[mdonny]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in college in MA and soon after I graduate my family and I will be moving to Florida. My grandparents will be going to The Villages, but my mom and I do not know where to begin looking for homes/condos; we are only familiar with the Orlando area. We are looking for a smaller city/town, not too far from The Villages, but with access to jobs as I will be in Finance. We really would not like to spend more than $200,000-$250,000 for a place.

Any help is really appreciated!!

Thanks!

[Restrain]

Right now, the Tampa area leads the state in job creation. Consider that distances in Florida are relative. For example, it is 2 hours from Port Charlotte to Orlando, 3 hours Port Charlotte to Miami. But a 2 hour drive for someone used to the highly congested northeast corridor might seem excessive.

Look for the job, then get a place to live. Good luck.

[StarfishKey]

There are some jobs in finance in Miami, but I would strongly consider if you should move with your family to FL considering there are far more finance jobs that make really good money elsewhere, like in your current state in Boston for example. It's fine if you really want to move to FL, but the job market is not great, especially for your field, compared to other places. Try an online salary calculator to compare what your likely salary would be in the job you are looking for in MA (or NY, CT, etc.), compared to in FL. Generally speaking, the same job in FL will pay significantly less. You have graduated and so now is the time to grow your career if that is important to you.

But, if you want to stay close to family and are less concerned about the money or variety of challenging job opportunities, then you may be able to find what you're looking for in FL. But you'll need to be more specific about what you're looking for - "jobs in finance" and "not too far from The Villages" is pretty vague. What type of job? How close do you need to be to the Villages?

If you don't need to be in the same city, a lot of people recommend St. Pete as a great place to be. That of course depends on whether "job in finance" means bank teller, or stock broker at a large firm, or accountant, etc. If you need to be at a bank headquarters, many South American ones are located in Miami - but you may need to know Spanish to get ahead in them, and you may not like Miami as many people find that they do not - the culture is drastically different from anywhere else.

More specific info would help us be more helpful to you though.

[mdonny]

Thank you for your replies. I am looking to be an analyst or an adviser. Unfortunately, remaining in Boston is not an option for us right now. I am also currently working for a hotel; if I could remain in the hotel industry, any idea where my best option would be? From your answers, I realized I need to consider the whole state, not just one small area.

[Restrain]

Biggest resort areas would be Orlando (DUH) and Greater Miami. Don't forget the cruise ship industry centered out of Miami - just big floating hotels. While the on-board staff is primarily 3rd world contract, the main operations staff is US centered.

[StarfishKey]

There are hotels and opportunities to be an independent adviser all over the state. It depends on what region of the state you like best, and how adventurous you're willing to be. Are you a high-risk, low-risk, or moderate-risk investor? It also depends on if you're looking to go high-end, like contracting with the wealthy in Palm Beach, or low-end, being open to small-time business from the average earner in FL. If you don't look to work for a major financial company directly, then you can pretty much go anywhere - just remember that you have to be a cut above in your craft and your experience level to compete with the hordes of others who apply for the tourism industry, or to turn a good profit as an independent adviser without the shelter and benefits of a larger company.

For high-risk, you may like the Keys (the entire local economy is focused on tourism, and wealthy people who need good advice on what you do with their money), Palm Beach, or the Marco Island area - places where it costs a lot to survive and the living space you can afford may be at the bottom of the barrel, but the living is beautiful and the opportunity to establish a good living with wealthy clientele or consistent tourism work may be well worth it if you're good at what you do.

Medium risk may be places like Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando... places with a decent local economy but that may have high living expenses or a lot of competition for the type of job you're looking for.

Low risk would be maybe St. Pete, Ft. Pierce/East Coast, or St. Augustine... places where there is some steady tourism, but cost of living is lower, so you're not risking as much financially, to get likely less financial reward if you're successful in getting clients or a local hotel position.

If you're not looking to apply to large financial firms, which would limit you greatly in terms of where you could go in FL, you could move pretty much anywhere depending on the lifestyle you want and the level of risk you're willing to take.

You can find a place to live for $250k pretty much anywhere in the state, but in the Keys it would be closer to a trailer (which many people actually like - they intentionally buy an RV and rent camp space which can actually be pretty nice here and not trashy, and then drive out when it gets hot and hurricanes threaten, for prices that are not so bad), in Miami it might be a condo or a place in the outer suburbs with a long commute, in cities up North it might be a really nice house with a good size yard and good proximity to things. It all depends on what your style is. But since you're just out of college soon, I recommend you really work on getting good references and some work experience, and do an internship if you haven't already. You will need something to compete with all the other people who want to move to FL and get jobs, and good grades are often not going to be enough in this environment. They want to know you're going to be a good investment for them to hire, consider they have 20 or more qualified people to choose from.