[RobertBlockus]

What is it like living in the Florida Key's? The boating & the social life. Working on picking up a home office in Key Largo. Is the area airport easy to fly in and out to get other connecting flights?

[kyle19125]

It's pretty isolated and full-time residents are kind of a cliquey bunch from what I have heard. There is no airport with any kind of commercial flights other than Miami International Airport which is an hour and half/two hours north.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by RobertBlockus

What is it like living in the Florida Key's? The boating & the social life. Working on picking up a home office in Key Largo. Is the area airport easy to fly in and out to get other connecting flights?

I find 2 things shocking.............the price of real estate/cost of living and the amount of low class people!

There are trailer parks everywhere, Key West is the nation's dumping ground for losers as if everyone who can't make it in the continental US flees to Key West thinking Jimmy Buffet will be singing under a bridge serving cheeseburgers to everyone with ten fingers!

There are many beautiful homes/boats but for every 4000 sq ft home seems there are 2 homeless people!

Schools routinely are low scoring which indicates the rich people are simply vacationing in the keys, not raising their families there.

[RobertBlockus]

I am also thinking about Marathon Key. Think I rather be in the Florida Keys than being in Fort Lauderdale. I need to make Florida a main residence so I can keep track of bank records and so fourth. I like the aspect of being isolated. I started working with a real estate agent. Thinking about December time for the settle down in the Florida Key's. Picking up the big fish camp estate home in Marathon, Florida. I might take it down and build new estate home on same location.

[tallrick]

The keys are isolated, and it was outside money that ruined them. Idiots from other places with more money than common sense come to the keys and inflate real estate prices. Locals who had been there for generations scraped by with the meager local economy. Basically keys living involves working to get money for drinking, boating, fishing, or smoking. Drug money and northeasterners pumped up living expenses but not the local economy. Homeless people migrate down there due to the warm winter weather, and that is why you see so many of them. I have found the locals to be easier to get along with than the average Miami resident. The only complaint I had was the seasonal residents from NY, NJ and the like trying to dictate how the locals live.

[FlyMIA]

If you have the money to afford a nice home and a good QOL there why not. I will say to enjoy living down there especially not in Key West you need to love the ocean, fishing, diving, boating etc.. Own a boat. It is the major thing to do down there. Key West has some others things to do it is a big tourist town and for an isolated island it is a fairly large town.

If you can afford it than its not a bad place to live as long as you don't need nor want big city amenities like pro sports, malls, lots of places to eat (excluding Key West), performing arts, museums etc..

As for air travel Key West is the only city with scheduled airline service. There are flights to the big cities in Florida along with flights to Atlanta. Flights to NYC, DC and Charlotte are seasonal. You will find air fares to be pretty expensive some parts of the year but again if you have the money you can easily connect huge hubs like Miami and Atlanta.

If you live more North like Key Largo you will just drive the 1.5hrs or so to Miami and take flights from there.

[statisticsnerd]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

It's pretty isolated and full-time residents are kind of a cliquey bunch from what I have heard. There is no airport with any kind of commercial flights other than Miami International Airport which is an hour and half/two hours north.

Southwest now flies to Key West.

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by statisticsnerd

Southwest now flies to Key West.

That poster was talking about Key Largo. Key West has a very good amount of airline service for a city of 25,000.

[Cubanchic]

Originally Posted by RobertBlockus

I am also thinking about Marathon Key. Think I rather be in the Florida Keys than being in Fort Lauderdale. I need to make Florida a main residence so I can keep track of bank records and so fourth. I like the aspect of being isolated. I started working with a real estate agent. Thinking about December time for the settle down in the Florida Key's. Picking up the big fish camp estate home in Marathon, Florida. I might take it down and build new estate home on same location.

Sister and her SO have a house in Marathon they live on the canal next to city hall across from the airport. They are both pilots so they divide thier time between Miami, River ranch in central Florida and Marathon. It is a different world down there and is sort of isolated but not that far from key west or Miami.

She usually let's us house sit when they travel and for us it is a nice change of pace from hectic Miami. I will agree the the keys folks are Very unique and tend to know each other very well, you will also find the most amounts of the old Florida timers ( southern) there.

If you do get the Marathon house let me know I can give you a whole list of local haunts, what we do when there (about six times a year mostly weekends), and where we take our boat to for diving.

[FloridaPirate355]

I love the Keys! It's a true paradise down there!

However just like everywhere else, it has it's issues. For starters the cost of housing is very expensive! I guess that's the price to live in paradise, however I saw many people living in trailers and mobile homes, so that might be a more affordable option. It's also very touristy, which can be a problem for some people (wouldn't bother me personally). Key West has a bit of a reputation as a party/drinking town, however this is confined to the tourist spots mainly. It also has a noticeable gay community, this again tends to be concentrated to just one part of town (mainly the East end of Duval), some of it is kind of scary like men dressed up as women, or the occasional nudity. However I just tended to avoid that part of town, be respectful and don't bother them and they won't bother you. You also have to worry about Hurricanes as it's a LONG way back to the mainland (about 4 hours drive to Miami), also when there is a tropical storm sometimes the streets flood a bit. Though it's usually nothing too serious. Not too sure about the job market down there, I imagine it's not the best though.

With all that being said, the pros of the Keys far outweigh the cons! It's an absolutely beautiful place! The atmosphere is so laid back and easy going, it starts to grow on you after a while. People are for the most part very friendly and non-judgmental (of course every community has a few bad apples), and there are countless things to do. Fishing (the Keys have some of the best fishing in the world), island exploring, beaches (beaches in the Keys may be small but they're still great), lot's of music and other social community events, great restaurants, lot's of historical sites, Dolphin and Sea Turtle sighting, national parks to visit, the list goes on and on! The Keys are also good for families too despite what some people say, families do in fact live there, and their kids go to schools, people go to churches etc...Families will fit in just fine, like I said just avoid certain parts of Key West. Also the Keys have very low crime, murder, assaults, rapes etc...are all very rare in the Keys, most of the crimes are petty involving a drunk tourist or public indecency (again tends to only happen in certain areas of Key West and at certain times such as Fantasy Fest).

I know I would love to live in the Keys if I could afford it! I've been to all kinds of places in this world, California, Georgia, Hawaii, South Carolina and more! And the Keys is probably the best place I have ever been to before. Want to live there when I retire.

EDIT: Also Key West does have an airport. I'm not sure on it's size, but I do know some major airlines do fly into it. Not sure about the other islands though.