All amenities in a smaller town close to the beach (Miami: employment, buying)

[CarrieBanks]

Hi all,

My Husband and I currently live in a very small College town in Georgia with a population of around 28,000. Although we enjoy small town living, this is just a little too small for us as we lack a decent mall and an array of activities to do and job opportunities are limited as well. We especially enjoy festivals, beaches, parks and shopping, but are not into the nightlife/party scene. Also it would be ideal if we could be about 30 minutes or so from the beach. I am aware that the closer you live to the beach the more expensive it tends to be, but we'll be happy if we can be 30 minutes away or so.

We are in our early 30's and are looking to start a family in the near future and would also like an area that will provide a good, safe family friendly environment. We have already visited Sarasota, Venice, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton, Deerfield, West Palm Beach and Pompano. Although we liked Boca Raton and Pompano we found it too expensive and added to that the one common trend that we have noticed on all our trips to Florida has been the difference in the pace and attitude in driving as compared to Georgia. The driving where we are is a lot more laid back and no one honks unless you really do something to cause a close call. Is the driving as aggressive as what we have experienced in all of Florida or in the east or west side anyway?

So to sum it up, what we are looking for is a friendly quiet town on the smaller side that still has all the amenities and family oriented activities, something that is not too far from the beach and is located on the south east or west side where we can enjoy the beaches almost all year round and where the driving is not as aggressive as we have seen. It would be ideal if we can both find jobs where we are, and not have to drive great distances to a larger city, as we don't plan on buying another car in a hurry. My Husband is into video production and I am currently looking for anything Administrative.

I'm hoping that such a place does exist that might fit all our needs and would really appreciate some advice.

I know this is a long one but I wanted to give as much information as I could that will help to answer as many questions as I can.

Thanks!
Carrie

[skylinet]

Jupiter/Juno/Tequesta
Traffic isn't as bad when you get further North in Palm Beach County.
All these areas are smaller towns close to the beach, close to lots of shopping, and a good area to start a family.

[CarrieBanks]

Thanks for your reply! I did hear about Jupiter before but not Juno or Tequesta and did not really know anything about them. I've been doing a ton of research through which we visited the places listed above. However there are so many places to live in FL that I figured without some advice we might never stumble upon it or if we did it might take us years. Thanks for the advice. It certainly sounds very promising and we will look into it.

[CarrieBanks]

Do you by any chance know anything about Bonita Springs? We stumbled upon it recently online and it looks pretty nice. However when I did a job search it seems to have more retail jobs than anything else. We just don't want to end up in a similar town to this one that we are currently in, with the only difference being that it's in Florida.

Thanks again!

[THX 1138]

"Jobs", what do you do, what is your line of work or profession? If you do not want to disclose it, I can tell you this, it's often very hard to find good jobs here that pay a livable wage unless your in a very high demand field. If your in a specialty field with a specialized degree, you may find it difficult to earn a living here compared to someplace else where your degree, experience and background will be better appreciated and utilized.

South Florida is not a great place to move without a job lined up, also a lot of companies will not do relocation, it all depends not saying it can't happen, but it's just not typical. They often prefer local candidates and often salaries are subpar to afford the lifestyle unless that is you are willing to make a lot of sacrifices and give up some luxuries or learn to budget.

Also if you want Southern Hospitality you won't find it in South Florida, although we are South of you, there is an old saying, you have to go North to go South here. People are typically rude, bad drivers, a lot of Baby Boomers driving $40K+ luxury cars who are more concerned about their hair do and/or golf game and will pull out in front of you, cut you off and or just be really rude. They act like the world revolves around them. I have seen so many Deer and headlight incidents it amazes me.

Also aside from them, drivers here of other age groups, nationalities and typically ones from NY/NJ are very aggressive. Tail gating, weaving in and out of traffic at high speed, not letting you change lanes or let you in on a off ramp. The further south you go here the worst that is.

The west coast of Florida is very seasonal, there are no jobs there but it's much more laid back in and around Marco Island up to Bonita Springs. A lot of wealthy people there, tourists from Europe are also common more Midwest less New York.

If you desire to move here, just do your homework prior. I don't tend to discourage anyone, but I have seen plenty of people leave after 6 months or 1 year and when they find it hard to make ends meet or find a good career.

[CarrieBanks]

I really do appreciate your honesty as to what we can expect, because everything that you have described we have actually experienced on our trips there and in the very same ways too, as you have expressed them occurring! I have to admit all of those different factors did make us think twice, and it's a decision that we take very seriously, so any advice that we can get from someone who actually lives there and knows what it's really like from a realistic everyday standpoint will be most beneficial in assisting us with our decision.

As far as jobs go, as I mentioned in my initial post my Husband is a video producer and I will be looking for pretty much anything that I can find in the Administrative field to start with. I realise that our jobs are not by any means specialized. Our plan was to find an area that we both liked, and then apply for jobs and upon employment make the move. It's disappointing to know that jobs are difficult to come by and local candidates seem to be preferred.

I know that life is difficult these days no matter where you are, but it's nice to learn more about South Florida and to know what we can really expect, as it's a matter of choosing what you can live with and what you absolutely can't, and I feel like we have a broader picture now with which to work and make the best informed decision that we can.

Thanks for the good advice!

[THX 1138]

Video in what though, news or commercials? There are a lot of news stations here but I cannot say how in demand a field that is. I would say it's probably a tough field here, might be better down in Miami.

If you mean Administrative meaning Admin. Assistant, Secretary, Exe. Assistant or etc., then I can say that there is a lot of competition and employers either expect candidates to often have a BS degree and pay crappy or pay crappy and do not care about your degree and experience and hire people straight out of high school with less experience and pay them less money. That field has seen a serious declination in salaries over the years, it once was much more lucrative even our office cut back Admin. people during the big downturn, really has not improved too much. The solution is to make people wear more hats and not pay them anymore compensation, it's a win-win for the employers and small business owners who can buy a new luxury car instead of hiring another employee.

I have seen people with college degrees working as receptionists, trying to get into companies but often they get pigeonholed and are never offered any advancement and leave.

For the both of you it appears you will have to seriously debate moving here without a job, i would not suggest it unless you have a lot of money to live off of 6-8 months at least and even that is risky to suggest to someone, if it was 2006, back when unemployment was 3% or so it would be easier to land a job quickly. Now it's around 6.9% but in reality it's higher because so many people have given up looking for work. For what is available there is a lot of competition, and employers and can pick and choose, also offer lower salaries.

It's an employers market here and they sure know it.

[CarrieBanks]

We work for a newspaper so that would be ideal for us. He is a video producer/editor and also does productions for the local cable channel, news and some commercials. I know that he will have the ability to land a much better job than I would because his field is not nearly as common as Admin. I would have thought that it would have been super easy for me to land a job seeing that the Administrative field is such a common one these days. Here it's difficult as well, but from what you've described it sounds tougher than it is here. Now I know how some of them come by their luxury cars now I was thinking about Admin/Executive Assistant/Receptionist or even customer service. Just pretty much anything along those lines really just to get started. It's a pity that Miami might probably be his best bet as it's just far too large, and busy of a place for us.

We actually did talk about the possibility of saving up and making the move, but with times being so difficult these days, it is a huge risk as you rightly said and would take considerable time to save. So the only way would be if we applied from here and were successful in one of us getting a job offer or better yet, both of us. It's just that when I look at so many of those areas which I mentioned in my very first post, all of which we visited, it seems like we are unable to find a town that has a small feel to it and contains all the amenities and jobs in one place without having to drive to a bigger city everyday. I have seen the traffic in Florida and it is a nightmare so we would have preferred to live in a place where we can work, and play and not have to commute.

Is it this tough in Florida as a whole or should we maybe consider a different area of Florida altogether? I know that these things are difficult everywhere these days, but if we have chosen an area that is not lucrative for the kind of lifestyle that we are seeking, then I'm wondering whether we might need to consider a completely different part of Florida.

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by CarrieBanks

Is it this tough in Florida as a whole or should we maybe consider a different area of Florida altogether? I know that these things are difficult everywhere these days, but if we have chosen an area that is not lucrative for the kind of lifestyle that we are seeking, then I'm wondering whether we might need to consider a completely different part of Florida.

IMO all of Florida's pretty much the same.
Low wages, lots of traffic, high housing costs.
Consider yourself lucky if you can land a job paying $12/hr.

[CarrieBanks]

A decent salary here also starts at around $12 and seems equally difficult to find. I was really hoping that not all of Florida would be the same and there would be some areas where life would be more slow paced, tranquil and easy going, but it sure doesn't seem that way from all that I've been hearing so far which is really disappointing.