[OptimusPrime69]

Originally Posted by songgirl

In a few days, I'll be moving back for the fourth time. That sound kind of ridiculous, even to me, but I always seem to be called back. Even though I grew up in NJ, I consider Florida home. Specifically, St. Augustine.

Unfortunately, this time I'll be in Winter Garden. Who knows? Maybe I'll like it. But, it's hard for most places to hold a candle to St. Augustine, IMO. What surprises me, is how little St. Aug changes through the years. It's like a little bubble of preservation in the middle of unending sprawl.

I'll have to post at a later date about what I think of Florida this time around.

well, I'll be moving back to florida for the 2nd time this August. Only I'll be in broward county, way south of st augustine.

Last time i was in st augustine was about 2 years ago. Beautiful area, I did the tour of the base there, also a night time thing in a hurse where they take u to different pubs and tell ghost stories, was super fun.

[ChrisA70]

Yeah... I have been here and back to MA a few times. And now on my way up again. I came back this past March for a job I was lied to about. If I had not been lied to I would be up in MA at this moment. I even put aside my negative health effects FL has on me to come back here. Imagine how "happy" I was when I found out from my "friend" that got us to come down because she was giving us our positions back because she could not deal with the people who took our places there, that it turns out she just didn't have the heart to replace them. I am at a great place where I work and live, great coworkers, some of the best people I have worked with in my 17 years in apartment management. YET the climate here is already working on my well being. Then my MIL ended up having COPD, she has to stay out of the heat and humidity, so just another reason we are going up yet again. My mother and step father are also leaving FL in November for good. I take this as my last stand in FL. Though this time I am less negative about it.

[alfbroker]

In the business I was in while in Florida, I saw people move in and out of the state, usually just once. There was a small percentage that moved in and out multiple times and many were retired so it wasn't employment related. They did this despite the high cost of multiple moves especially owning rather than renting their home and many were hurt financially.

According to the US Census in 2010 (full census) 482,889 people moved into FL and 427,853 moved out. There are no numbers that I have found that shows how many moved in for the 2nd time or more. It's a good thing so many people do move back or the state would be wall to wall people.
Link to US Census PDF, see pg 17 for Florida #'s

[BECLAZONE]

Originally Posted by songgirl

In a few days, I'll be moving back for the fourth time. That sound kind of ridiculous, even to me, but I always seem to be called back. Even though I grew up in NJ, I consider Florida home. Specifically, St. Augustine.

Unfortunately, this time I'll be in Winter Garden. Who knows? Maybe I'll like it. But, it's hard for most places to hold a candle to St. Augustine, IMO. What surprises me, is how little St. Aug changes through the years. It's like a little bubble of preservation in the middle of unending sprawl.

I'll have to post at a later date about what I think of Florida this time around.

St. Augustine looks stunning, I must visit, if I can!

Florida definitely has a strange attraction, I'm drawn to Florida myself. It’s very unlikely that I’ll ever move there, I’m from the UK, but strangely, Florida feels like home. I can’t explain that!

Sorry if I went off topic.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Originally Posted by ChrisA70

Yeah... I have been here and back to MA a few times. And now on my way up again. I came back this past March for a job I was lied to about. If I had not been lied to I would be up in MA at this moment. I even put aside my negative health effects FL has on me to come back here. Imagine how "happy" I was when I found out from my "friend" that got us to come down because she was giving us our positions back because she could not deal with the people who took our places there, that it turns out she just didn't have the heart to replace them. I am at a great place where I work and live, great coworkers, some of the best people I have worked with in my 17 years in apartment management. YET the climate here is already working on my well being. Then my MIL ended up having COPD, she has to stay out of the heat and humidity, so just another reason we are going up yet again. My mother and step father are also leaving FL in November for good. I take this as my last stand in FL. Though this time I am less negative about it.

Hey Chris!

Good luck with whatever you do.

[Ken E]

Originally Posted by ChrisA70

Yeah... I have been here and back to MA a few times. And now on my way up again. I came back this past March for a job I was lied to about. If I had not been lied to I would be up in MA at this moment. I even put aside my negative health effects FL has on me to come back here. Imagine how "happy" I was when I found out from my "friend" that got us to come down because she was giving us our positions back because she could not deal with the people who took our places there, that it turns out she just didn't have the heart to replace them. I am at a great place where I work and live, great coworkers, some of the best people I have worked with in my 17 years in apartment management. YET the climate here is already working on my well being. Then my MIL ended up having COPD, she has to stay out of the heat and humidity, so just another reason we are going up yet again. My mother and step father are also leaving FL in November for good. I take this as my last stand in FL. Though this time I am less negative about it.

We'll leave the light on for ya.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by Sunny-Days-in-Florida

Hey Chris!

Good luck with whatever you do.

Thanks Sunny. Gotta do what's best for us.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by Ken E

We'll leave the light on for ya.

Keep it bright to light the way!!! Coming home.

[sholomar]

my sticking point to moving to FL is just plain overpopulation, having to put up with traffic and people EVERYWHERE, with competition for jobs more fierce, and pay quite low. I doubt there's work that will pay what I make ($19.50) that's blue collar and doesn't require going back to school or having good people skills. So I'm stick in the arctic tundra. Unless I move to the Carolinas, but again, there's that finding a job thing...

[8to32characters]

It seems like most of the people who move back and forth from Florida several times are originally from the Northeast.

This isn't surprising, either, especially since most people from the Northeast tend to be very family-oriented and have a tight-knit group of close friends whom they've known since they were 5 or 6 years old. Most people from the Northeast are very traditional, too. For example, every Thanksgiving is at Aunt Sue's, every Christmas dinner is at Granny's, every Fourth of July is spent at Uncle Al's annual backyard cookout with barbecue, homemade fireworks, etc.

Not only do most people from the Northeast have the same traditions for every holiday or special occasion, but they also frequent the same restaurants, watering holes, churches, etc. for most, if not all, of their lives, depending on whether the joint is still in business or not.

For the most part, their families don't move away, either--they all live in the same community or, in the case of my extended family, on the same block. And if you're not physically present in the neighborhood or area, you may feel excluded or left out. Lots of people can't make it back home to every single wedding, christening, funeral, bachelor party, graduation, etc. because it's too expensive and, sometimes, too difficult to get the time off from work. Since these people still remain very close to their family and friends from home, they feel as though they're missing out when they miss these special occasions/milestones.

Others, of course, will miss the seasons and the traditions that accompany seasons such as apple and pumpkin-picking in the fall, skiing/snowboarding/snowshoeing in the winter, summertime cookouts/barbecues, etc.

Therefore, it's hard for most people to break away from that. But they can't stand the weather, they want to live near the beach, they want a bigger/newer/cheaper house, they want lower taxes, or all of the above, so they move to Florida. They've been to Florida number of times on vacation, and it seemed great--sunshine, warm weather, plenty of housing options to chose from (cheap, too!), the best roads you've ever laid eyes on, the theme parks, the beach. And EVERYONE from the Northeast knew someone--or many people, for that matter--who had moved down to Florida and supposedly *loved* it. So, that's when people return home and start planning their move.

After a few years in Florida, however, I think most people from the Northeast start to miss the familiarity of home, the familiar faces, the traditions they're no longer part of because they live too far away, the places they frequented every month or even every week for as long as they could remember, etc. They probably miss the quaintness of the Northeast, too. I think those are the reasons why lots of people from the Northeast especially move back--they simply miss all of that. Florida communities in particular are quite fractured and very transient, so those traditions and experiences in Florida are hardly replicated. Maybe in North Carolina or Texas it's different, but Florida isn't anything at all like that.

However, if you've been living in Florida for a number of years and then move back to the Northeast, they will notice that nothing at home is "the same" or "what it once was." Granny has died, so no more Christmas dinner at her home. Uncle Al is divorced and his ex-wife got the house, so no more annual 4th of July cookout. Aunt Sue's retired and now spends the week of Thanksgiving at her timeshare in Hawaii, so no more Thanksgiving dinner at her home. Lots of your friends, cousins, and neighbors who were around your age have moved to different cities or even different states for career opportunities or because, like you, they wanted warmer weather, lower taxes, and a bigger/newer/cheaper home to raise their young families. The food at your favorite restaurant that you ate at least once a week religiously growing up doesn't taste the same anymore because the restaurant is under new ownership, or it may have simply closed its doors. And so on.

I think that's where the disconnect is occurring because when all of this occurs or changes, home--or at least your ideal of home, rather--has forever changed. When you realize this and also that you're now back to living in a small, old, dilapidated home; paying exorbitantly high taxes; waking up an extra hour early to clear snow off of your car; begin heating your home on October 10th--that's when you start to long for Florida and remember why you moved there in the first place, hence why lots of people who move to Florida from the Northeast and then move back home usually return to Florida.