Looking to move out of Florida....need some advise (sales, real estate)

[jessepatty]

Due to the poor job market, dwindling property values and the extremely high cost of living (as opposed to other states) I am seriously thinking of moving my family (Wife, myself, and our three Children ages 16,15 and 12) out of Florida.

I have spent some time (10 days) in Scaly Mountain, N.C. and really liked the area but talking with the locals I got the impression the job market in the area wasn't good. I'm considering anywhere in the Mountain areas of N.C, Tenn and Kentucky.

We are all Florida Natives here so this is a huge uprooting for us so I guess what I'm looking for is suggestions from people that live in this mountain area on areas that I should consider or look at that would provide us a mountain view, good schools, decent jobs and reasonable property.

Our home here in Florida appraised just 12 months ago at $278,000 and has lost $100,000 of it's appraised value in just the last 12 months. Home sales here are dead so my wife got laid off (She's in real estate) so I think it's time we do something before we have nothing left. It is predicted that home values will continue to fall throughout 2009 and more and more jobs will be lost here.

Thanks in advance for your time,
Jesse

[chickenista]

It all depends on what you do for a living.. your wife won't be any better off in WNC than in Florida these days. Things are pretty tight here right now. A lot of businesses are closing and many more are tightening up and thinning out.
Tourism is a huge part of the machinery of commerce here and with the economy, tourism is taking a bit of a bite. We did all right last year as folks were opting for close to home vacations instead of flying, but I fear next year will be bleak.
Perhaps Tenn.. say around Knoxville or something.. a larger town may have more options than most of the smaller areas.
I just don't want to promise you that it is the promised land here right now. Folks that have always done well and lived comfortably are beginning to suffer. As for us, we are tripleing the size of the garden
and taking the belts in a few notches.

[jessepatty]

No, I know nowhere will be peaches and cream however the cost of living has to be better then Florida. We're just wanting a fresh start somewhere that isn't so greedy.

Florida relies on too many tourist dollars to fund things we depend on everyday (road repairs, public services, ect) and with this state being full of elderly people that do not work there are less and less services available for the people who do work everyday.

We've lived in the "City" life long enough and I want to slow down a bit. I'm tired of all the traffic and noise and I also think it will be good for our teen girls who have grown acustom to this fast paced lifestyle.

I guess my point is, I want my kids to learn there is more to life then cell phones and $100 jeans. Nature is nonexistant here..... it's too fast paced

Thats why I am thinking about somewhere away from the big city.... I'll drive an hour to work, I don't care. I just want our lives to slow down.
You miss so much in life when your more focused on what you have and not what's around you.

But to answer your orignal question, I work for the county. I have 8 years with Polk County Florida as a heavy equipment operator.

Thanks for the reply.

[KeysDreamer]

Jessepatty: If you work for Polk County are you in the State Retirement Fund? Would just hate for you to give that up if you were.

[mm34b]

As far as state & local tax burden goes, here's how the states you mentioned are ranked by the Tax Foundation for 2008:

North Carolina - 20th highest
Kentucky - 25th
Tennessee - 44th
Florida - 47th

[jessepatty]

Originally Posted by KeysDreamer

Jessepatty: If you work for Polk County are you in the State Retirement Fund? Would just hate for you to give that up if you were.

I've been vested for several years. I would not loose any of it and three months after I leave employment I have the option of moving it to another retirement fund with no penalities. I've already checked into all of it.

[jessepatty]

Originally Posted by mm34b

As far as state & local tax burden goes, here's how the states you mentioned are ranked by the Tax Foundation for 2008:

North Carolina - 20th highest
Kentucky - 25th
Tennessee - 44th
Florida - 47th

That is interesting.....

However the overall cost of living is lower in those states... Let me say it another way.....
Our home here is 2200 sq feet sitting on .25 of an acre and looking through real estate listings I am finding that comparable homes up there would be 80K to 100K cheaper in those regions.... Land and homes are considerably cheaper.

Now I realize that wages are probably lower as well so how's one to tell where it ends up...

We've got friends in Scaly Mountain, NC and Eastern Kentucky (Not sure what town) that used to live here in Florida and they are telling us that
it is much cheaper to live....That's all I got to go on at this point.

I look around the internet and I can't find anything that differs with what we're hearing from our friends...

I don't know what to do. I do know we need to do something.
We've been living with the struggle of trying to make it here for years and every couple of years something happens to make it that much more difficult. People voted in a Property Tax break for homeowners (which only reduced my property tax bill by $250) and that ended up effected my job with less tax money coming in to operate. It's just a matter of time and they will begin laying us off. I want to have a plan before it gets that far.

I dunno, maybe I am just being too pessimistic but after 16 years of this struggling here in Florida there has to be someplace better out there. I am just afraid things just aren't going to improve.... Florida has been like this as long as I can remember and it is really sad when a person can make over $15 an hour and still not be able to live reasonably.

IMO, if your not a Doctor, Lawyer or some kind of celebrity making a 6 figure salary you struggle living here. (I would have put Real Estate investor in there before this past year but that too is in the dumps now.)

[happeemommee]

It sounds as if you have your mind made up.However, speaking for someone who has lived in Florida,WNC AND Kentucky STAY WHERE YOU ARE! I mean seriously, we are literally starving up here and KY was worse. The COL is NOT cheaper in KY, milk was atleast a dollar more a gallon in KY, and the rest of the groceries were higher as well. Ky may be pretty, but IMHO it is not a great place to raise kids, atleast not the eatern part.It is extremely depressed, the people ( and remember I'm speaking in generalities from MY experience) were not happy.Everyone smoked and no one smiled.Violent crimes were awful, it seemed like every other day someone was being arrested for domestic violence, and not just smackin his wife around.I'm talking EXTREME violence. I'm from just south of Tampa and would move back there before I would ever move to KY again. there weren't any jobs when we were there a year ago and that was BEFORE the economy tanked.

I'm really sorry if this offends everyone, but again I am speaking from my experience.I won't lie or sugar coat things, so if you have any more questions, feel free to ask, but please look for another area.

[jessepatty]

Originally Posted by happeemommee

It sounds as if you have your mind made up.However, speaking for someone who has lived in Florida,WNC AND Kentucky STAY WHERE YOU ARE! I mean seriously, we are literally starving up here and KY was worse. The COL is NOT cheaper in KY, milk was atleast a dollar more a gallon in KY, and the rest of the groceries were higher as well. Ky may be pretty, but IMHO it is not a great place to raise kids, atleast not the eatern part.It is extremely depressed, the people ( and remember I'm speaking in generalities from MY experience) were not happy.Everyone smoked and no one smiled.Violent crimes were awful, it seemed like every other day someone was being arrested for domestic violence, and not just smackin his wife around.I'm talking EXTREME violence. I'm from just south of Tampa and would move back there before I would ever move to KY again. there weren't any jobs when we were there a year ago and that was BEFORE the economy tanked.

I'm really sorry if this offends everyone, but again I am speaking from my experience.I won't lie or sugar coat things, so if you have any more questions, feel free to ask, but please look for another area.

I have not made up my mind on anything. That's the purpose of my post.
I am originally from Bradenton, in 1991 we moved to central Florida (Lake Wales) to get away from Bradenton and out here to a more rual setting to try and find a more quiet, less expensive place to live but development has followed us along with the higher cost and noise.

All I'm trying to do is hear from people who live or have lived in the areas I've mentioned to get a real life idea of living there. I do not mean to create any discontent. I'm in the begining stages of finding a place to relocate...outside of Florida.

Where do you suggest ?

[happeemommee]

I'm from Bradenton,too! We are in the process of trying to find somewhere else to go, as well. Somewhere with a better economy. Tell me more about what's on your "wish list" and I'll see what I can do.

I don't mean to sound so negative, there are A LOT of things I love about NC.We've had some wonderful times here and have met some great people, but the economy here is pretty much at a stand still.