[Nomoresubways]

I'm not really sure how I was brought into this discussion (MaryLou), but I wouldn't exactly say I'm always 100% POSITIVE, I just state things as I know them. Yes I tend to be optimistic, but if optimistic is a bad thing I'm not sure how our civilization got to where it is today.

I mainly use this forum for asking questions and if I happen to have any insight on something someone else is asking I try to chime in. I don't think everything is 100% paradise down in Florida, or even in Mount Dora where I am moving, nor do I think any place in the U.S. or the world for that matter is 100% paradise to live in. The reality is, as many others have stated in this forum, everything that people complain about in this forum can be found in every other state in our country and you'll probably see that in their respective forums. Much of the information they provide is very helpful in determining if moving to a particular area is viable or fits in with your own perceived lifestyle, absolutely.

But I'm not going to be influenced by anonymous people on an anonymous website when I'm the person who has to live in my house, pay my bills (including the insane HOI and taxes), drive to work, etc. In my experience, the principles that guide me in any decision I make are hard work, determination and an unsatiable hunger to achieve. That holds true in NY, Florida, Oil City, Colorado or anywhere else that people aspire to move to.

[watsont3]

Originally Posted by summergal

Pittsburgh...

And compaired to the humidity in Tampa Bay, you guys have NOTHING!

I am not trying to minimize the humidity in Florida. But just a quick look at the climate data supplied by City-Data shows some interesting info.
The average humidity for the cities of Lancaster and Pittsburgh are shown inthe summer months as between 80 and 90% in the morning and between 55 to 65% in the afternoon. If you look at the Tampa data, it shows an average morning humidity of a little over 90% in the morning (it does show it as being that humid for most of the year) and around 60% in the afternoon. Not that much difference.
The reason I point that out is because we, who are planning to move to Florida, are admonished that we don't know what we are getting into and that we should "value" all of the opinions (mostly negative) that are posted here because the posters live there and know what they are talking about. These posters make claims about winters and summers in the north that sometimes are just are not factual. If they use information that is not correct to make their point, why should we assign a lot of weight to their claims about Florida.
My wife and I are retired so we don't have to worry about employment. although my wife does not collect a pension. We are looking to move to an area that does not have frigid winters. We spend a lot of time in the summer inside the house in our AC when it is real hot and we spend a lot of time in our house in the winter when it is extremely cold. Probably as much time as we will spend indoors during the heat in Fla.
If I was worried about making a living, about making decent wage, I would have stayed in NY when I retired but my cost of living would be out of sight. I feel for those who are having a hard time finding decent paying jobs and affordable housing but most areas of the country are experiencing similar problems.
I think that most older people who want to move to Florida for the climate have done their homework and fully understand what they are doing.
To those who are unhappy living in Florida, I hope you find your perfect home but the old adage about the grass always looking greener on the other side contains a lot of truth.

[Norrisrose2]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

Norrirose- You must be moving to North or Central Florida, because you can't find a decent ranch style house in SE Florida for less than $400,000 and property taxes for that will be around $8,000, with HOI around $6,000.

Hope you enjoy!

We have been doing research and house shopping in the Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda area. We have found at least 30-40 homes in our price range with the amenities we are looking for (3bed/2bath/ingound pool/ 2 car garage) in the 200k to 250k range. I don't know where you got your data but I think it's flawed. We don't think we will like the gated community life, so we are looking for a decent neighborhood with decent schools.

I'll put it to you like this; I don't hate Jersey, I just feel my family would be happier in a warmer climate. I stand to make $150k or better profit on the home I presently own. If we stay in Jersey, it will be the same **** I have been looking at for the last 38 yrs, abandoned run-down factories from our countries industrial age, crime and crack infested cities like Newark, Paterson, Irvington, Camden and our state capitol Trenton.
My other choice (Florida) is a change of scenary, palm trees, beaches, fishing and motorcycle riding year round. If you lived up here you would see there is not much of choice.
Did I mention fishing and motorcycle riding year round!

We are so outta here!!!!!

[JSGOOFN]

Originally Posted by Norrisrose2

Did I mention fishing and motorcycle riding year round!

I gotta ask - the motorcycle that you ride - is it a Harley??? If so, make sure you put LEGAL mufflers on that thing. There are SOOO many Harley riders around Florida that I would swear that if they all rode at the same time the noise could be heard by the Space Station!!! In other words - please make sure you are considerate of your non-riding neighbors!!

P.S. Does anyone else have this concern??

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Norrisrose2

We have been doing research and house shopping in the Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda area. We have found at least 30-40 homes in our price range with the amenities we are looking for (3bed/2bath/ingound pool/ 2 car garage) in the 200k to 250k range. I don't know where you got your data but I think it's flawed. We don't think we will like the gated community life, so we are looking for a decent neighborhood with decent schools.

I'll put it to you like this; I don't hate Jersey, I just feel my family would be happier in a warmer climate. I stand to make $150k or better profit on the home I presently own. If we stay in Jersey, it will be the same **** I have been looking at for the last 38 yrs, abandoned run-down factories from our countries industrial age, crime and crack infested cities like Newark, Paterson, Irvington, Camden and our state capitol Trenton.
My other choice (Florida) is a change of scenary, palm trees, beaches, fishing and motorcycle riding year round. If you lived up here you would see there is not much of choice.
Did I mention fishing and motorcycle riding year round!

We are so outta here!!!!!

I think you will really love it in your new Florida home after what you have described. The only real downside is the threat of hurricanes and/or evactuation when the storms are coming. Hopefully we won't get anything for a long time, but with Florida it's unpredictable. Just a fact of life here. If you can deal with that you will have your paradise, for sure! Good luck!

[sunrico90]

The opinion that we provide as members of this forum is one that will cover the whole spectrum of like and dislikes. Many members provide their personal views as means of information. As you can imagine we have many members that had difficult times due to hurricanes, lack of jobs, insurance cost, etc. We also have many (including myself) that like the state, understand that we have risk factor and we have made a decision to stay.

I did ask the Moderator some time back to provide the number of individuals registered as members of the Florida Forum and I don't have a reply yet. The reason that I mentioned the members of the Florida Forum is because is a small amount of individuals, probably no more than 100 in a state of 17,789,864 residents.

The best advice that I can provide is to do your research, visit the area, evaluate your needs and then make a decision. Florida is just like any other state in the nation; one that has good, bad, and ugly situations. YOU as an interested person must make a decision to support needs.. Good luck

[Norrisrose2]

Originally Posted by JSGOOFN

I gotta ask - the motorcycle that you ride - is it a Harley??? If so, make sure you put LEGAL mufflers on that thing. There are SOOO many Harley riders around Florida that I would swear that if they all rode at the same time the noise could be heard by the Space Station!!! In other words - please make sure you are considerate of your non-riding neighbors!!

P.S. Does anyone else have this concern??

To my future follow Floridians, I ride a relatively quiet Suzuki so I hope I won't be disturbing my future neighbors. I have never had complaints from my present neighbors. We do have a few Harley riders in our neighborhood and I have to agree some are beyond loud! Do they still give away free oil catch pans with those things?

I can't wait until I can say my bike is my primary vehicle not my truck!

[SunshineState]

Originally Posted by bmurphy

I'm new here, but been lurking quite awhile. I do want to say that I do not understand why most of the other forums balance complaints and praise, but the Florida forum is about 90% complaints. If 90% of the people on this forum are complaining then maybe there is a problem in Florida?

I'm not bashing anyone, but if it's so terrible, why don't you just leave? This forum is hardly encouraging to anyone who considers moving to Florida. Well for me, and my family we are going to leave and are searching every day for a new location. But for others such as my parents it is not as easy as it sounds. Where they live in one of the worst hit areas for outrageous homeowners insurance. The realtors won’t even take on homes to sell because they just don’t sell. People can get approved on a mortgage but when they are hit with $5,000 for insurance and $6,000 for property taxes on a $150,000 home they just won’t buy it! So they (my parents) and others like them are STUCK they can’t move away and can’t afford to stay.

Some of the arguments, though, I just can't guess where they're coming from. For one thing, the heat argument. Well, it IS Florida, I'm not sure why you don't expect heat? The traffic argument. There's traffic everywhere. Unless you want to live in a rural place, traffic will eventually occur. Just face it and move on. It's not a unique facet of Florida by any means, nor is illegal immigration. The heat here is hard to explain to someone who only visits to “enjoy” it. There are days in the summer when you can’t catch your breath and you are totally soaked just getting from the house to your car. As for traffic, I have seen it increase to the point that what use to take me 15 minutes to arrive (5 years ago) now takes almost 45 minutes.

The many threads about not being able to get a job puzzle me. A casual Careerbuilder search nets thousands of jobs in Orlando alone. You're telling me you can't find one? And that's listings from ONE site. Sorry, but I just don't see the issue here. Maybe it's tougher then I think but I don't see a shortage at all. I have never had to use Careerbuilder but had a friend who did. She posted her resume (a GOOD resume) and only got crappy replies from solicitor type companies. I guess it is easier finding a job here if you don’t mind working for minimum wage. Even skilled jobs are very very low starting wages.

I just think people should chill on complaining about Florida. No I don't live there, but I do want to say that to those that do, please stop complaining. If you hate it, leave. Based on my reading, the complaints are getting really tiresome. If it's so awful, just leave and be silent about it. Florida is a nice place from what I've seen on visits. I don't want to be slammed with "but you don't live here..." Because this thread is purely to ask people to tone down the complaints. Please.

It is very easy to tell someone to “just leave” but that often involves leaving loved ones behind, family and friends that you have had all your life (I am a Florida Cracker, born and raised here) not to mention the difficulties for the elderly to “just leave” and then there’s the fact that because of the high HOI and Taxes many people are unable to sell and “just leave”. It is much easier to tell people what one thinks they should do then to stand in their shoes and figure out what to do. When those of us “complain” as you say it is just to give information to what the “real” Florida is like for those of us that live and work in it each day. It is a beautiful place to vacation in with white sandy beaches, lots of tourist attractions, and plenty of sunshine but to live here is difficult for many and problems should not be swept under the rug to make the lurkers happy and the prospective Floridian’s unaware of what they may be getting themselves into. When someone moves to a new place they should weigh all the good and the bad. Maybe for those people just looking to retire here that have good pensions (something non-existent for Florida workers) and don’t have to worry about finding a job or the cost of a house, insurance, or taxes this place is a GREAT place to live, maybe if my life started up north I would be the one moving here instead of away from here.

[summergal]

Originally Posted by watsont3

I am not trying to minimize the humidity in Florida. But just a quick look at the climate data supplied by City-Data shows some interesting info.
The average humidity for the cities of Lancaster and Pittsburgh are shown inthe summer months as between 80 and 90% in the morning and between 55 to 65% in the afternoon. If you look at the Tampa data, it shows an average morning humidity of a little over 90% in the morning (it does show it as being that humid for most of the year) and around 60% in the afternoon. Not that much difference.

Are you kidding? lol You really believe the heat and humidity is pretty much the same as PA? OMG that's funny. Take a look at the heat index numbers. That tells the true story. Here are the numbers for last year based on mean averages (weather underground .com):

<80 comfy
>90 extreme
>100 hazardous

Jan FL 79 PA -
Feb FL 74 PA -
Mar FL 82 PA 63
Apr FL 85 PA 65
May FL 93 PA 80
Jun FL 97 PA 80
Jul FL 97 PA 85
Aug FL 102 PA 90
Sep FL 97 PA 72
Oct FL 94 PA 67
Nov FL 85 PA 63
Dec FL 80 PA -

Seriously now, PA only had ONE month above 80 and FL had 9 months! Six of those in the hazardous - dangerous range. 3 of your months didn't come in the range to have an index number (winter). And you want to even try to say I'm wrong when I've lived in both places... just funny.

The reason I point that out is because we, who are planning to move to Florida, are admonished that we don't know what we are getting into and that we should "value" all of the opinions (mostly negative) that are posted here because the posters live there and know what they are talking about. These posters make claims about winters and summers in the north that sometimes are just are not factual. If they use information that is not correct to make their point, why should we assign a lot of weight to their claims about Florida.

Did I make a claim that was not factual? I guess you think I did, since you went into this long thing about city-data figures and all Why do y'all try to always prove what we say is false? lmao It just cracks me up. You can believe whatever you like... but it's still more hot and humid here in Florida than what you have in PA. lol

[bmurphy]

Originally Posted by summergal

Are you kidding? lol You really believe the heat and humidity is pretty much the same as PA? OMG that's funny. Take a look at the heat index numbers. That tells the true story. Here are the numbers for last year based on mean averages (weather underground .com):

<80 comfy
>90 extreme
>100 hazardous

Jan FL 79 PA -
Feb FL 74 PA -
Mar FL 82 PA 63
Apr FL 85 PA 65
May FL 93 PA 80
Jun FL 97 PA 80
Jul FL 97 PA 85
Aug FL 102 PA 90
Sep FL 97 PA 72
Oct FL 94 PA 67
Nov FL 85 PA 63
Dec FL 80 PA -

Seriously now, PA only had ONE month above 80 and FL had 9 months! Six of those in the hazardous - dangerous range. 3 of your months didn't come in the range to have an index number (winter). And you want to even try to say I'm wrong when I've lived in both places... just funny.



Did I make a claim that was not factual? I guess you think I did, since you went into this long thing about city-data figures and all Why do y'all try to always prove what we say is false? lmao It just cracks me up. You can believe whatever you like... but it's still more hot and humid here in Florida than what you have in PA. lol

Alright - it's more humid in Florida. Again, I don't understand why this is supposed to suprise anyone.

What are you trying to prove? That you live in an oven? Do you want us to say "oh wow, Florida is horribly hot?" We know, now stop complaining and leave if it's that bad to you. I hate to be rude and I apologize. I'm just sick of complaints of heat in a state pretty much known for heat. Anyone who doesn't know it's hot in Florida probably also doesn't know that it's cold in Maine.