Where to move, and why?

[Moemg]

..
Our experience with the weather in general is that central Florida is much less uncomfortable than on either coast.
.

Actually the coast is more comfortable due to the breeze off the gulf or ocean .

 

[mpeirce]

Would like to hear from anyone who does live in Central Florida, year round, to hear what they think.

I don't live there, but my Dad lives in Lake County (Tavares) and he like it there a lot.

I think his only complaint is in the summer when he's doing yard work and it's very hot. Of course there are a few solutions to that (hire someone to do it or don't own a single family house).

It has worked out well for him. Pretty reasonable cost of living. He's found many friends there. And the medical care is even quite good.

 

[NYEXPAT]

A different way of looking at it? I am trying to think of reasons why we *wouldn't* want to move to St. Augustine, FL. Here are the things we know about which suit us:

--No state income tax (OK, that's all of FL)
--Moderate climate (not stinky hot, not freezing cold)
--Smaller, less frantic pace of life
--Schools are said to be good

Any negatives?

Amethyst

CDD's are rampant in central and northern Fl and many are beginning to default. The Villages just lost a major court case in which there bond's will no longer be tax exempt which will impede further financing. My research tells me Julington Creek Plantation maybe the best of the bunch.

Schools are better in Northern part of St.Johns county including PV and PVB.

Be careful of elevation, built on slab,any sort of water frontage (Ocean,river,lake,canal,recharge basin) as fairly soon Fema will be eliminating subsidies and redrawing flood maps.

Underfunded budgets for HOA's and Condo's and liability insurance are primary area's of concern.

I still love the idea of St.Johns county (on paper) and it is in my top two choices along with Peachtree City,Ga at this point.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Actually the coast is more comfortable due to the breeze off the gulf or ocean .

+1 MY 96 y/o dad has lived in Florida for many years and I have visited at least 100 times. He originally lived on the Ocean in Vero Beach and we both agree it has the best year round weather of any place we have been. Unfortunately, you need to get off the barrier island occasionally or more and 1 mile inland is absolutely brutal in the summer.

For the past 15 years has lived in a CCRC in central Florida and claims it is "Hell on Earth" and an automatic "Free Pass" to heaven! I have been many times and in the summer you can't breathe or do anything outside do to the risk of severe thunderstorms almost daily. Of course winters are better and you do have those orange tree's in the backyard!

 

[48Fire]

Wife wants me to go to Arizona with her for spring training. Sounds like it could be fun but Florida would be so much easier and cheaper to get to.

And access to players may be better in Florida if they still have older stadiums.

 

[Amethyst]

Ugh, wow! Wonder what makes the crime rate so high compared with the rest of the country? Our current zip code is rated a "3."

Amethyst

Crime. Crime in St. Augustine, Florida

 

[wrigley]

Ugh, wow! Wonder what makes the crime rate so high compared with the rest of the country? Our current zip code is rated a "3."

Amethyst

LOTS and LOTS of tourists!

Mike

 

[Amethyst]

Well, it's true my location doesn't get many tourists.

Are you saying the tourists commit the crimes, or that criminals are more inclined to attack tourists? If the tourists are decoying the criminals away from people's homes, so much the better right?

Actually I checked the crime ratings of some FL towns farther south, where I used to live, and where there are lots of tourists, and the crime rates weren't that high. So I'm still wondering...will have to do more research.

A.

LOTS and LOTS of tourists!

Mike

 

[wrigley]

CDD's are rampant in central and northern Fl and many are beginning to default. The Villages just lost a major court case in which there bond's will no longer be tax exempt which will impede further financing. My research tells me Julington Creek Plantation maybe the best of the bunch.

Schools are better in Northern part of St.Johns county including PV and PVB.

Be careful of elevation, built on slab,any sort of water frontage (Ocean,river,lake,canal,recharge basin) as fairly soon Fema will be eliminating subsidies and redrawing flood maps.

Underfunded budgets for HOA's and Condo's and liability insurance are primary area's of concern.

I still love the idea of St.Johns county (on paper) and it is in my top two choices along with Peachtree City,Ga at this point.

Julington Creek has been around for quite some time. It has built up so fast and so much it's almost like a city within a city. Don't get me wrong......it is a nice area to live in but it now has it's own schools, shopping centers, ball fields, soccer fields, that the original "home town" community feel has escaped.

Mike

 

[Lakedog]

I don't think I'd put a lot of stock in those crime numbers - used that link to check where my folks have lived for years (Daytona Beach Shores), and they show similar numbers to St. Augustine but crime is certainly not an issue. Checking that site for a town just five miles south of them, and the numbers show below the national average so I think maybe checking another source would be a good idea.

 

[SJ1_]

We are still in Atlanta.
20 minutes to son and grandchildren and wife's relatives.
4 seasons - short winters.
Georgia mountains less than 2 hours away. Love going up to the mountain lakes during the summer
Great Parks - esp. during the week when there are no crowds. Love cycling and the PATH foundation has built a lot of great bike paths.
Great medical - we live real close to Emory
7-8 hour drive to 4 different cruise ports and about 8 hours to the Beach during the winter (St. Pete's) and 5 + during the spring and fall

 

[NYEXPAT]

We are still in Atlanta.
about 8 hours to the Beach during the winter (St. Pete's) and 5 + during the spring and fall

Right now that is the only downside about the Atlanta area we have run into. Suppose you could hop on a plane and be at a beach in the Caribbean in less time.

 

[gardenfun]

OK, you are former Navy - are you also Cubs fan (Wrigley)?

And more importantly, are those bulldogs yours? If so, what are their names?

 

[NYEXPAT]

Julington Creek has been around for quite some time. It has built up so fast and so much it's almost like a city within a city. Don't get me wrong......it is a nice area to live in but it now has it's own schools, shopping centers, ball fields, soccer fields, that the original "home town" community feel has escaped.

Mike

Wrigley,
I only mentioned it in relation to the financial risks of a CDD such as Nocatee or Durbin crossing. I will have 2 young children so St.John's schools and proximity to UF in Gainesville are driving my decision, although I find Mandarin in Duval county interesting.

I am retired but my wife will be working for another 20 years, so we will probably need to be in commuting distance of Jacksonville, which is why we are not looking at Amelia Island.

Fruit Cove seems to check most of our boxes,

I see you are in Jax, any advice to offer?

 

[wrigley]

And more importantly, are those bulldogs yours? If so, what are their names?

They sure are! They are sisters from the same litter and will be 7 years old in June. We brought them home from the breeder the day after they turned 8 weeks old. We have had at least one bulldog in our family spanning the past 16 years. Emma is in the foreground and Shea (my wife's the Met's fan ) is in the background (on my avatar) .

Mike

I think I linked a couple pics.

 

[wrigley]

Wrigley,
I only mentioned it in relation to the financial risks of a CDD such as Nocatee or Durbin crossing. I will have 2 young children so St.John's schools and proximity to UF in Gainesville are driving my decision, although I find Mandarin in Duval county interesting.

I am retired but my wife will be working for another 20 years, so we will probably need to be in commuting distance of Jacksonville, which is why we are not looking at Amelia Island.

Fruit Cove seems to check most of our boxes,

I see you are in Jax, any advice to offer?

What you listed are excellent choices. St. Johns county does have the best school systems, but other counties have some good ones as well. "Oakleaf" is a new up and coming community in Jacksonville that is built in Duval as well as Clay counties. Oakleaf community currently has 3 schools that have pretty good reputations. The HS just opened about 4 years ago. www.oakleafknights.com/index.php
http://www.oakleafplantation.com/
Mike

 

[gardenfun]

They sure are! They are sisters from the same litter and will be 7 years old in June. We brought them home from the breeder the day after they turned 8 weeks old. We have had at least one bulldog in our family spanning the past 16 years. Emma is in the foreground and Shea (my wife's the Met's fan ) is in the background (on my avatar) .

Mike

I think I linked a couple pics.

Thanks for the pics Mike!

Nothing cuter than a bulldog, IMHO. We brought our bulldog Bowser (my son named him after the Mario video game character) home at 8 weeks as well.

Bowser lived a long (11 years) and happy life, mostly on the couch snoring, before leaving us two years ago. I would love to get a rescue bullie....

 

[wrigley]

Thanks for the pics Mike!

Nothing cuter than a bulldog, IMHO. We brought our bulldog Bowser (my son named him after the Mario video game character) home at 8 weeks as well.

Bowser lived a long (11 years) and happy life, mostly on the couch snoring, before leaving us two years ago. I would love to get a rescue bullie....

My first bully was "Otis". He was 9 when he died. He had cancer and was a very sickly dog for most of the latter part of his life. I'm sure the new corvette my vet was driving was paid for by my wife and I.

Mike

 

[InParadise]

My first bully was "Otis". He was 9 when he died. He had cancer and was a very sickly dog for most of the latter part of his life. I'm sure the new corvette my vet was driving was paid for by my wife and I.

Mike

Wow. I don't know that I am strong enough to get to love a pet that will be with us for so short a time. Our Pomapoo is 9 now and still acts mostly like a puppy. No shedding, no drooling, and we are not allergic. Dog is way too smart and we have to spell some words around him...until he catches on to that too, of course! At 15 lbs, their life expectancy is about 20 years.

 

[kcowan]

For fun, I did an "expense" exercise for 3 options: living in Bay Area, in Sacramento/CA, and The villages/Florida. To maintain my current living standard at RE, it'd take $120000/year, $95000, and $90000, respectively. I can RE now in Sac/CA & Florida. RE in Bay Area will only have 84% success via FireCalc (I need to work 1 more year).

I am not sure if this has been presented on E-R before:
Vancouver is 72% more expensive than Puerto Vallarta. Cost of Living Feb 2014
This comparison is mostly because Vancouver is so expensive. In fact, by living in PV for 6 months, we can afford a European trip every year and still save a bundle.

PV is also 41% cheaper than St Louis. It is also half the price of Honolulu. This is for living not vacationing.

 

[Mulligan]

I am not sure if this has been presented on E-R before:
Vancouver is 72% more expensive than Puerto Vallarta. Cost of Living Feb 2014
This comparison is mostly because Vancouver is so expensive. In fact, by living in PV for 6 months, we can afford a European trip every year and still save a bundle.

PV is also 41% cheaper than St Louis. It is also half the price of Honolulu. This is for living not vacationing.

I have never been to Vancouver, but when I talked to a guy in Vegas about what it cost for a nosebleed seat to watch the Canucks play, I am a believer it is a high cost area! You do have to be careful with some of these cost of living comparison things, however. Take St. Louis MO where I live nearby. While it is a low cost area, it may not be quite as low as it appears. They quote median housing costs as around $139,000 which sounds cheap. However, STL city has not been able to annex with the more prosperous county areas like many big cities have, so the averages will skew some. Most people that I know and certainly myself would have no desire to buy that "median house", even though I am a very median type person.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I am not sure if this has been presented on E-R before:
Vancouver is 72% more expensive than Puerto Vallarta. Cost of Living Feb 2014
This comparison is mostly because Vancouver is so expensive. In fact, by living in PV for 6 months, we can afford a European trip every year and still save a bundle.

PV is also 41% cheaper than St Louis. It is also half the price of Honolulu. This is for living not vacationing.

I found the Expatistan site and a few others like it last year. The cost of living difference between a high COL city in the U.S. and low COL resort areas in other countries was a real eye opener.

 

[Kimo]

Believe it or not, Hawaii is a great place to retire.....before you say I am nuts because of the cost, here me out. If you are retired, have decent assets and can get by the real estate and food bill, this state has some nice features for retirees. The property tax is very small. (I also have a house in Reno, the property tax for that house is 4000.00 and here in Hawaii it is 2100) It doesn't cost anything to enjoy the beach year round. I believe it is the only state that doesn't tax annuity payments, among other income sources. No heating bills.

If you can purchase your house/condo initially it really isn't too bad. I have been here since the early 80's and while working I wouldn't be writing this but now that I am retired I am seeing a different side.....of course maybe after 34 years I have gotten used to the prices....

 

[explanade]

Sacramento is quite a bit hotter and flatter, but some of the overbuilt Bay Area fringe suburbs will get you a newish house with low maintenance costs, still give you easy access to the Bay Area and all the parks, beaches, museums, airports and attractions for half the price or less of closer in housing.

Which fringe suburbs?

My housing costs are low but getting aggravated with the increasing traffic.

Even when I'm not driving, the idea of all those cars idling near my house (about 1/3 of a mile from a major intersection as the crow flies) is something I think about a lot.

There are some nice carless villages in some European countries I've visited.

 

[mpeirce]

Even when I'm not driving, the idea of all those cars idling near my house (about 1/3 of a mile from a major intersection as the crow flies) is something I think about a lot.

Just wait a few years. As more cars are equipped with start/stop systems, you won't have as many stopped cars idling...