[jaredtortosa]

Hi. Me and my wife are thinking of Moving to Florida given than she is from Puerto Rico and Im from Europe sinced our parents getting older Florida would give us much easy access to both worlds. I would like to ask anyone willing to share a few points of views on the pros and cons of certain places. We toured Florida a few years back looking for a place but we werent too impress with Tampa or Miami. Weve also been googling Cape Coral, SouthWest Florida in General but we are open to most ideas. We are looking for a place with somewhat of a hispanic population given our background, reasonable access to the ocean (within 1 hr+/-), and strong Health Care network as I work in the Health Care system and have a daughter with preexisted condition.
What would be a recomended place that would meet the following criteria:

1.-Strong Health Care Network (workwise & treatment)

2.-Reasonably close to the ocean (within 1hr +/-)

3.-Somewhat of a Dynamic/Social place (we are in our mid/late 30's)

4.-Somewhat of a hispanic population.

5.-Cost of Living (middle class at 50k of Utah)

Also, I see online that homes are cheap but whats the reality of the housing market now and what tricks are not being advertize in the prices plus how home insurance adds to the overall costs,etc.

A lot of questions but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[Hawaii4evr]

The further inland you go, the cheaper you will be. I'd say Fort Lauderdale, Miami, or West Palm Beach would probably be to your preference, due to the Caribbean/Latino culture you want to be surrounded by, along with it having the warmest water temps and weather in the state. Miami isn't cheap but it's also much cheaper than places like San Francisco, LA, or New York City. The problem would be that jobs may be hard to find and wages aren't that high, so it might be more difficult to afford...a cheaper alternative might be the Tampa/St. Pete/Sarasota area. Slightly cooler than South Florida in winter, and the water isn't warm in the wintertime...but the beaches are beautiful and other than a few cool days in winter, it's warm year-round.

[hurricaneMan1992]

I agree with the above, don't rule out Fort Lauderdale or West Palm just because Miami is not your cup of tea. The Space Coast region of the State is another possibility, that's where a lot of the tech industry is nowadays, and the cost of living is less than southeast FL. The Sarasota area might be worth looking in to, it's much more sane than the Tampa/St. Pete area. Be careful with many of the cheap-looking homes in urban areas, they may be in bad neighbourhoods and/or have serious maintenance and/or code violation issues, plus competition from the cash investors.

[Restrain]

Sarasota is a nice place, lots of growth. Watch out for buying in a flood zone due to rebuilding rules, etc. Miami has a very Cuban-Caribbean culture but more expensive to live (housing, etc). We bought in Port Charlotte, but an older population. Beaches on the west coast are excellent, better than east coast, and hurricanes are much less likely to hit vs east coast due to currents, wind patterns. Job growth in the Sarasota/Tampa area is very good.