So how's the work/economy in Florida??

[Camperroo]

Ok, I'm am officially freezing here in MA.   I hate it.  I actually refused to drive the kids to school this morning because it was too darn cold when we got up, and I had no interest in going outside and warming up the car, walking the kids into school, etc.  I'd have been a popsicle by the time I got back to the car and tomorrow they are already posting school cancellations by the dozens because the wind chill could be as bad as 15 below!!!  I am ready to sell the house and get the heck out of dodge.  When I was a kid I loved winters, as an adult, I hate it plain and simple.   I realize this cold is more severe than anything I remember, but all in all...

So let's see, my husband has his contractors license, has excellent building skills and custom design installation for kitchens, media rooms, bathrooms, home offices, etc.  If we were to move around the Brooksville area does anyone have any idea of what kind of wages a construction supervisor could make there?  Cause we could sure sell this house and pay half the price for a bigger home down there with a pool and I will never have to stuff towels under my doors again or along the windowsills to help keep the freezing arctic air out of my house!!  Though the thought of tornados does freak me out a bit!!  Just feed me some wage info as I hunt online for homes in that area.  I've already found some gorgeous homes we could never ever afford to buy up here, but they are very affordable there.   Help me with my Florida fantasy pleassssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee!!  Though anyone else in warm weather territory is welcome to chime in also!!

[jpreiser]

I lived in florida for a few years, I am now back here in N.J. COLD>>BURRRR  When my Dh retires we hope to move to FLorida!!

[2manytoyz]

The cost of living down here in FL is much cheapert than up there.  Take that into consideration when looking for a job.  The wages may seem less, but your buck goes much further here.  Many yankee friends have moved here, selling their modest Northern homes, and buying a mansion when they arrived.

Lot of construction going on down here, so I imagine work in that field should be plenty.  Tell him to get up to speed on the Dade County Hurricane Codes.  It's a big deal down here.  Many contracts specify the work must meet or exceed it.

Can't tell you about specific jobs available.  Out of my field.  Might check with Home Depot and Lowes though.  A friend works for Lowes as an entry door installer.  Makes mucho dinero.  Gets $25 per installation estimate he sends to Lowes, even if no further work is done.  He knocks out 6-8 of those out a day between installations.

Good luck!

[byrdr1]

how about half way.. We here in NC are growing and the economy is changing for the good.

In my county we just approved a sub division of over 258+- acres with 2000 homes & then with a 138 acre shopping center across the interstate from where these homes will be. We are putting in a new interchange at this time. This opens up one of the last large pieces of land that hasn't been developed, on the interstate.

So construction is on the rise.. A good home remodeler can make a good living around here also.
Plus we 4 seasons here, nice average spring, warm summer, nice fall, not to cold winter.
JMTCW.
randy

[Papaso]

We hung up our winter coats 17 years ago, we're from Jersey and I got tired of the cold and shoveling snow. It's been great down here for us, started my own business 7 years ago and thank God all is going well. There's plenty of construction work down here and lot's of money for finish and specialty work. Lot's of millionaires down here who spend their money on custom work. I believe if you have a trade and are good at it, and most important of all willing to work you'll have no problem. I own a material handling company and am always looking for honest, hard working people to join our family. Notice the underlines if your willing and ready, come on down the weathers fine.

[MommaMia]

We just moved here to Jacksonville from CT.  One of the main reasons for our move was I was sick and tired of nearly 6 months of winter!  My DH just commented this morning that he has yet to even wear a jacket to work in the morning!

Now that we are here, there is no way we are ever leaving.  It's heavenly.  Being in the northern part of the state, we still get a change of season.  Basically we have spring, long summer and fall.  

The reason we chose Jacksonville is that my DH is a mortgage underwriter and business is booming here.  He has so many mortgages  to review that it's hard to keep up.  New home construction is bounding!  I am sure your DH would have no trouble finding work.

You are right about being able to afford a better house.  If this home was in CT we would NEVER be able to afford it.  We paid $214k for a 4br 2 bath with 2200 square feet.  Plus a screened room of about 300 sq. feet.  Just 4 months after we moved in the house was unofficial appraised for $225K.  That's an $11k increase in value in just 4 months.  Plus we put in an inground pool which brings the listing price (if we were to list it now) to a competitive $260k.  We are in a planned community with golf course, aquatic center with 2 enormous pools and kiddie pool, miles of biking/jogging trails, basketball courts and over 100 acres of small ponds to fish in.  They are also starting construction of a new fitness facility.

Keep in mind too that in addition to the cost of living being cheaper, you also get a Homestead tax exemption of $25,000!

Another reason we chose Jacksonville is the fantastic public school system here in St. John's County.  It's consistantly rated in the top 15% of the country, I believe is the #.  Because of the popularity of this area, St. John's county just opened a new, $14million school which our children attend.

We love it here and don't miss the Northeast one little bit!

[Camperroo]

Wow!  Thanks everyone!  Papaso you can bet my hubby is a very hard worker!  Running his own business for so long you know what it's like...always have to be there for the customer and construction is obviously very physical work, but not just physical there's a big difference between someone who can build and someone who can build well!!  He builds well and doesn't take shortcuts!!  Your note was very nice but I think the Miami area might be a bit too hectic for me!!  BTW what is a materials handler?  Is that for construction materials?

MommaMia you sound like you have found an awesome life in Jacksonville.  I can just feel your excitement about your life coming right through on the page!!  Nice home, good community and school systems would be of prime importance for us with two children.  2manytoyz sound like you have found a nice life too!  When we lived in CA he had a contractors license there and had to be up to code for earthquakes so I imagine if he got his contractors license in FL he'd get up to code so to speak in learning what the regs are.  I think he if I can convince him of a big life change he would opt for custom installations of kitchens, baths, home offices, etc., like he's doing now.  Up here in MA there's alot of folks spending big $ on having custom built cabinetry for their kitchens, baths, home offices, etc., and he now supervises the installations of these projects because being custom made...you can't run back to the shop to get another cabinet if someone messes up!!!  Has to be right the first time.

Byrd1 NC sounds beautiful, but wouldn't have family around  I do have family in FL but I also have good friends in GA who tell us life is good there, they too left the New England area and say they will never ever come back up North.  

It's interesting to hear of folks who made the decision to up and leave a familiar lifestyle to try something new and know it does actually work out!!  I'm going on the web now to research Jacksonville and check it out!!!   By the way the temp here has now climbed to a warm 5 degrees with wind chill of 10 below!!  I went out and started my car a half hour ago just to bring it up to a comfortable temperature inside the car!!!  It's that cold that the minivan just takes forever to get toasty inside!!

[MommaMia]

I'm going on the web now to research Jacksonville and check it out!!!  

Check out our page...

http://home.comcast.net/~hokan/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html




It has some good info on Jax... as well as our photos of us in our new surroundings.
Also I have a fantastic magazine/book that I got when we moved in here.  It gives info on almost anything and everywhere in Jacksonville.  It's called Discover Jacksonville. It's also online at //www.jacksonville.com . I'd be happy to send it to you.

Also, if you are seriously interested, check out Julington Creek Plantation, our community at http://www.julingtoncreek.com/

[Camperroo]

Can I say.....WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  I was going to ask you if you were actually more in the city of Jacksonville or a "suburb" of it and you definitely are in a more "suburban" area as we are. We're about 30-40 min. from the Boston area.   Where you live is absolutely gorgeous, your home looks just beautiful...I'm just in absolute awe.  My DH actually sat down next to me to look at Julington Creek and after looking at the website said...why are we still living here!!!!  I cannot believe the beautiful homes and compared to here where you spend double for an older home that needs work, we could buy such a spacious, beautiful new home for so much less that this area and have all those amenities of being in a new community!!  The aquatic center looks absolutely magnificent.  Do you have to pay a fee for belonging or is it part of living in the community?  I have to tell you I am so stunned right now...I can't even think of the right words to ask you.  I like the idea of it being a little more seasonal so far as maybe having to break out a sweater from time to time.  As far as the schools do you have to drive into Jacksonville or are they close to your home?  I'd have one in high school and one in elementary school.  What would you say is the average age in your community?  It certainly looks amazingly family friendly.

gosh...I'm speechless...I have to go pour over the community site again.   Makes anyone up here wonder why we do it...high housing costs and cost of living, when there really is life outside of the New England area that is affordable and beautiful.  I've got to find my DH a good paying job down there!!  When I buy my house, your whole family is invited for a big cookout and then we'll go camping!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing all that info!  DH and I are still kind of stunned after looking at it all!!!!!

[mowalker]

Sorry but I have to douse the fire on living in Florida..I have been here for 20 years and the "honeymoon" has worn off.  

I have lived in North Florida for most of 20 years and visited many other areas.  Yes, nice place to visit, but do you want to live here?  

It's not vacation land every day.  The cost of living is climbing every day, go up a few miles to GA and the gas is 10-15 cents cheaper.  Homes are even more expensive (I work in real estate and I know, Maybe not New England prices)

The schools here in Jacksonville suck big time!!!  I know I had to put my son in private school to get him out of them.

This state caters to tourist, if your not one of them, you must work and get out of their way.  There is no day at the beach for the working folk.

In the summer get ready for an afternoon thunderstorm, yes it happens most every day during the summer, here and gone in 30-45 minutes but it can ruin some camping equipment and any outdoor activities.  Along with the humidity it brings can make an ordinary day miserable.  

In North Fl we DO get temps in the 20-30s and have even had snow.  I have had to wear a winter jacket a few times this year already and had to cover plants or bring them inside as well as run the heat and the fireplace.  It also seems to rain on weekends only.

Most jobs will pay you $7-$12 an hour here if your lucky.  Its hard to raise a family here and most people are not friendly.  (You need to know someone to get in just about anywhere or they are bringing someone they know from up north or wherever).

Try going to a resturant on Friday or Saturday evening the wait could be up to over an hour.  The grocery stores lack on fresh produce except the green house kind.  Most of Florida's produce is shipped up north or wherever.

Sorry if I sound bitter, maybe it's because I am.  I was raised in the mountains of central Pennsylvania.  I miss it up there, I miss my family, I miss my friends and this place can not replace it.


THE GRASS IS NOT GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE!


Florida is a nice place to visit, but I dream of getting out of here someday.  Paridise is not what it seems sometimes.

[Gone-Camping]

they too left the New England area and say they will never ever come back up North.

I too moved south many years ago. I'm a native of Worcester County Mass, and left there when I turned 21, that was over 25 years ago. The Navy sort of "dumped" me here in Virginia, and I've pretty much stayed here ever since. I moved back twice since then, but only for rather short durations of a year or two. Each time the cold Winters sent me packing back to Virginia. Much of Virginia still get's a pretty cold winter, here on the coast it's very mild, rarely snows, and the coldest we've had so far was about 25

[NightOwl]

The comments by MoW and Cliff, and their contrast to Cindy's, made me stop and think a minute about the question of how people feel about  where they live and WHY they feel that way.  A Michigan friend moved to  Daytona and ADORED IT right from the very beginning.  They had 2 little kids and  gloried in not having to bundle them up in 4 layers of stuff so they could go outside to play.  She said she never wanted to go north again and still feels that way many years later.  I finished growing up in Coral Gables when it was still the "real Florida"  and liked it a lot, but never intended to stay--just dont have the temperament to be a Lotus Eater all my life.

And while I love many things about country  life in  NE Georgia, I still regard Ann Arbor as my real "home town."   A friend pointed out that for us Ann Arbor was a "cocoon, kind of like Brigadoon") and I guess this is true.  Great schools, marvelous cultural events, never a job worry, lifelong friendships, and WONDERFUL winter sports!  It is true that our Ann Arbor lifestyle was unusually  happy, but aside from that, there is something in me that just wont "transplant" completely despite a great mountain view and a 3,500 square foot house.   Go figure.

[Camperroo]

MoWalker sounds like you are ready for a change too.  I don't think you sound bitter, I think you sound homesick and ready for a change as we feel ready for a change.   I don't know how the economy or home prices are in PA now from when you left.  It's my understanding it's more affordable than the Boston area however.  The picture salary would be a big concern for us anywhere we went.  As DH is in the construction trade here his hourly salary would break down to $30.00/hr plus benefits.  Even though we are in a suburban town with a supposedly "excellent" school system, we have both our children in private schools.   If we relocated we would most likely continue them in private schools as we like the smaller atmosphere and attention private schools can give their students, but that's a personal choice.  Here in the Boston area people aren't so very friendly either.  Walk in any grocery store and most people walk with their heads down and hardly ever look up for a friendly hello, instead they'll scowl at you if you're holding them up in anyway,unless of course you know someone.  Drive around and see what happens when you try and cross the street!!!  You probably find that everywhere as I think society as a whole has become pretty selfish.   As for housing in the Boston area it is ridiculous!!!  As an example, our house was assessed at $428,000.  It is a 115 yr. old antique village victorian and not huge by any means and on a fairly small lot.   With the latest cold snap we were stuffing towels by all the doors and windows to keep the heat in and being an older home the heat was being sucked right out of the house, I kept the heat cranked up to 70 degrees for 3 solid days!!!  Our bathroom (one only) is on the first floor.  We are currently planning on building an addition this spring to add a bathroom upstairs and a new bedroom as my son's bedroom in tiny.  If we opt to sell our home, we could actually put it on the market for $465,000+ after the addition, and though it's a cute house, it is a far cry from what you would think half a million dollars should buy.   Thank goodness we bought it when we were much younger and nowhere near that price.   Younger couples today are nuts to pay these prices for these homes plus I don't know how they can even do it!!!

You are right in the grass is always greener, it's just depends on what side your looking in from.  Some looking at us would say we're nuts with what we have for our home and hubby's salary but you have to understand it is so expensive up here that we are just keeping up and that's pretty much it.  Couldn't afford to live here if he were making less.  Will we stay or go, don't know.  If hubby lost his job and couldn't find work substantial work here we'd unload the house and take the money to where it's more affordable, might make less, but wouldn't have to kill ourselves to try and keep up with expenses in the area and have enjoyable weather  (like today it's snowy and wet and slushy out there...makes my joints ache...yuck!!!)  I wouldn't mind a little chilly weather but I'm past dealing with the freezing cold and snow/rain from Nov. - March, sometimes even April.  The campground we go to up in Maine could not open the first week of May because there was still snow!!!!!  

When we went down to Williamsburg in mid-April a couple of years ago, we spent half a day shoveling our popup out from behind the house!!  We probably will stay here till youngest starts college (7 yrs) because what is familiar is safe essentially.  But DH and I were talking this morning about just what would happen if we opted to completely change our lives and move to an area like where MommaMia is ...or elsewhere...still have a best friend working on me to move near her just outside of the Atlanta area.  Same thing...nice home, new communities, hubby got a good job and they can afford to live there unlike struggling as they did here in MA several years ago.  

Gone Camping... we loved visiting the Williamsburg area of Virginia, DD wants to attend William and Mary!!  New England is very pretty, but I find in the winter like now, most of us go into hibernation, little activity, etc. because the weather is usually so awful.  You stay holed up in your house for 5-6 months except to go to work or run errands, etc.  Our skiing days are over so outdoor winter activities don't rank up there on our list!!  I had to run my car for almost 25 minutes the other day, just to get it to finally warm up because it was SOOOOOOO cold!!!!!   Come on up for vacation and enjoy it when the weather's nice late spring and summer!!   Turn on the Pats game and you'll see how yucky it is outside right now!!!!  But I must say....GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NightOwl]

Camperoo, there's a lot of wisdom in your observations about the high cost of  living in  Mass (remember how  A-B used to b*tch about the awful taxes?) and also about people  being homesick like MoWalker, or ready for a change like you are.

I bet you'd love Florida.  My folks sure did!   After a winter visit with my grandparents when I was a teenager, they didnt wait--by the next summer, we had  moved from Illinois to Florida  and my father made the remark that he "never wanted to go  North of Flagler Street again."  (Flagler being a main East-West street and the dividing line of  Miami that gives you a "north" street address or a 'south" address.)  And actually, most people I have met  in the South are a bit  friendlier, not so "grim-looking", and a little more laid back.  When I go back  to Ann Arbor in the winter, I  still enjoy the winter weather which, I have to admit, is a novelty for me now, but must say that at that time of year,  people often look miserable in their heavy, dark winter clothes, and just GRIM while walking down the street, fighting a nasty wind with sleet in it coming out of a grey, sunless sky!   (Who wouldnt look grim?)  (And the snow I love so much turns grey after a few days.)

You-all are very fortunate that your  husband has skills much in demand in an area where there is a construction and economic boom, and you are young enough to enjoy the adventure of a new place and a new home.   Seems like  you are the kind of people who can make it all work out.   My bet is that if you decide to do it, the move will be as big a success for you  as it was for Cindy and her family!.

[MommaMia]

Can I say.....WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  I was going to ask you if you were actually more in the city of Jacksonville or a "suburb" of it and you definitely are in a more "suburban" area as we are. We're about 30-40 min. from the Boston area.   Where you live is absolutely gorgeous, your home looks just beautiful...I'm just in absolute awe. Yes, we are a suburban area My DH actually sat down next to me to look at Julington Creek and after looking at the website said...why are we still living here!!!!  I cannot believe the beautiful homes and compared to here where you spend double for an older home that needs work, we could buy such a spacious, beautiful new home for so much less that this area and have all those amenities of being in a new community!!  The aquatic center looks absolutely magnificent.  Do you have to pay a fee for belonging or is it part of living in the community?  Association fees run around $300 year and that includes maintainance of park and common areas and aqautic center passes.  The golf club is an additional feeI have to tell you I am so stunned right now...I can't even think of the right words to ask you.  I like the idea of it being a little more seasonal so far as maybe having to break out a sweater from time to time.  As far as the schools do you have to drive into Jacksonville or are they close to your home?  I'd have one in high school and one in elementary school.  What would you say is the average age in your community?  It certainly looks amazingly family friendly.Julington Creek Elem. and Fruit Cove middle scools are right within the community.  Durbin Creek Elementary is about a mile and a half down the road.  Bartram Trail High is about 8-10 minute ride away.  All the schools have consistantly recieved an A rating.  FCAT schools for ALLl of St. John's county are well above and beyond the state scores.  Mandatory downsizing of classes in St. John's county (elementary schools)was just implemented bringing max class size to 16 students!  Annual budget for St. John's schools is $187,254,455.

some school links....
http://www-dce.stjohns.k12.fl.us/
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/

gosh...I'm speechless...I have to go pour over the community site again.   Makes anyone up here wonder why we do it...high housing costs and cost of living, when there really is life outside of the New England area that is affordable and beautiful.  I've got to find my DH a good paying job down there!!  When I buy my house, your whole family is invited for a big cookout and then we'll go camping!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing all that info!  DH and I are still kind of stunned after looking at it all!!!!!

Not sure if it posted right.....