How many of us are moving to FL?

[shelle94]

Seriously, I know from reading one of the threads about snow that there are atleast a few of us moving down there within the next couple of years. I'm just curious how many of us are going, what area of FL you are looking at, and why you made the decision. Nosey aren't I?

My boyfriend and I are moving within the next 2 or 3 years hopefully. Of course we are going to be looking for a place close to WDW. Upstate NY has no jobs, crappy weather, and it's BORING! And I also think people are kind of snobby here. Everyone seems so much nicer down south.

Michelle

[kdonnel]

My wife and I have wanted to move to the Orlando area. It has alot of growth and a similar atmosphere to Atlanta.

I have too good of a job to leave though. As long as this job lasts we are staying put.

[AngieBelle]

I'm moving to Orlando to work at Disney after I graduate in May. I'll be finding an apartment with a friend of mine, so I'm not exactly sure yet where I'll be living.

[InsanelyMickey]

:Pinkbounc Add DH and me to that list! :Pinkbounc

Our house is going on the market next month whether we can stick a realtor sign on our front lawn or not! (due to the pile up of snow there now)

Hopefully we'll be down in Florida by the Fall. We're looking in the Orlando area. I have a list of Orlando area cities I've been reasearching but I seem to get crazy when I spend too much time online researching. It's such a big move I feel like I'm going in circles sometimes.

However, our pending move was the only thing that got me through my morning errands in this snow today. As I was brushing off my car (seems like almost a daily routine this winter) I kept chanting "We're going to Florida and we're going to have a palm tree" over and over again. It's a good thing none of my neighbors were out because I was saying this out loud and I'm sure I would've received some strange looks! :p

So, maybe I'll see some of you around Florida someday!

[d.kurz]

Although I am not so crazy about our current weather, DH is taking it downright personally and would move in a heartbeat. I'm not sure I could deal with the unrelenting heat and humidity in Florida in the summer. I get really cranky in the heat.

[cherylp3]

I am ready to move too! Probably won't happen for a yr or so but eventually we will move to FL. Looking near Tampa or Orlando.

[Pig Pen]

We are moving sometime within the next few years. My parents live between Ocala and Orlando and have "given" us an acre of land. All we have to do is leave our comfy government jobs and sell our house and take the plunge. Our real estate agent told us our house would sell in days. We really want to get out of here, but will miss our kids (they are early 20's and just getting settled into their lives here).

It's hard to leave jobs that have great benefits and retirements. But who knows what tomorrow may bring? Why wait?

[PatriciaH]

We had a moving truck all set for this March 24th and an apartment all lined up at Centergate in Celebration, but then all this crap with the looming war started and the economy just keeps getting worse. We figured we will wait it out until we see what happens with the world. We have no debt and a lot of savings but we did not want to blow it all while we searched for a job in Florida. We have good jobs here and are glad to have them at this point in time so we will probably save some more and wait until next spring. We are pretty sure we want to buy in Celebration! DH and I are sick of the snow and cold weather here in MA. Our town seems to be going downhill fast too. Loads of lay offs, sad people around, etc.. Florida here I come. :) :Pinkbounc

[350Z]

Sorry, Holly, but ((I)) am going to win that HGTV dream house!;) I read in the Sunday mag that there have been over 2 million entries.

We are looking at the west coast of Florida,esp around Port Charlotte.

[dixiegirl]

Add DH and I to the list although we do have to wait a couple of years. My Dad had heart surgery this year and although he is recovering really well, none of us can make the move just yet.

I am an only child so if I move, my Mom has already told me that they will move too. She knows that I have wanted to live in Florida since I was a teen so they are behind me 100%.

In the meantime, I spend alot of time here at the DIS and on the internet doing research. And also, visiting Disney once a year to give me my fix.

[FINFAN]

Add us to the list...have wanted to transplant my whole life. Area? I prefer the southwest but will go where we can locate work. The way I see it, we will most likely re-locate there A.S.A.P., and it will take about 2-3 years to discover the local area we would really like to be in and then make a final move. Emotionally, we moved there long ago...kids beg us to leave Il. and DD really wants us to settle in B4 she starts HS....which is in 1 1/2 years!:eek: That doesn't give us a whole lot of time if the economy doesn't cooperate...BUT, life is what you make it...so I guess our answer to your question is to be there by July 2004 at the latest!

[smileybrat]

Originally posted by 350Z
Sorry, Holly, but ((I)) am going to win that HGTV dream house!;)

no, i am going to win the house. :) i figured a lot of people would register to win the house but i would have never thought 2 million.

it would be fun to move to florida and work at wdw but i don't think it's going to happen for me.

have fun everyone who is moving down there.

[shelle94]

I can't believe how many of us are planning on going soon. I also have a decent paying job here that I am hesitant to leave. There is a possibility that the company I work for could find a job for me in Orlando with one of their other accounts, but I'm not going to count on it. I don't like this job anyway and I'm looking forward to something different.

My boyfriend would pack up the car today and start driving if I let him. Not me. I have to have EVERY last detail worked out and enough money saved for atleast 2 months in case we don't find jobs right away. Which means we can't go for awhile yet. Sometimes I wish I could be more spontaneous. It's just me and him and 2 cats. No kids. I know other people that have picked up and left with little or no savings and are doing just fine. I just can't take the chance. I guess I'm just not a risk taker. *sigh* Someday we will get there.

Insanely Mickey, I can relate. We also dream of looking out the window and seeing palm trees. I also go crazy with the planning. Since we don't know when we are going we can't actively look for an apartment. I just keep browsing the websites and looking at the floorplans. :D

Michelle

[PatriciaH]

Originally posted by shelle94
My boyfriend would pack up the car today and start driving if I let him. Not me. I have to have EVERY last detail worked out and enough money saved for at least 2 months in case we don't find jobs right away. Which means we can't go for awhile yet. Sometimes I wish I could be more spontaneous. It's just me and him and 2 cats. No kids. I know other people that have picked up and left with little or no savings and are doing just fine. I just can't take the chance. I guess I'm just not a risk taker. *sigh* Someday we will get there.
Michelle

Michelle-
I am like your boyfriend and DH is like you.:) I was ready to go but he was a little nervous we would blow our savings if we did not find jobs right away. To be fair we would like to use the savings for a downpayment on a house/furniture. We have enough savings to probably last 9 months for rent, food, gas etc.. I would hope we would find jobs in 9 months time. :p I guess you never know with this economy though! We did order the Orlando Sentinal to look for jobs in there. It is hard when you can't interview so easily though. Same here with no children- one cat so I feel now is the time to do it. We will wait it out a bit more and see what happens. We have wanted to move to Florida for a long time now too. My parents are selling their home in NY and heading down there soon.

[perdidobay]

DH is convinced HE will win the Dream House! He swears we will move to Mexico Beach if that happens:D

If not, we will be in Perdido Key for good some day. Our condo is just waiting on us when we make the move. Right now his pay here is too good and DD #2 is still in college.
If it were up to just me I would be there yesterday

[Robinrs]

Okay, you guys, I promise to invite you all to visit MY dream house!!

The announcement is March 27th. We will see!

My son and I are planning to move after he finished the 6th grade. I am sooooooo tired of Atlanta and I LOVE Orlando. I already know where I want to live!

We've got to have a pool party when we all finally arrive!

[WebmasterBarry]

I hope Robin is renting out a few rooms too. :)

I already live in Florida, but I was considering moving to Tampa or Orlando after graduation.

[grinningghost]

DH and I have been mentally living in Orlando for over 10 years. We will be moving there either after DD graduates high school in 5 years, or if she chooses to go to college here, after that. I wouldn't want to abandon her while she's working on a college degree. I'm hoping she'll consider college in Florida - that would be the best thing that could happen. It's also going to be difficult to leave my parents. I'm an only child and they are New York lifers who have no desire to move anywhere else. But life is full of hard choices - they can visit me whenever they want. :D

[LindaG4458]

We will be FL residents within the next 5 years. The only things holding us back right now are our dogs. Our condo in Vero Beach only allows one dog per unit and we have three. The oldest two are 12 & 13 so they won't be around forever. Once we only have Harry we will be there at least 188 days per year.

Linda

[FOJMO]

Originally posted by d.kurz
I'm not sure I could deal with the unrelenting heat and humidity in Florida in the summer. I get really cranky in the heat.

As a transplant to Florida (13 years now), just remember that you are NOT in the heat all day long, like you are when you're vacationing here. There's A/C in stores, malls, restaurants, workplaces, homes, cars, etc.

So, unless you're doing construction-type work outside all day, you'll be FINE!

...and you'll LOVE IT here!

[antkim]

My DH and I have been toying with the idea for a couple of years now.We think we may make the move in 2 more years.We are looking into the Sarasota/St.Petersburg area although I was just looking at property yesterday in Port St.Lucie.You can get A LOT for your money there.Anyone ever been.It's on the east coast just north of West Palm Beach.
Kim

[Rock'n Robin]

DH would love this, but I'd be giving up 17 years in Ohio's teacher retirement system. I would have to have a teaching job waiting--although some small talk I made with a few teachers at WDW last summer left me thinking that wouldn't be too hard to find.
On the other hand the schools would have to be good--public schools, don't have $ for private--and Celebration would be the best place for that, although we could not afford the size house we have now there.
If Ohio's college tuition costs keep going up we'll head down there before DD#1 starts college. Hopefully my parents would follow us down--although my sister would have a cow.
Robin M.

[Mackey Mouse]

Save us a spot.. I figure another two years and we will be there part of the year... not full time..

[shelle94]

Boyfriend's family is driving him crazy and he's been getting very stressed out lately. His whole family are lazy sponges. None of them work and they want us to take care of them. He almost has me talked into selling most of the crap that we have accumulated during the past couple of years and going down within the next 6 months. He said he would rather be miserable down there in a cramped studio apartment for a year or two until we can save up to move somewhere nice, then be miserable up here for a year while we save money. I told him we'll see how things go. It depends on how fast we can save money. Maybe this will motivate him to save instead of buying fast food, coffee and power drinks. :D

At first I thought I was just being wise and responsible about waiting to move, but now I'm starting to second guess myself. Maybe I worry too much and am too scared to take risks. Like I said before, I know people that have just picked up and left and they were fine. We have nothing to tie us down. No kids, no lease (we rent from an elderly gentleman and never signed a lease), and hardly any debt. Yep...I'm a chicken. I think it doesn't matter how much money we have saved I would still think it's not enough. Moving out of my Mom's house was scary enough. Am I the only control freak chicken here? LOL.

Well...good luck everyone. It looks like most of us are moving to the Orlando area. We should all get together.....at WDW of course. :cool:

[Feralpeg]

My DD and I are planning on moving to the Orlando area within the next two years if the economy cooperates. I was planning on retiring this year, but the nosedive of the stock market has forced me to postpone my plans. Regardless of the economy, I will move within two years. My daughter wants to attend collage at Central Florida University. I don't want to pay out of state tution if I can avoid it. We will be moving to Windermere. It is about 10 minutes from WDW. I can't wait!

[kylara]

For those who plan to move here and have the kids go to college, you might want to wait a year after you get here. The out of state tuition prices are almost as high as private colleges (per credit hour) and they are anticipating 7 - 71/2% tuition increases each year for the next two at least.

[Feralpeg]

Kylara, thanks for the info on the out of state tuition. I am trying to time our move so that we will have lived in Florida for a year prior to DD starting college. I have signed up for the Florida Prepaid College Board plan. By paying a set amount each year (based on the age of the child), I am locking in the in state tuition rate as it stands today. This is a great deal. I wish I had known about this a few years ago. I would have liked to have gotten into the room and board plan. Unfortunately, your child has to be in eighth grade or younger to get into that portion of the plan.

[InsanelyMickey]

shelle94-
You can put me in the category of "control freak chicken" also. I tend to get very stressed when I spend too much time thinking of this relocation. Although we've already made the decision to definitely move this year, I still stress over where we'll work, where we'll live, how well we'll adjust to another state. I've lived in the same city all my life and even though I'll gladly move down to Florida, it's still scary. I just want to be down there and settled and skip all the in between stressful parts :rolleyes: I'm not asking for too much, am I? ;) We're very lucky to have my parents' offer to stay with them as long as we need to after selling our house up here. That will be like the in between transition stage until we can find jobs/home down there. If we didn't have that option I think I would have been committed a long time ago from the stress and worrying :rolleyes:

So, no you're definitely not alone in your worrying. It's a big step and I think the stress and worrying just comes with the territory. Well, maybe just for us "control freak chickens" ;) :p