Regrets Moving to Florida – [9 Reasons]
Tourism – Year Round
Now this person is basing their observations off of the Southern Part of the State; Mostly Miami and Orlando. In Orlando you have year round tourism because of Disney and Universal. I am based in St. Augustine which is also a tourist town. The service industry is huge here and tourism is the life of the economy. Since the start of Co-vid we have not really seen a slow down in tourism here. Traffic was bad for presidents day; cmon man! With the addition of tourists on top of our residents you can see some slow downs at certain chokepoints throughout town.
So I have to agree with this person. There is more tourism now than there has ever been and people are choosing to relocate to our area in large numbers. I have several friends that work in the service industry and they say they can not catch a break downtown and that it is always busy. Normally these places know when their “dead” times are, now they dont really have that.
Florida – and its lack of Sunshine
She states that the sun burns her skin and compares the weather to being put into a Microwave. Monsoons for 150 days out of the year besides the summer showers that last 5-10 minutes.
I find this to be an extreme exaggeration. Obviously it is Florida; we are in a tropical climate and it gets hot during summer. I am about as white as it gets and I can last about 30mins in the dead heat of summer before getting a serious burn. Though in 2022 we have the technology. We have AC and we also have this magical thing called sunblock. With the UV rays the way they are I definitely recommend wearing sunscreen on the daily; just for your protection. Ive recently developed some type of sun rash (I never wear sunscreen).
Summer we have our showers which are not long and are typically around 4pm. It will rain like crazy for 20 mins and go right back to being sunny and beautiful. We do have Hurricane Season from July to October, but most of those are pretty mild if anything. I have a video about the weather here in St. Augustine Ill put above.
Affordable places in Florida are a MYTH:
She mentioned trying to buy a home in Miami. (Currently the least affordable City in the United States). The reason she wanted to move to florida is because the cost of living.
This is where I am going to call Bullshit. In what world did anyone say Miami was affordable? Florida is a lot more than just Miami and Orlando. Ive been alive for 30 years and I have never had the notion that Miami was affordable. Its actually laughable. I mean maybe in the 80s when narcos were running around but since then, no way. Also Affordable is totally a individual perspective. Affordable to you may be WAYYYY too much for someone else and visa versa. We have a ton of people moving from NY, NJ, CALI, PA. All of these people are leaving from areas where their housing inventory is much more expensive than the majority of places here. They come down and area able to get exactly what they want. I know this for a fact because I work with these people every day and as well I am from Brooklyn NY where the average home sale is north of 750k for maybe 1k sq ft.
Be Cautious about Hurricanes and Tornados
Hurricane Charley back in 2004 caused 10 deaths and 16billion in damage. She also mentioned tornados and earthquakes. The last major Hurricane we had was Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
This hit St. Augustine pretty hard and did a good amount of damage. This comes with the territory of living in a tropical climate. Most of Florida is in a Flood Zone and flood insurance is required when you have a home that is in Flood Zone AE or below. To be completely honest when a hurricane comes by most people dont even pay it attention. If it is a big hurricane you might get the day off work and a lot of people throw parties.
As for Tornados; this seems to be occurring more in South Florida. I cant think of being worried about a tornado ever in my life in NE Florida and the same goes for Earthquakes.
Too Many People:
Because of all the people visiting from NY, NJ and Cali; Florida is exceeding the average growth of states by 2.5%. When she moved in 2018 65.5 Million people were moving into the state.
This heavily depends where you live and what you want out of your florida lifestyle. Central Florida is pretty Rural and has tons of Lakes. If you arent looking to be around people there is still ton of opportunity. There are also huge stretches of coastline that are not really populated compared to the metros. Jacksonville and Miami are like 7 hours apart. Can you name any towns (aside from St. Augustine) between Jacksonville and Miami? Exactly.
I am almost positive this person did not do any research. I just did a quick google for this rebuttal. Florida has had the 3rd (4th) largest population since 2010. In 2018 when this person moved, 21.24 Million people lived in FL. So the population just tripled? Yea no. Quick google said there are just over 22million people in FL and we are still the 3rd largest state by population.
Urbanization:
“Why moving to Florida was a flop idea of mine? Excessive urbanization and suburban sprawls have adversely affected the place. As per the data it shows after Texas, Florida is the most populated state. This state is continuously growing outward. Heavy traffic, overuse of land, improper public transportation makes me wonder why I stayed in Florida for 2 years.”
I am really curious I want to know where this person lived before moving to the Hell Hole of Florida. Urbanization is just a fancy word for growth. People need to work, live and drive places. Populations grow because men and women like each other and have babies and then their babies have babies. What would you have them do? I lived in NYC and I doubt this person has ever been in a major metro outside of FL. Ever been to Boston? One way streets everywhere, transportation in the area is F***ed. NYC? Ever been on a subway or been late because of it? Most of the cities are designed for personal automobile transport. I cant imagine being stuck in a bus or subway car with 20 other people and the AC is out in the middle of Summer.
BUGS and Wildlife
“Mosquitoes, deer flies, wolf spiders, lovebugs, palmetto bugs, Florida carpenter ants, red fire ants, and a lot more are unwelcome guests in your house. Once, a bug bit my mother and we had to take her to the hospital. It’s that dangerous. If you are wondering, is it a bad idea to move to Florida? Then you should know my story. One fine morning I made a cup of coffee for myself and went to my backyard. What I saw there I won’t forget in my entire life. A huge python was crawling in my garden.”
Yea we got all of that. But once again I dont think this lady did any research. ITS A TROPICAL CLIMATE; not the Artic. Gators and snakes love this weather; they are cold blooded animals. I live in NE FL and honestly I dont find it that bad at all. When I lived in Brooklyn a squirrel jumped in my dads window and made a home in his winter clothes. When I lived in PA with my grandparents the Bear would tear down the fence to get to the bird feeder. I saw a video the other day of someone hiking in Colorado and a Mountain Lion comes after him. In what place do only Humans exist? Im asking for a friend.
Global Warming in Florida
In 2020, data shows that there is a huge rise in sea level and this is a huge threat to people living near the sea. The price of the properties near the sea has immensely dropped down to 8 % -10 % compared to areas interior to the coastal area.
No data provided to back any of this up; I am a realtor and I can tell you this is just not true. Here in NE Florida we have had more 1million plus sales in the past month then we did for the whole year prior to covid. Where are Million dollar properties? The Beach, the intracoastal. Our real estate market since 2020 (Start of Covid) is up 40%. So maybe during co-vid there a slight drop or slowdown in sales, but soon after this is not the case.
I am also no Meteorologist (these guys are wrong all the time). Our world is going through a state of Global Warming; humans contribute to this but whether we can make a change or not is unclear.
Sinkholes
“A sinkhole is a hole that suddenly opens up in the ground. These holes sometimes are so huge that they can engulf a car, a property, or a whole colony. You can find hundreds of YouTube videos regarding this. Due to the Florida Aquifer, such a sinkhole occurs. The underground is filled up with porous limestone which is a natural cache for rainwater. As the population grows, more water is taken from the Aquifer as this is the only source of clean drinking water. And such sinkholes grow.”
Yea Sinkholes are in Florida. Though this lady doesnt have the facts straight. If you look at the picture below you can see the actual truth. St. Augustine and Jacksonville are in Zone 4; so sinkholes are very uncommon.
I regret moving to Florida because my house was near the coast and when I planned to move out from Florida the price dropped down.
So we finally figure out where this lady got her info from. She sold in 2020 and is upset at the market. There was a weird time right after co-vid that no one knew what was happening. Then once people got a taste of lockdowns and restricitons, Florida started booming. So she bought and lost money. It sucks for her but timing is everything.. Prices go up and down there is nothing I or you can do about that. It is all based on Market Value.
Swimming is great to hear but do you want to swim when the temperature is 88 degrees Celsius?
I have a buyer who is a snowbird. Hes a NYer that has a house in Maine. He sold his NY house and bought a house in Palm Coast. It was literally december and this guy was out in the pool. 88 celsius is 190 degrees farenheight. So this is just a fabrication. But if its HOT wouldnt you want to cool off in the water?
The hot and humid climate is enough to keep you sick all-round the year. This was the very reason not to move to Florida.
Complete opposite logic of what I have heard my entire life. Thats why when you get a lil sick they call it a cold.
I didn’t have to pay state income tax, true but I have to pay tons of money for my driver’s license. In Florida, you have to pay for everything. You have to pay at the parking station by the hour.
You dont have to do anything with your drivers license for 7 years. Compare that to any other state. I think to get my license it was $75 and I was in and out of the DMV in 15mins.
If you are wondering if it is safe to move to Florida then I bet you bear, alligator, snakes and all the fearful reptiles can visit your house.
I am more worried about people who want to mandate mask mandates for kids
You may find the cheapest cities to visit in Florida but if you want peace surrounding valleys, mountains then this is not the place for you.
Obviously this lady did 0 research and didnt watch any of my videos (They didnt exist). Valleys and Mountains. VALLEYS AND MOUNTAINS. Yea this is not the place for you. There are no Valleys or Mountains. A topographical map couldve easily sorted that out.
Places like Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville are one of those places where the crime rate is high. I’m sure you don’t want to get robbed or die in search of the cheapest place.
(Crickets). Any place you go there is crime. If you exist in a town in a country somewhere on this planet; you know that there are places you do not want to go to. This makes me wonder if she ever considered NE FL. Most of the complaints she had are not something taht is a big concern for us Northeners.
