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Jobless people. It is not just people from up North. People without a job would be jumping with joy to have a job and especially one in Florida? Not necessarily true, and not necessarily people from out of state either.
Software firm where my husband works in Naples looking to hire tech person. Nobody in the the Naples area, period. Advertised throughout Florida. Made offer to man in Jacksonville. Sorry, don't want to move to Naples. Same offer to woman in Tampa. No, thanks, decided to stay in Tampa area.
Then they looked up North. Man from Philly strung them along for weeks. When they demanded an answer, he said he was offered a job in Philly and decided not to relocate. Man from Denver wanted to telecommute!
Now they seem to be stuck. Cannot find anybody inside Florida, or outside Florida, willing to relocate to the state, or to Naples. Make matters worse, their Manager just retired and now they need two people inside of one.
Is it Florida, or is it Naples, Florida? Probably a little of both. IMHO, if you have ANY doubts, you will be happier where you already are. I can say that with absolute certainty.
I grew up in working-class Italian-American family in Rhode Island and moved to Florida as a young adult nearly 20 years ago. I chose Florida because it was all that I knew. Aside from Florida, I had never been anywhere farther than New Jersey, but I wanted warm weather more than anything, so that's why I ended up there. I also wanted to be closer to my grandparents.
For most of my life prior to moving to Boca in the mid-90's, I had been travelling to the area bi-annually since in the late 70's/early 80's--essentially my entire life--when my grandparents purchased their Sandalfoot Cove condo, which was brand new at the time.
IMO, Boca--and Palm Beach County in general, for that matter--truly peaked in the 80's, but was tolerable up until about 1999 or so, after which I really never cared for it.
Around 2000-2001, it seemed like the floodgates had opened, and lots more folks from NY/NJ began moving down. There had always been a large concentration of NY'ers in Boca, but in the 90's you had a better chance of bumping into a person from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, California here and there. However, from the early 2000's and onward, almost every single person you met was from NY/NJ or--if not there--Latin America. Ugh.
Naturally, the area changed for the worst--driving became much more aggressive/dangerous, people became ruder and more obnoxious, and the whole vibe of the area just went from borderline tolerable to simply unbearable, consistent with most of South Florida.
The housing boom of the mid-2000's further altered the dynamics of Boca. What was once a very affluent community--where exotic cars dominated the roads and everything was designer--had transformed into more of regular middle-class suburban community, as lots of lower-middle class people from NY/NJ cashed out on their very inflated real estate and moved into the area, buying bigger/newer/less expensive homes. This was especially common in the early 2000's, but leveled off in the mid-2000's when the real estate in South Florida began catching up to NY/NJ and inventory was depleted. To further illustrate my point, nearby Coral Springs in Broward County reached residential build-out in 2003.
During the 2000's, however, the general snottiness and pretense of the area that Boca became infamous for over the years waned, and it was replaced with a more ornery/working-class vibe, reminiscent of RI where I grew up (which was harder for me to deal with and what I wanted to get away from), largely due to the new population makeup of the city.
Hurricane Wilma is '05 was really the straw that broke the camel's back for me, and I left for good in '07 when I moved to California, which IMO, was a huge upgrade. I can't see myself ever returning to Florida unless my parents move into my now late grandparents' condo upon retirement and need me to care for them when they can no longer care for themselves.
I was in Boca as recently as mid-2012, and wow, the area seems to be going increasingly downhill--seems like lots of spillover from Broward County to the south, as I sensed an unfamiliar ghetto vibe in the area I had never sensed before. Orlando seemed that way, too, based on recent visits in 2009 and 2012--lots of NYC & Miami transplants in Orlando now. Ugh.
That said, if you were inquiring about moving to Florida 20 years ago, my recommendation would most likely have been very different. However, since the state in general seems to be declining, I urge most folks to look elsewhere, especially educated professionals. I don't want anyone to make the same mistake I did.
The only people who like FL are usually people from NY/NJ/PA. Most folks from elsewhere tend to move on after the allure of "living in FL" has worn off--usually by either moving back to where they came from or moving somewhere else entirely--because living around tons and tons of angry/deviant/bizarre NY/NJ/PA people gets real old, real fast.
I guess you have gotten the opinions of people from places other than NY/NJ/PA to come to that conclusion.
What is this "allure" of living in FL" that you refer to?
FL has its benefits in lifestyle, the climate is certainly a draw to many, the amount of recreational activity available on a year-round basis is nice, the diversity of the state is wonderful, but it is really no different than living any where else where one may find that their personal requirements are met.
It seems that a lot of people find that the offerings of FL meet their personal requirements.
Florida is not for everyone. For some it is a place they can thrive and be happy in and then there are those who do not find it a place for them. Neither is right or wrong, its just personal desires.
Some people may come to FL with their heads in the clouds attitudes and their bubble gets burst quickly.
The idea of choosing a new place to live your life is to look at the pros and cons subjectively and not make decisions with your head in the clouds.
What I find ridiculous is the way people who have found life in FL not to their liking constantly tell the rest of the world that it is not the place to be. It may not be the place for them but it is the place for others.
Most of all, I do not understand why people who decided FL is not for them continue to discuss the place and make it a point to berate FL and the people who do want to be here.
Since you left 7 years ago, why do you care? It seems from your post that you have a problem with people from New York and New Jersey. I wonder why?
Not all people form NY and NJ came to Fl with a large bankroll and decided to park their butts for the rest of their lives. There are many that came from humble situations, working class people who were being priced out of NY and NJ, who no longer cared for the way their home areas were changing and other concerns. FL offered those folks more than many other places. Those people came to FL to continue working while enjoying a higher quality of life are plentiful. In most cases, they assimilated to their new areas of residence and did not lock themselves in to communities where they would find the same attitudes and people from where they came. Others sought the comfort of being surrounded by
people from the same geographic origination as themselves.
There is a whole lot more to FL than ,"Boca" and South East FL. I can understand why people from smaller metro areas would be unhappy with that area of FL. I would never consider living south of Ft. Pierce on the east coast as I find it to be over crowded and not having any benefit of being there.
You, like many transplants, wanted warm weather and warm weather was the whole draw.
They did not take anything else into consideration. If all that they wanted was warm weather why FL over southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico.? In your situation it appears that the only thing you based your relocation on was the fact that you visited here a lot and wanted to be closer to your Grandparents. Those are not very good reasons to choose a new location to live in. If you were unable to assimilate and live among people you have an ingrained prejudice against it is YOUR problem, not the problem of anything else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 8to32characters
I grew up in working-class Italian-American family in Rhode Island and moved to Florida as a young adult nearly 20 years ago. I chose Florida because it was all that I knew. Aside from Florida, I had never been anywhere farther than New Jersey, but I wanted warm weather more than anything, so that's why I ended up there. I also wanted to be closer to my grandparents.
For most of my life prior to moving to Boca in the mid-90's, I had been travelling to the area bi-annually since in the late 70's/early 80's--essentially my entire life--when my grandparents purchased their Sandalfoot Cove condo, which was brand new at the time.
IMO, Boca--and Palm Beach County in general, for that matter--truly peaked in the 80's, but was tolerable up until about 1999 or so, after which I really never cared for it.
Around 2000-2001, it seemed like the floodgates had opened, and lots more folks from NY/NJ began moving down. There had always been a large concentration of NY'ers in Boca, but in the 90's you had a better chance of bumping into a person from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, California here and there. However, from the early 2000's and onward, almost every single person you met was from NY/NJ or--if not there--Latin America. Ugh.
Naturally, the area changed for the worst--driving became much more aggressive/dangerous, people became ruder and more obnoxious, and the whole vibe of the area just went from borderline tolerable to simply unbearable, consistent with most of South Florida.
The housing boom of the mid-2000's further altered the dynamics of Boca. What was once a very affluent community--where exotic cars dominated the roads and everything was designer--had transformed into more of regular middle-class suburban community, as lots of lower-middle class people from NY/NJ cashed out on their very inflated real estate and moved into the area, buying bigger/newer/less expensive homes. This was especially common in the early 2000's, but leveled off in the mid-2000's when the real estate in South Florida began catching up to NY/NJ and inventory was depleted. To further illustrate my point, nearby Coral Springs in Broward County reached residential build-out in 2003.
During the 2000's, however, the general snottiness and pretense of the area that Boca became infamous for over the years waned, and it was replaced with a more ornery/working-class vibe, reminiscent of RI where I grew up (which was harder for me to deal with and what I wanted to get away from), largely due to the new population makeup of the city.
Hurricane Wilma is '05 was really the straw that broke the camel's back for me, and I left for good in '07 when I moved to California, which IMO, was a huge upgrade. I can't see myself ever returning to Florida unless my parents move into my now late grandparents' condo upon retirement and need me to care for them when they can no longer care for themselves.
I was in Boca as recently as mid-2012, and wow, the area seems to be going increasingly downhill--seems like lots of spillover from Broward County to the south, as I sensed an unfamiliar ghetto vibe in the area I had never sensed before. Orlando seemed that way, too, based on recent visits in 2009 and 2012--lots of NYC & Miami transplants in Orlando now. Ugh.
That said, if you were inquiring about moving to Florida 20 years ago, my recommendation would most likely have been very different. However, since the state in general seems to be declining, I urge most folks to look elsewhere, especially educated professionals. I don't want anyone to make the same mistake I did.
[quote=Jo48;34646522]Jobless people. It is not just people from up North. People without a job would be jumping with joy to have a job and especially one in Florida? Not necessarily true, and not necessarily people from out of state either.
Software firm where my husband works in Naples looking to hire tech person. Nobody in the the Naples area, period. Advertised throughout Florida. Made offer to man in Jacksonville. Sorry, don't want to move to Naples. Same offer to woman in Tampa. No, thanks, decided to stay in Tampa area.
Then they looked up North. Man from Philly strung them along for weeks. When they demanded an answer, he said he was offered a job in Philly and decided not to relocate. Man from Denver wanted to telecommute!
Now they seem to be stuck. Cannot find anybody inside Florida, or outside Florida, willing to relocate to the state, or to Naples. Make matters worse, their Manager just retired and now they need two people inside of one.
Is it Florida, or is it Naples, Florida? Probably a little of both. IMHO, if you have ANY doubts, you will be happier where you already are. I can say that with absolute certainty.[/quote]
I think the same can be said of any location. If you have doubts about it, perhaps staying put is the best choice till you have figured it out.
Odd to participate in a topic basically asking are you glad you made the move to Florida? which presumes a yes or no response, responding no to the question for whatever reason you are then vigorously attacked for being a hater and basher of the state.
That being the case I think the topic title should have been worded to relegate the responses to only those who live in Florida and are very happy with that choice .Eg; If you are a Floridian how happy does that make you feel, positive responses only!
Jobless people. It is not just people from up North. People without a job would be jumping with joy to have a job and especially one in Florida? Not necessarily true, and not necessarily people from out of state either.
Software firm where my husband works in Naples looking to hire tech person. Nobody in the the Naples area, period. Advertised throughout Florida. Made offer to man in Jacksonville. Sorry, don't want to move to Naples. Same offer to woman in Tampa. No, thanks, decided to stay in Tampa area.
Then they looked up North. Man from Philly strung them along for weeks. When they demanded an answer, he said he was offered a job in Philly and decided not to relocate. Man from Denver wanted to telecommute!
Now they seem to be stuck. Cannot find anybody inside Florida, or outside Florida, willing to relocate to the state, or to Naples. Make matters worse, their Manager just retired and now they need two people inside of one.
Is it Florida, or is it Naples, Florida? Probably a little of both. IMHO, if you have ANY doubts, you will be happier where you already are. I can say that with absolute certainty.[/quote]
I think the same can be said of any location. If you have doubts about it, perhaps staying put is the best choice till you have figured it out.
Could it be the pay? Naples isn't that cheap of a place to live, and if there's one thing I have to agree with about Fl, it's that the pay doesn't always match the area.
Odd to participate in a topic basically asking are you glad you made the move to Florida? which presumes a yes or no response, responding no to the question for whatever reason you are then vigorously attacked for being a hater and basher of the state.
That being the case I think the topic title should have been worded to relegate the responses to only those who live in Florida and are very happy with that choice .Eg; If you are a Floridian how happy does that make you feel, positive responses only!
Yes, I'm very happy that I moved to Florida. Of course, that was eons ago, right after I finished graduate school in 1976. I never had any problems finding a job, I met my soul-mate here, we married two years after that, raised a family, and are now retired to what we consider our little piece of paradise, and plan to spend the rest of our years here. Not that there haven't been trials and tribulations along the way, perhaps some of them you wouldn't encounter in other parts of the country ( as in, hurricane damage), but I figure that's life and you take the bitter with the better...
And personally, figure for every location, there are folks who love it, others who hate it, and maybe some who just figure it's the best they can do. I've never understood why some folks feel they must bash any location, be it Florida, or anywhere else, ad nauseum- you don't like it, do what you must to make changes.
So as far as I a concerned, it's hard to take such bashing seriously, why be that obsessed about anything?
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