[KEMOZ]

Are there any Michigan folks on this post? We would like to hear from you if you used to live in Michigan and moved to Florida. Tell us about your experiences...the pros and cons. Would you or did you move back to MI? What are the differences between the two states (good or bad).

Or...were you originally from MI, moved to Florida...then moved somewhere else? Where did you go?

Thank you...From a family trying to ESCAPE Michigan blues & cold winters!

[RedWingsFan]

I'm a Michigan native (notice the screen name). I grew up in Michigan and when I was around 25 moved to Las Vegas where we lived for around 10 years. Then late last fall after our house sold in Vegas we moved to Florida.

We had thought about moving back to Michigan, but wanted to check out Florida first. It's not that we hated Vegas, it's just that it was a really long way from family. We wanted to be closer.

We first went to Tampa. Didn't like the area at all (went to Land O' Lakes and checked out the areas all over there). We drove around the state looking at other cities. We liked the Daytona Beach area and moved to Ormond Beach (just north of Daytona). After living there for a few months we bought a house in Port Orange (just south of Daytona Beach).

Port Orange is very nice. It's a clean city with great schools, low crime, close to beaches, not far from going to Orlando, etc. It is a nice place to raise kids. Our original committment to Florida was two years.

And we don't plan on staying here. We are already making our plans to go back to Michigan. But it's not that we don't like Florida - we just want to raise our kids around family members. I really want them to be able to get to know people, be there for holidays, etc.

But make no mistake - Florida has it's share of problems just as Michigan does, or any state for that fact. Florida has an awful bug population. Really - I thought it wouldn't be that bad, but it's awful. Bugs everywhere! Even with an exterminator coming out they are all over the house. I get up in the morning and there must be a 1000 bugs on my screened in lanai. It's gross!

Also, there are afternoon thunderstorms almost daily! Big big storms. I'm talking the biggest lightening I've ever seen, 600 strikes in an hour! The loudest thunder I've ever heard! High wind speeds, etc. The weather is NOT perfect here. Don't think it is.

You put up with Michigan winters, that's true. But make no mistake - here you will put up with hurricane season, big storms all summer long, tornadoes all year long (there have been so many all around us since we've been here - one right in front of us that I took pictures of). The weather is not as great as many like to make it out to be.

You have to ask what you are leaving behind and is it worth it. If you have family, is it worth leaving them for a little bit better weather (some much worse like the hurricanes and tornadoes). To me, Florida is not worth it. I'd rather live around our family and put up with some winter and just take vacations to warm places.

However, having said that - I know that Michigan's economy is a mess right now. So if you can't get work you have to be able to take care of your family and if that means leaving the state you have to do it. There are a lot of jobs in Florida, but they don't pay well here.

Just my two cents...

[oeabel]

I was born in Sarasota, moved when I was five and I grew up and went to college in Michigan. After college, I married and moved to Iowa and eventually Kansas. All the time I had Michigan in a "special" place in my mind as if it were nirvana. Well, I've decided, over the years, that I couldn't go back to Michigan. It's a strange place to me now and so incredibly industrial. (Although, given the opportunity, I'd move to Northern Michigan in an instant.

We moved to Florida last fall when my husband got a job offer we couldn't refuse. There is a lot I don't like (bugs and lightning) and alot I like (the beach). My biggest frustration here in Florida is the difficulty finding good friends for the kids. The school system here in Lee County is a mess and kids are bussed all over... It makes it hard for the kids to find friends around us.

I miss the midwest a lot, especially Kansas. We lived in a Kansas City burb that was fabulous for raising kids. I'm trying to think very positively about being in Florida so I can help the kids be happy here too.

[KEMOZ]

Wow. Both of your experiences is very interesting. When we visited Tampa a couple weeks ago, although we visit Fort Lauderdale every year (sister in Parkland), we have NEVER experienced the lightening thing until now. Oh boy, was I scared. My husband had gone to get carryout and I fell asleep. We were staying on the bay in Tampa. I thought the thunder was coming through the roof. When I looked out the window, the lightening was the most frightening thing I've ever saw. I was petrified till my husband made it safely back. Then, we were caught in a rainstorm! We were on the highway and everyone was pulling over--because you practically couldn't see. The lightening makes you want to pull over and hide from it! yikes....That thought seems to stay in my head. We Definitely don't experience that in Michigan. Although last week we had a louder/unusual thunderstorm in the middle of the night. However, I do want my kids to be happy...and I'm not sure if I would get used to the storms. I always wondered how people continue to flock to Florida, considering the weather/hurricanes.

I've heard about the mosquitos, but never seemed to experience them really badly on our short visits (3-4 days). What I do know, is I would like to experience someplace other than Michigan in my lifetime...I just don't know where!!!! You could read all the posts, newspapers, visits...but you just will never know..until you try it.

I tell all my friends---If you want/dream something...try it...If you don't like it...you can always change. Sometimes change, is just to learn something out of it and then move on to your true purpose/or place in life. But if you never try..you will never know...

Best of luck to everyone....I'd like to hear more//anyone else????

[kela]

We live in MI, SE to be more exact, just north of Toledo, Ohio. I love the summers here but absolutely HATE the winters. I grew up in and around Seattle/Puget sound and would take the rainy weather any day over these looonnngg, cold and miserable winters.

With that said, we have been wanting to find a second home in Florida for about a year now. The plan would be for my husband to eventually work from home, which he does now, but will be making a company shift, so we aren't sure yet if that will mean he can still work from home or not. That's a huge factor because our plan was to spend the school year in FL and come back to MI (where all of his family also lives) during the summer. We have a 6 and 11 year old, so unless I end up homeschooling (not sure I have what it takes to do that ), then we would have to put them in school down there.

I've spent countless hours browsing realtor dot com and various other sites looking at houses in FL. My biggest concern with buying down there is insurance. Just not sure what insurance is going to be like because of the storms they get.

We are thinking of looking into a nice (nothing fancy), 3 bed/2 bath preferably small to med size home. But not a mobile.

The biggest challenge also is not being familiar with the neighborhoods down there. I've mainly been looking in the Panhandle areas like Panama City, Pensacola and Tallahasee. But I have no clue what neighborhoods in those areas are like. So I guess we'll have to keep researching and hopefully talk to folks that live near those areas and get some insight. Then probably a trip down there to see for ourselves. My husband prefers the Panhandle area, I guess mainly because we will be driving back and forth to MI.

We have small toy dogs, so they of course will come too and we can't fly with more than 2 of them.

I'd also love to hear more from others about Florida in general...the best areas to look, will I pass out from the yearly taxes, etc.

Florida was a first choice mainly because we've been there (Orlando/Disney) and the weather there in the winter is very appealing. But have also considered southern Texas as a option. Again, we don't know anything about it though. I know some of the other warm states like New Orleans, etc., don't really interest us.

[Jennster31]

Hi, my family and I just moved over 2 months ago from the west part of Michigan. When we left my business fell apart after 4+ years due to the job market and my husband who used to get overtime was barely getting 40 hours of work in a week. We decided it was time to go. We moved to Ocala and I have to say so far we love it!

If you hate the winters in michigan (which we did), then the heat in July/August will be worth it.

Most of our family lives in Michigan, but we would still move. It was worth it for us.

[Jennster31]

I LOVE storms, so the lightning etc. doesn't bother me. I sit and watch it

[soundbreeze]

Kela,

I'm not from Michigan, but have a few friends (and relatives) that live there. One husband/wife team in particular love Florida so much, that even though they don't have a pile of cash to blow, they rented a nice home on the beach, packed up a rental minivan full of groceries and their dog, and DROVE DOWN all the way from Bloomfield to Destin. WHOAH, now if that's not love, I don't know what is. LOL!

They had a BLAST. By the time we got back to their place (after an absoutely excellent seafood dinner at a really nice 'n friendly restaurant close by) they were so exhausted from how much fun they'd had running around on the beach, playing w. their dog (who normally didn't have as much room to run around in when they're back home in Michigan) shopping, swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, fishing, playing golf, and generally having a grand time, they passed out. LOL!

One of the reasons (many) that I love being back home on the Panhandle (and I'm not a "redneck" btw, college grad, IT/Defense and have worked/traveled on the corporate company dole my whole career after college) is that Northwest Florida is very centralized w. respect to what I personally do and enjoy. New Orleans/Biloxi is 3 hours to the west. Atlanta is 5 hours to the north. Jacksonville is 5 hours to the east. Orlando is 8 hours to the south. Perfect for me. I can work and play to my hearts content. Who could ask for anything more?

As for lightning, it is AWESOME to see the power of God in a flash like that. To feel your world tremble w. a thunderclap. It's AMAZING. When I get lucky enough to experience a lightning storm, to breath the air as it gets ionized, so clean, I take it. To see the amazing light show is a treat for me.

[sunrico90]

[quote=kela;1191918]

The biggest challenge also is not being familiar with the neighborhoods down there. I've mainly been looking in the Panhandle areas like Panama City, Pensacola and Tallahasee. But I have no clue what neighborhoods in those areas are like. So I guess we'll have to keep researching and hopefully talk to folks that live near those areas and get some insight. Then probably a trip down there to see for ourselves. My husband prefers the Panhandle area, I guess mainly because we will be driving back and forth to MI.

We have many threads from Pcola to Tallahassee and we cover a lot of info. Weather is great, winters are short and cold (maybe teens for 4 - 6 weeks)....

[magellan]

I'm not sure where in Michigan KEMOZ is from, but we get plenty of lightning in Michigan. We had a two-hour lightning/thunderstorm just last night in our area. I've also run into rainstorms in Michigan where cars had to pull over.

Here was a thunderstorm in our area just the other night:



Just sayin.