Recommendation? Where to live in Florida?

cj65 said:
Pushed it back to May 15th but coming into Orlando instead of Ft Meyers.
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much shorter drive to palm coast. maybe 1.5 hours give or take. bigger airport too. connected to the beltway system 528 the old beeline...they changed the name to beachline
and 417 Greenway, etc so faster traveling round the city east side, going north. all pay roads though. til ta get to i4 and i95.

it starts getting hot in May, but not as hot as June, July and the king of heat August. get ready for high humidity heat. it's different than the dry heat out west. key is stay hydrated and out of the sun much as possible and you'll be fine. its 91 f where I am today. so a warm day.

June 1st is start of hurricane season so you'll be here in time for that.😁 don't worry though. been through so many can't even remember them all. first was David as a kid in s.
florida. remember that one flooded the streets in plantation where we lived and people were in boats to get around.
 
jbmonkey said:
much shorter drive to palm coast. maybe 1.5 hours give or take. bigger airport too. connected to the beltway system 528 the old beeline...they changed the name to beachline
and 417 Greenway, etc so faster traveling round the city east side, going north. all pay roads though. til ta get to i4 and i95.

it starts getting hot in May, but not as hot as June, July and the king of heat August. get ready for high humidity heat. it's different than the dry heat out west. key is stay hydrated and out of the sun much as possible and you'll be fine. its 91 f where I am today. so a warm day.

June 1st is start of hurricane season so you'll be here in time for that.😁 don't worry though. been through so many can't even remember them all. first was David as a kid in s.
florida. remember that one flooded the streets in plantation where we lived and people were in boats to get around.
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As a California kid, and even adult I recall watching our news about hurricanes and flooding in Florida and thinking That is some crazy weather right there. So, that is why I may be a tad dramatic about it. Like I said about earthquakes in CA. I always thought they were pretty cool to experience. Even after I was a home owner. I would check the water heater and the gas line for issues and then relax.
 
cj65 said:
As a California kid, and even adult I recall watching our news about hurricanes and flooding in Florida and thinking That is some crazy weather right there. So, that is why I may be a tad dramatic about it. Like I said about earthquakes in CA. I always thought they were pretty cool to experience. Even after I was a home owner. I would check the water heater and the gas line for issues and then relax.
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yeah...I get that. y'all be fine. media loves to hype it and scare ya to death. way around it is dont watch much. just enough to get movement and where's at and wind speeds and such, then turn off the scarefest.
 
cj65 said:
Great info. People freak out about earthquakes in CA. I have been through some real shakers. Wood frame houses roll with it and end up with plaster cracks at the windows and doors. No big deal. I always try to avoid high rise areas regardless of earthquakes. I have never liked city/urban environments. I can’t understand what is appealing about it.
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I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes (and tornados) any day.

After an earthquake (unless there's an uncontrollable fire afterward), there's still something left to rebuild. Not so a hurricane or a tornado if they hit you hed on.

I've lived in SF and the SF Bay Area all my life and have lived thru many earthquakes and even after the 89 earthquake, most buildings/structures were unaffected.
 
Father In Law up in Washington listed his house and it sold within hrs. I don’t even think it was officially listed. Crazy. They will bring their stuff to us, and stay here til the move. Also, a huge blessing. The listing agent has a house for rent in FL and will let us use it next week as well as a landing pad to rent til we purchase something there. Wow! This was an amazing leap forward logistically. I will have to do something nice for this lady who is so gracious to us. Rent is going to be more than reasonable.
 
sgt1372 said:
I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes (and tornados) any day.

After an earthquake (unless there's an uncontrollable fire afterward), there's still something left to rebuild. Not so a hurricane or a tornado if they hit you hed on.

I've lived in SF and the SF Bay Area all my life and have lived thru many earthquakes and even after the 89 earthquake, most buildings/structures were unaffected.
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depends on the hurricane. much like a quake and where ya are I assume. some are mild and some are major.

in 2004, 3 hurricanes direct hit where i am. one being a 4 but was a 3 when it hit me direct. that was a fun season. I could tell stories all day about that run. wont bore ya. saw the best humanity can be and the worst. it shanhed my perceptions forever of people and how they are after a disaster.

I saw Andrew a 5 afterwards. that was an eye opener I havent seen first hand since thank God.

never been through an earthquake...id bet I'd be more scared cause I have no experience with one.
 
jbmonkey said:
depends on the hurricane. much like a quake and where ya are I assume. some are mild and some are major.

in 2004, 3 hurricanes direct hit where i am. one being a 4 but was a 3 when it hit me direct. that was a fun season. I could tell stories all day about that run. wont bore ya. saw the best humanity can be and the worst. it shanhed my perceptions forever of people and how they are after a disaster.

I saw Andrew a 5 afterwards. that was an eye opener I havent seen first hand since thank God.

never been through an earthquake...id bet I'd be more scared cause I have no experience with one.
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The Northridge quake of 94 sure made the ground move where I was in Rancho Cucamonga CA. However, I lived on an alluvial fan at the base of of the foothills and that soil has great stability for earthquakes. Also, I was approx 70 miles away from epicenter. I now live 15 miles from Northridge, have for 15 yrs.
 
We spent the week getting the house ready for photos. Our realtor came by to do the signing for listing. It is getting real now. I also am wrapping up various contracts/work obligations. Flying into Orlando instead of Ft. Meyers on Sunday. We are also looking at around Jacksonville now too. We are quite fickle and impulsive about where to live. We both realize that. Jacksonville having an airport is significant so wifey can fly for work if need be. For me, less important on location because I will be working all over FL but more the northern parts than the southern.

I am exhausted physically. I had wall patching and faucet replacement to do all after long work days. I just gone done installing a 96 station controller that is linked to a variable frequency drive pump. We set up the clock to run 4 turf rotor valves simultaneously. You can’t run just one valve, too much water volume even at low end, like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose.

I watered some visitors from the great white north.....

4D06D88D-3DBC-4552-863B-DC6293181D7C.jpeg
 
cj65 said:
We spent the week getting the house ready for photos. Our realtor came by to do the signing for listing. It is getting real now. I also am wrapping up various contracts/work obligations. Flying into Orlando instead of Ft. Meyers on Sunday. We are also looking at around Jacksonville now too. We are quite fickle and impulsive about where to live. We both realize that. Jacksonville having an airport is significant so wifey can fly for work if need be. For me, less important on location because I will be working all over FL but more the northern parts than the southern.

I am exhausted physically. I had wall patching and faucet replacement to do all after long work days. I just gone done installing a 96 station controller that is linked to a variable frequency drive pump. We set up the clock to run 4 turf rotor valves simultaneously. You can’t run just one valve, too much water volume even at low end, like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose.

I watered some visitors from the great white north.....

View attachment 1560917
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I do lots of work in jax. to me its cold in jax in the winter. dips into 30s more than I like. lots of people moving to St John's County. it's the Hotspot on the south side of jax metro area on new constr, right now. I prefer St. Augustine part more than swampland of nocatee area myself.

y'all need to drive a bit and see what ya like.
 
jbmonkey said:
I do lots of work in jax. to me its cold in jax in the winter. dips into 30s more than I like. lots of people moving to St John's County. it's the Hotspot on the south side of jax metro area on new constr, right now. I prefer St. Augustine part more than swampland of nocatee area myself.

y'all need to drive a bit and see what ya like.
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Again, this is huge info. Blade Forums is an amazing resource, as I knew it would be. Thx JB. I actually don’t mind 4 seasons. So, not opposed to Jax. We will be logging lots of miles in FL

St Augustine sounds very plausible as well. I have sold thousands of square ft of St Augustine sod in my lifetime. I feel attached to that town somehow.
 
I'm 58 years old, born and raised in Apopka, about 15 miles north of Orlando. A lot has changed here in the last few years. The population has exploded and for about 20 miles in either direction is a congested suburban sprawl of smaller cities blending together. Not necessarily bad, just not my thing. Employment opportunities consist of a lot of service work because of Walt Disney , Universal and other theme parks and their supporting businesses. Some Tech work. Landscaping is big here in Orange county. I work in the foliage growing industry selling greenhouse supplies. I moved 15 miles northwest into Lake county and what a difference. The little town I moved to is Tavares, " America's Seaplane City" and coming around to be a quaint little town. . Mainly a retirement community with most folks coming from "up North". Nice people, but we are culturally different in a lot of ways. I live in a manufactured home and survived an almost direct hit from Irma in 2017 with 98-115 mph winds with only the skirting get blown out in a couple of places. I was lucky though. After your first hurricane you will take notice, but not really panic. Lake county is on the verge of a population boom in the next 3-5 years. We are a short distance from The Villages, which is a sprawling self contained retirement community of golf courses, activity centers, shopping and medical resources. Pretty nice place actually, in spite of what you may have heard. I live on a canal on Lake Dora, one of the Harris Chain of Lakes. I have a couple of boats and fish a bit. We ride bikes, kayak and are active in our local church. I don't hunt or play golf anymore, but could if I had more time. Maybe after I retire. I have a little garden, we can do that all year here. I saw on a post that you were considering Sebring. Nice place. If I were considering a move, Sebring would be on my short list. Florida is unique in a lot of ways. It's getting crowded (compared to pre Disney days that I remember), but you can still get some elbow room. We weathered the covid pretty well, in spite of the media reports. It literally had no real effect on my lifestyle except for having to wear a mask to the store and toilet paper was in short supply for a few weeks. Just a little insight into my world as a native. My ancestors were southern. My family came to Florida in the late 1800's and raised dairy cattle on my mothers side and on my fathers side were growers and farmers. My background is in ornamental foliage production, so I have had to adjust to a suburban lifestyle. I look forward to seeing where you decide to settle and how you adjust to the Florida lifestyle. I don't have anything much more to contribute that already has not been mentioned. Feel free to reach out.
 
J Buck said:
I'm 58 years old, born and raised in Apopka, about 15 miles north of Orlando. A lot has changed here in the last few years. The population has exploded and for about 20 miles in either direction is a congested suburban sprawl of smaller cities blending together. Not necessarily bad, just not my thing. Employment opportunities consist of a lot of service work because of Walt Disney , Universal and other theme parks and their supporting businesses. Some Tech work. Landscaping is big here in Orange county. I work in the foliage growing industry selling greenhouse supplies. I moved 15 miles northwest into Lake county and what a difference. The little town I moved to is Tavares, " America's Seaplane City" and coming around to be a quaint little town. . Mainly a retirement community with most folks coming from "up North". Nice people, but we are culturally different in a lot of ways. I live in a manufactured home and survived an almost direct hit from Irma in 2017 with 98-115 mph winds with only the skirting get blown out in a couple of places. I was lucky though. After your first hurricane you will take notice, but not really panic. Lake county is on the verge of a population boom in the next 3-5 years. We are a short distance from The Villages, which is a sprawling self contained retirement community of golf courses, activity centers, shopping and medical resources. Pretty nice place actually, in spite of what you may have heard. I live on a canal on Lake Dora, one of the Harris Chain of Lakes. I have a couple of boats and fish a bit. We ride bikes, kayak and are active in our local church. I don't hunt or play golf anymore, but could if I had more time. Maybe after I retire. I have a little garden, we can do that all year here. I saw on a post that you were considering Sebring. Nice place. If I were considering a move, Sebring would be on my short list. Florida is unique in a lot of ways. It's getting crowded (compared to pre Disney days that I remember), but you can still get some elbow room. We weathered the covid pretty well, in spite of the media reports. It literally had no real effect on my lifestyle except for having to wear a mask to the store and toilet paper was in short supply for a few weeks. Just a little insight into my world as a native. My ancestors were southern. My family came to Florida in the late 1800's and raised dairy cattle on my mothers side and on my fathers side were growers and farmers. My background is in ornamental foliage production, so I have had to adjust to a suburban lifestyle. I look forward to seeing where you decide to settle and how you adjust to the Florida lifestyle. I don't have anything much more to contribute that already has not been mentioned. Feel free to reach out.
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Thank you J. I have been on a whirlwind of trying to finish up contracts and get the house ready. Patch walls, caulk some trim and pack up stuff to stage the house for pictures. That happened today. We have the key lock box hanging on the door. . We are flying into Orlando Saturday night! I was in my home town area of San Gabriel valley today doing some work. I had to go to Huntington Beach and San Dimas. It made me a bit melancholy, but also excited about the new experience. Our home lists on the market tonite and we just had to tell the neighbors. I hope Florida isn’t too cross with new comers. We plan on assimilating quickly and “When in Rome”.... type stuff. I am already gainfully employed by my best customer. In a way, it is like I never left employment with them. I am grateful and will bust my butt for them as they were great to me as an independent contractor. I will keep up and hopefully get to meet some of my new BFF’s east coast style!
J, I am a nurseryman by trade for 4 decades (started at the age of 13 working for a small green house broker), and been doing commercial irrigation for 12-13 yrs now too. I worked at retail nursery chain stores through college and then did some wholesale commission sales of color to big box chains, then a fruit tree company specializing in grafted fruit trees, mainly citrus and avocado trees landing in Home Depot and Lowe’s and Walmart garden centers. I prefer hanging smart irrigation controllers on the wall and programming them. I will always love plants but I just want to water them rather than sell them now.
 
I understand. While I did love growing, I don't miss the long hours and weekends spraying. I like going home at a reasonable hour.
 
cj65 said:
Thank you J. I have been on a whirlwind of trying to finish up contracts and get the house ready. Patch walls, caulk some trim and pack up stuff to stage the house for pictures. That happened today. We have the key lock box hanging on the door. . We are flying into Orlando Saturday night! I was in my home town area of San Gabriel valley today doing some work. I had to go to Huntington Beach and San Dimas. It made me a bit melancholy, but also excited about the new experience. Our home lists on the market tonite and we just had to tell the neighbors. I hope Florida isn’t too cross with new comers. We plan on assimilating quickly and “When in Rome”.... type stuff. I am already gainfully employed by my best customer. In a way, it is like I never left employment with them. I am grateful and will bust my butt for them as they were great to me as an independent contractor. I will keep up and hopefully get to meet some of my new BFF’s east coast style!
J, I am a nurseryman by trade for 4 decades (started at the age of 13 working for a small green house broker), and been doing commercial irrigation for 12-13 yrs now too. I worked at retail nursery chain stores through college and then did some wholesale commission sales of color to big box chains, then a fruit tree company specializing in grafted fruit trees, mainly citrus and avocado trees landing in Home Depot and Lowe’s and Walmart garden centers. I prefer hanging smart irrigation controllers on the wall and programming them. I will always love plants but I just want to water them rather than sell them now.
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Florida's bigger cities and metro areas are filled with new comers. you'll fit in just fine. where I am most are not from this state. something like 80% weren't born or raised here.

now the really rural areas they frown a bit on outsiders. not outwardly though. my wife's family is from big bend counties Dixie (yep there is a county named that here) and Columbia and various over ones and around that area. they treat me like a transplant from NYC and I'm from here. down in s. florida and grew up mostly in the old Mosquito County yep used to be named that....

so on the kinda frown part...they will southern friendly chit chat and ask lots of questions that aren't obvious. what they're doing is being nosy and trying to figure out who ya are, who ya know and what you're up to. they won't just ask ya those questions though. also letting ya know they're watching ya as since they came and talked to ya thats you being let to know they are watching ya.

most are harmless and just very nosy, but hidden behind southern charm and politeness youll see this more so on the central and west northern side boonies of the state, but also out in the real boonies on the eastern side. jax folks are more east coast style. as in blunter and more straight to the point...the old timer native types I mean.

where youre going you won't run into too much of this. the metro and big city areas are very different from the rural areas...
I imagine not a whole lot different than Cali.
 
We sort of had to fall out of love for the Sebring lake house. The floors are way off balance, like you are in a fun house. It was built in the 1920’s and has known asbestos. If we could buy the place and then level and rebuild it would be ideal, but way out of our budget. We have some found nice places that fit our criteria. One in a suburb of Orlando called Sorrento and two in Gainesville suburbs. Downtown Gainesville is like the San Fernando valley in So Cal. No thanks
 
vwvectors said:
I’m very familiar with all the springs in Florida but I can quite put finger on this one. Im guessing Troy or Falmouth...?
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...these are private owned ones. so ya might not know about them.
 
cj65 said:
Thank you J. I have been on a whirlwind of trying to finish up contracts and get the house ready. Patch walls, caulk some trim and pack up stuff to stage the house for pictures. That happened today. We have the key lock box hanging on the door. . We are flying into Orlando Saturday night! I was in my home town area of San Gabriel valley today doing some work. I had to go to Huntington Beach and San Dimas. It made me a bit melancholy, but also excited about the new experience. Our home lists on the market tonite and we just had to tell the neighbors. I hope Florida isn’t too cross with new comers. We plan on assimilating quickly and “When in Rome”.... type stuff. I am already gainfully employed by my best customer. In a way, it is like I never left employment with them. I am grateful and will bust my butt for them as they were great to me as an independent contractor. I will keep up and hopefully get to meet some of my new BFF’s east coast style!
J, I am a nurseryman by trade for 4 decades (started at the age of 13 working for a small green house broker), and been doing commercial irrigation for 12-13 yrs now too. I worked at retail nursery chain stores through college and then did some wholesale commission sales of color to big box chains, then a fruit tree company specializing in grafted fruit trees, mainly citrus and avocado trees landing in Home Depot and Lowe’s and Walmart garden centers. I prefer hanging smart irrigation controllers on the wall and programming them. I will always love plants but I just want to water them rather than sell them now.
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Since you plan of traveling a lot of the state perhaps you could rent for 3-6 months find out what area grows on you. A lot of folks don’t realize how big this state is. If wind up in Sebring but regularly have to drive to Tallahassee or Jax your looking at 5+ hours.
As far as new comers I would say big thing that really gets under our skin ( I have family all over the state) is folks trying to make this place like the one they left. (Especially in regards to taxes). Thankfully we have a balanced budget amendment in our state constitution but that doesn’t stop politicians from getting creative.
 
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