FL residents, what are your thoughts and input? About This Page:

[Angela531]

Discussions have come and gone over the years of moving to FL but have picked up speed over the last yearish. DH and I have narrowed down the possibility of a move south to either Summer 2017 or Summer 2018, chosen because eldest DD will graduate high school May 2017 and our youngest will begin high school fall 2018 and we would want to do it before that or wait until after she graduates too. While I am from Michigan, I have travelled to many areas in FL and do love the state so I can picture ourselves happy there. DH is from the Caribbean and has endured about three too many winters up here in Illinois so he is just ready to be back in a sunny environment year round. He works remotely so his job will remain the same. I will need to look for a new job and as a librarian the market in FL does not appear as great as it is in IL but I think it is possible to find work there, it just may take longer for me. We stayed with a his sister from July to early December early in our marriage in the Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton area so we are familiar with that area and the summer heat. His sister has since moved to Jacksonville so she is no longer in south FL. I have some friends in the Tampa area and in Bonita Springs area otherwise we would be on our own without friends/family nearby...although that was the same case when we moved here to IL, where we have lived since 2002.

Our wish list is to be near the ocean, no further than 30-45 minutes inland at the most. We want to enjoy the beach weekly. We would like a smaller to midsize, not so busy town, but be close enough to access a larger city within a short (1-3 hr) drive on a weekend. But almost anything compared to Chicago suburbs will likely feel smaller. We are just looking for a more relaxed lifestyle, where we can get out an "smell the roses" so to speak. Here we feel like nature is limited and we are surrounded by concrete/developments everywhere. We enjoy fine dining and need to have a culturally diverse neighborhood. Good shopping opportunities are also a plus. We realize that both quality public schools and a lower crime rate can be a challenge to find in FL but we would like both a safe area and good schools since we will still be raising our youngest there. Towns I have loved include St. Augustine, Sanibel Island, Boca Raton, Naples, and I LOVE the FL Keys. He has loved Boca Raton, Clearwater, Naples, and the Keys but he has not been to as many areas in FL as I have. We do know we want to avoid the panhandle and northern parts of FL, preferring to be in the Central to Southern half of the state.

Given all of this background, please share your experiences, tips, recommendations on moving and living in FL. Do you have certain towns that may be a perfect fit for us? What do you enjoy about the area you live/lived in? What are dislikes for the area or things to be aware of? Which is the better beach side to live on, Atlantic or Gulf and why? I'd love to hear what my fellow PP's opinions are. TIA.

[mamasann]

Wow.... why do you want to avoid the panhandle. We live here and you couldn't get me to move to those other areas. Too hot! At least we do have a bit of a change of seasons here. Perhaps in the parts of Florida you're contemplating crime is high and education low, BUT... Our schools in the panhandlle are some of the best in the states, we're 40 minutes from the Emerald Coast & snow white beaches, and our crime rate is low. Pensacola, Destin, Bluewater Bay.... further inland is Crestview, charming DeFuniak Springs. Eglin AFB brings us a wealth of diversity and there's plenty of fine dining in Pensacola and all along the coast. Personally, I feel we have the best of the best here. Sure hope you find what you're looking for in south Florida because it sounds unlikely given your overall description.

[Angela531]

We are avoiding it for that exact reason...we'd like to be out of the reach of cold snaps and fully immersed in a more tropical climate. We don't mind the heat. The way we see it we either deal with a period of extreme heat during the year or deal with arctic blasts and wind chill here in Chicago. We plan to take advantage of weekend getaways throughout the state and are not anti-panhandle, we just do not want to be that far north for our home base.

[cattailmarsh]

I do not live in FL but my Aunt & Uncle did for years and now my other Uncle does too so we have visited many times as listened to their reasoning for why they moved from Western PA & the NY Finger Lakes. My Uncle currently resides on the far side of Fort Myers in the newer developed divisions. And my Aunt lives in Cape Coral. Fort Myers is much more hustle and bustle than it was even 5 years ago. Cape Coral is a smaller town with many amenities and it is just a hop from Sanibel Island (one of my all time favorite locations). They both have inlets & canals but Cape Coral has more. However they do not seem to see much of the hurricanes. Not that they don't get them but for some reason they are never the hardest hit regions. Hope that helps

[notjustamom]

I can't offer much in the way of insider advice. What I can say is that I just (last month) bought a townhouse in Boca Raton for pretty much the same reasons you want to leave IL (I was just in Chicago last week ). Right now it will be a vacation home until DD graduates (3yrs) and maybe before DS does (5yrs). I picked Boca for a myriad of reasons, one of which was the tropical weather. Good luck with whatever you decide!!

[Angela531]

Originally Posted by cattailmarsh

I do not live in FL but my Aunt & Uncle did for years and now my other Uncle does too so we have visited many times as listened to their reasoning for why they moved from Western PA & the NY Finger Lakes. My Uncle currently resides on the far side of Fort Myers in the newer developed divisions. And my Aunt lives in Cape Coral. Fort Myers is much more hustle and bustle than it was even 5 years ago. Cape Coral is a smaller town with many amenities and it is just a hop from Sanibel Island (one of my all time favorite locations). They both have inlets & canals but Cape Coral has more. However they do not seem to see much of the hurricanes. Not that they don't get them but for some reason they are never the hardest hit regions. Hope that helps

Do you know how your family feels about their areas? Do they like Cape Coral and Fort Myers? We are looking at these areas as well. It looks like they have some very nice developments around Fort Myers. We were specifically looking at the area closer to Florida Gulf Coast University (south east area) closer to Estero.

[Angela531]

Originally Posted by notjustamom

I can't offer much in the way of insider advice. What I can say is that I just (last month) bought a townhouse in Boca Raton for pretty much the same reasons you want to leave IL (I was just in Chicago last week ). Right now it will be a vacation home until DD graduates (3yrs) and maybe before DS does (5yrs). I picked Boca for a myriad of reasons, one of which was the tropical weather. Good luck with whatever you decide!!

Thank you! We enjoyed the Boca area when we were there and it is on our list of possible areas to move to. I'd love to hear some of your reasons for settling on Boca if you don't mind sharing. What other towns were you considering besides Boca Raton (if any)?

[notjustamom]

I'd love to hear some of your reasons for settling on Boca if you don't mind sharing. What other towns were you considering besides Boca Raton (if any)?

. Sure.
•My aunt used to live in Boca so I was somewhat familiar with the area.
•My parents may winter at my place until I move permanently and they're familiar as well.
•My sister and BIL own a 2nd home in Boca (they live in Chicago). That's prob my biggest factor.
•The proximity to the ocean - another huge factor. I live on the shore and know I can never be landlocked. Ever, lol
•Great shopping and restaurants.
•I may be there before my DS graduates. I have already contacted the special Ed chairs of the local HS (DS has autism) and have gotten some great info. I was put at ease that DS would be sent to a HS anywhere in the county that has a program to fit his needs.
•I want tropical. I am more than done with cold and could care less about changing seasons. Seriously done

Once I live down there full time I plan on taking time to tour the west coast of Florida, Sarasota area. I'm not sure Boca will be my "forever" home. For now it's my "right now" home, lol.

[Luvsun]

We moved from northern Indiana to southwest Florida (Bonita Springs first and now Naples) in 2010.
Our family of 3 sons had all gone to college and were not moving back home, so we decided to make the move. I had always wanted to live in Florida - I was the driving force behind the move.
With that said.....
*The cost of living in Naples is higher than many areas of Florida. We have discovered over the 6 years of living here that non-gated neighborhoods are hard to find. Gated communities with high HOA fees are the normal here.
*The Naples area is beautiful! It has changed a lot in the last 10 years and the "season" seems to be getting longer every year! The traffic gets crazy starting in November until early May now.
*There is an abundance of shopping areas!
*Regarding employment - I don't know what educational background you have, but the school systems here require you have library science degree in order to be considered for a school librarian position. The reason I know this is because I was an elementary librarian in Indiana, but did not have that degree. I was a paraprofessional running the elementary library. Since living here, I have applied to work for the Collier County library system, but have had no success in getting a job. There have been very few openings, and the few that been posted are filled from within the county system.
Most of the employment here is in some sort of service trade, retail, or tourism.
*We have found it a bit difficult to find good friends here. Primarily because many people are not here full time - they go back "north" for half the year. Which means they are retired and come and go a lot. We are not able to retire yet. My husband stills works full time and I have a part time job.
*If you love heat and humidity, you will be fine! 6 months of the year it is very hot and the humidity is relentless!
Since moving here, I have become heat sensitive! I think being put on blood pressure medication changed the way I am able to tolerate the heat. So we don't go to the beach as much as we thought we would due to my issue. We avoid going to the beach at all in August and September - the hottest months.

I have found that I miss the seasons and miss family and friends! But, my husband loves it here and doesn't miss the seasons - especially the winter! But he does miss family! We have one son and his family that lives in Estero - just about 20 minutes from where we live in Naples. We are very grateful they live close. Our other 2 sons live out west. So we have just recently started to think about the possibility of splitting our time between Colorado and Florida once my husband is able to retire - in about 5 years.

I highly suggest you come down and try to spend time in the areas you are considering. And come in July, August, September - the hottest months.

If you have any specific questions, you can PM me anytime!

Good luck with your decision!

[minniemagic]

My DH has several cousins you live in Ft. Myers and Cape Coral. They were originally from Tennessee and New Jersey and love it down there. As for us, we just bought a condo in Championsgate near Davenport. It will be our retirement home in about 4 or 8 years, depending when we can afford to retire. Luvsun is correct, we found that most gated communities have high HOA fees. But we went with one because we feel that the gated communities are safer.

[cattailmarsh]

I know my Uncle lives his condo in Fort Myers. He lives in the newer golf course areas which seemingly are a little farther away from the shopping areas. They like it because it is quieter but it seemed like a good drive to get anywhere when we visited.

My Aunt has lived in Cape Coral for some 20+ years. They love it there. They are in one of the older sections just across from the canal. Their biggest complaint lately was the airport changing some of their landing patterns taking a few more planes over their house than previously. They are very close to everything including the main route to Sanibel. Between the two, we definitely loved the privacy and closer to things of my Aunts house. My Aunt's words - "she would live there forever if she could!" I know she likes the proximity to everything important including the little local establishments that make Cape Coral so special.

[GingerJ]

We bought our snowbird home in a fly-in community near Daytona Beach--there's a huge runway on the property, and maybe 400 of the 1100 homes (like ours) have hangars in the back yard that open onto a taxiway. It also has a country club and golf course, neither of which are of interest to us.

DH is a pilot, and I'll be taking lessons soon, I think. But the big draw for me is that it's 75 minutes to WDW! It's also 6 miles from Daytona Beach, and it has plenty of shopping very nearby. We're likely to move there permanently, eventually, and leave this miserable cold weather behind!