Florida - you sure???

[Virgo10]

Yikes, we moved here FOR the heat. This morning I got up to find FROST on everything. I guess I'm going to have to move south to get away from this wicked winter weather.

 

[safetymom]

I went outside a few minutes ago and picked my grapefruit for breakfast. You can't do that up north. It was delicious and the rest will be even better since the frost. Yum, yum.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Everyone is different. I lived there 15 years and was okay with it (there's NO WAY I'd ever go back to NJ! ) Hated the lights on the palm trees, it looks ridiculous. I'm sure a lot depends on WHERE in FL (or anywhere else) you live. Boca Raton was my speed. Then 10 years ago I made a move to Northern VA. Loved visiting it in the past, my sister lives up there. HATED living there and didn't even unpack the boxes! I sat amoung the boxes and cried! Then called my former boss in FL...and got my job back!!!!! Within three weeks I was back there and waiting for the freeze on my job to melt.

I moved to a different part of VA a couple years ago and LOVE it!!! There's nothing I miss about FL, but I did enjoy it the years I was there.

 

[Muffy]

We have a second home going up in Celebration right now. We can't wait to get out of the snow and cold of CT. I know florida is not for everyone but we love it! I am one of the people that has no problem with folks staying away and disliking florida. Everyone has a right to their opinion. My opinion is pro florida though!

 

[iluvflorida8]

double post

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am loving the descriptions...thank you to the Floridians!

We have been skimming and the housing ($$$$) and schools scares me. Where to move??? We are considering Melbourne, if anyone has some insight on where to move.

I could care less about heat, humidity, hurricanes, & lack of snow (that part I like).

 

[AdventurerKat]

Honestly, it is a really beautiful place (Sarasota) and if it works out for me to stay here, the things I have experienced are not the end of the world. As said, there is good and bad everywhere.

And I am sorry if my comment about customer service and what has happened to us have offended anyone. It was meant in jest and just an observation of what has happened to us in several instances. I am sure it doesn't ONLY happen in Florida.

Finally, I obviously don't hate it here or I would have left by now. I could leave tomorrow if I wanted with a simple phone call to my parents who would be more than happy to bankroll an immediate move home, believe me. But instead, it will be a very difficult decision to make to stay or go and I will miss Florida in many ways if I make the choice to leave it.

 

[Ziva]

Yes, I find it funny that customer service can only be bad here and makes for unbearable living in Florida. If only all the people who hate it here would move to where they love......

And don't forget the crime, it's everywhere down here and never happens in other states! What I find the most amusing is the people who have never lived here saying how horrible it is and how much better their state is, umm yeh...whatever you say buddy.

 

[punkin]

My sister moved to the Orlando area 22 years ago for a job. She did not last out the year. She hated absolutely everything. However, we went back recently together and she said that everything has improved so much she would not mind moving back to FLA (but not Orlando-she says she was scarred for life)

 

[CathrynRose]

And don't forget the crime, it's everywhere down here and never happens in other states! What I find the most amusing is the people who have never lived here saying how horrible it is and how much better their state is, umm yeh...whatever you say buddy.

I dont recall seeing posts which claim that crime only happens in Florida, as well as Customer Service issues.

The posts, IMO, said it was'nt what they had been used to....

For me, I was there - I did live there, and again, for me - it was much more than I was used to (and much less then I was used to with CS)

Im truly happy that people can find happiness wherever they may be - but my initial question 'is anyone in my boat' - thats all.

 

[FSUGrad97]

so Florida is great for the q~tips but really sucks to raise a family? There must be no wholesome atmosphere here....I guess my princesses have no chance at a decent future. And safety? Wow, we should lock ourselves in!

But, hey, everything is SO much better up north, and us Floridians wouldn't know what to do without them telling us how they do things up there...

What's the world coming to when Gators and Seminoles agree?

 

[lucas]

I was in on the OP's duplicate thread over on the budget board on this subject. Things got heated over there, too.

 

[TINKTWINS]

Bostonian here, I absolutly love Florida. In fact just today I was whinning that I wish I was there now! We have visited several parts of the state. So far if I could choose a place to own it may be Marco Island. But that could change, we try to visit a different place once a year. I am truly hopeful that someday I will at the very LEAST own a second home there with the hopes of retirering there. One draw back for me would be that my older children will be settled here someplace and I would miss them terrible. (I think)
There is no doubt the way of life between the northeast and south are very different, but both have pros and cons. We missed a great opportunity a few years back, we had taken a trip down to look at property, our budget was a home under 150,000, we looked at tons of houses in Davenport. Boy did we miss the boat! We looked at a home then for 115,000 same house now upwards of 250,000! Its very unfortunate for alot of Floridians that so many northerners are coming down and buying homes up and raising the prices of the homes with the demand. I really do not like winter, and I have lived here always, and I see me being done with it the older I get. Obviously my biggest fear, as with most would be the hurricanes. Darn Mother Nature, she really can spoil a good thing!