Attention Floridian transplants! (Jackson, Newport, Dayton: hotels, house, unemployment)

[mitch1156]

does everyone on here think that florida is the only place where teachers are abusing children ! wake up people parents need to pay more attention to kids and whats going on in there lives instead of sports and whatever else occupies there time !

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by JMT

I think you just pinpointed yet another reason I am soooo glad that my family left Florida. There are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of really arrogant people in Florida. I mean really smug people who think that Florida is the end-all and be-all of existence. Just because they can walk out into the back yards and pick oranges right off the trees (well, those neighborhoods that haven't bulldozed all the trees) they think we should all want to live like that. Well, monkeys pick their own fruit off of trees, too, but it doesn't mean I want to live like a monkey.

Hearing my parents talk about what Florida used to be like back when they were teenagers in the 1940s, it really was a paradise back then: laid-back Southern lifestyle, no traffic, lots of wide-open spaces, cheap land right on the waterfront, very low taxes, excellent schools, etc. Those days are long gone, and my beloved Florida of old has been paved into oblivion.

I am happy to live in a quiet suburb where no one rips the emblem off my car; where trees provide shade, and it is still cool in April (instead of 99 degrees at midnight)

The Old Florida must have been nice, JMT. I bet there are northern areas of Florida that still have some of that. South Florida is long gone. I cant imagine anyone who has lived there, now living here, and regretting that move.


sunny

[daniellefort]

True. Northern Florida has quite a bit of county land still. Coming home from TN once we took some back roads off the interstate and we actually ended up on some back roads that really had only one home every mile or two. It didn't seem like we were in FL at all. I've never lived in South FL but have you ever just looked at Google Earth? I mean you can see all the concrete around down there.

[dreamofmonterey]

you would not want to see what it has become. And I would NEVER raise a child there.

S

[backtofla]

omg, you have got to be kidding. never raise a child in south fla??? you are saying there is no where in the entire region of south fla to raise a child? that's absloutely rediculous. basically my whole family, and recently almost every cousin i have was raised in s fla. there are great ppl, and have no complaints. you must have lived in a bad part of miami/ft lauderdale i guess. the generalizing and overemphasizing (and lumping the entire state into one big bad city) is complete garbage.

no trees? 99 degrees at midnight? ppl ripping the emblems of your car? c'mon now. there are plenty of trees, it is almost may, and in central fla, it is in the low 60's at night. i am a fla native, not someone who just got here. i know what the summers are like, and that's why there's the beach and pools. let me know where it doesnt get hot in the summer.

the truth is, when you are looking at grey skies from oct - april, we are looking at blue skies and awesome weather. you got us beat during the summer, but i've been to eastern tn in the summer, and it isnt much cooler, atleast where i was. and when in high school, i lived in western nc. we didnt have a/c in school, and if it got over 90 degrees during the day, we were sent home. this happened many times.

ps- i've never had a car emblem stolen from me.

[carolinn7]

Originally Posted by carolac

We're being squeezed out. We started considering moving after the 2004 Hurricane season when the price of everything doubled and tripled. Our property insurance tripled, taxes went up, costs for electric, but wages stayed the same. My husband owns a painting/ restoration business, primarily for apartment complexes and residences. Over the last 5 years, the number of unlicensed contractors and painters have also tripled. We cannot compete with the low prices being charged by several Hispanic/Mexican painters and their families living in a 2 bedroom apartment. Quality is no longer important. Despite all the painters, customers that call us from our ads tell us it is nearly impossible to find a painter that can be trusted to do good work. It is also very difficult to find good employees who are concerned for quality.

My husband was born and raised here. His father and brother are still here. My 80 yo father lives in Clearwater, about 1-1/2 hours away, and my oldest daughter and her husband live here and attend college here. I am hoping to talk them into moving up with us since they love hiking, the outdoors, and she'll finish her masters degree next year. I am greatly concerned about their ability to afford a home here.

It is very difficult to leave. But we're dying here and not saving any money for ourselves or our impaired daughter.

oh i totally understand what you are saying!!!! my husband also is a painting contractor and its impossible to live here in florida,! after the hurricane ,between all the unliciensed contr and no work left bc of all the work done . we are slowly dieing here! we need out ! i am From Mass, and moved here in 1999, work was great for my hubby,, NOW .. OMG,, nothing,,you are either underbid by people you wonder how they are making any money off the job? just to get a job! it dosent make any sense. so we are looking to get out of here also. Tenn here we come!

[backtofla]

being underbid by contractor's for jobs has nothing to do with the state of florida --- unbelievable.

ppl are bidding for less and less to get the job, to stay busy and make some money. it is pretty slow right now in the housing market, so building contractors and all are having to bid less and less b/c it's pretty competitive right now. if ppl want to work and get bids, this is what we are having to so right now. no matter where you are. it's called competition.

[LeaveFLA]

Hi There! I've lived here in Florida for 23 years, originally from Michigan. I'm not sure where to move in TN and hope I can get some suggestions on another thread I'll start. The reason we want to move has already been covered in previous replies. Cost of living, taxes, too many angry people and the sweltering heat, of course.

LMC

[land4lorinken]

you know why U HAUL is so expensive its because it comes with a tow truck

penski is so much better do it online and if price drop's after u resevere one u get cheaper price we saved almost 200 bucks last year oklahoma to fla

[Bostenn]

All you half backs...Check out my little town - Smithville/DeKalb County. One hour from Nashville (Titans, Preds, Sounds, Frist Center, Vandy, etc); 2 hours from Knoxville (Greatest football in the world); & 3 1/2 hours from Atlanta (beloved Braves). Land is cheap, as is taxes...the great Center Hill Lake - still clean.... Moderator cut: advertising Already covered Doctors in other messages.
To Carolinn7: And my wife's from Salem, MA, but she must like it here.