I am in my third week and my 10th year of visiting Florida for the purpose of getting away from Winter.
In many ways, Florida is wonderful. It has hundreds of cities and communities that are clean, efficient, beautiful, and even AFFORDABLE. I golfed yesterday at a 55+ community where the average dwelling (a glorified double-wide) is less than $200,000. And not to exaggerate, but it's a very nice community on the outskirts of St Petersburg. Golf course, swimming pool, and all sorts of other activities, with a minimal HOA fee. And taxes are pretty low, compared to most other states.
I know that it gets HOT in the Summer, but let's be honest: most people don't spend much time outdoors in the Summer anyway. Air conditioned house, A/C car, A/C office, etc.
In fact, Florida's current problem is that it is TOO wonderful. People are not only permanently relocating here, but more and more people are coming here for Winter - not only Americans from the snow belt, but also hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and lots of Europeans (British, German, etc.).
As a result, it's getting very crowded. While there is plenty of real estate to accept millions more immigrants, the traffic is becoming intolerable. They have great roads and bridges (no tunnels!), but at certain times of the day, week, month, and season, getting around is extremely frustrating. And God help you if one of the bridges is closed down (which happens occasionally as a result of WIND).
What a nice problem to have: your home state is too attractive for its own good.
In summary, if a person wants to relocate to a subtropical climate, there are still lots of places where you can go and not be bothered by any of this, but if you move without thinking, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and aggravation.
In many ways, Florida is wonderful. It has hundreds of cities and communities that are clean, efficient, beautiful, and even AFFORDABLE. I golfed yesterday at a 55+ community where the average dwelling (a glorified double-wide) is less than $200,000. And not to exaggerate, but it's a very nice community on the outskirts of St Petersburg. Golf course, swimming pool, and all sorts of other activities, with a minimal HOA fee. And taxes are pretty low, compared to most other states.
I know that it gets HOT in the Summer, but let's be honest: most people don't spend much time outdoors in the Summer anyway. Air conditioned house, A/C car, A/C office, etc.
In fact, Florida's current problem is that it is TOO wonderful. People are not only permanently relocating here, but more and more people are coming here for Winter - not only Americans from the snow belt, but also hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and lots of Europeans (British, German, etc.).
As a result, it's getting very crowded. While there is plenty of real estate to accept millions more immigrants, the traffic is becoming intolerable. They have great roads and bridges (no tunnels!), but at certain times of the day, week, month, and season, getting around is extremely frustrating. And God help you if one of the bridges is closed down (which happens occasionally as a result of WIND).
What a nice problem to have: your home state is too attractive for its own good.
In summary, if a person wants to relocate to a subtropical climate, there are still lots of places where you can go and not be bothered by any of this, but if you move without thinking, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and aggravation.
