A short story and outside observations from a long time NoVA resident (Richmond: insurance, crime)

[SaintCabbage]

Having lived in various parts of the DC area my entire life (35+ years), I knew nothing else. I spent the vast majority of that time in Loudoun county, with some stints here and there in Fairfax and Montgomery after college. Around 90% of all the people I knew growing up, going to school together, all went to various colleges in VA, then immediately returned 4 years later for employment somewhere in NoVA.

We would shout from the rooftops about how great it was living there and how affluent and diverse NoVA was, simply put, there's nowhere better, and truthfully never considered living anywhere else. Life was good, employment was plentiful, wages were high, so many places to go and do whatever you wanted, the world was our oyster!

Then life happened. We were put in a situation where our oldest (and only at the time) son was diagnosed with some medical issues that our insurance company refused to covered. We did what we could, tried to keep up, but it was too much. With the housing market crashing all around us and running out of creative ways to keep up with medical expenses, we did the unthinkable... we decided to move. It was a brief search, few states (at the time) provided the insurance coverage we needed, so we made the leap and chose Florida.

We sold everything we could, clothes, cars, piles of crap we had accumulated over the years and took a complete bath on our home. Rented a place sight unseen and hopped in the car in despair and woe. How could any other place on Earth be as good as NoVA?!? We left everything we knew knowing it would be a struggle every day and accepting the inevitable downgrade in our quality of life and social standing!

Then something funny happened... we passed the VA/NC border and the fog lifted. There weren't speed traps at every possible break in the trees, traffic virtually disappeared, and we weren't getting middle fingers from people for simply trying to merge, pass, or just stay in our lane. What happened to the cut-throat people who rather you collide with the concrete barrier then let you merge in? Where was the psychotic guy going 120 swerving in and out of traffic? And the sky, it's actually blue, not a murky milky exhaust filled white haze. Odd indeed...

So we made our way down to FL and found our rented home to be spacious, clean, and surprisingly well kept for something so "cheap". We were greeted by our neighbors with gifts of flowers and cookies welcoming us. Who were these weirdos franctically waving at us as we drove through the neighborhood and introducing themselves without wanting something in return?!? Strange...

Months would pass and we began to accept these weren't anomalies... We waited a grand total of 5 minutes in the DMV, the process was clear, concise, efficient, and they actually knew what they were doing. The grocery store was of high quality, clean, with no wait at the register. Roads were wide, pot-hole free, and lacking those familar concrete barriers and orange cones at every turn. Traffic? No such thing. Employment? Plentiful. Cost of Living? About a third to half of NoVA. State income tax? None. Personal Property Tax? None. Car Tax? None. State Inspections? None. Emissions? None. Medical Care? Superb. Weather? No brainer.

Quality of Life??? Infinitely better.

That was 4.5 years ago. We found employment easily (yes even IT), built a beautful new home for 1/4 what it would have cost "up there" (as we call it now), and we've had 2 more kids since then who both consider 70 to be "chilly". After several vists from our families over the years, we've conviced almost all of them to move as well. Very few left up there at this point and things couldn't be better for all of them.

What's the point you're saying... well we recently had a tragedy in our family and we had to return to handle some old family business. It's been long enough now that the culture shock of going back north was very apparent. During the drive back up, everything was as described coming down that first time... then we crossed the NC/VA line....

Speed traps everywhere, people driving like maniacs, ambulances, wrecks everywhere, the haze was back... We got to about Quantico on I-95 and dead stop. Tuesday afternoon, 2ish, dead stop. For miles and miles and miles. Nothing but congestion, honking, middle fingers everywhere, crazy people all over the road, wrecks left and right. We had to travel through PG county, Montgomery, Annapolis area, all over.

Hell on Earth.

There's too many damn people. The infrastructure can't handle it. Construction everywhere, it took us almost 45 minutes to travel 3 miles in Annapolis. Want to go get something to eat? Better get there at 4PM or 10PM. Costco? HA! Good luck finding a parking spot let alone getting in and out quickly. The weather is awful, the people are awful, just a bunch of transients who don't give two s**ts about anyone but themselves or old angry natives who grew up surrounded by cynism and bitterness. Every man for himself. I know, that was me and I didn't even realize it. Too proud and blind to accept there is a better world out there, and I implore you to seek it out.

Don't spend your lives wasting away up there. From the outside looking in, it's awful, you just can't see it yet.

[JD984]

Even though there are quite a few of us here who've spent more time in NoVa than anywhere else, they let us out occasionally so that we can visit other parts of the country (and even other countries!).

In my case, that includes visits to relatives in Florida and, while they are reasonably happy there (though less so than in other parts of the south where they had prevoiusly lived) and we enjoy our visits, we know it's not for us as a potential spot to relocate - too hot, too transient, too much of a boom/bust economy, too few cultural institutions, and largely car-dependent.

But I guess it shows that one person's heaven can be another person's hell, whether we're talking about NoVa or some place in Florida. And I did enjoy reading that you felt your own quality of life had improved. Life really is too short not to try and experience different parts of the world.

[FCNova]

Sweet, another NOVA rant about how much the people suck. I've never noticed smog here, even though I've lived here my whole life. The traffic is pretty bad though. Your observations on drivers are pretty accurate. Although there aren't many of them, there are 'those people' (guy who swerves in & out of traffic on congested highway, people who passive aggressively try to prevent you from merging). I don't think this is the best place on earth, but I've been happy enough to not want to leave so far. Sorry about your son's medical condition. Hopefully by now he's doing better.

[stateofnature]

It's funny how you think you know objective truths and you can lecture us on how we are actually miserable but we "just can't see it yet" as if you know us personally. I made the exact opposite move -- Florida to the DC area -- and I've never been happier. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to Florida. For me to take your advice would be terrible for my happiness.
Your assessment of your life in NoVa and how much you prefer Florida is just your opinion. Stop acting like you know what is better for other people. Just because you hated your life here in the DC area doesn't mean everyone else does.

[jbakerman]

State income tax? None. Personal Property Tax? None. Car Tax? None. State Inspections? None. Emissions? None. Medical Care? Superb.

Everything has a cost. No state car inspections? More dangerous cars on the road. No emissions checks? More dilapidated, aging, noxious spewing dreck on the roads. If you've ever driven 95 in south florida between Miami and West Palm, believe me, it's no better than 95 between Springfield and Richmond. Way less taxes?!? Great - check your state fees for parks and recreation! How's the hurricane insurance industry in FL? It's all relative, sure, but everything always has a cost.

[Mnseca]

Well, that's a particularly negative view of NoVa, and although I don't care for this place much, I would still rather live here than FL. In any case, I have to agree that this area has a very high population of really crappy, rude drivers who would rather see you crash into the concrete barrier than let you merge. What is up with those people?? I wish OP could convince them all to move to FL.

[spencgr]

I've lived in seven different states, and I've "settled" here, in NoVA. I am extremely happy here. Is it thes "best place on earth"? Certainly not, but it works for my husband and me. Would I entertain living elsewhere? Absolutely. Would I ever entertain living in Florida? Not if my life depended on it. I've spent enough time there to know I don't even want to go back to visit, much less live there. But, that's just me.

As JEB77 said, "one person's heaven can be another person's hell," and I am glad you are happy there. Just don't assume we all want what you want.

[bsh5w]

Not sure how safety/emission inspections and police patrolling for speeders are a bad thing. One thing I've always noticed when heading out of state (VA) is the dilapidated conditions of the cars in those neighboring states -- busted headlights, taped-up windows, black exhaust, etc. While inconvenient and costly, the inspections here do keep these types off the roads. I agree, we have too many cars on the road with too many aggressive drivers, but aggressive drivers are everywhere in the US and I've personally seen a few road rage incidents in the deep South (much worse than a finger). We're famous for our traffic, but residents put up with it for what they consider the positives.
To each his own. Everyone has their reasons for choosing their state of residency. From these forums, I'd say high employment rates/salaries and the public school systems are the popular ones. It sounds like the OP's #1 reason for hating the area revolve around vehicles (traffic, ability to speed, DMV wait times, inspection requirements, Costco parking spaces, etc.). If that is a priority, this area is not for you.
I'm happy the move worked out for the OP and that all is well medically and financially, but there is no need to persuade everyone here that Florida is a utopia. Just Google "reasons not to move to Florida."

[cdmurphy]

I'd like to know where exactly this magical place is in Florida.

I have enough personal experience with and family and friends in different parts of Florida to know that there is no way in hell that I would ever live there. Also, like other posters, I have lived in other states (6, plus another country, even) and this is the best place for my family. I understand that sometimes tough choices have to be made for employment or other reasons, but fortunately for us my husband could work almost anywhere and we still choose to live here.

Different strokes for different folks.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by SaintCabbage

Some rant about nova sucking

And the jobs pay well here, unemployment is nearly non-existent, the schools are 100 times better than most of America in programs offered and quality of admissions for colleges, crime is low. You forgot all those parts.

From the sound of it, you were living in Liberalia when you should have been living in Conservistan. You have the small govt utopia now, enjoy complaining in 2 years when the school system cant afford renovations, the roads are cracked due to lack of funding, and you have to pay $15 tolls to go anywhere... oh and you will be making the same amount of money you do right now of course (if not less).