Who has made the move to FL?

[jaychis]

We moved to Winter Springs, Florida a couple of years ago. It's located about 20 minutes Northeast of Orlando in Seminole County. My wife works in Celebration and I work in Orlando. Seminole County is an awesome place to raise and have a family. We moved here from New England which typically has very good schools. The school system my son is in right now is just as good if not better than the school system he was in. This can't be said for many areas in Florida. Property taxes are dirt cheap compared to the Northeast as well as home prices. You can't be that Disney is just a hop skip and a jump away and add the Florida resident discount to the annual passholder and it's win-win.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

Taxes, yikes!!!! We live in southwestern Pa. where taxes are CRAZY!!! We are more bothered by the gas tax(people who visit us all suffer from gas price shock) than property and school, although they are kind of high too. We live with it as we love our area. I'm not sure what my parents pay in Florida but I do believe they pay less although maybe its a different rate for people in retirement communities, not sure. I do know that gas prices are a lot better.

Yeah I live in NJ and property taxes between 10-16k in my immediate area are normal.

 

[Disneylover1970]

Those of you that made the move, and didn’t move for work or to be by family, did you just pick a place on the map? I’m retiring very soon. I would like to make the move, I have a friend who bought a winter house in Punta Gorda. I’m not sure if I just want to do the winters in Florida or just sell the house and make the move. Are there any sites that are helpful for Florida population, demographics, etc?

 

[jaychis]

We moved to Florida for several reasons, we wanted a better climate (6-8 months of cold weather and snow was way too much), to be closer to our in-laws, and in all honesty to be closer to Disney World (one of our frequent family destinations). We have a young child, so a good school system was a priority, an area that allowed an active lifestyle, and work location was also important. Winter Springs in Seminole County was a winner because it provided everything we needed, pluses it's a short drive to Disney.

 

[jaychis]

For a website, you can try city-data. Take the comments with a grain of salt. Research is key for your situation. There will be plenty of naysayers. Read as many posts as possible to get a feel of who has only negative things to say.

 

[wendow]

For a website, you can try city-data. Take the comments with a grain of salt. Research is key for your situation. There will be plenty of naysayers. Read as many posts as possible to get a feel of who has only negative things to say.

I've been reading a lot on city-data. Kind of scary so it's nice to hear you saying take the comments with a grain of salt! The thing that is really concerning is finding a job. People on city-data make that seem impossible unless you are in service industry.

 

[jaychis]

I've been reading a lot on city-data. Kind of scary so it's nice to hear you saying take the comments with a grain of salt! The thing that is really concerning is finding a job. People on city-data make that seem impossible unless you are in service industry.

If you going city-data in most States, for some reason the posts are full of naysayers. I usually like to read through weeks and weeks of posts to figure out the truth. Every place has its negatives and also its positives. If that wasn't the case, populations would be small because people would be moving out. The most honest and genuine posters are those that point out both the good and the bad.
As far as Jobs, if service entry jobs were the only jobs available, people would not be able to afford to live in homes. I am in a specialized career, and had zero problems finding a job. Just to give you an idea of how specialized my job is, when I lived in New England, I had the only job of its kind in the entire state I lived in. When I moved to the Orlando area, I had four job opportunities presented to me. A good start for Professional Resources in any state would be a website such as LinkedIn. For me, moving to Florida was the best decision my family and I have ever made. There is no amount of money that could ever make me want to go back to the Northeast. For us, our quality of life has improved dramatically. That is my situation. for anyone else considering a move to Florida, spend a lot of time doing research on where you want to live as well as the pluses and minuses.

 

[jaychis]

I've been reading a lot on city-data. Kind of scary so it's nice to hear you saying take the comments with a grain of salt! The thing that is really concerning is finding a job. People on city-data make that seem impossible unless you are in service industry.

If you going city-data in most States, for some reason the posts are full of naysayers. I usually like to read through weeks and weeks of posts to figure out the truth. Every place has its negatives and also its positives. If that wasn't the case, populations would be small because people would be moving out. The most honest and genuine posters are those that point out both the good and the bad.
As far as Jobs, if service entry jobs were the only jobs available, people would not be able to afford to live in homes. I am in a specialized career, and had zero problems finding a job. Just to give you an idea of how specialized my job is, when I lived in New England, I had the only job of its kind in the entire state I lived in. When I moved to the Orlando area, I had four job opportunities presented to me. A good start for Professional Resources in any state would be a website such as LinkedIn. For me, moving to Florida was the best decision my family and I have ever made. There is no amount of money that could ever make me want to go back to the Northeast. For us, our quality of life has improved dramatically. That is my situation. for anyone else considering a move to Florida, spend a lot of time doing research on where you want to live as well as the pluses and minuses.

 

[Colleen27]

Following because we too are thinking about the same thing. We're in a small town about an hour out of Detroit now, but every winter seems harder to take than the last and we're discussing relocating once our older two (20 and 16) leave the nest. The main thing holding me back is what I've heard about FL schools. I'd love to be on the nature coast, around Weeki Wachee or Homosassa, but the high schools around there just don't look like they measure up and the private schools seem to be few and far between.

 

[jaychis]

Following because we too are thinking about the same thing. We're in a small town about an hour out of Detroit now, but every winter seems harder to take than the last and we're discussing relocating once our older two (20 and 16) leave the nest. The main thing holding me back is what I've heard about FL schools. I'd love to be on the nature coast, around Weeki Wachee or Homosassa, but the high schools around there just don't look like they measure up and the private schools seem to be few and far between.

I can't comment about the school in that area, schools were very important for us and prior to moving to Florida we had done extensive research on the school systems in the state. That was why we settled in Seminole County. My wife was just reading an article about the State education system and the Seminole County public school system was ranked 4th best in the entire state. The state DOE gives each School a letter grade based on a list of criteria such as test scores and college prep. The scores can change from year to year, but the good school usually maintain a consistent grade for several years. In our case, we had to find a consistently good educational system. Our son is in elementary school, so we needed a good Elementary School, Middle School, and High School.

 

[Colleen27]

Yes. The kids at our local high schools display them on their trucks. It’s been an issue.

Before we moved here from Michigan, we had friends that turned down a job offer in the panhandle because they had adopted children who were a different race. I didn’t understand why at the time but I do now.

In all fairness, there are parts of Michigan like that too. You'd see more than one confederate flag in the parking lot of our local HS too, in rural MI, and they can't even claim it is about "southern pride" around here.

My husband's employer may have an opening in Florida in the next couple years. I have been stalking realtor.com and have fallen in love with the Weeki Wachee area. If anyone lives by there I'd love to hear about what you like/dislike about it.

We've vacationed there a couple of times in recent years and I'm madly in love with it too. The last time I was down there I stumbled across a posting for a job in my field and it took some real willpower not to apply, but moving in the next two years is completely off the table (we have a junior in HS and a freshman commuting to community college).

I can't comment about the school in that area, schools were very important for us and prior to moving to Florida we had done extensive research on the school systems in the state. That was why we settled in Seminole County. My wife was just reading an article about the State education system and the Seminole County public school system was ranked 4th best in the entire state. The state DOE gives each School a letter grade based on a list of criteria such as test scores and college prep. The scores can change from year to year, but the good school usually maintain a consistent grade for several years. In our case, we had to find a consistently good educational system. Our son is in elementary school, so we needed a good Elementary School, Middle School, and High School.

My problem is that I like the smaller towns and less developed areas. I think that tends to come with somewhat lower school quality in nearly every state, but it seems especially problematic in the specific part of FL that I could really see myself and DH living.

 

[wendow]

If you going city-data in most States, for some reason the posts are full of naysayers. I usually like to read through weeks and weeks of posts to figure out the truth. Every place has its negatives and also its positives. If that wasn't the case, populations would be small because people would be moving out. The most honest and genuine posters are those that point out both the good and the bad.
As far as Jobs, if service entry jobs were the only jobs available, people would not be able to afford to live in homes. I am in a specialized career, and had zero problems finding a job. Just to give you an idea of how specialized my job is, when I lived in New England, I had the only job of its kind in the entire state I lived in. When I moved to the Orlando area, I had four job opportunities presented to me. A good start for Professional Resources in any state would be a website such as LinkedIn. For me, moving to Florida was the best decision my family and I have ever made. There is no amount of money that could ever make me want to go back to the Northeast. For us, our quality of life has improved dramatically. That is my situation. for anyone else considering a move to Florida, spend a lot of time doing research on where you want to live as well as the pluses and minuses.

I've kind of noticed that about city-data also. Lots and lots of naysayers...why is that?? If you hate living somewhere so much, why stay? It always makes me feel they are trying to discourage others from moving there. Which I get. We live outside Denver and this place is growing like crazy. Traffic has gotten awful. Our home values have gone up so high that no one can afford to buy anymore. Salaries here are not comparable to how high the COL is getting. Yet I love it here and if someone asked me about living here, I'd share the good and the bad. Like you say, there is good and bad for everywhere.

My dh & I will be in FL in a couple of days to begin exploring. So excited!

The job thing does still concern me. He is an IT Director and there just doesn't seem to be much coming up.

 

[jaychis]

In all fairness, there are parts of Michigan like that too. You'd see more than one confederate flag in the parking lot of our local HS too, in rural MI, and they can't even claim it is about "southern pride" around here.



We've vacationed there a couple of times in recent years and I'm madly in love with it too. The last time I was down there I stumbled across a posting for a job in my field and it took some real willpower not to apply, but moving in the next two years is completely off the table (we have a junior in HS and a freshman commuting to community college).



My problem is that I like the smaller towns and less developed areas. I think that tends to come with somewhat lower school quality in nearly every state, but it seems especially problematic in the specific part of FL that I could really see myself and DH living.

I came from a rural area in Northern New England. I grew up in Suburban Southwest Connecticut, so I was happy or content living in Suburbia. I only know about the area I live in. We are in Winter Springs, the town just 5 minutes to the east of us is Oviedo and there are Suburban areas of the town as well as more rural areas of the town. Oviedo is a really cool town. There are chickens that habitat the downtown area and are welcomed there. I believe at one point it was also the celery capital of the US. The town north of Oviedo is Geneva, and it is definitely small town America. Both towns have Farms and the school systems are A rated. Oviedo probably has one of the best school systems in the entire state.
I will only comment about things like the Confederate flag in the Orlando area, because that is where I spend 99% of my time. This area is a very Progressive area when it comes to how people view one another. We lived in a very Progressive state in the Northeast, but it was also one of the whitest states in the country. We wanted more cultural exposure not only for ourselves, but for our son as well.

 

[jaychis]

I've kind of noticed that about city-data also. Lots and lots of naysayers...why is that?? If you hate living somewhere so much, why stay? It always makes me feel they are trying to discourage others from moving there. Which I get. We live outside Denver and this place is growing like crazy. Traffic has gotten awful. Our home values have gone up so high that no one can afford to buy anymore. Salaries here are not comparable to how high the COL is getting. Yet I love it here and if someone asked me about living here, I'd share the good and the bad. Like you say, there is good and bad for everywhere.

My dh & I will be in FL in a couple of days to begin exploring. So excited!

The job thing does still concern me. He is an IT Director and there just doesn't seem to be much coming up.

I think in general you will find many more complainers about anything then you will people willing to take the time to say something positive. You just have to do your homework as well as the math to see how things will work out. In our situation I took a pay cut when I moved to Florida. On the other hand, there is no state income tax, my property taxes are $8,000 less than what I was paying in the Northeast, and my cost of living is more affordable. There's also negatives as well. I'm putting less money into retirement per year compared to what I was doing in the Northeast and there is much more traffic especially in the Orlando area compared to where I was living.
Is this the perfect Utopia? That question can never be answered, because it's different for everyone. If it was the perfect area everyone would want to live here and if it wasn't a good area no one would live here. What's good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. It's only a question that an individual or family can answer for themselves.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Following this thread as we often talk about making the move. This caught my eye, though. We vacationed in St. Aug/Jax in November and stopped in at Al's and every single one of us hated it. We all thought the pizza was horrible. It is still a running joke, actually . So, I went to TripAdvisor to share my thoughts, and it seems to be completely split - half LOVE it, and half think it tastes like Chef Boyardee make-your-own-pizzas. Just thought it was funny that you mentioned it

Al's Pizza is icky.

 

[Minnesota!]

Al's Pizza is icky.

AMEN!

 

[jen7233]

Al's Pizza is icky.

Glad we didn't go there then! We visited JAX last year. Anyway I wanted to get over to Al's because it was on a recommended list.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We are looking to move from Oklahoma in January, want somewhere between Lakeland and the Atlantic.

I'm also from Oklahoma (Tulsa area) and we're planning on heading to FL in 2020.

We moved here in 2004 between two large hurricanes.

I moved to FL right out of high school in 2004. The first month living there was Francis followed by Jeanne. lol. Interesting way to get welcomed to the state.


We are currently looking at moving in 2020. They just opened a new facility in Cocoa where we could transfer easily and are considering Melbourne. I don't remember much about the area, so if anyone has any recommendations for anywhere within about a 45 minute drive to Cocoa, I'd be interesting in hearing them!

 

[wendow]

Heading to the space coast tomorrow to look around. Any quick recs for family friendly areas?

 

[ErinInCT]

I've got four more years to get my youngest through high school and then I'm heading south. I am contemplating Celebration or Reunion as I'd LOVE to get a part time (or full time) job at Disney (indoors!!!). Celebration looks like such a nice place to live. I am not fond of the extreme heat/humidity but that's what AC is for! I cannot stand the winters and right now, in MI, we are having an ice storm! Does anyone live in this area and have any advice? I am also very open to living on the beach. Probably more partial to the gulf side. I'm sure it is not as affordable as central FL. I'd be fine with a one bedroom condo but I expect both kids will wanna visit!!