mild winters and lots of sunny days (Frederick, Potomac: sales, homeowners insurance)

[warmwinterbound]

I am looking to move to a climate with very mild winters, 50-60 degrees would be nice. Also looking for alot of sunny days, do not like driving in the mountains, but love to look at them. I am hoping to find something comparable to Maryland's cultural environment. Trying to avoid areas hit by hurricanes. I am looking to live close to a metro area - about an hour away, I'm in Carroll County Maryland now. Am I asking for too much? I've thought of Colorado, but even the western part of Colorado appears mountainous. Also looking for an area that didn't fair too bad through the economy. If someone can enlighten me, that would be great!!

[tercel95]

North Florida covers most of your desires... The winter is mild to non-existent, Its not THAT much hotter than MD during the summer, as of right now it is the same temperature with significantly less humidity... The summers in MD are awful alot of people just don't realize it... It is bright and sunny everyday, and North FL hasn't been hit by a hurricane in many many years... Also the cost of living is much much much less there... You could double the size of your house for the same amount of money...

Now the negatives, the unemployment rate is higher than average... There are still some very in demand fields though... IT (developers, engineers), and the medical field are hiring alot...

Don't listen when people tell you the salaries are much less in FL... While they definitely are less, it isn't proportionate to how much cheaper it is to live there than MD... You will still take home much more money...

[clintsullivan]

Is it really that bad in Carroll County? I'm just west of the Potomac in Shepherdstown (known as Georgetown West to some); the sun shines here quite a bit and the winter temps seem to average in the 40's. Sure we get some cloudy rainy days and some snow, but none of it lasts too long. '60 degree winter' feels like an oxymoron.
I've thought of moving to other areas too, my wife claims she would like a little warmer winters, but I think it's always a trade off. Consistantly warmer weather means more bugs & snakes, lack of 4 true seasons & the fall colors. And we really have mild winter weather in comparison to lots of places. But we're still within an easy day trip to skiing, the ocean, the mountains (real ones, not like the blue ridge hill here in Jefferson County), or even DC for a demonstration or museum.

Oh and the storm thing, yeah that's an issue lots of places too. I have a close friend that moved from Marriottsville MD to Jacksonville FL. He's had fun for the past few years dealing with hurricane protection, storm flooding, rats, rat snakes, scorpions, replacing his sod every couple of years, the housing crash (which is a littler worse there than here) etc., etc...
I'm not to sure about the cost of living being much, much less there in north florida. My friend's electric bill in Jacksonville (2 adult household) with no heat necessary is always more than twice mine (2 adults/2 teens) here in WV, but we do have one of the lowest per KWH rates in the country and FL is one of the highest. FL has also enacted an excessive use fee increase, if you use more than a certain amount of kwh's, your per kwh fee goes up. FL doesn't have state income tax, but there are enough county income & sales taxes to offset it. Homeowner's insurance is cheaper right now even though FL houses are knocked down by storms more than most areas. That's because the residents have forced state regulations requiring insurance companies to cap rates, but because that is not economicaly feasible for a buisiness, the private insurance companies are pulling out of FL. So, FL has a State run homeowner insurance option(sounds like the fed health care debate). But as with most gov't run systems they are very slow with payouts. A two payer system with the private system being forced to lose money doesn't work; so soon there will be only one option for homeowners insurance in FL. Personally, I'll visit FL for an occasional vacation and I'll pay them for my CCW permit but that's all I want to do with FL.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by clintsullivan

Is it really that bad in Carroll County? I'm just west of the Potomac in Shepherdstown (known as Georgetown West to some); the sun shines here quite a bit and the winter temps seem to average in the 40's. Sure we get some cloudy rainy days and some snow, but none of it lasts too long. '60 degree winter' feels like an oxymoron.
I've thought of moving to other areas too, my wife claims she would like a little warmer winters, but I think it's always a trade off. Consistantly warmer weather means more bugs & snakes, lack of 4 true seasons & the fall colors. And we really have mild winter weather in comparison to lots of places. But we're still within an easy day trip to skiing, the ocean, the mountains (real ones, not like the blue ridge hill here in Jefferson County), or even DC for a demonstration or museum.

Oh and the storm thing, yeah that's an issue lots of places too. I have a close friend that moved from Marriottsville MD to Jacksonville FL. He's had fun for the past few years dealing with hurricane protection, storm flooding, rats, rat snakes, scorpions, replacing his sod every couple of years, the housing crash (which is a littler worse there than here) etc., etc...
I'm not to sure about the cost of living being much, much less there in north florida. My friend's electric bill in Jacksonville (2 adult household) with no heat necessary is always more than twice mine (2 adults/2 teens) here in WV, but we do have one of the lowest per KWH rates in the country and FL is one of the highest. FL has also enacted an excessive use fee increase, if you use more than a certain amount of kwh's, your per kwh fee goes up. FL doesn't have state income tax, but there are enough county income & sales taxes to offset it. Homeowner's insurance is cheaper right now even though FL houses are knocked down by storms more than most areas. That's because the residents have forced state regulations requiring insurance companies to cap rates, but because that is not economicaly feasible for a buisiness, the private insurance companies are pulling out of FL. So, FL has a State run homeowner insurance option(sounds like the fed health care debate). But as with most gov't run systems they are very slow with payouts. A two payer system with the private system being forced to lose money doesn't work; so soon there will be only one option for homeowners insurance in FL. Personally, I'll visit FL for an occasional vacation and I'll pay them for my CCW permit but that's all I want to do with FL.

I have lived in Jacksonville for a little while now and we don't get directly get hit by hurricanes... We might get the edges of one but no significant damage is done... My electric bill here is very similar to what I was paying in MD... Property tax is expensive here but also comparable to MD...

The sales tax is a whopping 1% more... Not having state income tax makes a big difference... The last thing to complain about in FL are the taxes especially when compared to the Peoples Republic of MD...

The average cost of living calculator puts MD at 123% higher than JAX... So yes it is much much less here...

[clintsullivan]

I wasn't disputing the difference of FL to Carroll County specifically, just the notion that Fl is much cheaper overall than other places that the OP might consider. Sort of my thought process when my wife said she wanted to move someplace warmer. Western Florida was one of the areas we thought about. In the end she's going to have to put up with a few cold days and a little snow. We're just moving a little farther west, in WV. You are right about doubling the size of the house. When he moved down about 4 years ago that's exactly what he did. (Am I right about the Insurance issues & excess use fee for electricity though?)
I totally agree with you on not wanting to live in PRMD. I was born in Frederick MD and thankfully my parents escaped in the early seventies. I'm across the river and pay about half the property tax.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by clintsullivan

I wasn't disputing the difference of FL to Carroll County specifically, just the notion that Fl is much cheaper overall than other places that the OP might consider. Sort of my thought process when my wife said she wanted to move someplace warmer. Western Florida was one of the areas we thought about. In the end she's going to have to put up with a few cold days and a little snow. We're just moving a little farther west, in WV. You are right about doubling the size of the house. When he moved down about 4 years ago that's exactly what he did. (Am I right about the Insurance issues & excess use fee for electricity though?)
I totally agree with you on not wanting to live in PRMD. I was born in Frederick MD and thankfully my parents escaped in the early seventies. I'm across the river and pay about half the property tax.

Yes you are right homeowners/renters insurance is more expensive and harder to obtain than other places... I haven't been charged any extra fees for excessive use of electricity so I can't comment on that one...

[warmwinterbound]

You two are quite funny...but I was thinking of avoiding FL (although for years that was the place I was thinking of for residence, now I'm thinking of CA, but it would be a matter of finding out about how the economy has faired (sp?) there...cost of living comparison...all of CA can't be high...Jacksonville is northeastern part of FL...do you know if social work positions are plentiful there too?...child abuse and neglect happen everywhere unfortunately...

[loveautumn]

try Phoenix

[warmwinterbound]

That would be meeting my criteria wouldn't it? Don't think I can handle the heat in the summer though...I guess I am asking for too much...

[Merlander]

The Colo. rocky mtn front might work, except for the 50-60 temps.

The southwest would work, but the culture is quite different from MD, IMO.

If you really want all those things, you might try Calif. May be expensive, though.