Should we try to find work before we move to Florida? (Orlando: sales, apartments)

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

They are always hiring and it makes for great PR, but the reality is they don't offer enough hours at that rate to live on (20-25 hours per week). Since Amazon's acquisition WF no longer offers health insurance benefits for part-timers either. Target is paying $13 an hour now which seems great but they too don't offer full-time hours at that rate, and also do not offer healthcare to part-timers.

The point I’m making is that as long as they are willing to work those kinds of jobs WHILE they are job hunting combined with having multi-months worth of savings, it’s fine to move here and job search here. I have a lot of friends who work retail in the outlets, Disney Springs and various malls. They are always looking for people. It’s not meant to be their forever job, but for those who are fine working there part time as in they won’t feel it’s beneath them to temporarily work there while job hunting, it’s fine. Coach for example actually has good benefits considering the job duties are so simple and that includes the outlet coach stores too. But for them this is just meant as a temporary job until they find real employment in their fields, so it’s just about getting some cash flow for living expenses mixed with existing savings until they find their actual jobs.

[vabuda1]

Yes we want to move to Winter Garden/Clermont/Windermere area, we’ve already decided on that part...we will be buying a house, and we will be selling ours..we’re hoping to make about $100k off the sale (when we actually post it for sale) and that won’t be enough to buy a house outright (at least the type of house we want), but it should be enough to pay our debt off and put a nice down payment on a house. I just don’t know how soon before actually moving should we start looking for work? Esp where we’re not even in the state to go for an interview?! But then how do we buy a house down there with no job down there?? It’s all very confusing tbh.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by vabuda1

Yes we want to move to Winter Garden/Clermont/Windermere area, we’ve already decided on that part...we will be buying a house, and we will be selling ours..we’re hoping to make about $100k off the sale (when we actually post it for sale) and that won’t be enough to buy a house outright (at least the type of house we want), but it should be enough to pay our debt off and put a nice down payment on a house. I just don’t know how soon before actually moving should we start looking for work? Esp where we’re not even in the state to go for an interview?! But then how do we buy a house down there with no job down there?? It’s all very confusing tbh.

You’ll need to get in touch with a mortgage loan originator regarding how they can approve you for a loan.

[Army_Guy]

Originally Posted by vabuda1

We’re planning to relocate down to Orlando area..we’ve been wanting to move to Florida for over 10 years now..my husband is a commercial flooring contractor, and would want to get into the hotels etc as far as what he’d like to do for work down there. Problem is we don’t know how to go about getting him into something and if we should start before we move or after? Does anyone have any tips or advice..or possibly any connections? TIA

One thing about this place that seems especially more true than other places I've been is that it's all about who you know.

I'm not sure about commercial construction but residential construction doesn't pay much. Wages here are generally low and there is a huge gap between cost of living and median wages.

For a track builder, home around 3,000 square feet, it pays about $200 in labor to tile the home, that's what the sub ends up with. Now that may sound nice but that can't be done in a single day and you can't do that yourself. That's why crews are working 7 days a week and it's no unusual for 4-5 guys to share a single place.

After you look past the smiles and sunshine of Disney, this place is just like any other.

I don't spend my money directly at Disney as that supports the demand for low paying jobs. You'd think for a company that charges $20 for parking, $13 for a hamburger and God knows how much for admission, they would pay more than a little above minimum wage.

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by Army_Guy

After you look past the smiles and sunshine of Disney, this place is just like any other.

I don't spend my money directly at Disney as that supports the demand for low paying jobs. You'd think for a company that charges $20 for parking, $13 for a hamburger and God knows how much for admission, they would pay more than a little above minimum wage.

Parking is $25 now- but the majority of their (even low paid) positions are now almost 75% higher than minimum wage.

[Sunbiz1]

[quote=vabuda1;57114518]my husband is a commercial flooring contractor, and would want to get into the hotels etc as far as what he’d like to do for work down there.[/quote

The answer depends on if he intends on becoming a flooring sub-contractor(IE:bids jobs to GC's/owners), or if he he intends on working for someone else as an installer?.
If it's the latter, he won't be making the wages he did up north; as Florida is a right to work state.
As a former incorporated stucco supplier, I witnessed mainly Caribbean labor installing my products for $10-12/hr.
This, of course was well below the national average for a skilled trade.

[lowlight79]

Unless you have a large nest egg, you cannot move down without a job. I was very lucky, we left Orlando 10 months ago to fix some issues, we are now heading back in two weeks and we will restart our lives. I was able to land a job in my industry that pays what I need to survive, that alone took 6 weeks.

[stygmata]

Not a great idea. Try and find employment or other income BEFORE you move here. The roach motels off of 192 are filled with people who decided to move here without a source of income "because they loved the parks"

[vabuda1]

Yes. We wouldn’t go down there without a nice chunk of change as a security blanket..and like I said were going to make a nice amount off the sale of our home..we don’t have much debt, maybe 30k..so we’d pay that off and still have a minimum of 70k to go down there with..we’re not trying to live lavishly, more just want a nicer/newer home, that has a good neighborhood for my kids (there are literally NO kids I’m my neighborhood now).
I’m sick of seeing my kids inside all day long due to weather, and nothing to do. We visit Florida often and I know there’s a VAST difference in vacationing in Florida and living there..but the one thing Florida does have is sun! And lots of it! I get really bad seasonal depression and each year it seems to get worse..this affects me as a mother and wife..each spring it’s like my mood flip flops..

I just want to be happy, so my family can be happy. I just want my kids to be able to ride their bikes without 30,000 pot holes along the way, and I want my kids to go outside to make friends, have stuff to do year round not just 3 months out of the year..so Florida it is. I wonder about the jobs more for buying a house purposes than actual income amounts..right now our mortgage is $1300 a month and my house is very old, small, and offers nothing as far as areas for my kids to hang out, make friends. Our electric bill is around $400 a month, and we stream tv so that’s $140(including the internet)..we are doing very well here financially so paying this much here is very easy, plus I’m not working (due to kids) and my hubby pays for everything...but down there I WOULD be working, so even if for $250 a week that’s $2k more than I’m bringing in a month here..so I figure as long as I can cover the mortgage, he will only be responsible for bills..so I don’t think we will struggle too badly, plus we’re go getters, far from lazy (I’m going crazy cooped up at home, I can only clean so much!) so between both of us being hard workers, and the fact that we will have a decent sum of money to ‘sit on’ just in case of anything we will be okay. I mean some people clearly doing ok down there, so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t imo.

But like I said, it’s more on how to secure a mortgage without having employment in the state we’re trying to move to.

[lifetraveler]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Yes yes yes yes. I really cannot stress that enough. My family was from Boston, came down here and could not find a job paying more than mininum wage. Definitely look before you move down here. Luckily one of my family members got a transfer through American Airlines.

But after 5 years of operesive heat, no good pizza, bad seafood and are "grass isnt greener on the other side" we moved back to Mass. My parents will be selling and moving to North Carolina since its more outdoorsy, livable and the jobs are much better.

Also why now? I would wait two years to see if the market will come down in Orlando. Its very high for the job quality, so I would either consider somewhere better than Orlando (North Carolina where a lot of Bostonians move after they hate Florida, Tampa, or Virginia) or wait.

However, any of the hotels will hire you hands down. They see Boston on a resume and they assume hardworking. Bostonians have a good reputation compared to other groups here so jobs will be easier for you to get. I dont know what industry your in.

Before you move to Orlando think about everywhere else in Florida and the South because there's a spot for everyone in the South and living in Orlando is nothing like Visiting. We lived in Laurette Park Lake Nona and Village Walk.

I’m 100% with you. We moved from NJ to NC living there 10yrs. When the kids graduated HS we decided to move to Orlando Florida area as an adventure and be closer to my 96yr old ailing mother and siblings. They’ve been here 15-20yrs and are ok with it but we’re not. It’s a totally different vibe from the a Triangle area in NC. Jobs pay less, the majority are entertainment, hospitality and retail. On the professional side it’s real estate and medical field with very little IT type jobs which pay low. Software developers do a little better but still not a lot of opportunities for those graduating college.

Although crime is everywhere here you get the most insane type probably because of homelessness and drugs. The college educated base here is very low as opposed to Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill. Housing costs to wage income is extremely high. There are so many moving here and the infrastructure is not made for it. The 8-9 months of heat and humidity is unbearable. I can go on. I don’t despise this place but to live it’s not for us. We’ll keep it as a vacation spot if We are gonna pack it up and head back to NC where we were much happier and more opportunities.