Does anyone live in Florida on here?

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I just went through all that you are going through about 2 monthes ago. You see I was born and raised in NC and I moved here to Palm Beach Gardens on May 31 from Raleigh. I will tell you Florida is certainly a different place, but not in a bad way. I have missed home alot but it truely isn't that bad here. You will get asked a million times by the locals "Why would you move to FL from NC, when all the locals want to get to NC?" If I had a dollar for everytime I was asked that my overpriced rent would be paid for. It is expensive, but NC was starting to go up when I left so there is no where to hide from the rising cost of living these days. Good Luck with your move and if you need advice from a NC girl now in FL feel free to write me....

Hey girl! Yeah, I can understand that...but being born and raised in Charlotte, NC...I'm ready to go! Charlotte was nothing 23 years ago, but now it's very busy and very expensive! I know it will be more expensive in Florida, but worth it for me and my dreams! My whole family is from Florida and everyone is still there, except my parents. Who will probably be moving back to retire near my Mom's family. So...for me...it's a good move! I'm there all the time any way and love it! You get sick of living some where your whole life and need a change. My main thing...is I want a safe place to live in Florida. I have no family really in central Florida and they have lived in Florida their entire lives...so they don't have to worry about the prices going up. I love Florida and always have! I've been trying to get there my whole life, so we're looking into it!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I live in Boca Raton in Palm Beach county and we are planning to move back to NC. I am not writing this to discourage you...there are PLENTY of wonderful things about Florida. The previous poster had a good point about the expense here, though. Northern Florida in definately more affordable than south Florida. Here in boca a 2000 square foot home is about 500,000 in a decent neighborhood with about 8000 in yearly taxes and 3000 in home owners insurance(although the market is falling). There are about 25 homes for sale in my development alone, last year they stayed on the market for no more than a month, now they are lingering over six months. SO,,,it should be more of a buyers market when you get here. Good for you, not so good for us! If you want to hear anything about south Florida I would be more than happy to help. There are so many great things here!

To me, NC is heaven. We lived there by the ocean for almost 8 years while my husband was in the USMC. Low crime, no traffic, low cost of living. But the trade offs are: less to do, less cultural activities, farther away from DISNEY and US/IOA

I love Florida, but for us it is time to go. Keep us informed about your move, and may all your dreams come true.

I love NC as well...Charlotte is my hometown! I think I'll come back here and retire...hehe. Really...the only place I'm crazy about though is Charlotte. I'm a city girl and maybe I'll be ready to relax down the road. Right now, I enjoy a hectic life-style. One of my DH's friends just made the move to Orlando and I am so jealous!! I am too much of a Disney freak and need my fix too often! I'm sure others can relate.

 

[lookingforward]

I love NC as well...Charlotte is my hometown! I think I'll come back here and retire...hehe. Really...the only place I'm crazy about though is Charlotte. I'm a city girl and maybe I'll be ready to relax down the road. Right now, I enjoy a hectic life-style. One of my DH's friends just made the move to Orlando and I am so jealous!! I am too much of a Disney freak and need my fix too often! I'm sure others can relate.

Oh BOY, can I relate to the WDW thing! I have to go at least once every three or four months. SO, if we move back to NC my husband has assured me that he won't mind my annual Christmas trip (for my daughters birthday) and our annual family vacation. We just won't be able to do weekends like we used to. It is REALLY nice to be only 2.5 hours away by car. I will miss those happy and excited drives north on the Florida turnpike. But we are not leaving FL for at least 10 months so I will try my best to get up there for my fix as much as possible. We are going in September, December and again in the spring. (We just went to US/IOA last weekend and had so much fun at the Royal Pacific). Good luck with getting back to FL!

 

[Eeyore77]

Oh BOY, can I relate to the WDW thing! I have to go at least once every three or four months. SO, if we move back to NC my husband has assured me that he won't mind my annual Christmas trip (for my daughters birthday) and our annual family vacation. We just won't be able to do weekends like we used to. It is REALLY nice to be only 2.5 hours away by car. I will miss those happy and excited drives north on the Florida turnpike. But we are not leaving FL for at least 10 months so I will try my best to get up there for my fix as much as possible. We are going in September, December and again in the spring. (We just went to US/IOA last weekend and had so much fun at the Royal Pacific). Good luck with getting back to FL!

We haven't had the chance to make that short trip up there yet, but that is certainly one of the selling points that got me to come here. Run to WDW for the weekend, that would never happen in NC.... We plan to do it soon, but if not our planning session is in 7 weeks at WDW....

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

Oh BOY, can I relate to the WDW thing! I have to go at least once every three or four months. SO, if we move back to NC my husband has assured me that he won't mind my annual Christmas trip (for my daughters birthday) and our annual family vacation. We just won't be able to do weekends like we used to. It is REALLY nice to be only 2.5 hours away by car. I will miss those happy and excited drives north on the Florida turnpike. But we are not leaving FL for at least 10 months so I will try my best to get up there for my fix as much as possible. We are going in September, December and again in the spring. (We just went to US/IOA last weekend and had so much fun at the Royal Pacific). Good luck with getting back to FL!

Thanks you! I will keep everyone updated! I am hoping to be there within a year, but we got lots to do to get there! Positive thinking!

 

[ChrisnKim913]

Port Richey, Florida....half hour north of tampa

 

[karenperez]

I was born and raised in Miami (28 years) and moved to Sebring, FL (1.5 hours from Orlando) last year. It is a fairly small town, but it is rapidly growing, as is most of FL. My parents bought a 3/2 w/ garage here on a 1/2 acre lot last year for $110,000. Property value is on the rise here, you can't really find too many deals like that anymore, but here is the thing... A lot of the city's population is retired folks. They leave during the summer to go to their northern homes and this place slows down a bit. Therefore, it's a little more difficult to find jobs here in the summer months. Jobs can be a challenge here even in the winter months, depending on what you do. (Trained medical staff is in high demand). Since there is so much competition for jobs, most employers put applicants through personality tests, basic math/reading tests, background/drug tests etc., and sometimes there is more than 1 interview. They also tend to take forever to call you back and set things up.

I would suggest looking into the job market if you are considering a less expensive smaller town. My father couldn't make good money here, and he works and lives in Miami while my mom resides here. First time they've been apart in 30 years!

Keep in mind too the weather. It can get really humid and hot in FL. Temeratures up to 100 F in the summer. It is overall a beautiful and fun state! Good luck with your plans!

 

[hmp2z]

My husband & I live in Charlotte, and we bought land in Clermont, FL, last year and are now in the process of building a custom home there. I have a blog on this process, if you're interested:
http://hmp2z.wordpress.com/

We did a few scouting trips to the Orlando area, and it seemed that Lake County was fairly close & affordable, with plenty of land still available, if that's important to you. We ended up buying 3 acres in a gated community in Clermont, which we were (and still are!) very happy with.

We used a buyer's agent, which was one of the best decisions we made. They are free for buyers to use; the seller's agent splits the 6% commission with the buyer's agent, so actually the seller is paying for the agent for you. If you are interested in getting her name/contact info, PM me. Our buyer's agent was awesome. She lived in Windermere, so was very close to WDW and knew the area very well. She was able to line up surveyors, environmental engineers, etc. for us, so we didn't have to spend time screening people & doing cost comparisons - she did that for us.

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

My husband & I live in Charlotte, and we bought land in Clermont, FL, last year and are now in the process of building a custom home there. I have a blog on this process, if you're interested:
http://hmp2z.wordpress.com/

We did a few scouting trips to the Orlando area, and it seemed that Lake County was fairly close & affordable, with plenty of land still available, if that's important to you. We ended up buying 3 acres in a gated community in Clermont, which we were (and still are!) very happy with.

We used a buyer's agent, which was one of the best decisions we made. They are free for buyers to use; the seller's agent splits the 6% commission with the buyer's agent, so actually the seller is paying for the agent for you. If you are interested in getting her name/contact info, PM me. Our buyer's agent was awesome. She lived in Windermere, so was very close to WDW and knew the area very well. She was able to line up surveyors, environmental engineers, etc. for us, so we didn't have to spend time screening people & doing cost comparisons - she did that for us.

Cheers!
Heather W

I'm so glad to have found you on here! That's so great that you are in Charotte too and doing what I'd like to do! I love Charlotte, but I am ready to get to Florida. My hubby just has to find a job there, so we can actually go. That can take a LONG time. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we will make it in the next 2 years! My hubby says we will! I've been looking into the best places to live in Central Florida and neighborhoods, etc. online and gathering information! Thanks so much for the information! I will contact you about getting the buyer's agent info. Sounds great!

 

[disneybride2007]

I'm a realtor with Re/Max in the Jacksonville area. Northeast FL is, definitely, one of the more affordable areas, within the state. There are lots of new single family homes starting from the mid-$100's here, depending on the area. My office is in Ponte Vedra Beach and single family homes in that area start from the mid-$400's and up $$$$, mainly because of the distance to the beach and prestige of the area. However, in World Golf Village (St. Augustine) and Julington Creek single family homes start from the mid-$200's. It really depends on what you are looking for (new construction vs. existing; single family vs. condo; beach area vs. non-beach area; etc.). Regardless of the price, the overall property values are increasing in this area, due to economic expansions.

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I'm a realtor with Re/Max in the Jacksonville area. Northeast FL is, definitely, one of the more affordable areas, within the state. There are lots of new single family homes starting from the mid-$100's here, depending on the area. My office is in Ponte Vedra Beach and single family homes in that area start from the mid-$400's and up $$$$, mainly because of the distance to the beach and prestige of the area. However, in World Golf Village (St. Augustine) and Julington Creek single family homes start from the mid-$200's. It really depends on what you are looking for (new construction vs. existing; single family vs. condo; beach area vs. non-beach area; etc.). Regardless of the price, the overall property values are increasing in this area, due to economic expansions.

Hey! Thanks so much for the GREAT information! Do you know any information about the central Florida area. My husband will most likely be relocating to Orlando if everything works out as planned. What are the most affordable areas around/outside Orlando? We'd like to purchase or build a home, but it must be in our price range...so we're not sure. We can afford to build a very nice size home here in Charlotte (2 stories/4 bedrooms/2 car garage), but not sure about the central Florida area. We have seen some homes in our price range in Kissimmee and other surrounding Orlando areas.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

when i recently drove to orlando, i drove through lake county...and there was a lot of construction going on! i think it's a bit northeast of orlando, though i'm really not sure. but it was pretty close!

also, my boyfriend is from debary, fl...which is near deltona (and deland) florida, it takes him about 30 minutes to get to orlando. it's an older area, so you could probably find a house for a good price there. i liked the area! when i was in high school in south florida, literally dozens of families were packing up and moving/building in the deland area! you may want to check that out.

and if you're still thinking about other places....i'm in tallahassee now, and graduating in december....and i never want to leave! it's a cool place, too!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

My DH just applied for a job in Orlando! Everyone please keep their fingers crossed for us!!

 

[LilyStar]

Hello there!

My fiance and I live in Casselberry, a northern suburb of Orlando. In Sept. of 2004 we moved from upstate NY to Jacksonville and then onto Orlando in February 2005.

I can tell you we did not like Jax. Too industrial and not much to do entertainment wise, not to mention it seems to be wayyy to southern for us yankees! LOL

We love Orlando. We have been starting to seriously look into buying a home and we've found it extremely difficult. The prices have soared so much in the last 2 years that housing is completely unaffordable for us now. We are having a hard time. If you want anything DECENT to live in, it's at least $200K and that's 2 bedrooms in a semi-ok area. If you want something a little bigger with a pool, then it's $250K at bare minimum. If you want more bang for your buck, you should look into towns like Ocoee in West Orlando and then new communities in East Orlando more out toward the airport. However these are brand new cookie cutter communities...that is not appealing to everyone. There are a whole bunch of places more out on the outskirts of town that are much more affordable, places like Deltona, Sanford, Lake Mary, Clermont, Davenport, Bithlo and others out on the way to the shore. HOWEVER! Depending on where you work you will absolutely HATE yourself for buying a house way out in these areas with the traffic. I am exactly 9 miles from work and it is a 35 minute minimum commute into downtown Orlando where I work. We rent an apartment and it's $972/month and that to me is throwing away money....so I don't know what the future holds for us.

If you need help, please don't hesitate to contact me. JakeFlake@aol.com is my email address, I'd be happy to help.

Jackie

 

[Slsguy]

I don't live in Fl but my Bro and Sister-in-law moved to Tampa about 3 years ago from MA and I have been too Jacksonville, Daytona, Miami, Key West Tampa (a TON!) Indian Rocks Beach and a ton of little places. He bought a nice, roughly 2K sg/ft (3 bdrm, 2 bath) house with a lanai, small screened in pool, fenced yard (with sprinkler system) for just over 200K - the same I paid for my 1300 Sq/ft condo in MA!!!

That was 3 years ago and I think the prices have increased. He said the heat was a little hard to get used to but they got acclimated - now when he comes to visit he turns the heat upto 85! Drives me crazy! Tampa is a nice area, especially for a young couple without kids - lots to do! Guavaween is crazy fun and Ybor city is a nice area as well.

The absence of income tax and the few other little financial perks wouldn’t be as much of a plus for some, like New Englanders simply because the salary range is a little lower. Plus I think the real-estate tax is higher...

From what I hear, if you like the heat more then the snow/cold - it's a good move. The heat can be unbearable and keep you from going out in the afternoon, but so does the cold/snow up north and it's really only bad 3 months out of the year apposed to the cold in New England that lasts from mid November to Feb/March and sometimes even April (got 6 inch's of snow on April fools day back in 95 or 96!).

From what I gather, if you gonna do it, do it cause you like the area and want to live there apposed to any finical reasons because after the day is done, it's not much a difference.

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

Hello there!

My fiance and I live in Casselberry, a northern suburb of Orlando. In Sept. of 2004 we moved from upstate NY to Jacksonville and then onto Orlando in February 2005.

I can tell you we did not like Jax. Too industrial and not much to do entertainment wise, not to mention it seems to be wayyy to southern for us yankees! LOL

We love Orlando. We have been starting to seriously look into buying a home and we've found it extremely difficult. The prices have soared so much in the last 2 years that housing is completely unaffordable for us now. We are having a hard time. If you want anything DECENT to live in, it's at least $200K and that's 2 bedrooms in a semi-ok area. If you want something a little bigger with a pool, then it's $250K at bare minimum. If you want more bang for your buck, you should look into towns like Ocoee in West Orlando and then new communities in East Orlando more out toward the airport. However these are brand new cookie cutter communities...that is not appealing to everyone. There are a whole bunch of places more out on the outskirts of town that are much more affordable, places like Deltona, Sanford, Lake Mary, Clermont, Davenport, Bithlo and others out on the way to the shore. HOWEVER! Depending on where you work you will absolutely HATE yourself for buying a house way out in these areas with the traffic. I am exactly 9 miles from work and it is a 35 minute minimum commute into downtown Orlando where I work. We rent an apartment and it's $972/month and that to me is throwing away money....so I don't know what the future holds for us.

If you need help, please don't hesitate to contact me. JakeFlake@aol.com is my email address, I'd be happy to help.

Jackie

Thanks so much! I'm sure I'll be contacting you down the road!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I don't live in Fl but my Bro and Sister-in-law moved to Tampa about 3 years ago from MA and I have been too Jacksonville, Daytona, Miami, Key West Tampa (a TON!) Indian Rocks Beach and a ton of little places. He bought a nice, roughly 2K sg/ft (3 bdrm, 2 bath) house with a lanai, small screened in pool, fenced yard (with sprinkler system) for just over 200K - the same I paid for my 1300 Sq/ft condo in MA!!!

That was 3 years ago and I think the prices have increased. He said the heat was a little hard to get used to but they got acclimated - now when he comes to visit he turns the heat upto 85! Drives me crazy! Tampa is a nice area, especially for a young couple without kids - lots to do! Guavaween is crazy fun and Ybor city is a nice area as well.

The absence of income tax and the few other little financial perks wouldn’t be as much of a plus for some, like New Englanders simply because the salary range is a little lower. Plus I think the real-estate tax is higher...

From what I hear, if you like the heat more then the snow/cold - it's a good move. The heat can be unbearable and keep you from going out in the afternoon, but so does the cold/snow up north and it's really only bad 3 months out of the year apposed to the cold in New England that lasts from mid November to Feb/March and sometimes even April (got 6 inch's of snow on April fools day back in 95 or 96!).

From what I gather, if you gonna do it, do it cause you like the area and want to live there apposed to any finical reasons because after the day is done, it's not much a difference.

My DH is from Rhode Island...he feels your pain!

 

[hmp2z]

We'd looked around at different areas in Central FL - here are our thoughts:

- Clermont has some nicer areas & some not-so-nice (mobile home) areas. We really liked all the areas along CR 561; this road was very pretty. Our community is gated, with no mobile homes allowed and a minimum house size, so we don't have to worry about anything like that dropping our property values.

- Green Swamp Road in the Clermont/Groveland area is a pretty close commute to WDW and has housing restrictions also (i.e. no mobile homes). This area was nice, but we were able to get our 3 acres at about $30K less than we would have paid for the same property on Green Swamp Rd.

- Windermere was our dream location, but unfortunately, we couldn't afford the land we wanted at our purchase price. However, if you are fine with a decent-sized house in a subdivision with a very small yard, you could find some reasonably priced houses here ($300-400 range). Some places we saw for sale here advertised that you could actually see WDW fireworks from your back porch - I thought that would be AWESOME, but wasn't willing to settle for such a small amount of land.

- We didn't care for Kissimmee or the northern/eastern areas around Orlando (i.e. Seminole County or the UCF area).

- We drove around during rush hour, and found that the commute, entering the city, from the south or west seemed to be shorter than the commute coming in from the north or east. Because of this, we decided to look out in Lake County.

- We've heard some good things about Davenport being an up-and-coming area. Land there is still pretty affordable, though prices in Clermont have been rising steadily. Since we bought our land, lots in our community have sold for anywhere from $20K-40K more than what we paid.

Keep in mind that the housing market is REALLY slowing down in Central Florida. I just spoke with our builder last week, and he said that new construction homes are just sitting on the market, not moving. He mentioned one neighborhood that was giving away Mini Coopers with the purchase of a new home! The builders are getting desperate to move houses. The problem is that the housing market has been so inflated recently that it couldn't sustain those prices. Builders built as though the boom was going to last forever, and now that it's slowing down, there are still houses in the pipeline, waiting to be built, so the builders don't want to lose money and are trying to move their houses.

On a related topic, Centex Homes just bought a large parcel of land from WDW (on WDW property), on which they plan to build a subdivision. That will be a prime location!

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

We'd looked around at different areas in Central FL - here are our thoughts:

- Clermont has some nicer areas & some not-so-nice (mobile home) areas. We really liked all the areas along CR 561; this road was very pretty. Our community is gated, with no mobile homes allowed and a minimum house size, so we don't have to worry about anything like that dropping our property values.

- Green Swamp Road in the Clermont/Groveland area is a pretty close commute to WDW and has housing restrictions also (i.e. no mobile homes). This area was nice, but we were able to get our 3 acres at about $30K less than we would have paid for the same property on Green Swamp Rd.

- Windermere was our dream location, but unfortunately, we couldn't afford the land we wanted at our purchase price. However, if you are fine with a decent-sized house in a subdivision with a very small yard, you could find some reasonably priced houses here ($300-400 range). Some places we saw for sale here advertised that you could actually see WDW fireworks from your back porch - I thought that would be AWESOME, but wasn't willing to settle for such a small amount of land.

- We didn't care for Kissimmee or the northern/eastern areas around Orlando (i.e. Seminole County or the UCF area).

- We drove around during rush hour, and found that the commute, entering the city, from the south or west seemed to be shorter than the commute coming in from the north or east. Because of this, we decided to look out in Lake County.

- We've heard some good things about Davenport being an up-and-coming area. Land there is still pretty affordable, though prices in Clermont have been rising steadily. Since we bought our land, lots in our community have sold for anywhere from $20K-40K more than what we paid.

Keep in mind that the housing market is REALLY slowing down in Central Florida. I just spoke with our builder last week, and he said that new construction homes are just sitting on the market, not moving. He mentioned one neighborhood that was giving away Mini Coopers with the purchase of a new home! The builders are getting desperate to move houses. The problem is that the housing market has been so inflated recently that it couldn't sustain those prices. Builders built as though the boom was going to last forever, and now that it's slowing down, there are still houses in the pipeline, waiting to be built, so the builders don't want to lose money and are trying to move their houses.

On a related topic, Centex Homes just bought a large parcel of land from WDW (on WDW property), on which they plan to build a subdivision. That will be a prime location!

Cheers!
Heather W

WOW! Great info. I feel so overwhelmed with all the researching! I bet you felt the same. I just forwarded this info. to my DH. I'm sure I'll be in contact again. My DH has been applying for jobs in Orlando and all we can do is wait. Then, hopefully (sooner, than later) we can make the move after a lot of looking and hunting in the central FL area. Thanks again!!

 

[JandJ]

Good luck in the job search!!

I used to live in Winter Springs and worked in Casselbury. It's about 35 minutes from Disney in good traffic. I really liked it, but my friend and I rented so I can't tell you about home prices. I know the new homes they were building were around $400k but there were a lot of older communities, still nice, that were closer to $200k in Winter Springs. Oviedo is another up and coming area that still has affordable housing (and a great mall ). I'm in the Tampa Bay area now, DH has always lived in this area, and I love it but I do miss Orlando. Thankfully we're only about 1.5 hours from Disney

I heard on NPR radio this morning that the housing "bubble" is on the edge of bursting. It is becoming more of a buyer's market as my real estate friends used to say, so that could be to your advantage. Best of luck in finding housing and the perfect job!