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Ok, Ok.....I think I qualify for a few good positive posts about Orlando.....
I've been here for 25 years, my husband for 48.
We bought our house in 1994 so yes my property taxes are lower than most, thanks to homestead exemption. And our insurance did go up but not drastically. But again I've had no claims (we fixed things ourselves) and don't live in a flood prone area.
We did not get sucked into the housing boom seeing it just didn't make sense for us to move just because we could get 3x the amount we paid for our house.....why would one do that when all you could get for what you made is a house of the same basic value? AND lose your tax advantage. I have wonderful neighbors, no sink holes, and yes the Hurricanes were bad but no worse than tornados, floods or blizzards other places have. You get up, brush yourselves off and go on. You get used to the heat or just learn how to deal with it. Yes we have bugs but name me one state that doesn't.
The tourist pay our state income tax (for now). We don't have to shovel snow.
Orlando itself is a thriving city......most not all of the people wanted Orlando to be a city and a city they got. It has every type of shopping you can think of. We have sports, the Arts, Museums, Theaters ect. You just have to look for them and not expect to see as much as say, Chicago or New York. We're not that big.
Crime....I live a block from the dreaded Pine Hills..I feel safe going out at night, I don't barricade myself inside. I have never been robbed, assulted or shot at. Is crime here? Yes, but show me a City that doesn't have these problems.
What it all boils down to is this.....If you chose to make this your home thus making it your City, it's up to you to make the best of it. There is no such place called paradise. If you find your hatred of things that bad, then move. There is no fence around the central Florida area making you stay.
Do your homework and then decide if Orlando is for you.
LOL! WOW. All I can say is WOW. What is the point wasting hours of your lives ranting about how much you hate a city? And Detroit dosen't suck, never said it did, it's just not for me. Who said I was a recent college graduate? And I knew nothing about hard times? Again, way out of line and borderline abusive posting going on here. "Florida is Wild" was a separate sentence-and sink holes are a fascinating subject to some people. You know what?-I'm done here. I could go on, but I won't. What's the point? I can't believe either of you think the way you post on these boards is even close to acceptable? You're RANTING! Well, I've done my contributing to the board, I'll go play with my sailboat and let you too continue on your redneck rampage.
For some reason or another, a large majority of the people in these forums have token it upon themselves to discourage, taunt, and even attempt frighten people out of moving to Orlando. Why aren't you moving out then? Why aren't you on the new city of your dreams's board asking questions about moving there? I don't see the point in giving these over-opinionated almost rude posts to people simply looking for information from locals.
I am moving to Orlando for 3rd time, and I know exactly why. Of course, the weather, but there's more. First of all, the sunshine never wears off, and if you ever had an inkling you wouldn't get along with the heat-why would you even consider one of the most southern states? Obviously, we're not even going to discuss humidity either.
There's a vibe in Orlando and most of Florida that you just don't get up north. People are friendlier, life is more appreciated. Your car doesn't rust (unless you live on a beach:P)), and there's not a car commercial on TV every 3 sec (sorry I'm from Detroit). The economy of Orlando isn't dependent on 1 or 2 major industries and if you so choose you can make an excellent living working with your hands.
Your 10 hours drive from the southern most tip of the United States (Key West) and only 40 min from the major cruise ports. Everyone plays golf or knows someone who does. It's not uncommon to have a golf membership and a sailboat in your backyard and only make 50k a year. (Where I come from this is almost unheard of.)
Plants will grow in your yard that you have never seen before. At any given time there will be more lizards in your driveway than birds. (They're small, relax.) Also, your cat or dog is perfectly safe out of doors and will not be eaten by some wild animal or come down with funky flesh eating virus. Fire Ants can be a problem, but they are really annoying, nothing more.
Alligators do not approach people and must be ravenous to attempt to attack a small human or animal, deprived to attack an adult human. If you want to google something, count the number of gator attacks in Central Florida in the last 30 years and you will know that I speak the truth.
And speaking of gators, if you're a sports fan and would love to live in a town who has insanely passionate fans, you'll have no problem migrating your allegiance to the Gators or even the Solar Bears. (Yes, I did say Solar Bears. ) I'm sure you also knew many professional athletes train down here in the off season every year so there's also the fun chance of celebrity spotting.
Also, you can swim in pure, natural springs for the cost of a cup of coffee any day of the week you choose. (Rock Springs is my favorite)
Florida is wild. People's homes do on occasion completely disappear into perfectly round holes of swamp (sink holes), but these are far from unnoticed way before they occur and are hardly horror stories-instead the natural aquifier that Florida is and has been for million of years hard at work filtering the northern US's natural water system.
Ok, I'll make a simple list in lieu of my monologue here just to highlight some great things about Orlando/Central Florida, just to give some transplants some hope among the outcries of it's jaded residents:
1. Bubaloo's BBQ: The best BBQ in your life! One thing I can't get anywhere else.
2. Random Cuban Sandwich Stands: You wait FOREVER for one, but man, it's worth it. Any better, you better drive down to Miami.
3. NO SMOKING in restaurants/bars: I believe the law is if more than 70% of a bar's business is Food, then there's no smoking anywhere. Most places will advertise that they are for smokers. This might be a bad thing for some of you.:P
4. Rock/Blue/Weikiva Springs-when I was a teenager, I thought these things were the most beautiful things on earth.
5. No State Income Tax and No Deposit. (Again, being from Michigan-this is cool to me.)
6. Bonafide Salsa Clubs and real Latin influence: If you like everyone to look and talk like you do, dont' move to Central Florida. It may not seem obvious right away, but most of all Central/South Florida is heavily influenced and settled by Latin American and the Island. You can never really judge someone on the street by the way they look, as there are a myriad of cultures that reside here.
7.Water: Especially in Orlando, lots and lots of lakes for swimming, fishing, jet skiing and sailing. Sailing has always had a sort of "rich-guy" stigma to it from where I'm from-but not in Florida-tons of small family oriented clubs abound with tiny, small, and medium boats involved. Same goes with power boats-it won't be long before you find yourself wanting some sort of water vehicle.
8. Orlando Science Center: Beautiful facility with an actual planetarium(as in telescope), IMAX theatre, ect.
9. Downtown Winter Park: An outside cobblestoned upscale shopping area with great restaurants and a picturesque area for festivals. Also ties in to Rollins College,which is close by for events.
10. Rock-n-Roll Heaven. An Orlando landmark, a music store heavily dedicated to old and obscure vinyl records as well as regular releases, which before anyone starts groaning, also sports a huge club/house/techno DJ section in the back with every dance hit ever on vinyl. It's ridiculous. Pop Art is also a funky store across the street which is fun to stop in from time 2 time.
Keep in mind, I don't live there yet, I'm moving back in 6 weeks, and no, I am not in anyway attempting to sell you a house, refinance your home, nor do I work for any touring agency or some down "move to orlando" promotion. I'm just a regular person. :P
Just really sick of all the negativity I see on this board.
**CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP** GOODONYA! Look, I've lived in Orlando twice in my lifetime. I've traveled nonstop & lived all over. Orlando was a pleasure as is the entire state. Personally I cannot say the same for most other southern states but hey. In fact I prefer the west. With that being said, we just added Orlando & 2 other Fl cities to our potential (company) bid list. There's so much it offers! I've found alot of people simply THINK the grass is greener on the otherside because they've never actually lived on the otherside of the fence.
This is a great debate, because my best friend moved to Orlando a few years back and I continue to live in West Michigan. We always banter back and forth and she teases me and I tease her.
Orlando does sound like a great place to live, but like other posters on here, a "great place" means different things to different people. For instance, I hate Michigan summers -- too hot -- so heat in Florida would be unbearable to me. But that's me. I'm a cold-weather lover.
One issue with Florida is that if you look at the census, Fla. has very high home values, but most cities have what I would consider lower average incomes. For instance, I live in a small town in West Michigan. It's a pretty town, situated in a deep valley along the Grand River. However, because it's 45 minutes between Grand Rapids and Lansing, it's considered quite poor. With that said, my town still has a significantly larger average income compared to where my friend lives near Orlando. Conversely, the average house value in my friend's town is quite a bit higher than in my town.
Like I told my friend, it seems like there are a lot of rich people in Fla., but it seems like they're always from somewhere else. Thus, housing is expensive and has grown tremendously in the past five years, but wages are still low compared to even economically down-trodden states such as Michigan. I suspect it may be that Florida's #1 industry--tourism--doesn't always pay the highest for the ground-level worker. Plus, when a wealthy northerner buys a winter home in Florida, he's making sure the housing remains pricey, but his home city/state is counting that income as its own!
In comparing Orlando to Detroit specifically, they really are apples and oranges. Orlando is so much different it is not comparable. However, I will defend Detroit in one regard. While the city proper is horrendous in parts and terribly poor, Detroit's suburbs rank as some of the most expensive in the nation -- even higher than Miami and the like. Aside from Celebration, I don't think Orlando even has suburbs that come close to touching places such as Grosse Pointe South, Bloomfield Hills, etc., in terms of wealth. Detroit has old, landed wealth, as do most large northern cities.People don't often hear about those place when they hear of Detroit. While Detroit has a very negative image -- and perhaps deservedly so, many cities in the U.S. cannot match the wealth that comes out of it.
LOL! WOW. All I can say is WOW. What is the point wasting hours of your lives ranting about how much you hate a city? And Detroit dosen't suck, never said it did, it's just not for me. Who said I was a recent college graduate? And I knew nothing about hard times? Again, way out of line and borderline abusive posting going on here. "Florida is Wild" was a separate sentence-and sink holes are a fascinating subject to some people. You know what?-I'm done here. I could go on, but I won't. What's the point? I can't believe either of you think the way you post on these boards is even close to acceptable? You're RANTING! Well, I've done my contributing to the board, I'll go play with my sailboat and let you too continue on your redneck rampage.
Holy Cow Are You Rude!
J
BOY you really ought to read your previous posts and either learn how to communicate properly or stop trying to bull***** people here....
"Now AS AN ADULT I'M LOOKING TO MOVE BACK."
Were those NOT your EXACT words??? After describing how you moved back and forth between Mommy and Daddies' houses in Michigan and Orlando and going to college in both cities???
Spare me your faux outrage sonny, I've called you out and it's fine. You were a child and a student in Orlando according to your own life story that you posted. If me pointing that out to you offends you then that's on you....
Would you care to enlighten us on your extensive ADULT life in the Orlando area??? Wasn't ever trying to imply your life was roses...... Who's is??? But you clearly stated in your own words that you hadn't lived a DAY of adult life in Orlando........ Care to re-state your life story to make it more credible now???
Oh, and I'm not even approaching being negative ABOUT Orlando per se, so whatever. Simply pointing out that your applauded perspective is basically that of a child..... Nothing offensive about that, other than the fact that the problems Florida is facing have to do primarily with adult concerns....... But you'll learn that soon enough. I wish you luck in finding your job and your sailboat.
I am glad to here positives about Orlando from someoneone here because in my everyday life living here all i get to here is why a New Yorker doesn't like it here. For the most part it's the New York population here that puts it down even though they all seem to be somehow talked into moving here since they never here from their own kind that already live here. At least people from the midwest cities like Detroit and Chicago are humble about things when they live here and see positives in life wherever they are, but these New Yorkers are so caught up in the city they left that they can't even live thier lives anymore. So thanx for explaining from a humble and positive point of view about your thoughts on Orlando. You are a breath of fresh air.
I think Orlando is only a great place to live if you have a college degree or some particular kind of valuable skill that is going to earn you alot of money... or you are willing to live more out in the country and get lower housing prices. The original posters favorite activities he lists, such as golfing, are actually not that popular down here for the average Joe. Golfing is mostly only popular with retirees, executives, and the wealthy. The average person who makes this place work does not golf- it's a big exaggeration to say everybody golfs down here. I know plenty of folks who'd rather spend the money on 2 XBox games, a couple of movies, a night or two out at a club, a new set of tires for their bike, than a round of golf. Golf may be a signature of Orlando but it's something that outsiders see more than people living here.
The weather is nice but there are places with nicer weather that isn't so monotone- what's wrong with an occasional cloudy day, after all? Personally I think some cool weather once in a while would be nice, and I really live more for the Florida winters where it is cool, even chilly sometimes, but never freezing and not hot. The west coast is more like it for weather. Florida's winters are pleasant, but the summers are very hot and the sun is intense, really intense (you'ld better have tinted windows on your car). Fine if you like walking around in shades, flipflops, and shirts, if that's your thing. So there is a downside to all that sun. My dad had a great aunt who was a native, we used to take care of her because she was in bad shape. Tragicly her son died at 35 from melanoma. If you are smart, you'll stay out of all that sun. Beach towns are big for tourists/recent arrivals but you really find the natives usually tend not to go crazy about the beaches and sunning themselves, but they have no problems making money off it. Maybe because it's mundane. Besides, when the hurricanes hit the beach areas are always trashed and if you are smart you won't buy a house near them, youll go inland 10-20 miles or so. Boating/sea fishing is popular, though.
I love cruising on I-4 or the B-line with my windows down and its a perfect 70 some or 80 some degrees. Orlando definitely has a vibe to it that other cities dont have or do have but its not the same. It has a lot of potential and much more growing it can do. Take in the positive amenities of the city, and u wont be disappointed.
People love to complain, and most complainers do nothing about it. Let's all be the change we want to see in our communities and open our minds because our neighbors are paying the same taxes we are...even in ORLANDO!
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