Moving to Orlando?

[here757]

how much does it cost to live in Orlando? Thinking of moving down south from Norfolk Virginia. How much is Home insurance?

 

[Alesia]

No one can tell you about the cost of homeowners insurance because there are just too many variables.

The cost of living is high and many of the jobs are low paying.

Why do you want to move to Orlando? Do you have a family or are you single? What do you do for a living?

 

[2forMe]

I suggest doing a search of the disboards...question asked often. Also try city forums .

 

[here757]

No one can tell you about the cost of homeowners insurance because there are just too many variables.

The cost of living is high and many of the jobs are low paying.

Why do you want to move to Orlando? Do you have a family or are you single? What do you do for a living?

Retired Navy, and a family. Hopefully can find a government or aircraft job

 

[Alesia]

Retired Navy, and a family. Hopefully can find a government or aircraft job

The average cost of living in an average neighborhood is around $63,000 for a family of four.

 

[MillauFr]

Are you sure you want to move to Orlando??? The gap between average salary and cost of living is very narrow in Orlando. I would look at a place where the average salary is very high and the cost of living is very low. The city with the biggest gap in the country is Houston Texas.

 

[here757]

I like Florida, my family loves Disney and so do I. I would stay in virginia before moving to Texas, we are all settled in Va, good job, house, schools just looking at options. I have aviation experience and recently finished my MBA. It might be time for a move

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Then I would suggest looking at the help wanted job sights and see what jobs that are out there that you qualify for. Then look at housing prices. Look at gasbuddy to see what gas cost are. Then look at the online sales ads for grocery stores to get an idea what food prices are.

 

[SMorgan711]

we moved to Orlando a year ago. The biggest thing I've learned is that if you really, truly WANT to move, you will make it happen regardless of what anyone says and you will make the best of it. For example, my co-worker just moved and he had a whole host of problems - checking account info stolen, issues with his new house, his wife got rear ended, all within 3 months of living here BUT he was fine with all of it because he was living his dream. no matter what life threw at him, it was worth it to him because he could go to Disney whenever he wanted. He said that if it was anywhere else, he'd probably move back home in a heart beat !!

 

[pearlieq]

You may want to consider the Tampa area. MacDill AFB and all the businesses that support it may offer you more employment opportunities. The local economy seems pretty healthy at the moment. If you look east of the city along the I-75 corridor (New Tampa, Temple Terrace, Brandon, Apollo Beach) you'll be able to find plenty of housing in the $200-$300k range with a manageable commute to most everything you'll need. You'll be looking at at least $800-$1500/yr for homeowners insurance on an average home with modern hurricane protections (straps, shutters, etc.)

Plus, you'll be 1 hr from Disney and 1 hr from some of the best beaches in the world!

 

[Bree]

I live in FL. We moved here a little over two years ago. The biggest obstacle you are going to have is with the schools since you have children. FL is not known for having good schools. Each school district is run by the county. Part of your property taxes will fund the entire district and not just the town you live in. It's possible to be zoned for a great elementary school, but then your middle school and high school are the pits. I'm attaching FL school grades for the 2015-2016 school year. We have testing each spring called Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) which assigns each school a letter grade. It's a lot of data to weed through. They only list the county name and not the town the school is located which makes it tedious to figure out which towns have the best rated schools.

http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/

There are too many variables for homeowners insurance down here. Same with property taxes because those are calculated by the county. Here in Palm Beach county our taxes are based on the assessed value of our home. Our friends just bought a house in Broward county and their taxes are calculated on the sale price of their home.

Car insurance is expensive too. We pay quite a bit more down here than we did in Massachusetts.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I'm on a FB page called Taking the Florida Plunge. Lots of people who have moved or are planning to move to FL ....tons of information and people willing to answer any question about FL and the moving process - highly recommend

 

[Madivan]

I agree with PP on the Tampa area. I live in a suburb east of Tampa and it's a great area.

Economy is healthy as far as jobs go. I am not in the job market so I don't hear about everything but I know of a few large companies that have opened large offices here recently as well.

I can't speak to Orlando specifically so maybe there's a big difference there due to the tourism industry or something based on previous comments but most of FL including the Tampa area would be considered medium cost of living, almost right at 100% so exactly at medium.

FL is one of the most expensive states for auto insurance as we are a no fault state. That part sucks and I get so jealous when I hear what people pay in other states. We have a brand new SUV and 3 year old sedan and pay about $1300 for 6 months, nothing on our driving records.

Homeowners isn't as bad as people might think as long as flood insurance isn't required, which it shouldn't be in Orlando. I think we pay somewhere between $1500-1700/year (escrow so not sure exactly) and our area is closer to the coast so higher risk than Orlando would be.

 

[here757]

I started looking for government jobs, in the Orlando area about a year ago. If I can find a good paying job, we are on our way. Schools are very important to me, plus my daughters are in competition cheer, so that's something else I have to look into.

 

[SMorgan711]

just wanted to comment on the home insurance and car insurance. my parents are building a house and while there are many variables.. it seems that if you buy a brand new or relatively new house, your insurance will be more reasonable. Apparently a lot of standards have increased over the years in regards to roofing and becoming more structurally sound for hurricanes that helps a lot. I have also noticed that a one story house is cement blocks while a two story house has cement blocks as the first level and wood framing as the second. For that reason, we will probably stick with a one story.

Also regarding car insurance.. that was one thing people told us so much about - how high it is. We pay the exact same as we did in PA... we actually got higher coverage for about $20 more for 6 months. We have a 2013 and 2015 and don't pay close to $1300 for 6 months. We have State Farm so again YMMV.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We almost moved to Florida in 2006. It was the Lighthouse Point area, if I recall correctly. "Deerpark" rings a bell? I did research regarding home and auto insurance and our auto insurance almost doubled and my insurance company (which I've been with for 25 plus years at the time) wasn't writing policies in Florida anymore. Would have to go under some type of "umbrella" because hurricane/flood coverage was mandatory (at least for us). My husband ended up not taking the job, which turned out okay because years later that company was sold out. Even though our daughter was just a year old at the time, I was concerned about the schools. Anyway, like I said, that was in 2006.

 

[NinaBella]

You may want to consider the Tampa area. MacDill AFB and all the businesses that support it may offer you more employment opportunities. The local economy seems pretty healthy at the moment. If you look east of the city along the I-75 corridor (New Tampa, Temple Terrace, Brandon, Apollo Beach) you'll be able to find plenty of housing in the $200-$300k range with a manageable commute to most everything you'll need. You'll be looking at at least $800-$1500/yr for homeowners insurance on an average home with modern hurricane protections (straps, shutters, etc.)

Plus, you'll be 1 hr from Disney and 1 hr from some of the best beaches in the world!

Jobs on MacDill are extremely difficult to get, even for retired military with high clearances and knowing people on the "inside" who does the local hiring once the list comes down from HR in Texas. He would be more likely to get a job at an airport with the aviation background.

Manageable commute? Takes me about an hour to get to MacDill in the morning, about an hour and a half in the afternoons. LOL. Traffic is horrible! Sometimes on I-75 between Brandon and New Tampa it takes 2 hours to go 5-6 exit north/south when there is a minor accident.

I read an article about a year ago saying the biggest job opportunities in Tampa are call centers. We have a lot of them!