[Margel]

I must be in a different state of Florida because so far my kids are doing well in school, have good caring teachers, and really like and feel safe in their schools and neighborhood. My subdivision is very well maintained and thank God have had no issues with crime or sex offenders. I'm not saying they don't exist....but the entire state? Come on now, be a little realistic. People come here looking for real advice not scary generalizations. This state is just too big to give it such a bad rep.

[xlabel]

Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee

So very true. Between the poor schools and sex offenders everywhere, it's just not a nice place for children. Here's 2 helpful links : FDLE Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators and National Sex Offender Registry.

You've got to be kidding me. LIke FL is the only place with sex offenders. I left FL a year ago to come to the so-called "great Midwest" and I can pull up just as many sex offenders with my zip code up here on the registry as I can in FL, the scary thing is I now live in a town that has about 10% of the population as where I lived in FL. And poor schools? Again the Midwest is supposed to be so elite and superior? If that is so true why does this whole region have the nickname "the rustbelt". You'd think if they are all so damn smart up here they would've figured out by now how to build cars and manufacture products that are of equal quality and price to compete with foriegners. Ain't so.

[TANaples]

Florida public schools are ranked 29th in the country. Pa. public schools are ranked 10th.

[BornInFL]

Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee

So very true. Between the poor schools and sex offenders everywhere, it's just not a nice place for children. Here's 2 helpful links : FDLE Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators and National Sex Offender Registry.

that's unfortunately accurate. a lot of sex offenders, even teachers getting arrested for pot, cops having sex with prostitutes while on duty, i mean, i like fla (born and raised) but it has attracted a lot of the wrong people. and i hate to see it like this b/c i like my state and i defend it, but it is true that for kids, it isnt the best place.

[BornInFL]

Originally Posted by xlabel

You've got to be kidding me. LIke FL is the only place with sex offenders. I left FL a year ago to come to the so-called "great Midwest" and I can pull up just as many sex offenders with my zip code up here on the registry as I can in FL, the scary thing is I now live in a town that has about 10% of the population as where I lived in FL. And poor schools? Again the Midwest is supposed to be so elite and superior? If that is so true why does this whole region have the nickname "the rustbelt". You'd think if they are all so damn smart up here they would've figured out by now how to build cars and manufacture products that are of equal quality and price to compete with foriegners. Ain't so.

FL has over 30,000 sex offenders if i remember right, which was more than any other state.

[Going-2-Florida]

Originally Posted by Margel

I must be in a different state of Florida because so far my kids are doing well in school, have good caring teachers, and really like and feel safe in their schools and neighborhood. My subdivision is very well maintained and thank God have had no issues with crime or sex offenders. I'm not saying they don't exist....but the entire state? Come on now, be a little realistic. People come here looking for real advice not scary generalizations. This state is just too big to give it such a bad rep.

Thank you for two very nice responses. Like you I just wanted to get handle on it and get different ideas from different perspectives.
Of course I see more negatives then positives and I expected that from reading before I posted this question.

Your post have given me the encouragement to do tons of research before I do anything and I will.
The most important sentence from you was the fact that all the negatives you read here were found out to be all wrong.
I understand I need to do my homework, spend time in Florida which I will do before making any solid move, I have already lived in the south and have missed it since we returned here.

Yes, we have a 10 year old, we have checked with a current teacher who has a sister teaching in the Tampa area and she said that she would put her 5th graders against any in the country and that the school systems are just like everywhere else, you get out what you and your kids put into it.

My list would be short I think as I already know enough about many of the other issues.
Education would be no. 1
Safety and housing no. 2
And so on.

Things that do not bother me at all, heat, love it hot. Traffic, try to drive in Cincinnati Ohio at 5 pm on Friday nights, you will become a Nascar driver real quick.
Cost of living, cheaper for us to live in Florida with the tax structure and cost of living expenses. If we live in a similar home, similar way of life we will be money ahead by living in Florida because of taxes, COL expenses etc.

If I am reading right, so everyone here says that the heat, taxes, schools, jobs and traffic are a problem.
Heat is what we want, no more snow.
Taxes, cheaper for me in Florida.
Schools, I have checked schools close to Margels area and her schools our perform most all schools in my own district here in Ohio.
Jobs, already lined up even with a small raise to boot.
Traffic, does not bother us at all. It cannot be any worse in Florida then most of the cities we have lived in.
We have spent considerable amount of time in Florida in our lifetime and towns such as Charlotte, Indianapolis, Cincy, Cols, Philly have much worse traffic then any town we travel in Florida to.
The bottle neck in Florida for me was always on I-4 close to Tampa but I always go back and forth to the beach and Disney with making sure more time as needed.

I appreciate all inputs, I especially appreciate many of you who have told me specifics to look into and for Margel and the others who said we need to research and spend time in Florida, I think what we will do is rent and move to Florida a week after school is out and live there in Florida for the summer months and not sell our home until everyone likes to the place we pick.

We love the heat, the water, the year aorund life of warm weather, we lived in the south for a while and have regretted it since we moved back.
Sick of the cold, the snow, sick ice and living inside for months on end during the winter.
We love outdoor sports and cannot do it here in the cold.

One thing is for sure, the only reason we came back to the cold was for family reason, now we realize that you cannot make yourself and your immediate family miserable just so they can see family once a week when about every single one of them could not wait to come to Florida to see us and be warm and close the the ocean.

We are heading to Florida in the future and appreciate more input as to areas of interest.

We love outdoor sports, good schools and will go private if needed, we love to be central, close to Disney, Busch, etc. Family areas in smaller spots like 20-40 miles outside of major cities preferrably.

Probably will not look much more south then maybe Port Charlotte across to Jupiter area.

Any input would be appreciated, positive or negative is fine with me.

What I cannot get myself to understand is if it is so miserable in Florida then why in the world does everyone still live there and why does everyone want or cannot wait to move to Florida.

We are miserable here and we are leaving as soon as we can. Hopefully this will be the last winter for us here.

[Lakeland Yankee]

Originally Posted by Going-2-Florida

What I cannot get myself to understand is if it is so miserable in Florida then why in the world does everyone still live there

A lot of us are trapped here. It's easy to move here but hard to get out due to the poor wages.

Originally Posted by Going-2-Florida

and why does everyone want or cannot wait to move to Florida.

They don't know any better. They think living in Florida is like vacationing here. It is 2 complete different things. They want warm winters and neglect the more important things in life. The negative posters here are being honest with you. We are NOT realtors like so many of the positive posters. We have nothing to lose by telling the truth.

Originally Posted by Going-2-Florida

We are miserable here and we are leaving as soon as we can. Hopefully this will be the last winter for us here.

Please post back after a year and I'll personally welcome you to the "Negative Nelly club" . None of us nellies originally wanted to join the club but after living here for a while we want to warn people from making the same mistake that we did.

Best of luck to you and your family .

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee

A lot of us are trapped here. It's easy to move here but hard to get out due to the poor wages.



They don't know any better. They think living in Florida is like vacationing here. It is 2 complete different things. They want warm winters and neglect the more important things in life. The negative posters here are being honest with you. We are NOT realtors like so many of the positive posters. We have nothing to lose by telling the truth.



Please post back after a year and I'll personally welcome you to the "Negative Nelly club" . None of us nellies originally wanted to join the club but after living here for a while we want to warn people from making the same mistakes that we did.

Best of luck to you and your family .

Yes. That very accurately describes my situation. Trapped here.

As far as the schools, my kids are grown, thank goodness. I would never raise them here. However, I have worked in the schools elsewhere and now work here. I also work at what is consider an A+ school. Sorry, I don't think so. It would be a C school in comparison to where I used to work.

I won't go on about the schools. It has been discussed endlessly before and by posters who also work in the school system and have come from various other places. We all say the same thing. Nobody ever believes us.

So be it.

[Margel]

Keep an open mind and find out for yourself. Like everything else in life you will find the negatives and the positives. Find out which outweigh the other for you and your family. Best of luck to you. I hope you are as happy in Florida as I am.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Margel

Keep an open mind and find out for yourself. Like everything else in life you will find the negatives and the positives. Find out which outweigh the other for you and your family. Best of luck to you. I hope you are as happy in Florida as I am.

Margel, I am happy to say that I live in YOUR Florida! For me, this is paradise - and I say this as a native!