What's with everyone running to Florida??

[albireo13]

I am curious. I don't get it. It seems like the knee-jerk reaction of older retirees is to move to Florida.

Nothing against Florida but ... there are other states in the Union.

I talked with a friend of mine who just moved to Florida and asked him.
He couldn't give me a straight answer, besides warm weather and lower taxes.
Left his family, and all the friends he knew, behind.
Really??

Anyway, weather is low on my list of reasons to move somewhere.

 

[Dash man]

I am curious. I don't get it. It seems like the knee-jerk reaction of older retirees is to move to Florida.



Nothing against Florida but ... there are other states in the Union.



I talked with a friend of mine who just moved to Florida and asked him.

He couldn't give me a straight answer, besides warm weather and lower taxes.

Left his family, and all the friends he knew, behind.

Really??



Anyway, weather is low on my list of reasons to move somewhere.

This is why we have a winter condo in Florida. But we have no plans to permanently relocate because of family in Pennsylvania.

 

[disneysteve]

weather is low on my list of reasons to move somewhere.

Everybody is different.


Personally, weather is high on our list of reasons we are considering Florida. My wife especially despises cold weather. Driving in snow and ice is not something we want to be doing ever and especially not as we get older. And shoveling snow is already probably something I shouldn't be doing and certainly not as I get older.


Why Florida? For us, we are huge Disney fans and would like to be close to the parks. Because we are huge Disney fans, we also have many, many friends who are also big fans. A lot of them have already moved to central Florida for all of the same reasons as we would so we have a bunch of friends down there now. We wouldn't be going to a place where we know nobody. In fact, every time we go to Disney World on vacation, we have numerous friends who we meet up with while we're there. Honestly, more friends than we routinely see here in NJ.


The only things keeping us in NJ at this point are that I'm still working and my mother is still with us and has no desire to move. I can't say I blame her at almost 91 years old. As long as she's alive, we aren't going to move, but once I'm retired and she's gone, we really won't have any strong ties keeping us here. What we may do is buy a small place down there so we can go back and forth more easily and frequently.


All of that said, Florida certainly isn't the right place for everyone. I have retired cousins who are in the process of moving to North Carolina. I know people who retired to New England. Others who headed west to California or Las Vegas.


You do you.

 

[HadEnuff]

My knee jerk reaction started 31 years ago when my parents retired and started spending winters on Bonita Beach. It continued when a couple of our best friends bought a place in The Villages in 2006. We visited them a few times, then rented a winter, then two winters, then 3 winters, each year a month longer than the previous.
40 years of NY State winters, and our knee jerk reaction was almost complete.
It's complete now.

 

[HadEnuff]

This is why we have a winter condo in Florida. But we have no plans to permanently relocate because of family in Pennsylvania.

View attachment 38629

That looks awful. How can you stand it? Day after day, looking at that

 

[aja8888]

I am curious. I don't get it. It seems like the knee-jerk reaction of older retirees is to move to Florida.

Nothing against Florida but ... there are other states in the Union.

I talked with a friend of mine who just moved to Florida and asked him.
He couldn't give me a straight answer, besides warm weather and lower taxes.
Left his family, and all the friends he knew, behind.
Really??

Anyway, weather is low on my list of reasons to move somewhere.

They must like hot weather, humidity, heavy traffic, hurricanes, and BUGS! LOL!!

 

[unclemick]

My knee tells a different story. Growing up in the Pacific NW 'everyone' went to Arizona to retire or have a second home. When in my RV days counting license plates in 'Winter Texan Land' it was Kansas followed by Michigan and believe or not north Texas plates. Living in New Orleans and visiting in Florida over Christmas/New Year time it was New Jersey and Ontario I noticed.

Heh heh heh - post Covid hope to resume our annual 'group in' with fellow Kansas City types - South of Tampa in December and Texas Gulf in February.

 

[Markola]

I’m attracted to the idea, because it’s a “retirement culture” more than where I am. And the weather.

 

[Amethyst]

These are the reasons, for the most part.

I
I talked with a friend of mine who just moved to Florida and asked him.
He couldn't give me a straight answer, besides warm weather and lower taxes.
.

 

[disneysteve]

I’m attracted to the idea, because it’s a “retirement culture” more than where I am. And the weather.

That's a good point too. My cousin retired and moved from Philadelphia to Boynton Beach 10 years ago. He has loved every second of it. He's in a gorgeous new 55+ community. He's surrounded by people like himself living the good life. He's made a bunch of friends and joined many clubs and activities in the community. There's not a single negative thing he could tell you about making that move.

 

[Ronstar]

I would like Florida for low taxes and the warmth, but it seems crowded. I like to vacation there, but we won't be running to Florida to live there.

 

[Ready]

Affordable housing is a big reason too. We have great weather in Southern California but if I had to move here from a lower cost of living area it would be impractical. For people who are living in cold weather climates, Florida offers a great combination of nice weather, affordable housing, and low taxes. That’s pretty hard to beat.

 

[RAE]

Florida will always be a big draw because of the weather (especially winter weather), and the water. Sure, you can winter in several other states and have reasonably mild weather (at times), but much of Florida (other than the Panhandle) is consistently pretty warm during the winter months. Other than southern California, you can't find that anywhere else in the USA. The many miles of ocean coastline help a lot also, as a lot of folks like the beach. Personally, we ended up buying a place in Florida partly because of the winter weather, but also because I love to kayak and fish the saltwater, and I can do both things (often in combination) within minutes of where we live, and be comfortable doing in in light clothing. We have no beaches near us (we are on a big saltwater marsh area, with brackish rivers), but that's fine with us, as we are not big beach people.

Florida does have hurricanes, and it is getting very overcrowded in some areas. If we ever sell our place down there, it will likely be for one (or both) of those reasons. And I have no interest in spending the whole summer in Florida...........way too hot and humid for me. But you really can't beat it during the winter, at least from my perspective.

 

[karen1972]

Well I heard a new term this week, halfback, so all the NY/NJ peeps that move to Florida but then realize its not for them, so they land in NC (ie. halfway back).

 

[MRG]

We tried to want to move to Florida. Both our parents relocated to the southern part of the state and loved their places. We tried we looked all over the state because that's where you retire, right? In the end we couldn't take it, too crowded, hot, and humid for us. Some day we'll go visit BIL/SIL in SWFL during the winter months. After being in an semi-arid climate at elevation it might be nice to have O2 and humidity for a while.

One of my favorite memories is from Florida. Back in the 90s I was fishing off the keys with my dad and FIL when we came across nine Cuban refugees 22 miles from shore. They'd spent two nights lost on the ocean in a boat i wouldn't take in a 100 acre lake let alone the ocean, motor died, no water left when we stumbled across them. I'm not sure if I'd ever seen people as happy as they were.

FIL was disappointed we had to wait several hours for the Coast Gaurd to get where they were so we didn't have as much time fishing. We caught some tuna and maui maui but the people were more memorable. I'd love to know what happened to them. At that time Cubans were allowed to stay but Haitians were not, explaining the only English they spoke, " we are Cuban not Haitian".

 

[harllee]

Well I heard a new term this week, halfback, so all the NY/NJ peeps that move to Florida but then realize its not for them, so they land in NC (ie. halfway back).

Here in NC "halfback" is a pretty common term for folks who move from the northeast to Florida and don't like Florida (too hot, no seasons, too far from family, etc) and then move to NC. My mother had a condo in Palm Beach Florida and I use to visit her but I hated it--way too crowded and hot for my taste. I like the Gulf coast of Florida better but I am sticking with NC--I like 4 seasons. Where I live it is fun to see one small snow storm each winter and then in the heat of summer head to the NC mountains were summer weather is perfect.

 

[Fermion]

Not EVERYONE runs away in winter to Florida...

 

[Out of Steam]

I’m attracted to the idea, because it’s a “retirement culture” more than where I am. And the weather.

At about 60, we decided that we weren't ready for a retirement culture yet and chose a conventional, all ages suburb. I'm open to reassessing that about five years from now, after we have two Social Security checks coming in.

I find both severe heat and cold difficult, with heat a little worse. Very hard to avoid both at the same time on the East Coast. The Southern Appalachians come closest, places like Asheville, NC or Blacksburg, VA, but none of them met our 3 hours from DC limit.

 

[Out of Steam]

Where I live it is fun to see one small snow storm each winter and then in the heat of summer head to the NC mountains were summer weather is perfect.

We're about 3 hours north of you and feel the same way, though few of the Virginia mountains are high enough to deliver truly comfortable summer weather.

 

[Bamaman]

Florida's certainly not everything to everybody. And I understand how many people don't care for the heat, but it certainly beats the extreme weather in the north.

Have you ever wondered where Floridians go on vacation? One third of the auto license plates in NE GA, Western NC and East TN are from Florida. And they also like those incredible golf/tennis communities in NW SC.

And don't forget that the Florida Panhandle is a different place from the rest of Florida. The state's over 800 miles long. The Florida Gulf Coast is a very swanky place too, with communities like Destin and Seaside.

Also remember that the same beach goes west into Lower Alabama--Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area. The real estate market there is booming with property taxes that are almost non-existent.

We have a lake house that has been in our family 5 generations plus we keep a RV in the NE Georgia Mountains. So we see the best of it all.

After working 5 weeks a year in Florida, in retirement we seldom even go down there. There are just so many other great regions and cities that we'd prefer to live.

 

[mystang52]

When my kids were young, I often said that if they ended up moving far away I would retire to Florida. Both kids are still nearby here in NJ, and with grandkids, so there's no way I'd leave anyway. But in my late 40's I became a runner, and for the first time in my life I did not "hibernate" in the colder weather. So now weather is not a reason for me to want to relocate - I genuinely like the change in seasons.
Please don't tell the police:
https://quotefancy.com/quote/976511...e-to-Florida-but-they-turned-sixty-and-that-s

 

[firemediceric]

After 35 years in Florida I'm looking to get out soon. Although that won't free up much room for all the people moving down, I'm happy to let someone have my spot.

 

[pacergal]

attended a conference in Florida in December several years ago. The warmth during that time of year was nice but the humidity was not.
DH and I have no desire to relocate. Our entire family, kids, siblings and all, are all within a 30-45 minute drive.
But to those who do, go for it!

 

[pb4uski]

I am curious. I don't get it. It seems like the knee-jerk reaction of older retirees is to move to Florida.

Nothing against Florida but ... there are other states in the Union.

I talked with a friend of mine who just moved to Florida and asked him.
He couldn't give me a straight answer, besides warm weather and lower taxes.
Left his family, and all the friends he knew, behind.
Really??

Anyway, weather is low on my list of reasons to move somewhere.

Weather was high on our list. We snowbird so the biggest benefit is perpetual summer... no state income tax, close proximity to great beaches and relatively low cost of living are the cherries on top.

My criteria for a winter location was that I could wear shorts and see palm trees. Considered Brownsville, TX area similar lattitude and weather but too near to Mexico for my liking and too far from NE. Also considered San Diego, but too expensive and also too far from NE. But Florida won.

However, we didn't leave friends and family behind... a lot of our friends from home live in the same neighborhood down here... in fact, we see each other more down here than when we're up north.

 

[RobbieB]

That's another reason I like to live here in CA, no need to move to FL.