Tell me about Florida

[Moab]

I'm having a complete re-evaluation about where I want to live the rest of my life. Not sure I've changed my mind. But certainly reconsidering what is out there.

MT has been at the top of my list for some time. But I'm seriously considering living in a better climate. I'm almost 60.

What can those that have lived or do live in Florida tell me about the state?

I'm considering the outer Tampa area. Maybe even as far south as Cape Coral. Or further north up the coast. I don't want to live in Tampa. Other than maybe Bradenton. More looking at coastal areas.

A few areas of concern:

Taxes.
Health, car etc insurance.
Real estate seems reasonable.
Cost of power.
Other costs?
Demographics. What areas around Tampa should I avoid? Meaning crime.
Are there better areas in Florida? I would prefer the gulf coast. I like saltwater fishing alot.

What am I not asking that I should be?

 

[SubLime]

Coastal areas - flooding and hurricanes
Traffic in Florida sucks
I fly into Orlando once a year to visit my parents and avoid holidays and summers

 

[Chris]

@Zorba

I've never lived there but the state seems to be run very well.

 

[RINC]

Other than maybe Bradenton.

There is http://www.racebmp.com/ and of course bugs. Many bugs.

 

[L J]

@Jerry Bransford is a California to Florida transplant

 

[DEValken]

Lotta bugs. Windshield washer fluid is mandated under state law, or should be.

It's humid. And IDGIF, dry heat sucks, yes. But wet heat sucks like Linda Lovelace.

It's flat. With gators on the side of the road. For miles.

And of course you have this-

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/got-hit-again.72201/
Beautiful place though

 

[Clocktower07]

I was stationed in/around Pensacola for several years. The beaches are nice, allegedly the fishing is excellent, and there are diving opportunities if you’re willing to go a bit offshore. Unfortunately, the area was starting to get a bit crowded when I left (2021) and infrastructure upgrades/development wasn’t keeping pace with the influx of people. Sales tax was around 7-8% but property taxes weren’t too bad, hospitals were ok (long waits), car insurance was the most expensive out of any place I’ve been with the Navy (due to high rates of theft). Just like SubLime mentioned, hurricanes, flooding, AND tornadoes are big concerns everywhere in Florida. Most of the academic literature on the subject suggests that storms will become more frequent and severe in the coming decades.

It wasn’t my cup of tea, but at least life in the panhandle was bearable. I don’t think I could stand living anywhere else in the state.

 

[Clocktower07]

Also, if you're looking for mountains, here's something to save you the trouble. It's Florida's highest point @ 345 feet!

 

[Zorba]

Taxes are reasonable as far as taxes go. No state income tax, property tax seems to work out about the same as California. Gulf coast is prettier than the east coast, BUT the east coast is cooler. If it were up to me, I'd live in the exact center of the state E-W, maybe a bit north into the horse country. Power is cheap - at least so far, and certainly compared to Commiefornia where it costs and arm and a leg to run a 40 watt light bulb in a 3rd world hut. Medical care is far superior to California as well. Water is expensive.

The old saying is "The farther south you go, the farther north you get." Miama-Dade is the usual liberal hell hole, and IMHO, Tampa-St. Pete is "somewhat" better - I've danced a few shows over there as it isn't very far away. Tarpon Springs which is a bit north of Tampa is VERY nice.

Other than that, its flat, its hot, its boring to drive, and the wind blows a lot. I'm here for the politics and lack of snow since I was exiled from California. Gun ownership is fantastic. Lots of Christians if that matters, it isn't the Bible Belt, but we've had our share of discrimination towards non-monotheistic religions - Brevard county where I am has been ground zero for a couple of landmark cases. The state *is* also infested with "Florididiots", which is why we have "Florida man". Something like 500 alligators per square mile on average!

The other oddity is the travel mindset. If a Floridian has to travel more than about 30 minutes, that's a LONG way! Probably because it looks about the same "there" as it does "here", but I used to drive 30 minutes just to get a gallon of milk. There are people who live on the barrier islands who haven't been on the mainland in decades!

 

[Apparition]

@mxz800 lives in that area

 

[DavidBT]

We're quite happy in our little south east corner of Arizona.

 

[Charlie L]

I lived in Ft Myers for 25yrs. Back in the early 80's it was great. Now, unless you enjoy traffic and long lines, I wouldn't recommend it. My daughter lives in Cape Coral and since Ian hit, her drive times to work have tripled and driving anywhere can be a hassle. I'd avoid SW Fl.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

@Jerry Bransford is a California to Florida transplant

Yep, I wake up nearly every day pinching myself in disbelief I am living here now lol. It's effing hot, humid, no rock crawling or good offroading, and I pretty much have to run my house's A/C 24 hours a day. It's so hot outside we wear shorts, t-shirts, and flipflops but then we freeze when we go inside stores and restaurants from the temperature change. In fact if I know we're going to a restaurant I'll often change into long pants and bring a long sleeve shirt to wear inside since most are pretty cool inside lol.

BUT Florida sure has a lot of benefits too. The biggest one is it's not California where we escaped from. I loved and severely miss California's deserts, mountains, and the many friends made there over many years but I'm still (mostly) happy we moved here. Getting my Florida concealed carry permit was fast and easy, even my wife got one. It's definitely a very free feeling state, and no income tax either! We sold our house in California for enough to pay cash for a nice house here, it even has a big pond in back with lots of ducks, geese, frogs, squirrels, etc. so it's nice to enjoy the water view in the back and hear so much wildlife.

In the part of Florida we moved to hurricanes aren't much of a problem, we're in kind of an oasis that rarely sees high winds. We have experienced two hurricanes so far but where we live in Fleming Island, 20 miles south of Jacksonville, we have only had a lot of rain with winds peaking at only 40 mph during the two hurricanes. Not bad at all and power losses are rare here. In 15 months we have only lost power for maybe a minute.

Roads are better here than in California and rarely do we encounter much traffic. Only if I have to drive up to Jacksonville for an appointment at the VA in the morning will I experience any traffic and even then it's nothing like the traffic I regularly experienced in SoCal.

People are friendly (!) here, it's a southern thing. I can get into multiple fun conversations a day, people are just plain friendly and nice to talk to here. Food is great here too, I have even taken to loving eating a lot of alligator and hush puppies lol. No grits for me though, I'm just not a grits person.

In closing it's beautiful here, it's SO green and there are lots and lots of very tall trees, hanging moss in many of the trees, lots of rivers and waterways, and the beaches are wonderful. If it wasn't for the humidity and mosquitoes I think I could learn to love it a lot here. If anyone is thinking of moving to Florida, I would definitely focus on finding something in the northern part of the state. Not as hot and humid up here, less worry about hurricanes, and it's closer to interesting places to visit further north. All in all we're real happy we moved here, I just wish there was more places to take my Jeep here. Sand and mud is the big thing here for Jeeping which just isn't for me. P.S. I've now seen a total of 3 small alligators in the pond behind my house so far. Welcome to Florida.

 

[mxz800]

I like Summerfield Florida, I looked into living in Texas, and Arizona but for me Florida was the best fit.

Health care was horrible in this area but that has changed. I go to the village health care in Brownwood. They have every kind of Doctor here and unlike in Maine they are on-time, and they aren't rude.

I live near the villages, so I can go over 100 plus miles on paved roads just for golf cars with my yamaha.

When I feel like it I head over to New Smyrna Beach/ Daytona it takes me a hour, or I head to Tampa it takes 15 minutes more.

Since I'm old and handi-crapped I don't have to pay for parking so I don't have to pay to drive on the beach either. 20 bucks is 20 bucks I prefer it in my pocket.

 

[Zorba]

To add to Jerry's comments - the roads are indeed far better than Commiefornia. Better maintenance/condition, although some little things sometimes aren't as well designed. No shoulders most places, which means a lot of "Jam & Slam" when someone wants to turn off of a high speed roadway - even multi-laners. Adding to this fun are city busses that will stop dead in the slow lane of a 4 lane, 55 MPH road to embark/debark passengers (no shoulders). They have lots of brite lites, so you see them, but its a bit alarming. Another oddity, found through much of the southeast is the annoying fact that adjacent parking lots aren't connected more often than they are. You oftentimes can't get from one lot to the next.

Lots of businesses are over-air conditioned as he notes.




In California, when turning left at a stoplite that doesn't have a dedicated left turn signal, you pull into the middle of the intersection and wait until traffic stops/clears - which may mean the lite has turned red. You then - GO! That is illegal here - you can pull into the intersection to wait if you like, but you're not supposed to be there when/if the lite turns red. So most people wait behind the limit line until it clears. I was VERY confused by this, until I asked a cop for clarification. That's one of the very few things I miss about driving in California - you were guaranteed that at least one car could turn left per lite cycle, here you may wait forever.

Most 2 lane roads here are NOT "nanny stated" with double lines as they are in California of late.

 

[TJ4Jim]

Florida is starting to see the Insurance issues we experienced in NJ just after Sandy and now with Farmer's pulling out of Fla. I imagine more quality insurers will follow. My NJ flood ins went from $600 annual to $1800 overnight 10 years ago and has more than doubled since I got the hell out. I was in St Pete last March the power was still not operational from the previous Fall hurricane, what a mess.

 

[CreepinDeth]

Great place to visit
Been goin there annually for 20 years

Price out property insurance, flood insurance, and storm insurance before you consider making any offers. Its gotten prohibitive

I also was stationed/ trained in Pensacola in the Navy @ the Center for Information Dominance (aka Corry Station) but Ive seen the area take a serious turn downward from the wrong kind of people coming there slummin it down.

Florida is great but the schools are terrible for kids Vs other states and thats from many people that relocated there. Not an issue for a retiree tho

I personally love Florida and DeSantis is doing a great job down there.

Just recently they passed a law that ANYONE can carry concealed NO LICENSE REQUIRED, that includes visitors. A Constitutional State , very good news

 

[Jerry Bransford]

In California, when turning left at a stoplite that doesn't have a dedicated left turn signal, you pull into the middle of the intersection and wait until traffic stops/clears - which may mean the lite has turned red. You then - GO! That is illegal here - you can pull into the intersection to wait if you like, but you're not supposed to be there when/if the lite turns red. So most people wait behind the limit line until it clears. I was VERY confused by this, until I asked a cop for clarification.

I did not know that!!!!!! I have gotten really pissed many times since moving here when in a left-turn lane the front car wouldn't pull out into the intersection until the traffic had cleared. That has meant a lot of waiting through several signal cycles. I need to speak to the Governor about that.

 

[Zorba]

I did not know that!!!!!! I have gotten really pissed many times since moving here when in a left-turn lane the front car wouldn't pull out into the intersection until the traffic had cleared. That has meant a lot of waiting through several signal cycles. I need to speak to the Governor about that.

I didn't know it either, and was getting irritated as well. Finally asked a cop when I was pulled over for a burned out license plate lite about it. The other one that just gets me is as follows: Dedicated right turn lane where you turn behind an island into a dedicated lane on the new street. People STOP for zero reason. Used to see this on occasion in California, its endemic here, so bad that I keep a hand over the horn and a foot over the brake when rolling into one of these.

 

[Potomus Pete]

Sarasota here. Super expensive here lately. Great place to live , but overcrowded. Twenty years ago it was heaven. If you have the money, and your a Republican this is the place for you.