Florida - Good Place to Live?

Xstr8guy · 07-18-2004, 10:10 PM

BDBionic got me thinking with his thread on "Where to Live" .
We currently live in Dallas... and HATE it! I'll be quitting my day job soon and we will be looking to sell our house in Dallas and relocate.

We had been thinking of central or southern California (too expensive), Phoenix (not close enough to water) and possibly Hawaii (too far from the rest of the world). Lately we have been considering Florida. Tampa/St. Petersburg and Punta Gorda come very high on mine and Toby's list of Best Places . Unfortunately, we know zero about Florida.

It appears that home prices are very reasonable, there are no state income taxes and crime rates seem to be low. We both love tropical enviroments and the ocean, so Florida seems like a logical place to live.

Questions for current/former Florida residents

Is Tamps/St. Pete gay friendly?

Is it clean?

How's traffic?

How are the demographics? i.e. lot's of old people(?), conservative politically(?), etc.

How are the suburbs? redneck or open-minded?

Is realestate as reasonable as it appears to be? If so, why? It looks like a great place to live... why is it so cheap?

Weather? I can handle the heat... but is the humidity just awful? How about hurricanes? People not from Florida seem to think hurricanes happen all of time.

If you can answer any of these questions or have anything else to offer... thanks in advance!

Xstr8guy · 07-18-2004, 10:14 PM

Oh... and why are all of the pools covered with those ugly plexiglass/metal structures???? I want to float in the pool and catch some rays, I don't want to swim laps in the winter!

Dawgy · 07-18-2004, 10:32 PM

....

tampa/st pete is great. im in the process of trying to move to clearwater beach, and be right on the water. perfect beaches, u will never leave if u come down.

cant really answer ur other questions cuz ive only been here a few months, but i like it.

as for pools... they are all covered because of mosquitos... sad fact of living in the swamp

Xstr8guy · 07-18-2004, 10:39 PM

Thanks Dawgy! Mosquitos, huh? Just how bad are they? I used to live in Minnesota and they were bad in the summer. Are they around all day or just at night?

Dawgy · 07-18-2004, 10:41 PM

honestly i havent noticed them... but i havent been outside a lot, except at the beach, where there arent many. but everyone builds a screen, so i assume they are bad enuf to matter.

**jIgG** · 07-19-2004, 12:19 AM

real estate up north Tampa/Orlando is much cheaper than here in South Florida.

The pools are covered with nets to keep the bugs out, mainly muskitoes. Windows and balconies have the same nets too. YOu still get plenty of sun so no worries there. of course you dont have to have the nets, unless you want to get a big muskitto in your ears.

hurricanes don't happen all of the time. but when and if they do you have 5 days to get ready. plus if your house/condo is newer construction they're going to be built from bricks mainly, if you have hurricane shutters you'll be fine, as long as your roof doesn't bail on you

Dawgy · 07-19-2004, 12:59 AM

where in FL are ya

Originally posted by jIgG
real estate up north Tampa/Orlando is much cheaper than here in South Florida.

The pools are covered with nets to keep the bugs out, mainly muskitoes. Windows and balconies have the same nets too. YOu still get plenty of sun so no worries there. of course you dont have to have the nets, unless you want to get a big muskitto in your ears.

hurricanes don't happen all of the time. but when and if they do you have 5 days to get ready. plus if your house/condo is newer construction they're going to be built from bricks mainly, if you have hurricane shutters you'll be fine, as long as your roof doesn't bail on you

**jIgG** · 07-19-2004, 01:18 AM

im in deerfield beach, for now

Xstr8guy · 07-19-2004, 01:44 AM

So are these areas gay friendly? I worry about the "redneck" reputation of Florida.

**jIgG** · 07-19-2004, 02:02 AM

neighbors are too new to tell if they're gay tolerant or not but we haven't had any problems with anyone where we lived previously which is about a 2 minute drive from here. everyone pretty much minds their own business

my bf's brother's wife has told all her friends about us and most of them go to church, one chick even hit on me and wanted a date, go figure.

most of my bf's co-workers know he's gay, his company pays my health/dental insurance, the dentist knows, my doctor(s), bank people and we have a joint account, and i've gotten away with fees many times just because the lady knows us.

Ft. Lauderdale is 10-15 minutes from here and I think they've got around 30 gay bars.

desslock · 07-19-2004, 08:19 AM

"So are these areas gay friendly? I worry about the "redneck" reputation of Florida."

Since I live in Texas, I understand what you are saying, although I'm certain that people around the world are seeing this comment from someone living in Texas and scratching their head.

You know, a friend of mine just returned back here after living in Miami for two years, and he just hated it. Now I don't know specifically why, but he just kept saying that I really take a lot of cultural niceties for granted. Plus he's probably used to living around internet startups, tech companies, college atmospheres etc.

But then I'm in Austin, and we are the town that unleashed Whole Foods Market and Dell Computers onto the world. Are you from Dallas? or just happen to live there right now? I grew up in the suburbia known as Arlington, and moved to Austin for college, and lived here ever since.

I keep wondering about moving -- even (gasp) to Dallas. I've definately become a fixture here, like the barstools. But then after running through options, I just figure perhaps it is not necessarily the place, but the people you know and friends you have.

Steve

NikKay · 07-19-2004, 08:25 AM

I grew up in the Tampa area, I live in Key West now. Real estate prices arent cheap everywhere in Florida, expecially down here, but they are in a lot of area simply because theres so much of it and its still growing rapidly. Its a good investment for sure. The St. Petersburg area contains a lot of retired people and middle income families. The Tampa area is more business and young people. There are outlining areas that are "redneck", but not in the city really. I would suggest one of the newer areas, such as New Tampa. There are some really nice places, and definitely gay friendly, you just have to do your research on which part of town you want to settle down in. Take your time in buying a house.

Traffic is the same as in any city, I suppose. Depends where you live and where youre driving to.

Humidity can be bad if youre not used to it, but people adapt pretty quickly. Its been a very long time since a hurricane hit Tampa, I was 5 years old last time a hurricane reached up there. In Key West, its been a lot longer than that since one hit. Even if a hurricane does come, you have plenty of warning to get out of town.

For Florida living, I think the best cities are within Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Naples, and Orlando. Depends what kind of life you live and what youre looking for. Tampa and Orlando are more fast paced. Ft. Lauderdale is more fancy-pants. Naples is quieter.

Good luck!

BDBionic · 07-19-2004, 09:01 AM

Please... Pleaaaaaaaaaaaase if you move to Florida learn what a "Hanging chad" is and how to avoid them!!

We can't afford another 4 years!

Dzinerbear · 07-19-2004, 09:07 AM

I've been to Florida once and here's my thoughts.

I love Sarasota, it was beautiful and the Sarasota Keys were great, too. However, we were there three days before a hurricane hit and we were on the Keys when a thunder storm hit. It dropped about two feet of rain in ten minutes. It was a little scary because we had to drive fast enough to get through the water, but not so fast that it flooded the engine. And then, in 15 minutes it was all over.

It's one of the fondest memories we have of the trip because we went there to fish for shark's teeth in the surf and these big huge waves were coming in.

I don't know about the rest of Florida, but when we were in Orlando, it seemed that guaranteed every afternoon we'd have a thunderstorm. Again, ten minutes and it's all over. Maybe it was just the time of year.

We thoroughly enjoyed Florida and Canadians flock there like crazy for the winter so it can't be all that bad.

And yes, please move there. We'd like to head there next year and we'll need a place to stay.

Dzinerbear