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if you like lots of traffic,lots of people,lots of languages,houses trown together in a few weeks so close to the next one you can touch them both at the same time,then florida is for you..me i had enough..ill never go back..good luck
i love it when people classify fla (the entire state mind you) as overpopulated, with houses really close together. that's like saying everyone in california enjoys surfing.
This is why the wages won't go up. In some parts of South Florida, housing costs have risen so high that blue-collar workers have moved away. Why pay for workers when you get them cheap, house them in a one room shack, and send them home when you don't need them anymore. Its not just the low wage housekeeper anymore. Its the white and blue-collar workers. Alot of companies are doing this now. Its all about the bottom line. Why pay 100k when you can have the same worker for 30k. This might be good for the CEO but its very bad news for the middle class worker. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17691144/
i love it when people classify fla (the entire state mind you) as overpopulated, with houses really close together. that's like saying everyone in california enjoys surfing.
I don't think developers will rush in after a monster hurricane. I think it will be like New Orleans, because investors will lose and the state insurance fund will crumble. A disaster would trigger a massive sell-off and probably 10 years of disorder, just like after Hurricane Andrew, but with less help. This happened in 1926, and it was a LONG time before people came back to Miami. Let's see how long it takes New Orleans to recover. Then let's see how long it takes to rebuild Miami.
I don't normally post in the Florida forum, even though we've lived here for 15 years in this house in Margate, and at least a couple years before that in a condo in north Miami.
Southeast Florida does have some positives. You can expect that the temps will rarely go over 95, and in the winter, lows of 55 are normal. The area is lush and green and sunlit when other areas of the country are dark and cold and miserable. There is always something happening, and if you have the money it can be a vibrant lifestyle. Shopping opportunities abound, and hobnobbing with the rich and famous is not out of reach.
With some reluctance, we have put our house on the market to move closer to my wife's grandkids in Alabama, and to a more country life. I can say without reservation that if we had to move into this area of Florida again, this house and property is the best fit. We are giving up 3/4 of an acre with banana plants, mango trees, loquat trees, and recently replanted citrus trees, and a pool with a backdrop of two huge royal poincienas. The neighborhood is quiet with great neighbors, and the house weathered hurricane Wilma without a problem. In my mind, this property is worth much more than the current real estate market, but it still doesn't match us or our needs, and it is time to move.
Why are we leaving? This past year seemed like the year without a respite from the heat. I know that the el nino years are hotter, but sweating while mowing my lawn on January 1st was nuts. We don't go to the beach, we've been there a total of three times in fifteen years. We don't enjoy the social life, both of us are more reclusive than that. Our insurance on the home is only $3000 - less than many homes in so Florida, and taxes have been capped by the "Save Our Homes" ammendment, but we have found better deals closer to folks and an area that we love. We both refuse to fly, given the shoddy treatment that airlines were giving even pre-911, and living on the end of a penninsula means a days drive just to get to the mainland on the way to see them. Oddly enough, another major factor in the decision to leave was the lack of real rocks other than coral, and lack of hills or mountains.
Florida is changing incredibly quickly, and if there is a negative, it is the totally insane drivers and the transplants from NYC who act as if they own the world. I've seen drivers head in the wrong direction across a three lane highway to get to a left turn lane - during rush hour. I've seen motorcycles flashing by at over 100mph in traffic in the middle of the night. I've seen retired New Yorkers demand their money back after seeing an entire film at a discount theatre. I've seen waitresses at Wolfies have to upbraid customers, and little old ladies steal artificial sweetner by the purseload.
The problem is not the native Floridians, as much as the transplants. We are ready for a more sedate and sane place, where people wave while driving rather than try to hold a cellphone and a sandwich. A place where conversations don't lean towards antagonistic bickering. A place where there just aren't as many people crowded into an area.
I don't normally post in the Florida forum, even though we've lived here for 15 years in this house in Margate, and at least a couple years before that in a condo in north Miami.
Southeast Florida does have some positives. You can expect that the temps will rarely go over 95, and in the winter, lows of 55 are normal. The area is lush and green and sunlit when other areas of the country are dark and cold and miserable. There is always something happening, and if you have the money it can be a vibrant lifestyle. Shopping opportunities abound, and hobnobbing with the rich and famous is not out of reach.
With some reluctance, we have put our house on the market to move closer to my wife's grandkids in Alabama, and to a more country life. I can say without reservation that if we had to move into this area of Florida again, this house and property is the best fit. We are giving up 3/4 of an acre with banana plants, mango trees, loquat trees, and recently replanted citrus trees, and a pool with a backdrop of two huge royal poincienas. The neighborhood is quiet with great neighbors, and the house weathered hurricane Wilma without a problem. In my mind, this property is worth much more than the current real estate market, but it still doesn't match us or our needs, and it is time to move.
Why are we leaving? This past year seemed like the year without a respite from the heat. I know that the el nino years are hotter, but sweating while mowing my lawn on January 1st was nuts. We don't go to the beach, we've been there a total of three times in fifteen years. We don't enjoy the social life, both of us are more reclusive than that. Our insurance on the home is only $3000 - less than many homes in so Florida, and taxes have been capped by the "Save Our Homes" ammendment, but we have found better deals closer to folks and an area that we love. We both refuse to fly, given the shoddy treatment that airlines were giving even pre-911, and living on the end of a penninsula means a days drive just to get to the mainland on the way to see them. Oddly enough, another major factor in the decision to leave was the lack of real rocks other than coral, and lack of hills or mountains.
Florida is changing incredibly quickly, and if there is a negative, it is the totally insane drivers and the transplants from NYC who act as if they own the world. I've seen drivers head in the wrong direction across a three lane highway to get to a left turn lane - during rush hour. I've seen motorcycles flashing by at over 100mph in traffic in the middle of the night. I've seen retired New Yorkers demand their money back after seeing an entire film at a discount theatre. I've seen waitresses at Wolfies have to upbraid customers, and little old ladies steal artificial sweetner by the purseload.
The problem is not the native Floridians, as much as the transplants. We are ready for a more sedate and sane place, where people wave while driving rather than try to hold a cellphone and a sandwich. A place where conversations don't lean towards antagonistic bickering. A place where there just aren't as many people crowded into an area.
Im just have one question for you. Did you ask these offenders where they were from? I live in Pennsylvania now and I have seen many Pennsylvanians speed by me at high rates of speed on their rice rocket motorcycles, mostly in the daytime. Try almost any metropolitan area at rush hour and you will find aggressive drivers changing lanes unsafely. These little old ladies stealing sweeteners told you that they were from NY?
I am glad that native Florida residents don't talk on their cell phones and eat sandwiches while they are driving. Also glad that there are no rude native Floridians. Of course, a check of the threads in the Florida forum will show you that there are at least a few rude Floridians.
If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known that every person who does some of the things that you list have to be from NY. There are no people like that from other places.
You had a pretty good post until you tried to lay all the ills that you perceive in Florida at the feet of NYers.
I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Jacksonville about 20 years ago. I was the only northerner in my neighborhood and at my job! A real culture shock. After awhile, I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't as nice as the people around me. o.k. I'm a decent person but I wasn't as polite or friendly. Why? Because the other people in N.J. weren't all that friendly either.
So I adapted. I learned to say "Hey" when you pass someone in the street. I learned to say "Ma'am" and "Sir" to my elders and I learned to walk and talk slower (when it's so hot all the time you need to slow down people!)
I do not miss the northern attitude at all. In fact I moved back to Northern Florida after 5 years in Connecticut. I have a daughter and I prefer that she grow up a southerner.
So I understand people's frustration with so many Northerners now living in Florida. I adapted to the south well. Not all do.
Now, in Northern Florida there are many Northerners and some of the native Florida culture is being lost. You can still find some "Old Florida" around here if you look for it though.
I think that the underlying reason people are not happy with Florida is that it is just not as fun to live there as it once was. Prices have gone through the roof on everything. That alone is enogh to make everyone reconsider their choices.
I know I moved there and live in Soutwest Florida for a year. I was so happy to move away. The main reason is that people are just so dang mean there. I was in the driveway with my ten year old son and some OLD LADY was driving by and stopped in the middle of the street and looked at my son and stuck out her tonuge. I could not belive what I saw. I do not know why this happen as it was completely unrovoked. I was there and saw everything.
I just suppose she thought that since he was not over 300 years old he did not belong there. That is just one example fo the stupid things that happened while we were there. I am so happy my family is not subjetced to that any longer.
I have been told by many people that have lived there for a long time that it is just not fun to live in Florida any longer. It seems the snowbirds have broght so much with them over the years that some of it has rubbed off on all the natives. NO I am not saying all snowbirds are bad, and I am not trying to start an argument. I am just saying that the problems were "imported" to a once really neat place.
I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Jacksonville about 20 years ago. I was the only northerner in my neighborhood and at my job! A real culture shock. After awhile, I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't as nice as the people around me. o.k. I'm a decent person but I wasn't as polite or friendly. Why? Because the other people in N.J. weren't all that friendly either.
So I adapted. I learned to say "Hey" when you pass someone in the street. I learned to say "Ma'am" and "Sir" to my elders and I learned to walk and talk slower (when it's so hot all the time you need to slow down people!)
I do not miss the northern attitude at all. In fact I moved back to Northern Florida after 5 years in Connecticut. I have a daughter and I prefer that she grow up a southerner.
So I understand people's frustration with so many Northerners now living in Florida. I adapted to the south well. Not all do.
Now, in Northern Florida there are many Northerners and some of the native Florida culture is being lost. You can still find some "Old Florida" around here if you look for it though.
Im 15 and i lived in Florida my whole life. I love it here. Florida is the best Tampa is the best.
We live in such a unique part of the country. Think about all the stuff we do have. The biggest themepark in the world. We have the most theme parks in the woald. some of the worlds greatest beaches. the space shuttle. then we have our sports teams and sporting events.
Florida is diffrent then another place in the world..but yet some people hate it
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