What was your relocation plan and timetable?

[MD84]

Originally Posted by Beacher23

I'm not married, but i had told myself last summer that i would start looking for a job down here in September and would hopefully be down here before winter started back up in Ohio. I was lucky enough to snatch up a job by November, and i had 5 weeks to pack up, find an apartment and get everything taken care of up north. I also only had a 1 bedroom apartment and was able to fit everything into a 14' Uhaul with a trailer carrying my car which costed about $1300 altogether plus almost another $400 in gas, but again thats from Ohio.
I came down here twice looking at apartments and neighborhoods, and ironic thing is i chose an apartment that i didn't even see in person, only online. But i also relied on Google maps which was also very helpful too when i wanted to get a street view of a specific neighborhood. So definitely try to make it down here for a few days with the family or just the husband to check out the area and make sure its where you want to be. Buying a house probably isn't the best idea soon as you come down here. At least rent for a year or 2 and get familiar with the area, the neighborhoods and the COMMUTE, at least thats what i plan on doing.
Either way, that was my experience/plan if it helps at all. Good luck!!

Thanks for your feedback on the cost! I have been growing increasingly concerned about this factor alone. So much so that I have considered selling much of our furniture, the little bit that we do have. I love using Google maps, and have used street view to look at alot of rentals that have caught my eye. I hope that we can make it down soon before the month of February is out. Definitely plan on renting for a year. Thanks for sharing your experience and well wishes!

[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by Sunshinecc

SeaSpur, would you mind sharing why not a Uhaul? Bad prior experience or simply a much better deal with Budget? I ask because I landed on Uhaul when planning my move (I'm not close to moving yet but I like to plan things out for a budget).

Sounds like you guys are really happy, good for you!

Sorry about your fish

Uhaul trucks lack regular maintenance and break down a lot. We have always used Penske for long distance moves and have been very happy with service and price. Never had a problem and we have had dozens of moves. Penske has always given us the best price. I had to use a Uhaul once for local work purposes and guess what? It broke down. I warned them, but they went just by price and the Uhaul price was lower for local service.

[The Villages Guy]

We have always liked moving to new locations to enjoy what each had to offer, but we always knew our final destination would be Florida. Over many decades we made dozens of trips down here during all four seasons. Yes, we have four seasons here, as this month has shown on many a day. It's just not the more extreme season changes like up north......thank God. During our stays we stayed with and without family members. My wife travels as part of her job and multiple Florida locations were on her schedule. As we were getting older, we wanted to live in Austin and Florida. In 2012 we came down and visited The Villages and loved it, but thought it would be better much later in life, so we decided Tampa Bay would be a better choice. So we we trying to decide between Austin and Tampa bay and ultimately decided on Tampa Bay due to the crushing Florida took in the housing market and all signs pointing to a recovery. When we actually came down to buy, homes were flying off the shelves incredibly fast and I am not talking low priced homes for us. It came down to the last home we looked at before we had to head back home and that was the one. Talk about a stressful trip, but as always it work out in the end.

When we retire will probably head further south in Florida to avoid as much cold winter weather as possible and have more summer type weather. But for now my wife loves using TPA and we have family in the area to enjoy hopefully for several more years.

And as it turns out, I ended up with a serious medical condition and am so glad we moved here where they diagnosed it and are treating it. This is the best medical care I have ever received, even though I have a condition which will never be 100% resolved and will always be touch and go. I had to have a very high risk surgery and while it prevented paralysis for now, I was one of the unfortunate ones to have serious nerve damage.....some of which was already permanent due to how long I had the condition. I have very few complaints with my care here. That would not have been the case in some other places we have lived.