Moving to Florida soon Need advice
 

Hello everyone! I love reading the posts here. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, must be quilters around somewhere, lol. So, my daughter is getting laid off in a couple months and we are looking at a chance to make a life change. We moved to NM 20 years ago, and we like it but... well they told us the winters were warm here, NOT!!! I now have rheumatoid arthritis and several other boring things going on and have been told to find somewhere lower in elevation and warmer in the winter for some relief if possible. My youngest has never seen the ocean, poor child. I spent some time in lower AL and upper FL but that was a long time ago. I am wondering about a few things. How hard to find a pet friendly place to live, probably a rental for now. We will look to buy when we know for sure where we want to stay, but at first we just want to look around a bit. My daughter is a Vet. Assistant with lots of experience and has several leads on jobs already. I of course will want to find quilting supplies.:) I like to grow flowers and garden a bit, my daughter loves to grow roses. We want some place small town like, but probably close to a bigger city for jobs and such. Any ideas on great places, places to stay away from, favorites, or what ever.
Thanks for reading, sorry so long.

I lived in South Florida years ago. Fort Lauderdale to be exact. I found the closer to the beach the more expensive the rent and sale prices are. There are two kinds of rentals one is a yearly lease, and the other is the seasonal rate. Which rent skyrockets from Nov. to April, if I recall correctly.

It's a really beautiful place at least along the coast. Another plus.......no state taxes to file! Last time I was there the sales tax was 8.75%.

30 years ago I lived in Tampa. I remember being miserably hot in the summer time. The humidity and the temperature would both be around 100! Do you have trouble with hot flashes? Also, the mosquitoes are vicious! The winters were real nice. There's also the problem with having both hurricanes and tornadoes plus, if you live near the coast, flooding from storm surges. Although I'm sure there are a lot of people who love living there year round. I'm sure they will be along shortly to tell you good stuff about Florida.

Best wishes on finding the perfect place/job for you and your family.

It would be too warm for me, I would like some place cooler if I were to move, never will my Husband won't move.
Good luck with your decision.

i lived in south florida for 30 years. yes, stay away from the beach to find reasonable rents. i lived in sunrise and plantation most of the time. plantation is a wonderful city. if you stay mid-state or north, you will get frost in the winter. yes, the summers are hot in the south, but most places are air conditioned. the one thing that i hated was the long drive in order to get out of the state. coral springs is just north of sunrise and that is a nice city as well. it also has a good quilt guild. in any of these cities, it is only approx 12 miles to the beach... straight east of sunrise is the best beach in my estimation.

We have lived in FL - Central FL - for 15 years now having retired from Michigan. I personally would not just plunk down just anywhere in FL, but we are in a large retirement community and love the lifestyle. We have love bugs April and September - a nuisance, but they don't bite. We do not have mosquitoes here in our area. Had enough of them in Michigan. If you stay north of Orlando, the humidity is seldom bad and we always have a breeze. Yes, the summers are HOT. Each coast is different. Northern Fl, Central Fl, South FL are all different. Different counties have different sales tax - ours is just under 7%. NO income tax is nice. Check the differences and your sure to find a special place. If you want more specifics, please PM me.

In orlando ( about half hr. From disney), is a hugh lqs. They had abot three rooms just overflowing with cottons flannels machines paatterns galore.
Good luck.

First thing to do is get a map out and list some towns around locations where you might like to investigate, near larger cities( or smaller ones). Contact the towns chamber for commerce and they will be able to give you lots of information about their town. Schools, hospitals, jobs, public transportation, bicycle routes around the community, parks, etc.

Think "Unincorporated" parts of FL. You'd only have to deal with the County if you had a complaint or whatever. One of the reasons rent is so high on the coasts is because of insurance. A lot of FL can't get homeowners insurance hence we're stuck with Citizens Insurance to the tune of at least $2000 a yr no matter the value of your house. (If you rent, you don't have to worry about that but then in the end, you do pay it in higher rent.) We also have our insurance divided into 2 categories....No Name Storms and Named Storms....paying separately for each. (How stupid does that sound?) I'm not planning on buying insurance next yr....I've been here for 29 years and never had a claim. With a deductible of $3500 and 2% of value of house...if I lose a roof, I can just fix it on my own. BTW, the State of Florida's Citizens Insurance is BROKE.
I do love where I live tho....I'm on a hill looking down at the Gulf of Mexico, due west of Tampa. It's very small town in the old town section. There are cities around me where you can find anything you want. There's a huge LQS about 5 miles south of me. Many, many doctors with specialties affiliated with a very good hospital not far from me.
Good luck on your quest.

Hello! I am a Florida native who now lives in NC! We moved to NC due to husband being employed with NASCAR.
I was born and raised in Pensacola, FL or better known as LA - Lower Alabama. The Gulf Coast is a great place.
You can check out their newspaper at PNJ.com to get ideas on life style. My sisters still live in P'cola and one day we will move back too. I love NC but miss the family. My older sister moved back to FL from Asheville NC due to her RA too! There is a Great Fabric shop in Pensacola called A&E Drugstore! YEP a drugstore on one side and a Fabulous Fabric, craft and quilting store on the other side. To any one who knows about Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC
this is a smaller version of that! Good luck where ever you decide! Let us know where you end up!