My Diary or How to Move to Florida.

[Virgo10]

I hope my Moving Diary might be helpful to people here who have thought about living in Florida. Right now I'm just going through the dirty work but as the time get's closer I'll be talking about our experiences with Real Estate agents as we both buy and sell a house. Enjoy!

July, 2004:
Sometime in the middle of this month, we decided to finally do what we've been talking about for years… move to Florida. During July I've installed most of the base boards in the rooms that still needed them and started throwing out, putting in yard sales and giving away a large amount of items. I've had 4 yard sales this month and 4 others in May and June. So much is gone but even more has to go.

While attempting to clean out the greenhouse, I uncovered a yellow jacket nest. Ended up with two stings for my efforts. Wow, did they hurt!

Week Ending 8/7/04:
Spent most of the week cleaning out the garage. My mom's hutch finally got sold thanks to Craigs List. http://www.craigslist.org I've started putting away more things for another yard sale and have also filled two more large boxes with free stuff. With the hutch gone and so many other items out of the garage, I finally have room to bring down stuff from the attic and go through it. You don't want to sort through things in an attic in the middle of the summer!

Between my son Chris and I we scrubbed the gutters all the way around the house so that now they look brand new.

I sent off my Ebay sales and put together 10 more auctions that I listed on 8/7. I also started painted the facia (?) boards. These are boards that hold up the gutters and they are really dirty. Terrible job! I hate climbing ladders and you have to do that to see what you're painting. My DH is fixing up the bathroom.

My son's girlfriend, Jen, and I spend our spare moments fantasizing about how different our lives will be when we are living near the Mouse. On Saturday we discussed that if it was 3 months from now would we want to go to EPCOT or the MK? A very pleasant diversion.

Roberta

 

[Disney Ella]

Moving sure is a lot of work. I'll be interested in hearing how you like Florida, since so many people fantasize about it and you're actually doing it!

 

[dvcgirl]

I think that your diary will be very helpful to folks around here Virgo10. And good for you for following your dreams to move to Florida. We just did the very same thing and are just about to move into the house we purchased. So far we just love it. Haven't regretted our decision for one second. We're both fans of tropical weather and so we're loving the summer. Our families up in our native NJ have had a pretty rainy and cool summer.

We've found that we "do Disney" quite differently now. For the most part, we've avoided the parks during the days because it is quite hot and crowded. The parks are essentially a concrete world and so all of that concrete really holds the heat. But at night it's really nice. Even so, we've found that we're not riding attractions, but rather going over for an ice cream cone and fireworks, or a drink somewhere around the World Showcase and Illuminations. It's been great. We've also found that Orlando has *so* much more to offer than just theme parks. Great parks, shopping, entertainment and dining.

I don't think you'll regret your decision for one second!

 

[campingcorgi]

I'll be reading your diary! We are looking to be moving at the end of this school year so we are just getting into the cleaning out/cleaning up stage. Loved the thread on freecycle--posted a couple of things on there this morning!

 

[siouxi31]

Thanks. Please keep posting updates to your diary!

 

[Feralpeg]

Since I just move to Florida, I have one thing you might want to know. It is very difficult to get in to change your drivers license here. You may want to get your Florida license as soon as possible so that you can get your Florida resident passes right away. We found that you need to make an appointment to get your license. If you don't make an appointment, you can literally wait for hours and still not get it. When I called to get an appointment, the wait was a month. Since it takes a month to get utilitiy bills, we had nothing that Disney would accept to get the Florida resident passes. We didn't want to wait, so we ended up just renewing our annual passes. By renewing, we did get a discount. You might consider calling for an appointment a couple of weeks before you move. The number to call is on the www.hsmv.state.fl.us website. Good luck with your move!

 

[safetymom]

I second the advice about getting your license. It took 6 weeks for me to get an appt. I already had my AP so it wasn't too bad.

 

[Virgo10]

Originally posted by Feralpeg
Since I just move to Florida, I have one thing you might want to know. It is very difficult to get in to change your drivers license here. You might consider calling for an appointment a couple of weeks before you move. The number to call is on the www.hsmv.state.fl.us website. Good luck with your move!

Thanks so much. I have a whole section in Microsoft Word full of Florida towns and other information. That's going on that list right now!

Roberta

 

[chrismiss56]

Hi and congrats to those of you moving..........

Our dream is to move to Florida in few years. Have picked up some real estate books (lying around for free at the grocery stores). But were wondering which area of Orlando would you recommend moving to........

Anyone please?

 

[Feralpeg]

I don't know that I've been here long enough to give a very good opinion. I live in Windermere. Some of Windermere is very expensive, but not all of it. The Dr. Phillips and Bay Hill areas are very nice. I don't know a lot about any other areas.

 

[floridafam]

I keep reading that you have to bring proof of Florida auto insurance with you to obtain a driver's license? Is this true?

Our vehicles are not titled in our name and will have Michigan plates on them for as long as we live in Florida.

Any advice?

 

[safetymom]

If you are just getting a license then you don't have to show proof of insurance. If you were registering the car in Florida you would have to show proof of FL ins.

 

[Virgo10]

Originally posted by chrismiss56
Hi and congrats to those of you moving..........

Our dream is to move to Florida in few years. Have picked up some real estate books (lying around for free at the grocery stores). But were wondering which area of Orlando would you recommend moving to........

Anyone please?

Several years ago I went out with a real estate agent and looked at houses. One of the towns we visited is called Clermont. It was love at first sight!

Beautiful homes in all different price ranges and the lay of the land is so ... well, unFlorida like. There are hills everywhere. It reminded me of Vermont, only with palm trees.

At it's closest point, you're about 15-20 minutes from the Animal Kingdom Lodge area of Disney. Clermont center is about 30 minutes, if I'm remembering correctly. There were lots of places to shop and they were building stores like crazy. I can only imagine what changes have taken place since I was there 3 years ago.

So with luck and PD, I'll find the house of my dreams in Clermont when I go down in September to buy. Ideally I'd like to rent first but there's no way we can do that with all our cats. Worst case scenario is that we get a place we don't like all that much and then end up moving again 6 months to a year later. I really don't want that to happen so my September trip is going to be house hunting commando style!

Roberta

 

[torismom]

We have just bought land outside of Clermont, tecnically it is in Groveland. It was love at first site. I love clermont and the surronding areas. We are excited about the process of builing and moving over the next year. we had it narrowed down to Clemront and Palm Coast, well you see what won out.

Have fun planning to move!!

Ps. we have a great real estate agent if you are interested. He has gone above and beyond what is called for. He is awesome.

 

[Virgo10]

torismom

I sent you a pm.

Roberta

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

Parents just moved to Orlando ... apparently the real estate market right about now is very much a sellers market, a lot of homes are getting multiple offers after only a few days on the market.

 

[EeyoreJMH]

Thank you for this wonderful diary! DH and I are planning a move early next year (from about your area of MA!) to Florida, since it looks like he's being transferred to the Orlando area, and it's so interesting to read about someone actually going through the process.