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I have been considering relocation to Florida for a while now as I have an illness where my pain is more manageable in warmer weather. I relocated from the Northeast to North Carolina a few years ago due to family reasons, but unfortunately November-March are still super challenging due to the cold. I am aware that it will be extremely hot in Florida, but it is a trade off I am willing to make to live with less pain. I do work from home and that won't change with relocation.
As far as what I am looking for, I am looking for the ability to have a house where I am not packed on top of another house, but also not looking for country either (We have people here who like to fire weapons at all hours so I am looking to get away from that) so something around 1/2 acre with 3 bedrooms would be great. For budget, I would like to spend $400,000 or less, but can go to $500,000 for something that ticks almost all of the boxes. I am in a wheelchair and have a labrador service dog who won't play fetch (believe it or not) so we walk a lot for his exercise. Ideally, I'd be able to find a house in a neighborhood where there are sidewalks or very lightly used streets so that I can walk him easily. It would also be great to be within some reasonable driving distance of great parks. In my research, things like the walking path that goes along the water at Treasure Island, Weeden Island Preserve, and Bird Key Park would be great as where I live in NC has no paved walking trails at any parks (closest ones are an hour away). I would also like to be within 20-30 minutes of shopping. I currently have to commute 45-75 minutes to get to major shopping such as Costco, Marshalls etc. One of the most important requirements for me is that the area in which I live is safe since being in a wheelchair I am a bit vulnerable. Lastly, for budget, I would like to spend $400,000 or less, but can go to $500,000 though I would rather not. High speed reliable internet is also important due to working from home.
In doing my research, I have read a lot of threads (on this forum and others) who are looking to relocate and have looked over the advice they received. There's a lot of "Don't come here", but it would be good to understand exactly why. The tangible things I have seen are traffic, wages, and heat. If there is something more, it would be good to understand that.
Based on all of the above, would the Tampa area be a good fit? If so, what specific Tampa suburbs should I look at? If not, what other areas in Florida should I consider? A lot of feedback has suggested south Florida wouldn't be a great fit and I'm not sure that Orlando would be either after having spent a couple of weeks there, but I'm open to all ideas.
I have been considering relocation to Florida for a while now as I have an illness where my pain is more manageable in warmer weather. I relocated from the Northeast to North Carolina a few years ago due to family reasons, but unfortunately November-March are still super challenging due to the cold. I am aware that it will be extremely hot in Florida, but it is a trade off I am willing to make to live with less pain. I do work from home and that won't change with relocation.
As far as what I am looking for, I am looking for the ability to have a house where I am not packed on top of another house, but also not looking for country either (We have people here who like to fire weapons at all hours so I am looking to get away from that) so something around 1/2 acre with 3 bedrooms would be great. For budget, I would like to spend $400,000 or less, but can go to $500,000 for something that ticks almost all of the boxes. I am in a wheelchair and have a labrador service dog who won't play fetch (believe it or not) so we walk a lot for his exercise. Ideally, I'd be able to find a house in a neighborhood where there are sidewalks or very lightly used streets so that I can walk him easily. It would also be great to be within some reasonable driving distance of great parks. In my research, things like the walking path that goes along the water at Treasure Island, Weeden Island Preserve, and Bird Key Park would be great as where I live in NC has no paved walking trails at any parks (closest ones are an hour away). I would also like to be within 20-30 minutes of shopping. I currently have to commute 45-75 minutes to get to major shopping such as Costco, Marshalls etc. One of the most important requirements for me is that the area in which I live is safe since being in a wheelchair I am a bit vulnerable. Lastly, for budget, I would like to spend $400,000 or less, but can go to $500,000 though I would rather not. High speed reliable internet is also important due to working from home.
In doing my research, I have read a lot of threads (on this forum and others) who are looking to relocate and have looked over the advice they received. There's a lot of "Don't come here", but it would be good to understand exactly why. The tangible things I have seen are traffic, wages, and heat. If there is something more, it would be good to understand that.
Based on all of the above, would the Tampa area be a good fit? If so, what specific Tampa suburbs should I look at? If not, what other areas in Florida should I consider? A lot of feedback has suggested south Florida wouldn't be a great fit and I'm not sure that Orlando would be either after having spent a couple of weeks there, but I'm open to all ideas.
Thanks in advance and sorry for the long message.
I live in Lakeland, and honestly I feel it ticks all your boxes. There are incredible parks here with nice paved paths and trails, many around the numerous beautiful lakes here. There is yet another huge beautiful park scheduled to open in a few months called Bonnet Springs Park, it will be incredible. I specifically recommend looking in the southern part of Lakeland, known as Lakeland Highlands, or central Lakeland. Unfortunately, your budget is probably low for these areas and what you want, but frankly the coastal towns will be much more expensive. I think it would be worth your while to research this area a bit.
Don't listen to anyone who says "don't come here." Those are the miserable people who ironically replaced the native American population centuries ago who also said "don't come here." Florida is open for anyone and everyone.
You need to target an area. Find an area, see if it's in your price range. Then make a move quickly.
Prices are rising every day.
Every day.
There is very limited housing right now. Complete sellers market, along with investors scooping up properties with cash deals pushing out traditional buyers.
I live in Lakeland, and honestly I feel it ticks all your boxes. There are incredible parks here with nice paved paths and trails, many around the numerous beautiful lakes here. There is yet another huge beautiful park scheduled to open in a few months called Bonnet Springs Park, it will be incredible. I specifically recommend looking in the southern part of Lakeland, known as Lakeland Highlands, or central Lakeland. Unfortunately, your budget is probably low for these areas and what you want, but frankly the coastal towns will be much more expensive. I think it would be worth your while to research this area a bit.
Thanks for this. I looked into Lakeland a little bit and think it has a lot of promise. Thanks for the great idea.
The Bradenton / Lakewood Ranch / Sarasota area might be a good fit for you to help fit those requirements. When considering Florida, you'll want to stay at or below the Tampa to Orlando line, north of that line, can get pretty cold in the wintertime. The heat and humidity isn't that bad in Florida in the summertime, compared to leaving the long, cold, and snowy winters of Minnesota. The summertime is from May to November, but there's only a couple of months, August and September, that are pretty miserable with the heat and humidity. But even in those two months, it's not that bad in the early morning hours or around sunset. So, you can still get out and do things every day.
Of course, rainy season is in the summertime, and it usually rains every afternoon around 4:30 PM. The heavy rain either hits your area, or misses your area. It pours for about 30 to 40 minutes, the temperature drops about 15 to 20 degrees from the storm, but the humidity rises some. After about an hour, it dries up and is nice again. All day rain events do happen, but they are rare compared to the short afternoon thunderstorms. So, you can get out and do things every day, unlike up north, where you have to hunker down 24 hours a day for over six months, except when you have to go out to commute to work or to go on errands. To us, it's only too hot and humid when the temperature is 93 to 96 degrees with high humidity. That's only part of the hottest days. It almost never gets hotter than 96 degrees. The coldest mornings last winter were 37 degrees on two different mornings. Those days had highs of 54 degrees, which is pretty cold by Florida standards. After living in Florida full time for a little over a year, we are adapting to the warmer weather, and temperatures in the 60's feels pretty cold. Temperatures of 90 degrees aren't that bad.
The humidity can be a good thing. In the wintertime in Minnesota, the indoor air is very dry. My skin become rough and starts to develop painful cracking. Lotion provides some relief, but doesn't completely fix the problem. After visiting Florida for only three days in the wintertime, the skin problems are fixed!
I recommend that you test drive the weather in the summertime. Visit Florida in August or September, or at least in June or July for a week to see if you can hack the heat and humidity. We visited in August for only a week before deciding about Florida, and the heat and humidity wasn't that bad to us. Then we visited in the summertime for a month, for a longer test drive. We did most of our research for a time period of four years before moving to Florida as we were doing scouting and house hunting trips. Our researching went back ten years before our move to Florida.
You can do some of the researching remotely. Learn which areas have higher crime rates by using the Trulia real estate website crime maps. It won't take you long to learn which areas to avoid. Also learn about the good things and bad things about living close to the coastline. Being near the coastline is great when the weather is great, but not great when there is red tide, or the threat of a hurricane. So far, hurricanes have not been much of a concern for us. There's a risk, but the risk isn't that high. The biggest hurricane threat to our area last year was Elsa, which turned out to be a big nothing for us with 14 mph winds and about 2 or 3 inches of rain.
Download the Fox 13 Skytower weather app. You can watch the weather video with the app, and also the news videos with the app. Also stream other Florida TV stations to get the news about the area you are looking at in Florida. Be aware that there are areas in Florida that are red and blue, with more red than blue. If you don't want to live with the blue area of control, then avoid areas like Orlando and Miami. The people are very Friendly in the Suncoast area of Florida. It's like friendliness on steroids compared to Minnesota, where "Minnesota nice" is really only a sloan from the Minnesota tourism department, not reality. I've heard from many people that people in the Miami area are not friendly. Part of our research was interviewing random people that lived in the communities and areas we were considering moving. We didn't just look at homes on our visits. When you interview many random people, you get a better idea about places that you'd consider.
I recommend starting by renting vacation rental properties through VRBO or AirBNB. We used VRBO. Rent vacation homes in areas that you are considering. Our requirement with VRBO was a minimum of 3 good reviews and no bad reviews. Staying in a vacation rental will give you a much better impression of living as a resident in Florida than staying in a hotel, even though the visit to Florida is a short time period. Drive around and experience how driving in Florida is different, where there are more reckless drivers. The 70 mph speed limit is just a suggestion. You are very unlikely to ever be pulled over if you drive 80 to 85 on the freeways. If you happen to visit Florida when the red tide is in the coastal areas, visit those beaches to experience how bad the red tide smell up close and in person. I would not want to live in one of those condos that line those beaches and be stuck with that red tide smell for weeks or maybe months.
There are tons of parks and walking trails within easy driving distance and also in our community where we live. The more established area tend to have larger lots than the newer areas. The newer area might take 20 years for the trees to grow enough so that the trees actually provide shade to the walking trails.
If you decide to move to Florida, rent for six months to a year before buying, if you're not very familiar with area. Never rent long term sight unseen. There are many scammers that you'd need to avoid. The prices are going up every month in Florida. If you wait too long, you might be priced out of areas that you are considering. When you're ready to buy, you have to be in Florida. If you find a property that you'd like to buy remotely on the Internet, by the time you fly to Florida and book an appointment with a realtor for a showing, that property will most likely be "pending", and unavailable. to you. If mobility could be difficultly for you now, or in the future, I'd recommend a single story home that could be adapted for a wheelchair in the future.
As you learn more about Florida, you'll learn what questions to ask the people who have researched Florida for years, or lived in Florida for years.
Actually, you could receive worse reactions and advice. Considering many many variables in 2022 and thus NOW, it's not bad advice/opinion.
Florida is not a panacea frankly. Few people here want to share the absolute truth in what certain parts of Florida are becoming. I'm not sure why some want to shield or twist the truth about how Florida is devolving and not for everyone.
No place is perfect, but I'm not recruiting transplants? why? I have no interest in boosting your process of relocation and what that entails...but that's just me.
Florida is experiencing lots of downside right now, LOTS imho.
Certain areas are unbearably overcrowded.
Real Estate and COL prices is out of control
Schools are busting at the seems with illegal and legal migrants.
The electrical grid is over taxed....don't believe me? talk with Florida Power and Light, and TECO.
Policing is becoming a problem - crime growth, and the growth of gangs.
The roads are inadequate - primary and secondary.
Cellular service is over burdened over the past 3 years - go talk with Verizon, T Mobile
Real Estate taxes in most counties have JUMPED.
HomeOwners Insurance is now out of sight...increased over last year about 27%
EMS Services are now stretched county-wide
HOA, CDD, Condo "fees" are now stupid high
Vehicular traffic is now a nightmare since 2019.
Traffic "control" is poorly designed and operated
Too much cultural shift - Florida is losing its character, just ask any native.
Rents have jumped over 47%
Too many people on any beach at any time
Red Tide, albeit natural seems to have been exacerbated over the past 5 years or so
The water supply is being compromised.
Utility costs, electric, waste etc have increased - just got a notice from FPL increasing in Feb2022.
Property crime has increased
Too many illegal immigrants - just walk around and see/hear for yourself over the past 3 yrs.
Sooooo, someone issuing an admonition of "don't come here" is not necessarily hating on YOU. In many ways, it's not purely biased advice or opinion. There is TRUTH in suggesting that. That should irritate any reader....but it's still a free Nation. Keep in mind, there are people who actually believe also that this great Nation should have "open borders" like we have right now to the south - I don't subscribe to that because we can't sustain any kind of "invasion", that includes the current "invasion" happening now in Florida. That's just the facts.
Last edited by AaronDavidSchultz; 01-22-2022 at 11:30 AM..
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