a lot of posters wanting to come to Florida for a "fresh start". They are miserable and cold where they are so they pack up and move to FL. The mentality seems to be it is better to be warm and miserable than cold and miserable. How can it be worse in Florida? At least we have the sunshine!!! This delusion leads them to pack the car and move. Then they get there and realize the payscales are lower and don't match the cost of living. Home insurance is outrageous. The school system is below the standards they are used to. They can't go to the beach everyday. The dream evaporates. This scenario was during the boom times. Throw in the unemployment situation and it only gets worse. Sunshine doesn't pay the bills.

That said, you don't fit entirely within that scenario. The main difference is you have cash and are doing heavy duty research. Here is how I see it:

Pros:
-You can sell your home and leave with 25K. This is a very big plus.
-You and hubby have some skills.
-The weather is nicer than where you are now.

Cons:
-You have never been to Sarasota.
-Your skillsets will probably not pay as much as Indiana.
-Florida schools have a poor reputation overall, although based on these boards Sarasota seems to be better than others.
-No solid job offers. Your savings will go quickly.

This may not apply to you, but many people start to miss their family, especially if things are not going well. The kids aren't growing up around their cousins or grandparents. Holiday get togethers are a thing of the past. They miss the four seasons.

OTOH many folks don't miss their families or the seasons. The Florida lifestyle is worth the trade off.

Good luck. We are all rooting for you.

[tommy-105]

RMD3819, what a great, well written post!

cassey346, Not to encourage you to do something foolish, but HVAC is the one field that has openings listed on the local craigslist all the time. Must have something to do with the weather.

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

RMD3819, what a great, well written post!

cassey346, Not to encourage you to do something foolish, but HVAC is the one field that has openings listed on the local craigslist all the time. Must have something to do with the weather.

I concur.

HVAC is not the most fun job to work in FL. I work with a number of A/C companies for the continual maintenance on the condo association for which I work. On a day like today, if these guys have to get up in the cupulas, on top of the buildings, when it feels like 100 outside, you can only imagine what it feels like inside the atic areas. However, there is work available and that's where it stands.

Most people's A/C tends to go out on Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend without fail; it's written in Murphy's Laws.

[cassey346]

he is looking to work for either a hotel a complex something towards that way he also does electrical. As of right now he work for a company and works in homes. He is wanting a change from that , so that is why he is looking more towards hotel or condominiums that he would like to work for. I have search alot of place online and also craigslist but alot of the jobs is for residental homes. He would really like to go towards maintence.

I'm really hoping he can land a wonderful job and we can move and start a whole new life in sarasota fl.

anyone know of hotels hiring for this postion or condominiums.

Also what housing are is close to the beach?
this board has help me so much in changing my mind of where we would like to live, we where starting out wanting to live in panama city beach since we vac. there alot but after reading so many post about sarasota I thought I would check it out and wow its really really nice there and sounds like a place I would live to raise my kids. So all the help is great. so thanks everyone for posting alot of info.