Reflections on my move from Boston - Ft. Lauderdale

[BNBR]

Like many places, traffic can be avoidable. Some areas, like LA, it's virtually unavoidable. Sure there are some bad commutes in South Florida, but you have a lot of options to avoid it - living in a certain direction from work, traveling at less congested times, etc. I face almost no traffic, ever, in Broward. Outside of prime rush hour in a few limited spots, traffic just isn't that bad.

[United_Caps_Skins_Fan]

Originally Posted by Papillons2

Glad you are considering Fort Lauderdale, and good luck in your search. Most people who post on the Fort Lauderdale/Broward board do provide good, solid, accurate information (and it's not necessarly positive when it comes to issues such as housing costs, iffy neighborhoods and local government corruption). Unfortunately, however, there's no shortage of over-the-top negative posts that contain misconceptions, half-truths and "fake news" (you've already encountered one concerning summer climate data). Here are a few I've encountered on these message boards over the years:

1: Hurricanes strike every year or two. FACT: We haven't had a direct hit since Wilma in 2005, although we've had a few close calls, such as Matthew last year.

2: People are fleeing the area in droves, and the population is declining. FACT: The population declined slightly after Hurricane Wilma and then for a year or two when the economy crashed. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have seen population increases of 10 percent or more since 2010.

3: You need to earn $100K annually to live here. FACT: The cost of living here (mainly because of housing) is considerably higher than the national average, and the $100K figure is no doubt true if you're trying to raise a few kids, or you need a lot of big-ticket luxury items. But my wife and I don't earn that much and have done OK, although we've had to be conservative and prudent.

4: Broward County is mostly trashy, ignorant people. FACT: Broward's population is 1.9 million, and calling the majority "trashy" and "ignorant" is a terrible generalization and an insult to a lot of hard-working, intelligent and creative residents.

5. Traffic is out of control. FACT: It's a major metro area -- so yes, there's a lot of traffic, and driving from here to there usually takes a while. But I've driven in Atlanta, Phoenix and Chicago over the past year or so and it isn't any worse here (and better than Atlanta and Chicago based on my experience). And it isn't limited to big cities: One of worst traffic snarls I've encountered in recent years was near Asheville, N.C.

5: Thugs hang out on every street corner. FACT: Hardly worth dignifying with a response.

Thank's for all the great info. You know I can handle logical, normal, and reality / truth based negatives just fine as they go right along with positives. It's the over the top, biased, non reality / "i hate living here so everything sucks" kind of negative junk that I find utterly useless.

Yeah, I pretty much know all of what you mentioned going in, and to me it's just part of the whole package. Everyone has limits and ideas of what they will and will not accept. So far I have found nothing that is utterly unacceptable.

The traffic there seems better than here, and as you know the Washington D.C. Metro area has the 2nd or even 1st worst traffic in the United States. There is no exaggerations when its described as such with words like horrific, abominable, insane, sheer torture, etc and so on. Im used to the worst, so just about anything is better than here. The time I spent down there I found the traffic to be substantially better than here.

I was there for Matthew. The 4 months I spent there were great, I learned a ton about the area and I could easily get around down there driving now. Not concerned about hurricanes, we get there here in VA too, although maybe only cat 1-2 at worst tho this far up. Va Beach is a different story. So they don't phase me and play no part in my decision.

As for COL, well I live in Fairfax county VA. This whole area is some of the most expensive in the USA outside of NYC and maybe SF. There are two of us with combined incomes off 130K, NO kids and dont plan on any. We will be saving money even in Ft Laud compared to here. St. Pete, forget it, no contest, that place is straight up cheap compared to where I am now, and even in its ritzy nice super upper class areas its still substantially cheaper than here.

Every area has its ups and downs, but I made this decision 15 years ago and now I can finally do it. I'm sick of cold and snow and all that, and I love palm trees and tropical climates and all that they bring with them good and bad. If I want fall color or snow, ill fly to it. LOL! Im going to be back in school for Horticulture / Botany degree(s) and FL is a great place for that. My ideal job would be something like a curator at a tropical botanic garden, or for the state Highway Admin, or parks and rec, overseeing horticulture things which include installing lots of palm trees. Id be in heaven. LOL! Anyway thanks again for the feed back. Much appreciated.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by United_Caps_Skins_Fan

Thank's for all the great info. You know I can handle logical, normal, and reality / truth based negatives just fine as they go right along with positives. It's the over the top, biased, non reality / "i hate living here so everything sucks" kind of negative junk that I find utterly useless.

Yeah, I pretty much know all of what you mentioned going in, and to me it's just part of the whole package. Everyone has limits and ideas of what they will and will not accept. So far I have found nothing that is utterly unacceptable.

The traffic there seems better than here, and as you know the Washington D.C. Metro area has the 2nd or even 1st worst traffic in the United States. There is no exaggerations when its described as such with words like horrific, abominable, insane, sheer torture, etc and so on. Im used to the worst, so just about anything is better than here. The time I spent down there I found the traffic to be substantially better than here.

I was there for Matthew. The 4 months I spent there were great, I learned a ton about the area and I could easily get around down there driving now. Not concerned about hurricanes, we get there here in VA too, although maybe only cat 1-2 at worst tho this far up. Va Beach is a different story. So they don't phase me and play no part in my decision.

As for COL, well I live in Fairfax county VA. This whole area is some of the most expensive in the USA outside of NYC and maybe SF. There are two of us with combined incomes off 130K, NO kids and dont plan on any. We will be saving money even in Ft Laud compared to here. St. Pete, forget it, no contest, that place is straight up cheap compared to where I am now, and even in its ritzy nice super upper class areas its still substantially cheaper than here.

Every area has its ups and downs, but I made this decision 15 years ago and now I can finally do it. I'm sick of cold and snow and all that, and I love palm trees and tropical climates and all that they bring with them good and bad. If I want fall color or snow, ill fly to it. LOL! Im going to be back in school for Horticulture / Botany degree(s) and FL is a great place for that. My ideal job would be something like a curator at a tropical botanic garden, or for the state Highway Admin, or parks and rec, overseeing horticulture things which include installing lots of palm trees. Id be in heaven. LOL! Anyway thanks again for the feed back. Much appreciated.

If I were looking at the St Pete side of Florida, I would check out Sarasota. Have you been there?

Although that side of Florida is too slow for my tastes. Fort Lauderdale is way more active, but not as nuts as Miami.

[quickques]

Originally Posted by luna_luna

I have moved from Cambridge, MA seven months ago to the Coral Ridge part of Fort Lauderdale and I Love it here as well. Every single person told me not to move for whatever their reasons were to warn me so. There is a decent public elementary school, Bayview Elementary, there is a Yacht club with a large always-warm pool, six almost free tennis courts, an always warm ocean; within 30- 60 min, there are botanical gardens, aquariums, zoos, snorkeling, sailing, all kinds of natural places to see and to experience any time of the year. I am so tired of hearing "live her for 5 years and post again". I Am living here and I have never had a better time in my life, even though I was living between MIT and Harvard -- the weather was always in the way to get to either as frequently as I get to places in and around Fort Lauderdale. People in FTL have been exceptionally nice; no one is rushing, people take time to help, explain where to go, and so on. I can't believe how much more interesting my life has become relative to Cambridge/Boston. All of the above is for 2/3 of the rent price I would have been paying in Boston, and all activities (tennis, golf, swimming) are either free or within $10-150 / month. None of which would have been within reach year round in Cambridge/Boston.

::Waves:: Hello, fellow New Englander!! I think, at the end of the day, that it depends on where you come from.

We are used to awful traffic, not so nice "Mass holes" and awful weather, amongst other things, so moving from one city to another, theres not a huge amount to adjust to.

when you move from big city to small and vice versa, I think the adjustment curve is bigger.



This is the OP checking in to say Im still loving it, even more than when I originally posted it