[Karry]

Afternoon here London Lass,

Where ever you go and you want private education for your children, the country day private schools are the best. I originally come from Ohio and close to a town called Maumee. They had Maumee Valley Country Day Private School. A cousin sent his daughters to Hutchison Private school in Arkansas. There seems to be many of them in southwest as well as the south. They are good schools as well.

[Granny Sue]

LondonLass,
My advise to you is to post this in the above forums of Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando......
The 4 major cities in Orlando are IMO vastly different..They each have their own sets of plusses and minuses.

Check to see what's the most important to you and go from there.

Good Luck!!

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

Actually Jacksonville is.10th safest "big city" in the U.S. And as a metro area, Fort Lauderdale is, home to the 10th safest overall city in the U.S (Coral Springs).

I think they should look into Martin County.

Martin County doesn't have the hustle and bustle. It is actually pretty boring. The kids get into trouble there...

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Gosh, $750k will allow you to live anywhere you want in Florida, and comfortably.

Unfortunately, "hustle and bustle" and "good schools" don't tend to go hand in hand.

Tampa might be the safest "big city" in Florida. Orlando is only about an hour away. Absolutely no idea about the city though!


How "close" exactly do you want to be to hustle? I know some great safe smaller cities with good schools, excellent housing, abundant recreation and shopping..... but they're 45mins to an hour to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, where the action (good and bad) is.

I live here in Tampa, it actually has one of the highest crime in the state. I wouldn't move here, I, myself am trying to get out!

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by ssg II

What you're used to as the h & b of London does not exist in Florida.
If I were you, I'd check out St. Augustine. For 750, you could afford a great home downtown! Brick streets, shops, restaurants... And the beach is very close. From what I hear, great schools as well.

Cheers!

I don't find St. Augustine full of hustle and bustle. I think it is dull and only for tourist to see the fountain of youth and all that crap. Yea, a lot of resturaunts and shops, but not a major city-more like a large town to me.

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by LondonLass

Yes I am used to city living but its not how I would like to continue living, I loved the laid back vibe of Florida and just want to bring my children up in a safe environment where the schools and weather are excellent, I have had many response's and am still confused, someone said North Florida someone else said N. Carolina but that is a state I never considered b4 any ideas? Thanks for the responses so far......it all helps eventually

I wouldn't do anything in North Florida unless it's Jacksonville. North Florida is mainly woods and such. I lived there as well. Jacksonville I don't reall like, but it is a city with plenty to do, not so so busy and I know there are private schools....downfall-downtown smells like raw sewage.

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by Charlotte Shoemaker

I'm a real estate agent in Ocala which is located in Central Florida. Yes, it's an hour from the gulf and two hours from the Atlantic but we don't have to worry so much about hurricanes, etc. Also, you can save some money on buying real estate. I bet I can find you a real nice home in a real nice gated community for less than half what you are expecting to spend. Also, it's located in a great school district. There's plenty of work in the nursing profession here. Let me know if I can help you.

Actually Ocala is a horrible little town with not a whole lot to do, it's about 45 mins. from Gainesville which is nothing but a college town. Job here? Yea, limited. This wouldn't be the greatest place to move.

[mquintana]

Originally Posted by virtualt

Londonlass,
I grew up in London, a place called Uxbridge, in NW London, and now live in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

This area has some of the highest rated schools in Florida, and probably 8 major hospitals, as it has a good number of retiree's from the cold northern area's of America.

A nice sized waterfront home will be in the $400k range, and the taxes are relatively low when compared to other area's.

We get about 9 months of sunshine, with temps in the mid 90's, and relatively mild winters, never seen snow in the 10 years I've been here, although will get a couple of cold snaps per year when we cover the plants up.

There is a great website to visit GULF BREEZE FLORIDA - GULF BREEZE Homes and Real Estate For Sale - Realtor® (http://www.pensacola-area-real-estate.com - broken link) that has some really useful free information, schools, housing and job markets.

Hope you decide to come and stay in our area.

Skippy

I have never been here, but it is a good possibility that it is true. Gulf coast is not to shabby with nice little towns.

[New England Yankee]

Hi there,I grew up in England 21yrs,I think I pretty much know it.
There is crime everwhere,look at the BBC site and all it does is talk about crime and England is the most video cam Country.
Plus the English are leaving the country in droves.
I live in the USA now and am planning on moving to Florida and have read up on it as well as visited it..Sarasota has a big British population and club.
Nearby in Bradenton,Gene Witt School has an A rating.Also there is a tennis school.
Andre Agesse and Monica Selles, another great went to school there.
Bradenton has it bad parts,the West side I have read.
Best thing would be to go to Disney,which I think is about a 3hr drive and spend some time in Sarasota Bradenton.
This way if you don't like it,you would have had a fun time
I am not sure what line of work you are in but the wages are LOW in that area and there isn't a lot of employment there.
The English pound being so strong against the sinking $ makes your money worth a lot.
Good Luck.

[Magnulus]

Violent crime in general is higher in the US than the UK. Florida in particular. That's not to say all of Florida is like that (some parts are better than others) but on the whole it is the case.

Florida on the whole has neither the hustle and bustle of London nor does it have the layed back pace you are thinking of. Mostly, life in Florida is like the rest of the east coast, US. Frustrating, full of lots of aggrivations, and somewhat alienating, as most people spend a couple hours a day in a car. Oh, you will pretty much have to own one of those too. That's another hidden cost of living in the US. 4K-7K dollars in total cost of ownership (excluding fuel) per automobile.

Nursing is a good career to pursue in Florida. However on the whole I'd say the employment situation in Florida is quite mediocre. There are lots of jobs available, but most don't pay well- alot will not even pay well enough to afford an apartment in a safe part of town. The job situation would be better if housing and rents were more realistic, but unfortunately they are not. The schools on the whole are bad, Florida has over half the schools in the state listed as failing... again that's not to say every school is like that in Florida but on the whole there are problems. Some schools are actually quite good, the majority are not.

Housing insurance and property taxes are another area that are sore spots in Florida and the problem is quite severe in some areas. The insurance problem is due to hurricanes and the fact so many people choose to live in areas vulnerable to storm surges. Hurricanes can be quite nasty if you live on the coasts, but if you live inland they are not so bad. However, even in interior parts of Florida you can lose power for weeks, which means no air conditioning in 90 degree heat and 75 percent humidity. Hurricane Charlie a few years ago did a number on US but we were one of the few areas in Central Florida that did not loose power for more than 2 days. Alot of other people I know were not so lucky.

Florida's weather- well personally I think England has better weather, as it is temperate all year round, mostly. In Florida you really only have two seasons. Wet and hot or dry and cool. The further north you go, the colder it gets. The wet season starts around May or June and lasts until late November. During this time period it is more humid (60 - 80 percent humidity) and temperatures are usually 75-95 during the day. The cold season has temperatures of about 55-75 during the day, with humidity about 40-75 percent. During the cold season there is also often fog in the morning, very thick. In fact car windows and glasses fog up pretty easily in Florida and its a common occurance when you come out of air conditioning or whenever there is a sudden temperature change. Central and North Florida have colder periods where it can get to as low as 45-55 F degrees in the day and about 36 F at night (a little above 2 Celsius- we don't use Metric here either!). In Central and North Florida snow occasional falls but never in large quantities and doesn't stick at all.