Wanting to Relocate to Broward Area from NC (Fort Lauderdale, Lake City: sales, real estate)

[noodle220]

Hi, I am a 27 year old female wanted to move to Broward County area. I currently live in Raleigh, NC. I have become recently unemployed and I feel like now is the best time for me to move and try something different. However I am unsure how I should exactly go about doing it. I have lived in NC all my life so this is pretty much all I know. I would like to have a job secured before I moved, but after talking with a few recruiters they suggest I move first. But the thing with that is that it's hard to find a place to stay without any income coming in. Idk... I really need some advice. Please Help!

[Bette]

Broward County is under Fort Lauderdale in the CD Forum.

I grew up in Broward.

[WhatUpFLA]

Originally Posted by noodle220

Hi, I am a 27 year old female wanted to move to Broward County area. I currently live in Raleigh, NC. I have become recently unemployed and I feel like now is the best time for me to move and try something different. However I am unsure how I should exactly go about doing it. I have lived in NC all my life so this is pretty much all I know. I would like to have a job secured before I moved, but after talking with a few recruiters they suggest I move first. But the thing with that is that it's hard to find a place to stay without any income coming in. Idk... I really need some advice. Please Help!

If you don't mind me asking, are your parents originally from South Florida or did they live here previously before relocating to North Carolina? The only people I've met who relocated from North Carolina to South Florida during my two-and-a-half years of living down here are people whose families relocated from South Florida to North Carolina at one point or another. And most of those families were originially from New York; New Jersey; and to a lesser extent, New England: "Half-backers."

For example, a friend of mine, who also happens to be my co-worker, was born in Broward County, but relocated to western North Carolina with her family right before she would have started school because her parents did not want her to attend public school in Broward County. After living in rural western North Carolina and northern Georgia for years, my friend and her mother eventually moved back to Broward County within the past two years or so. Her mother is originally from Long Island, New York... Go figure!

The reason why I'm asking you this is because the only young people I've ever met down here who relocated here from North Carolina had familial ties to this place or lived here at one point or another during the course of their lives. Obviously, you've never lived down here because you state in your initial post that you've lived in North Carolina for your entire life. But, I'm just wondering why you would want to move down here instead or staying put where you are or searching for another hot job market... Most people are going the other way: Moving from South Florida to North Carolina! LOL.

You're intending to move from a region with one of the most stable economies in the entire nation to a region with one of the worst economies in the entire nation. My advice for you is to stay put in Raleigh or look beyond Florida. What about Houston, Dallas, or Austin? How about Salt Lake City? The economies of those cities blow the economy of anyplace in Florida completely out of the water, especially the economy of South Florida.

However, I haven't answered any your questions. If you're uneducated and unskilled, you're most likely going to land yourself a service-oriented position that pays $8-$14/hour without benefits. Oh, yeah, that's another thing: Most positions down here come without benefits, as do most service industry positions, of which we have more than enough down here. Employers in South Florida feel as though they are doing you a favor by offering you a position and most view their employees as highly dispensable because there are so many unemployed un/under-educated and/or unskilled laborers down here with whom they can easily replace you if they feel as though you're not working out. Even if you're educated, you're still going to be earning less, on average, than your counterparts in North Carolina and elsewhere. Don't even get me started about the cost of living down here in comparison to salaries and wages...

Oh, and by the way, it's nearly impossible to secure a job in South Florida if you don't live down here. I know very few people who moved to Florida with a job already lined up. That's the reason why employers and recruiters are telling you to move first before you begin your job search. That should have been the first red flag, IMO.

[49_Retired]

Are you nuts? The people I know are moving to NC !!!!!

[cfbs2691]

OP, come down and spend some time here... Not just doing touristy things, like the beach.
Check out apartments you think you could afford working a $10/hr job.
Drive on 95 during rush hour.
If you do some homework, I bet you'll learn to appreciate NC.

Best of luck.

[49_Retired]

Culture Shockkkkkkkkk !!!

NC to Broward County ?!?!?!?!

* 2/2 pre-owned Condos start at $400k
* 3/2 pre-owned homes start at $600k
* Gas, food and most everything is more expensive in So. Florida than majority of USA.
* No middle class, and if you rent, be prepared to live next Pot smoking Dominicans playing music at 5AM .......

Example: //www.city-data.com/forum/miami...neighbors.html

[WhatUpFLA]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

OP, come down and spend some time here... Not just doing touristy things, like the beach.
Check out apartments you think you could afford working a $10/hr job.
Drive on 95 during rush hour.
If you do some homework, I bet you'll learn to appreciate NC.

Best of luck.

I completely agree. After spending some time down here in South Florida driving on I-95 during rush hour, grocery shopping at Publix, etc.; you will learn to appreciate North Carolina.

I usually encourage young, single, working professionals with little to no obligations to move out Rust Belt cities and metropolitan areas and head for the Sun Belt; but I would never encourage someone from a prosperous Sun Belt metropolitan area, such as RDU, to another part of the Sun Belt that caters to retirees and/or tourists, like most of Florida does. Other regions within the Sun Belt that cater to retirees and tourists alike are Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, etc. There are tons of low-wage service-sector jobs in these locales which make them less than desirable for most working professionals.

The grass is definitely greener in RDU than in FLL. That's a no-brainer.

[TriMT7]

What is your job?

If you're looking at recruiters, I take it you have more than a minimum wage service industry job, but I could be wrong.

The unemployment rate is actually the same in Raleigh as it is in Fort Lauderdale. Ultimately, however, wages and whether you come out ahead will depend on what you do.

Whatever you do though do not come without a plan and a job. If it's really a dream of yours to live in Florida you may want or need to consider retraining in a field that is actually in demand here. Financial services, insurance, healthcare are big industries. But if you need to be a corporate drone working your way up in a big company.... those opportunities are far fewer, and there's a lot of competition.

[cordtwo]

I am going to visit this upcoming summer and see what opportunities are available for the IT field mainly in the healthcare sector. If I can find something that pays well enough to live decent in South Florida, I may decide to move. If not I guess I will have to tough it out in Atlanta. Sometimes I feel like I can use a change.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by 49_Retired

Culture Shockkkkkkkkk !!!

NC to Broward County ?!?!?!?!

* 2/2 pre-owned Condos start at $400k
* 3/2 pre-owned homes start at $600k
* Gas, food and most everything is more expensive in So. Florida than majority of USA.
* No middle class, and if you rent, be prepared to live next Pot smoking Dominicans playing music at 5AM .......

Example: //www.city-data.com/forum/miami...neighbors.html

Ok, just to play the devils advocate:

1. Your real estate prices are clearly inflated
2. Gas/Food may be more expensive but NC has a income tax of 6% and a higher sales tax so there could be an argument that it would be a moot point at the end of the week when you compare paychecks to purchases.
3. Plenty of middle class, they are cops/firemen/nurses/teachers/small business owners

The "pot smoking Dominicans" can be your neighbors anywhere so why would that be an issue. In some states "pot" is legal so that could make your scenario even more common.