One piece of advice, one comment from relo . (Jacksonville: crime, house)

[rtt]

I've enjoyed reading these threads. We moved here for a relo 20 years ago when kids were tots from NJ. Many posters ask if this area is friendly towards newcomers. The answer is Yes, Yes, Yes! When people meet you they say "where are you from?" because so many out of staters are drawn to the great weather and tax benefits.
My biggest piece of advice is to NOT jump in on impulse and purchase without really knowing what you think you want. We were heartbroken when the house we were under contract fell through .It was a blessing in disguise. We rented for 3 months and found our dream house in a neighborhood we'd originally crossed off our list. 20 years later this is 100% more true because there are SOOO many more options!! If that's not possible, at the very least do an airbnb foe a long weekend and explore,explore explore!! Hope this helps.

[BabyBoomers2]

We lived in Jacksonville for 10 1/2 years and are extremely glad to be BACK living in Colorado again. We gave Jacksonville a try, but ended up just not wanting to stay any longer. One thing for sure, we didn't see the "friendliness" that you are talking about. I think this has a lot to do with the amount of crime in Jax. We found out fast, that most people in Jax don't even want to talk about the crime, but certain areas of Jax sure has it.

Jacksonville and Florida are great places to live, to many, but there are those that either would love to leave and those that do leave. We did meet some that really, really wanted to leave, but couldn't.

We are a "mountain" and fresh water lakes type Senior couple. Not beach, like we thought we could be. Had our share of the beach when we lived in So. California. IOW, even with the winters here, that we endured for 5 1/2 years before leaving, we like northern Colorado, Wyoming and the surrounding states. We should have never left Colorado in the first place!

[tonyp22]

Hi @LoveBoating. If I may ask, in what area of CO do you live? I crossed CO off my list for retirement because of not wanting to deal with winter conditions there (even though I'm quite fond of the State). As seniors, do you find it to be troublesome?

[rtt]

As people down here say, "You can't shovel heat!"

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

Hi @LoveBoating. If I may ask, in what area of CO do you live? I crossed CO off my list for retirement because of not wanting to deal with winter conditions there (even though I'm quite fond of the State). As seniors, do you find it to be troublesome?

We lived here before, so we already knew what winters were like.

Florida has it's heat/humidity, tropical storm and hurricane season, while Colorado has its winter season. Northeastern Florida, where we lived, can get fairly cold during so-called "Florida winters". We seen daytime high temps of 45 degrees and could see our breathe in the morning. We never/ever thought that would happen anywhere in Florida.

First of all, when we lived in Colorado before, I worked for a Senior Healthcare Company and was quite surprised at how many Seniors live in the Front Range and Denver metro area. We now live in Loveland and, again, are quite surprised at how many Seniors (our age of 70 and above) live here. Then again, I have high school classmates from when I graduated in 1968, that still live in northeastern Indiana. They tell me they simply cope with the winters, just like many, not us anymore, folks in Florida cope with their weather.

We returned to Colorado because we missed so many things that Florida doesn't offer. We love the Rockies, seeing Elk and other things. IOW, we should have never left Colorado in the first place.

Florida is great for some, but there are those that end up not liking it and leave.

[tonyp22]

Thanks LB. Sounds reasonable to me. Each must be happy with their surroundings.