[bobandsherry]

Originally Posted by Eeko156

It is hot and expensive. On the upside, we have pretty friendly people and world class medical facilities.


The heat is no joke. 90's for a few months then down to 80's. Only cool months are Dec - Feb (March is nice, but it's not cold).

I guess expensive is all relative to where you are comparing. Coming from Chicago area, these are items that are less expensive here:
1. Housing
2. Real Estate Taxes
3. State Income Tax (none here)
4. Gasoline

Items that are more expensive:
1. Auto Insurance (due to crazy Florida drivers)
2. Home Insurance (due to hurricane coverage)
3. Water (due to need to run irrigation system)

Based on Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
Chicago is about 14% more expensive. Comparing Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
similar suburbs of each[/url], it's also less expensive to live in Florida.

[Spring Hillian]

Anyone who relocates to Florida and expects to have cold weather failed to look at a map

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

Anyone who relocates to Florida and expects to have cold weather failed to look at a map

Maybe the visited Jacksonville between 12/31 ans 1/3.

[gauchere90]

Florida isn't a bad place to live overall. There are definitely perks. Beautiful clouds, sunsets and ocean views. I am always snapping pictures here, it's crazy. Also, it is essentially summer living year-round without any of the hassles of snow/ice/stir-craziness that you deal with up north. For me, the extreme heat and humidity is one of the last things I would complain about because I moved to Florida fully aware of what summers would be like since I had vacationed here during the hottest months several times. I've also always been more comfortable in extreme heat than in cold.

However, despite the great weather, the overall quality of life here is not nearly as nice as where I moved from. People are saying things like, "as long as you can handle the heat, you'll like it here."

It's not as simple as that. There are other things that factor into quality of life, such as: convenient infrastructure, sense of community, educational and job opportunities, access to plenty of shopping/places to run errands/entertainment, access to high-quality groceries, how safe you feel, etc.

I think how content you are in Florida will really just depend on where you move from, what you do (or don't do) for a living, and whether or not you have a support system wherever you go (friends,family,domestic partner). I would recommend that you take a trip down here to really explore any areas you might be interested in moving to and looking at at those places through a "could I actually live here year-round?" lens and not a "I'm on vacation!" lens.

[Bert_from_back_East]

For me, the worst aspects of living in Florida were the rude, abrasive, unfriendly locals and extremely aggressive motorists. FWIW, there's a lot of people from NY, NJ, CT, MA and PA as well as lots of South Americans living in FL, which should tell you something.

People tend to be very rootless and transient in Florida, so there's no real sense of community, and civic pride and engagement levels are very low. Most people don't know their next-door neighbors. Mix all that up with warm weather and lots of theme parks and family attractions, and you've got yourself a magnet for creeps and weirdos.

Racial tensions are very high throughout the state. Most blacks seem to hate white people and stick to their own. In Miami, people avoid you if you look like you can't speak Spanish (AKA black, white or Asian) and refuse to learn English and assimilate to American culture.

The culture of Florida is generally very lowbrow - people are not well-educated, there are very few intellectual types and enterprising conversations and debates are hard to come by.

Employers understand that there's a general dearth of well-paying jobs, so they tend to pay menial wages for professional and skilled work while making it seem as though they're doing you a favor (because you're not gonna find anything else).

On the bright side, it rarely ever gets cold, the sunset and ocean vistas are breathtaking, roads are - hands down - the smoothest/widest/best-signaled roads in the country and there are no state income or car taxes.

But trust me, alligators and hot, humid weather will be the least of your concerns.

[Spring Hillian]

You confuse south east FL with the rest of the state which is very different than SE FL.

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

For me, the worst aspects of living in Florida were the rude, abrasive, unfriendly locals and extremely aggressive motorists. FWIW, there's a lot of people from NY, NJ, CT, MA and PA as well as lots of South Americans living in FL, which should tell you something.

People tend to be very rootless and transient in Florida, so there's no real sense of community, and civic pride and engagement levels are very low. Most people don't know their next-door neighbors. Mix all that up with warm weather and lots of theme parks and family attractions, and you've got yourself a magnet for creeps and weirdos.

Racial tensions are very high throughout the state. Most blacks seem to hate white people and stick to their own. In Miami, people avoid you if you look like you can't speak Spanish (AKA black, white or Asian) and refuse to learn English and assimilate to American culture.

The culture of Florida is generally very lowbrow - people are not well-educated, there are very few intellectual types and enterprising conversations and debates are hard to come by.

Employers understand that there's a general dearth of well-paying jobs, so they tend to pay menial wages for professional and skilled work while making it seem as though they're doing you a favor (because you're not gonna find anything else).

On the bright side, it rarely ever gets cold, the sunset and ocean vistas are breathtaking, roads are - hands down - the smoothest/widest/best-signaled roads in the country and there are no state income or car taxes.

But trust me, alligators and hot, humid weather will be the least of your concerns.

[jetdoc3037]

Bert, talk about painting with a broad brush....I can only speak for the PG area but I have found the area to be full of very friendly people. Most everyone waves to each other. I know many more neighbors in 3 months of living here than I did while living years up in Md.....

You seem to have some heavy racial tension in your head. Most blacks hate whites? Do you know 'most blacks'? Maybe its you? In Miami people avoid you if you LOOK like you can't speak spanish....I can tell you half the people I saw in miami appeared to be Caucasian as you can get but were speaking Spanish like it was their 1st language.

I dont' know what to tell you but I'm thinking you walk around all day and hear all sorts of weird crap coming from your head....maybe you need to speak to a professional, and I hope they are not black, speak spanish.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by jetdoc3037

Bert, talk about painting with a broad brush....I can only speak for the PG area but I have found the area to be full of very friendly people. Most everyone waves to each other. I know many more neighbors in 3 months of living here than I did while living years up in Md.....

You seem to have some heavy racial tension in your head. Most blacks hate whites? Do you know 'most blacks'? Maybe its you? In Miami people avoid you if you LOOK like you can't speak spanish....I can tell you half the people I saw in miami appeared to be Caucasian as you can get but were speaking Spanish like it was their 1st language.

I dont' know what to tell you but I'm thinking you walk around all day and hear all sorts of weird crap coming from your head....maybe you need to speak to a professional, and I hope they are not black, speak spanish.

If you look at previous posts you will prove your assumptions to be correct.

[jetdoc3037]

Actually I did that Spring....yea I could see many posts along the racial and anti florida lines. Its funny how it seems there are several posters that are only on here to bash Florida, or other things...nothing positive or helpful.

Life must suck for some.

[snowtired14]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

For me, the worst aspects of living in Florida were the rude, abrasive, unfriendly locals and extremely aggressive motorists. FWIW, there's a lot of people from NY, NJ, CT, MA and PA as well as lots of South Americans living in FL, which should tell you something.

People tend to be very rootless and transient in Florida, so there's no real sense of community, and civic pride and engagement levels are very low. Most people don't know their next-door neighbors. Mix all that up with warm weather and lots of theme parks and family attractions, and you've got yourself a magnet for creeps and weirdos.

Racial tensions are very high throughout the state. Most blacks seem to hate white people and stick to their own. In Miami, people avoid you if you look like you can't speak Spanish (AKA black, white or Asian) and refuse to learn English and assimilate to American culture.

The culture of Florida is generally very lowbrow - people are not well-educated, there are very few intellectual types and enterprising conversations and debates are hard to come by.

Employers understand that there's a general dearth of well-paying jobs, so they tend to pay menial wages for professional and skilled work while making it seem as though they're doing you a favor (because you're not gonna find anything else).

On the bright side, it rarely ever gets cold, the sunset and ocean vistas are breathtaking, roads are - hands down - the smoothest/widest/best-signaled roads in the country and there are no state income or car taxes.

But trust me, alligators and hot, humid weather will be the least of your concerns.

That's funny, I've had a very different experience with Florida, we are currently frequent visitors but we know where we're going to be living in a couple of years and have friends in a small town along the gulf coast. I have always found people in general to be friendlier than up north, wherever we walk nobody fails to wave and say hi, there's always someone to offer a suggestion or a tip of where and when to go to a restaurant or another local convenience, so I'd say they know their community. My wife is always ready to talk with new people, and she'll always find someone to get into a deep conversation whether it's at a store, restaurant or off the street. I personally don't judge people based on their education, I find myself enjoying my time with them because we connect and enjoy one another's company. I've met some locals who never finished high school but built reasonably successful businesses and I found them very inspiring. On the other hand, I've had dinner conversations with retired teachers, engineers, and statesmen, and the subject matter would have challenged any intellectual. I'm looking forward to moving down, I'm certainly not concerned with making a living, but a PT job would be nice. As far as weather, OK, June through most of October is H&H(?), but by November it starts to moderate, humidity goes down, winters tend to be dry, it can get "cold" (<40 deg.) once in a while, best months would be March thru May (IMHO).