Florida - you sure???

[lillygator]

See my siggy!

I was born in VT, but grew up in Florida and have moved back and forth several times. While my kids were growing up we decided we could provide a better home life for them in VT...better schools, wholesome atmosphere, safety.....

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!

 

[JustHolly]

I really like Florida now, but mostly because of the weather. We moved to FL from NH two and a half years ago, but it truly took a year before I actually liked living here. It is a big adjustment.

1. The bugs.... ants, cockroaches, BIG grasshoppers, mosquitoes galore.
2. There is more crime in Central Florida than from where I'm from.... I have to live very differently... much more aware of my surroundings/safety.
3. The driving/traffic! I was involved in 2 car accidents in 3 weeks after I moved here. My friend just moved here and he had 2 accidents in TWO weeks!
4. The summer heat/weather.... it's unbearable by late August, and then come the hurricanes!

5. The people- native Floridians, PLEASE don't flame me! There is a slower way of life here in the south, and it's a big adjustment from the fast-paced life in New England! People take their time doing things, and customer service anywhere but Disney is terrible!

Examples? We are STILL waiting for a telephone in our new house! We have been waiting for 11 weeks! They have rewired our house, dug up our brand new lawn, and we still do not have a phone. Verizon doesn't care that we don't have a phone, and continuously blaming our builder, who then blames the phone company, etc. It's an endless circle.

Things don't always get done right the first time... instead of turning on our water, they turned it OFF, and we spent our first night in our house without water.

They rotated my tires wrong at the tire place, and now my car shakes and wiggles even at low speeds. They refuse to fix it.

We are the last occupied house on our street... sometimes the garbage men "forget" to back up and take our garbage on garbage days....

Our Dr.'s don't read our charts, and have misprescribed medications. It sometimes takes THREE weeks to get an appointment, so we have been forced to go to the Emergency Room for non-emergencies.

Things like this never happened to us in New England. People did things right the first time. I don't see that here in Florida very often. I know it sounds cruel, but it's just a difference between what I'm used to, and what I'm getting used to.

There ARE good things about living in Florida:

1. The weather... it's great to sit on the beach at the end of December! It's great to not have to drive in the snow.

2. The BBQ and southern cooking! YUM!

3. People are friendlier than in New England. EVERYONE strikes up conversations with you, everywhere!

4. Being able to go to WDW anytime, being able to attend all the special events, driving to WDW to eat dinner at Boma on a whim, etc. LOVE IT!

 

[AdventurerKat]

Its funny to find this post today. My DH and I have been discussing recently whether we will stay here.

Just as a back story. I wanted to move to Orlando for many years but my DH (DF for a part of that time) would not go. His brother and SIL moved to Sarasota a couple years ago and it was with their assistance that I got him to move down here. I figured it may not be Orlando, but its still Florida and I will still have that sunshine.

So we moved here March of last year. Now, I do love the area where I live, its beautiful - the weather, the beach, the hour and a half drive to Orlando, all those things I love. But I still don't feel like I belong here.

I miss my family and my friends. I haven't made a single new local friend since moving here. Alot of that has to do with my office, very small, and I don't really have occasions to meet people (I know several folks in Orlando - put in a social setting at the AC - but here, well, I go to work and come home) My parents used to take our kids every other weekend so my DH and I could have a little free time together. We haven't gone out on a date in at least six months I would say. Yes, I know we could get a sitter, but when you don't know anyone, well, that's difficult. And don't get me started on the things that by BIL and SIL promised us about coming down here. But these are my personal issues. Not about Florida itself. We'll talk about that now.

We both took big paycuts coming down here, thinking that the lower COL would mostly make up for that (believe me, I am a research junkie so I did my homework) but from the time we had planned to move here to the time we actually did and now, the median home price here is as much, if not worse, than what it was in Seattle and we made about $800.00 more a month there. Now, that's my area, I am not talking all of Florida mind you, I don't know what's going on in the rest of Florida, and moving there is not an option for me (see section above about why I am in Sarasota instead of Orlando). Then the groceries, we used to spend about $60-$80 per week, here its always $100 or more. So we're making less and paying out more for everything. And I don't think we will ever be in a position to buy in this town, its too expensive. Sarasota is a beautiful place, but it is expensive.

On employers here, it may just be our luck, but I don't think they are nearly as employee friendly as they are in the north. Neither my DH and I have sick leave at our jobs. I work p/t so some might say that is why with my job, but I did in Seattle with more than one of my p/t jobs, it was just based on a p/t schedule. My DH works full time with a fairly large company for this area. The fact that they did not offer sick leave just boggles my mind. And actually, I know the labor laws down here are worse and then there is my field, I am a workers comp paralegal. To all those working in Florida, I hope you never get injured on the job. That's all I have to say about that.

As far as the Disney aspect, I went to Orlando seven times last year. The most I went from Seattle was five. I'm not getting there that much more and I haven't been on a week's trip since 10/04, its always weekenders now. I am trying to plan something along the lines of a week long trip when my son's school gets out, as it seems like everytime I get to Disney I am unpacking my bags and packing them right back up again. I do like the thought that I can go there easily, but I sure miss the relaxation part of the long trips I used to take. I think if we had moved to Orlando, I would feel a bit differently as it would be more of a "local" thing for me but as it is, I am up there and out, sandwiched between work weeks and I kind of miss it being my "vacation" sometimes.

So the things we thought we would love about being here are the same. But the things we gave up to move here, I don't know that it was worth it.

We have decided we will give it at least to the end of the school year. Part of me wants to go back to Seattle and part of me doesn't. I didn't mind the summer last year and like someone else said, going to the store on January 2nd in shorts is a wonderful thing. I am sure it will break my heart to leave Florida and its beauty and weather, and I am not too jazzed about a Seattle winter next year, but hopefully by May/June of this year, we will have our eyes opened to where we are truly meant to be.

Everyone has told me that the first year of moving to a new place is the hardest. I don't want to make my decision until we've made it past that. Some of the things we don't like we can change, some of the things we can't. We need to give it some time before we decide what we can and cannot live with.

 

[AdventurerKat]

5. The people- native Floridians, PLEASE don't flame me! There is a slower way of life here in the south, and it's a big adjustment from the fast-paced life in New England! People take their time doing things, and customer service anywhere but Disney is terrible!

I just had to respond on this point. I agree on the customer service/don't care attitude. Not necessarily native Floridians, but when our couch was coming X day, oh no, wait it will be Y day, oh, oops, nope it will be Z day, and that's just the way it is.

When we found the complex we were going to live in, we were told we would get a year's lease, even though part of the building was turning condo. We got here and were told "oh sorry, your building is turning condo. You can either sign the release with a 60 day move notice in it or you can wait another three weeks for another unit" This was after we had moved 2500 miles on the promise of a years lease. And to them it was no big deal to change that. Or when they went to replace the water heater and broke a seal and we came back from dinner to find a note that read "sorry, no water. be back tomorrow". We have two small children. Calls to maintenance pretty much came back with that "oh well" attitude.

I am not saying this does not happen in other places but these are just a few examples in our nine months here, I could list several others.

My advice to people moving here... trust no one! If they tell you it will be two weeks, its going to be a month. If they tell you they have what you want, they might, but you're not going to get it without delay. And if they tell you they are going to exchange your water heater, stay with them til the job is done!

 

[CathrynRose]

if you go back and look at the OP's previous posts, it's a large degree of Florida negativity and how Chicago is a much better place to be. I guess she was bored so she opened her own thread.

Geez - Yeah, you figured me all out. I was so bored, and got a pretty good thread going, while I was at it.

Out of 450 + posts, theyre all Florida bashing?? Come on now....

Sounds like you need a


Have a great day!

 

[JustHolly]

AdventureKat- Thank you for seconding my opinion! It sounded cruel while I was typing it, but it is truly our new way of life. We just have to stay on top of things more, and not trust that they will be as they are promised. We have to supervise, and ask questions I never would have thought to ask in our life "up north." Now, we just expect things to take longer than promised, and we're beginning to get used to the "don't care" attitude.

For the record, we have neighbors who just moved to Fla. from Boston and they share our frustration! They have had similar experiences with customer service.

And the natives call me a "Yank!" or a "Yankee." I find it very insulting.

 

[AdventurerKat]

Out of 450 + posts, theyre all Florida bashing?? Come on now....

Well, you obviously love Disney so you can't hate Florida completely.

And finally, as everyone knows, there is good and bad in every state/city. You just have to decide what has the most good for you personally and go with it.

 

[CathrynRose]

I just had to respond on this point. I agree on the customer service/don't care attitude. Calls to maintenance pretty much came back with that "oh well" attitude.

I am not saying this does not happen in other places but these are just a few examples in our nine months here, I could list several others.
!

Thats how I feel - I could type all day long of the so many examples, as well - but that's not what my original thread was intended for.

But I completly agree with you - completly 100% ...it's almost as if they know youre from "out of state", they know they're in a transient state, where people are constantly moving to and from, so they know they dont have to bend over backwards for anything, at all.

I understand.

 

[CathrynRose]

Well, you obviously love Disney so you can't hate Florida completely.

I accidently posted this original thread on the budget board first - so Ive been popping back and forth reading - and this was mentioned over there....that I *do* adore Disney!

I completely miss Disney, completely. I enjoyed the weekends we would spend up there more than I could ever describe to you - ever.


So yes - I lllloooooovvvvveeee Disney. Obsessed, truly. I do wish they could pick the entire resort up and transport it to some corn field in the middle of illinois, though.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I have no desire to ever live in Florida for many of the reasons already listed. But most importantly, I could never live without 4 seasons (I'm sorry Floridians, you cannot claim to have 4 seasons except hot, hot, hot and holy cow I'm burning to death). I need my snow (I'm willing to move to the North Pole in the future if that becomes the only way I can have snow). I need my fall foliage, and I will tolerate the short summer we get here. I only wish summer were shorter and winter were longer. I'm very accustomed to the lifestyle of New England. It's fast paced, rude, and mostly native, tough skinned New Englanders. I couldn't slow down. I couldn't tolerate all the tourists (I have a cow over motorcycle weekend here, I'd hate to see me in year round tourist season). I love blizzards. The chance of them destroying my house is slim, and snow is THE most beautiful thing in existence. Hurricanes? No way jose. I get scared to see a former tropical storm coming our way. Hurricanes would have me running. I also can't stand lightening. It seriously has me hiding in a corner. I've heard Florida is the lightening capital. Humidity? Hate it. I hate the heat too. And too much sunshine gives me a rash
In other words, you Floridians don't need to worry about me overcrowding you anytime soon

 

[diznygirl]

In other words, you Floridians don't need to worry about me overcrowding you anytime soon

We appreciate it! Enjoy the snow - somebody has to!

 

[Feralpeg]

I have no desire to ever live in Florida for many of the reasons already listed. But most importantly, I could never live without 4 seasons (I'm sorry Floridians, you cannot claim to have 4 seasons except hot, hot, hot and holy cow I'm burning to death). I need my snow (I'm willing to move to the North Pole in the future if that becomes the only way I can have snow). I need my fall foliage, and I will tolerate the short summer we get here. I only wish summer were shorter and winter were longer. I'm very accustomed to the lifestyle of New England. It's fast paced, rude, and mostly native, tough skinned New Englanders. I couldn't slow down. I couldn't tolerate all the tourists (I have a cow over motorcycle weekend here, I'd hate to see me in year round tourist season). I love blizzards. The chance of them destroying my house is slim, and snow is THE most beautiful thing in existence. Hurricanes? No way jose. I get scared to see a former tropical storm coming our way. Hurricanes would have me running. I also can't stand lightening. It seriously has me hiding in a corner. I've heard Florida is the lightening capital. Humidity? Hate it. I hate the heat too. And too much sunshine gives me a rash
In other words, you Floridians don't need to worry about me overcrowding you anytime soon

No snow, but it will be below freezing tonight across central Florida. The high today was only in the 50s. Not what I'd call hot.

 

[monarchsfan16]

No 50's aren't hot, but I'd rather have below zero like the past two years in January than that. Have to have my snow. When it hits 50 in January we break out the t-shirts.
Btw, I'm honestly not trying to start any problems. I am dead set against living in ANY hot climate. It just happened to be Florida living that came up first

 

[monarchsfan16]

I have one other reason. It's much harder to follow my Wildcats and Monarchs in Florida, since they're college and minor league hockey, and well, I've noticed that those two leagues aren't quite as big there Have to have my hockey fix.

 

[Ziva]

I think this thread is funny, there are some crazy stereo-types being thrown around.

Just for the record I love Florida, great people, beautiful land and weather, there's no place I'd rather be.

 

[Feralpeg]

No 50's aren't hot, but I'd rather have below zero like the past two years in January than that. Have to have my snow. When it hits 50 in January we break out the t-shirts.
Btw, I'm honestly not trying to start any problems. I am dead set against living in ANY hot climate. It just happened to be Florida living that came up first

No problem. I understand. We all like different things.

 

[C.Ann]

While my kids were growing up we decided we could provide a better home life for them in VT...better schools, wholesome atmosphere, safety.....

--------------------------------------

This is so true.. I can't even begin to tell you how many people I have known over the years who moved to Vermont for exactly the reasons you stated.. Vermont really does stand out among the very best when it comes to raising a family..

 

[Crankyshank]

No 50's aren't hot, but I'd rather have below zero like the past two years in January than that. Have to have my snow. When it hits 50 in January we break out the t-shirts.
Btw, I'm honestly not trying to start any problems. I am dead set against living in ANY hot climate. It just happened to be Florida living that came up first

It was 50 here one afternoon last week and there were tons of people in short sleeves and flip flops Got to love New England for that.

It's currently 28 outside with snow on the ground. I was just outside with the dogs and brought in the groceries. The air is so crisp and starry and you can smell my neighbor's wood stove. I'm sipping hot chocolate and listening to the calming hiss of the radiators. That was something I couldn't get over missing in Florida and it's something you don't realize you miss until you don't have it anymore and trying to replicate it just isn't the same when there's a good 30-40 degree temperature difference.

C.Ann I agree with you about Vermont. My friend lives practically on the Canadian border. Absolutely gorgeous quaint town. Wonderful quality of living. Unfortunately I would go nutty being that isolated- I'd have to live in Stowe or Burlington.

 

[sodaseller]

This reminds me of discussions with fellow CFB fans. I have traveled to many, many opposing stadiums following my Gators. One of my favorite aspects of going to away games is visiting with other fans and talking football. With rare, rare, exception, I have found that most opposing fans are gracious and welcoming and fun. But that is also largely a function of how you approach them. If you approach them ready to taunt them and look down upon their school and their team, pointing out why your school is better, you will not get a warm reception. If you ask fans to tell you the best things about their school/state and are open to learning about them, you will usually be welcomed. The same things apply to nonfootball travel.

I love my school and my state and would defend them vociferously. But you only get respect if you give respect. Every place has plusses and minuses. If you focus on the negatives, you will make yourself and those around you miserable. If you approach matters with a positive attitude, you will usually be welcomed. Florida's mixtures of plusses and minuses may not be for everyone, and our population is not as stable as many other places, but we are as friendly as any other place. Sometimes we bring about the reception we receive

 

[lillygator]

I think this thread is funny, there are some crazy stereo-types being thrown around.

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......