Who has made the move to FL?

[floridafam]

We do live in a smaller town, though. We are near the Disney resort in Vero.

 

[floridafam]

I moved to the Tampa area for work for a couple of years and while there were pluses about Florida I preferred the midwest. When I was done with that job I moved back home. I do like Florida and get down there almost yearly but I didn't enjoy living there. The biggest thing I would caution anyone on when considering moving to Florida, and I didn't read the whole thread so this might have been discussed, is living there and vacationing there are vastly different beasts.

When you are on vacation anywhere you are less stressed and in relaxation mode. It is easy to assign that feeling to a place but it isn't the place, it is that you are on vacation. When you live there (and anywhere) you have all the daily stresses and issues you have in every day life.



Not in the major cities but get into rural Polk county and places like that and you will not notice any difference between the deep south and Florida. It is like two states.

Exactly!

 

[NinaBella]

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.

When we lived on the other side of Florida, there was a Klan compound by my husband’s office.

The panhandle is worse than Central/South Florida. Panama City is known as the Redneck Riviera. I lived in Panama City as a kid. As an adult, I had to go there for work and a family of six came in (daughter had a infant baby) and all six had on clothing/belt/hat/baby onsie with the confederate flag on them. It made me laugh because I had told DH it was called the Redneck Riviera. I grew up in the South, DH did not.

Where we live outside of Tampa, there are some who display the confederate flag. DD told me someone had a flag displayed in the bed of their truck and someone jumped in the bed and removed it. Which prompted me to talk to DD about the fact that the person who removed the flag was in the wrong. It doesn't matter your belief, you don't touch other people's property. When I was in the military stationed in the South, you could display the confederate flag on your vehicle as long as there was no writing/slogans with it.

There is a huge confederate flag displayed on our cheer route to the cheer gym. Many have tried to force the owner to take it down. He wins every time. I personally do not mind the confederate flag as I see it as history. By the way I am white, and my DH is Mexican so our kids are a mix. I don't see a flag as racist. People are racist. That is like blaming the gun for a shooters actions.


http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/huge-confederate-flag-near-interstate-tampa-mans-mission.


Here is our view to/from cheer practice from the highway.

 

[tink1970]

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

I don't understand it still. I've lived in the Panhandle for almost 2 decades and there are a lot of mixed race couples (I'm part of one) as well as mixed race children.

My DD attends a public high school in a very economically depressed area and has several friends of biracial background. Ignorance, hate and generalizations occur everywhere, not just "in the south, in the backwoods, in the ----."

Discussing diversity and living a life not characterizing others on their race, religion, sexuality, social economic status, background (including where they live, grew up and choose to live) is an admirable goal for everyone.

 

[floridafam]

I don't understand it still. I've lived in the Panhandle for almost 2 decades and there are a lot of mixed race couples (I'm part of one) as well as mixed race children.

My DD attends a public high school in a very economically depressed area and has several friends of biracial background. Ignorance, hate and generalizations occur everywhere, not just "in the south, in the backwoods, in the ----."

Discussing diversity and living a life not characterizing others on their race, religion, sexuality, social economic status, background (including where they live, grew up and choose to live) is an admirable goal for everyone.

True. It is everywhere. It has just seemed more magnified here. That’s been our experience.

It doesn’t seem this way in Miami where our son goes to school. His school is very diverse and that’s one of the reasons he likes it so much.

It’s definitely something I wish I would have been more aware of when we moved here.

 

[wendow]

Discussing diversity and living a life not characterizing others on their race, religion, sexuality, social economic status, background (including where they live, grew up and choose to live) is an admirable goal for everyone.

Can't like this enough

 

[jhoannam]

We don’t have and winters here but I still want to move further south.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Regarding racism in Florida, I don't think it's any worse here than anywhere else. It may be worse in some of the smaller towns; I don't really know. Aside from a few stickers on trucks, that flag flying over the highway that @NinaBella posted is the only overt sign I've seen in eight years living in Tampa. They keep trying to get the man who owns that land to take it down, but to no avail. I think the metropolitan areas are probably more diverse and therefore less racist. My particular area of Tampa (it's referred to as "New Tampa") has people from all over the world, all races and religions, and everyone gets along great. Just on my street there are people from China, Dubai, India, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. Everybody is interested in each other's culture and nobody judges. My Indian neighbor brings me delicious homemade chutneys! We moved a lot when I was a kid but I spent most of my "formative years" in South Carolina. Now THAT'S the deep south! I truly don't notice racism in my area of Florida. I would feel completely comfortable bringing a bi-racial child to live in Tampa.

Regarding crime, again I don't think it's any worse in Florida than in other parts of the country, and some areas are definitely worse than others. We live in a gated community and have never had a problem, and I have a bad tendency to leave the garage door open when I leave (with door to house unlocked). There are parts of Tampa where I definitely couldn't get away with this, though.

A lot of the problems Florida has are problems that you would find just about anywhere else. I can't think of any metropolitan area where traffic isn't going to be a problem, and with large numbers of people there will usually be crime. Schools are bad in some places but by no means everywhere. Excellent schools definitely coincide with higher-cost neighborhoods, though. Schools zoned for an area where homes are $300,000-$500,000 are going to be better than schools where homes are much less. I think there are a variety of reasons for this. As far as Florida's more unique "problems," such as heat and humidity, alligators and mosquitos, etc., it's a tradeoff. You just have to decide what you want most. Or get a home in Colorado and a home in Florida and have the best of both worlds! We are vacationing in Aspen right now and are really enjoying the snow and cold, but I'm not sure I'd like it ALL the time!

 

[herdtoDisney]

I noticed that someone said Florida is 'deep south' with confederate flags and guns.
I'm guessing this also means a lot of racism?

My daughter and I were in Tampa a few months ago. My daughter is bi-racial and I did notice some 'looks' from people.

I am actually thinking about moving to Tampa but am now questioning it. I never thought about the race factor ---- in NY it's not an issue --- and I don't want her having to deal with a bunch of back-woods racists if we move to Tampa.

Confederate flags? Seriously?

We made the move to FL a year ago from CT and I work in Tampa. We live north of Tampa in a good-sized bedroom suburb (I guess you'd call it).

I have NOT gotten this poster's impression either in Tampa or where I live. Tampa is a large, diverse city. I work with people of many races, ethnicities and languages. The place I live is primarialy made up of people from NY, NJ and CT. I have never seen a confederate flag in my dd's highschool parking lot. In fact I have only seen a few (a big one by I4 I think) and out in the woods east of here. For the record, I saw a few in CT when we lived there.

I'm sure there are backwoods type places in FL but I don't choose to live there. You can't paint Florida with a broad brush-Tampa, Orlando, Miami and the coasts are much different than the rural areas.

We are loving it here. The weather is amazing-yes summer is hot but it's not like the Mojave desert lol. I work outside and I did just fine-staying hydrated is the key! I do NOT miss snow one bit!!! My hand and hips no longer ache in the cold. I'm 15 minutes to the beach but far enough inland that I'm not in a flood zone-my homeowners insurance will be nearly the same as in CT (house being built). My property taxes will be about 1/3 of what they were!!!! And no state income tax. We are absolutely living better here. My dd's school is well funded and has a ton of opportunities for her, and there is the Bright Futures scholarship to earn. The state college system has a large modern campus locally.

The auto insurance is more, for sure. But there is not property tax on cars here (like in CT) so that somewhat mitigated that. The first time reg is $$$ but after that it's not much. Food is about the same. Elec and water is cheaper for us. I actually have not had any bugs in this house. Seen lots of cute lizards (salamanders?) outside. A few harmless black snakes. Never seen an alligator! (but I would not choose to go in any murky bodies of water). I have however seen a pair of manatees while kayaking-that was awesome

I have made an effort to do local things (of which there are many) and we've had a lot of fun. Plus we have the Fl res passes to Disney so that has been fun. We didn't come for Disney (for family reasons). There is defenitely more traffic both in Orlando and in Tampa! The roads are so big-much more so than CT so that took getting used to.

Feel free to ask any more questions-I will try to answer.

 

[Minnesota!]

I think there are Hampton Inns in all the cities you mentioned. I would try those. March and April rates are going to be somewhat higher than usual.

Make sure to try Al’s pizza when you are in Jax. It’s so good.

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

 

[starswilldiex]

Well I haven't lived in FL in 17 years but I was born and raised there, in a county about 45min -1 hour north of Tampa called Pasco (specifically the new port Richey, port richey, Hudson areas) and it was great. Lived not far from the gulf but was still very rural. I go back to visit cousins every few years and the area has expanded and grown but still has that small town vibe in Hudson at least.

Someday do plan to move back but the pay for my husband's job is so much less than the area of NEPA where we live now that it probably won't be back till closer to retirement but I plan to look within 1-1.5 hours of Orlando most likely. I can't wait because I have developed a chronic pain condition that really gices me a rough time with cold weather.

Gulf coast and sort of slightly inland Florida not too far from where I grew up has so much to do for outdoor activities, some great measuems (like the museum of science and industry in tampa) and events such as plant City strawberry festival, Florida State Fair in Tampa and a lot of great seafood in Clearwater/Tampa or well anywhere along the coast.

 

[wendow]

I can't wait because I have developed a chronic pain condition that really gices me a rough time with cold weather.

I keep reading several posters sharing this same thing. It makes me happy and gives me some hope that by moving, whether to TX or FL, I can take some of the edge off my dd's pain. She tends to feel much better when we are in FL and TX and I don't really think it's a 'vacation effect' since she's still a kid (older one but still a kid).

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We moved from MA to the Space Coast of FL 13 years ago and never looked back. Our kids were born here. We love it here. My folks bought a condo here and are 50/50 still, but are talking about just moving her permanently instead of going back to bad weather half the year. We love the heat so it's not a factor for us. On the flip side, my kids aren't suited for the cold...AT ALL. It's 42 degrees here right now, and my 9 year-old is wearing shorts and a t-shirt (and a coat, I insisted) because she refuses to wear pants and long sleeves! She complains non-stop if she has to dress for cold weather lol.

In terms of jobs, we're engineers so the space coast suits us well. The schools here are fantastic, and I take my kids to New England once a year so they know how good they have it weather-wise lol. Our area tends to have a very stable, long-term population, but recently there have been a boom of jobs bringing in some new families. One thing I've noticed is that the kids tend to be behind when they move in here, so I think our curriculum in our county may go a little faster than in other areas. If you intend to continue to homeschool it shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to switch to public it may be something to look into. People tend to speak ill of Florida schools, but I haven't found anything bad about our school anyways. If anything, it's way ahead of where I was at this age in MA.

 

[bjgonzo]

We moved from MA to the Space Coast of FL 13 years ago and never looked back. Our kids were born here. We love it here. My folks bought a condo here and are 50/50 still, but are talking about just moving her permanently instead of going back to bad weather half the year. We love the heat so it's not a factor for us. On the flip side, my kids aren't suited for the cold...AT ALL. It's 42 degrees here right now, and my 9 year-old is wearing shorts and a t-shirt (and a coat, I insisted) because she refuses to wear pants and long sleeves! She complains non-stop if she has to dress for cold weather lol.

In terms of jobs, we're engineers so the space coast suits us well. The schools here are fantastic, and I take my kids to New England once a year so they know how good they have it weather-wise lol. Our area tends to have a very stable, long-term population, but recently there have been a boom of jobs bringing in some new families. One thing I've noticed is that the kids tend to be behind when they move in here, so I think our curriculum in our county may go a little faster than in other areas. If you intend to continue to homeschool it shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to switch to public it may be something to look into. People tend to speak ill of Florida schools, but I haven't found anything bad about our school anyways. If anything, it's way ahead of where I was at this age in MA.

Can I ask which town you live in? We are about 2 years out from hubby retiring from the military and are researching areas for our forever home. You can private message me if you would prefer.

 

[wendow]

We moved from MA to the Space Coast of FL 13 years ago and never looked back. Our kids were born here. We love it here. My folks bought a condo here and are 50/50 still, but are talking about just moving her permanently instead of going back to bad weather half the year. We love the heat so it's not a factor for us. On the flip side, my kids aren't suited for the cold...AT ALL. It's 42 degrees here right now, and my 9 year-old is wearing shorts and a t-shirt (and a coat, I insisted) because she refuses to wear pants and long sleeves! She complains non-stop if she has to dress for cold weather lol.

In terms of jobs, we're engineers so the space coast suits us well. The schools here are fantastic, and I take my kids to New England once a year so they know how good they have it weather-wise lol. Our area tends to have a very stable, long-term population, but recently there have been a boom of jobs bringing in some new families. One thing I've noticed is that the kids tend to be behind when they move in here, so I think our curriculum in our county may go a little faster than in other areas. If you intend to continue to homeschool it shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to switch to public it may be something to look into. People tend to speak ill of Florida schools, but I haven't found anything bad about our school anyways. If anything, it's way ahead of where I was at this age in MA.

This is the OP...I'm interested as well as to what town this is. I am beginning to book our hotels and how we are going to explore the major cities. I've decided to try to take a look at the Space Coast, though with very limited time, so I'd love to cruise through your area if you are willing to share Thanks so much! I appreciate all the help I've received here!

 

[AnnaS]

We do live in a smaller town, though. We are near the Disney resort in Vero.[/QUOTE

We have been to Vero twice and really liked it. We might try to squeeze a trip there again this year. Have recently started looking at some condos (specifically Laguna and Fairway at Grand Harbor 32967 zip). Any other area zip codes you recommend to look for similar?

 

[AnnaS]

We do live in a smaller town, though. We are near the Disney resort in Vero.

We have been to Vero twice and really liked it. We might try to squeeze a trip there again this year. Have recently started looking at some condos (specifically Laguna and Fairway at Grand Harbor 32967 zip). Any other area zip codes you recommend to look for similar?

 

[jen7233]

I'd love to hear about the Space Coast as mentioned above! DH and I drove through some of it before and I thought it was pretty cool. We drove from our Orlando hotel, to Kennedy, and drove around a bit down by Cocoa. Is anyone from Merritt Island? That's where we were trying to go see but the kids were a little edgy in the backseat on getting back to Orlando. What areas in Space Coast are recommended, would love to know!

 

[iluveeyore]

I'm from Ontario, Canada near Buffalo, NY, and have lived in central Florida for almost 4 years now, and I love it! Sure, I miss the Fall colors, but I don't miss the snow. The hot summers don't bother me - we got heat and humidity even up in Canada in the summer. Sure, it lasts longer here, but that's what a/c is for! Now I'm chilly if it's 60 degrees and breezy out, lol. We live in Seminole County in the pretty town of Sanford by Lake Monroe in a townhouse in a gated community. Lots of rural places surrounding our town - love driving into Mount Dora to browse all the cute shops. Lake Mary is next door, all wonderful areas. We enjoy all the state parks nearby to walk through, such as Wekiwa. We are a quick 45 min drive to Disney and are AP weekday passholders, 45 minutes to New Smyrna Beach/Cocoa, and about 1.5 hours to Tampa. We visited Tampa, but it seemed so busy and I didn't get the same 'homey' feel I do when I'm here in my own area. The homes near the coast seem much more expensive as well, but I haven't shopped around too much to know for certain. Love central Florida as I'm not a real beach lover, although I do enjoy the short drive if we get the urge to go to a beach. Also, for hurricane seasons, I feel much less stressed being central instead of coastal. Happy hunting - I think Florida has an abundance of nice neighborhoods to be lived in and enjoyed. I'm just really happy with ours. DH is fortunate to work just about 12 minutes away in Lake Mary, and there are many different routes to take besides the I4, so no bad commuting times for him. I work at home, so it's not an issue.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

How much are property taxes in FL?!
I think it would be nice to have a small home or condo in FL but I wouldn’t want to live there full time. Is that an option?
It’s funny that you’re in CO and thinking of leaving bc for my retirement my ideal split would be FL and somewhere out west like Wyoming, Idaho, etc.