Looking to get out of Florida

travelnutz wrote:
WTP-GC,

FYI,

We spend 2 to 2-1/2 months in winter visiting our family members and have for decades living in Florida (we've been retired now for 18 years) from Ft Lauderdale on the east side to Naples on the west side of the state. My brother lives in Jupiter Farms on the east coast and his son is a doctor living in Tequesta. His Daughter lives in Placida on the west coast on the Gulf and another one lives just outside of Orlando and another near Gainesville. We know the state well! My brother's wife retired from many years with the Florida Department of Revenue Auditors and knew the state laws real well!

We know for certain the vast difference and see it every year in groceries costs, meat, cheese, and milk, and the big difference in fuel prices as Florida allows a 7 to 9 cents a gallon county tax charged on top of a higher state sales tax and that's on top of the extremely high rent costs, building costs, and insane insurance requirements costs. We also owned a place in south Florida for 19 years before selling it in 2007 as it was insanely expensive to only use it ourselves for a couple months but having to maintain it along with the property maintenance and the taxes and mandated insurance. Luckily, we'd sold it just before the tremendous real estate bust bombed values around a 50% drop in most of the state and yet the living costs still went higher. We are not poor but certainly not stupid enough to be ripped off either!

FWIW, our family were very longtime developers of commercial and subdivision housing developments and have over 22,000 people living in just one area of multiple developments between Jupiter and Stuart. More just south of US-192 (Disney area) and the Englewood/Venice/Sarasota areas. Also own or owned RV parks, Condo developments, 2 Marinas, and a few retail stores. They are all retired now except for some of the much younger and none of them want anything to do with feast or bust over priced marketplace in Florida and many of them can't stand the oppressive heat and humidity anymore and the very high crime rate too. There are much more affordable and comfortable places to live at in the USA!

Perhaps, you might go around the country and actually see what other places and living costs are really like for yourself and gain an eye opener!

I've been around the country and seen a lot of stuff. My overall observation is that its all relative (with the exception of California, NYC, DC, Chicago, and other major metro areas). You can't figure direct costs of items as a stand-alone factor. One has to take into consideration things like economic opportunity, recreational opportunities, quality of school choice, availability of services, and how far the dollar goes in exchange for the things you really want.

I love saltwater fishing, so perhaps its worth me paying more in a local gas tax to have that opportunity vs. paying no gas tax in say, Nebraska, and not having the opportunity. If real estate costs more in my region (which it doesn't), perhaps that's because it has greater economic opportunity than some areas with lesser real estate costs. I've heard of people who live in North FL, but cooperatively with other people own an airplane and they fly back and forth from Miami where they are employed as EMS/Firefighter positions. These are just some examples as to how there are so many factors.

We have friends who live in SW Michigan and we visit them often. I enjoy the weather and have been known to buy groceries at Meijer and transport them back to FL, but the area they live in is somewhat depressed, with very little economic opportunity.

FL is far too broad of a state to make any single judgement of COL. West Palm Beach has a high COL, but check with the people who live 50 miles directly inland of WPB. People in Gainesville don't relate to people in Miami, and folks in Orlando can't understand anything about living in the Panhandle. Its all relative.