Why do people move to Florida?

To get away from people like you OP is my best guess.

I have heard because of nice beaches, hot tanned white guys or latinos, proximity to the Caribbean, and friendliness of people in Miami (at least compared to NY and L.A. )

Because we have the best chocolate cake. Everybody says so.

$800 bucks a month for large 1 bedroom includes cable and wifi, a block from the beach. Sparkling pool with amphibians. No state income tax. Neighbors leave curtains open when they fuck 24/7.

> The state is bound to collapse in a few decades.

No, Florida will in fact someday be known as the original urban core of Trantor.

New York and Los Angeles are bigger than Miami, but neither New York nor California aspires to someday cover every buildable inch of the state with urban sprawl the way Florida does. New York and California both have areas where nature is beautiful and pleasant to experience. Florida doesn't, and never has, so our definition of progress has ALWAYS been the complete erasure of Florida's natural environment, and its remaking in our own image.

Fifty years from now, Florida won't be abandoned... it'll be approaching 50-80 million residents. The Everglades will still be a big gaping hole in the state's urban footprint, but pretty much the entire state north of Lake Okeechobee will be sprawling golf courses, condos, and multi-million square foot outlet malls, while every buildable inch within 20 miles of I-95 and I-4 will be completely Manhattanized.

If you don't think Florida has enough space for 100 million residents, try this experiment... the average population density of a small town in Florida (ex: Bonita Springs) is 1,500 residents per square mile. Florida has ~66,000 square miles. If just 50% of the state's land area were developed to the average population density of Bonita Springs, you're looking at 50 million right there... and that's without building a single skyscraper, or anything higher-density than strip malls, single-family homes, and low-rise condos. Develop just 50% of the area within 10 miles of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to the average population density of Miami, and you've just doubled the state's potential population to around 100 million.

Before anyone bleats "sea level rise"... no. Sea level rise will erase small, poor, low-density areas where 80% of the existing structures won't get bulldozed and rebuilt in the next 50 years ANYWAY just because the land they're sitting on is too damn valuable to leave with an old building that might have otherwise succumbed to sea level rise. Metro areas like Broward County are ALREADY substantially "built out", and the only real way to build anything new is to demolish something old. Truck in another 10-15 feet of crushed limestone to raise whatever new building is going up, or build a skyscraper whose first floor and parking pedestal can be as high above the natural ground level as you like, and you're good for at least another 200-300 years of sea level rise before flooding becomes a problem.

In many states, people built where they did because the land was naturally high and cheap to build on. In Florida, pretty much every square inch of buildable land was wrestled away from water. Florida is already the biggest land-reclamation project in human history. When you're talking about a building site that has ALREADY been raised 10-20 feet above its natural terrain height, a few more feet of crushed limestone is just another business expense for an already-expensive building project.

Insofar as water goes... Florida has already started building desalination plants. Desalination plants are kind of like shale oil... the first drop is expensive, and the millionth drop costs more than a cheap source of natural water... but once you get over that initial speedbump and decide the cost is worth it, your water problems are basically solved... you can have as much water as you're willing to pay for, at a price that's prohibitive for profitable commercial agriculture, but not really much of an issue from the standpoint of an individual urban dweller. A farmer cares a lot if his water bill increases by $400,000/year. A city-dweller barely notices if his bill goes from $40/month to $65/month over the span of a decade. Florida's ongoing growth is a death-spiral for commercial agriculture. As the state grows, the price of water goes up, and property becomes too valuable to waste on farming when there are two dozen developers chomping at the bit eager to cover the landscape with McMansions and office parks.

Watch the BBC comedy, "Living the Dream" to find out :-)

Plot: British family moves to Florida, buys trailer park sight-unseen, and becomes neighbors with Florida Man™.

A friend of mine was saving up to move to Venice, Florida.

But then again he lives in Minnesota.

I like your Trantor reference, r5. Nicely done.

It's cheap, no income tax, the weather is fantastic, and you can get easy foreign cock.

And it's impossible to be the trashiest person in town. There is always someone worse.

I personally wish Broward County would do its part to help with Syrian refugees by offering to take all the hot gay ones. Yum.

The State is riddled with sink holes!

Going down?

Oops!

I say sink hole, you say pot hole.

Bye Felicia!

To be able to do some hideous or outrageous things and still being considered "normal" by Florida's standard?

It's just like those people who are against abortion, OP -- if you're against abortion, don't have one.

BTW, when I lived in Tampa Bay, I didn't realize how rural Florida actually is. Then I moved to a rural area an hour south of Gainesville. Check out my "neighborhood." [See link.] If I'm so inclined, I can drive for an hour and never see another car - although I might see a bear.

I'm sure all the land that can be built on will be sooner or later. But since I'm an eldergay, I don't really give a fuck. By the time that happens in my area, I'll be dead.

You can get away with anything here!

Beaches, palm trees, warm winters, no income tax, relatively low cost of living.

And it’s ugly. Strip malls as far as the eye can see.

For the biggest f'ing bugs you've ever seen.

Florida has always been known as "The Sunshine State." New slogan should be "God's Waiting Room." Too many old farts who think they can still drive, but can't see over the steering wheel.

Ditto on God's Waiting Room. It's the dream state of old people living in the north east.

Oh, its full of people 65 years young. I live in a house with 3 other girls and it's the bee's knees.

It makes sense to me for retirees. The cost of living is very low, depending on where in Florida the person goes. My grandmother was always cold and she had multiple space heaters in her bedroom turned all the way up, to the point we were always worried about an electrical fire. She would have been comfortable in Florida’s oppressive heat.

Like me, a lot of Florida's oldsters start out as seasonal residents. January through March for me. As soon as Christmas is over, it's off to the warmth for 3 months! The more time I spend there, the happier I am. Eventually I will end up being a year rounder... maybe escape in July, August & September...

You don't want to be there June-September, R26.

I am just the opposite. Every year I plan a 10 day vacation in July to Delray Beach. There is NO traffic to get around and the beaches are amazing...just drive up and pay $2 for two hours of parking. You can rent a chair/umbrella and you are set. The water temp is joyous. The restaurants are not crowded.

I have been there during the winter and the traffic is obscene and the weather for the beach is iffy at best. You wait 45 minutes or more for an average restaurant. A hard pass for a winter trip there.

It used to be so nice. I went to Disney in the 70's and it felt like a different world. The smell of orange blossoms filled the air. Now everything is paved over. I still enjoy a 3 day jaunt to Miami in February though, it is good for that.

Climate and taxes- but not me- never.

R29-Think of the this. The population of the United States has increased by 100 million since 1979! Where the hell has the population increase moved to?

Lived in Hawaii for 12 years. Couldn't take driving around the same island ONE MORE TIME. Wanted to move, but the idea of winter was abhorrent.

Florida seemed like the best fit for me.

Florida will drown. Disney will build a dyke around Disney World and the Orlando airport. You'll be able to fly in and take a ferry to Disney World.

The only other thing to be saved will tiny little Bascom in the panhandle. We need that to keep Faye Dunaway in line. After she goes, it can go, too.

"Why do people move to Florida?"

Because they want to leave NYC.

The sketchy medical marijuana clinics that appeared like mushrooms after a rainstorm within weeks of it being legalized.

[quote]Fifty years from now, Florida won't be abandoned... it'll be approaching 50-80 million residents.

All of whom will be under six feet of water, the state having entirely disappeared with rising sea levels.

[quote]Before anyone bleats "sea level rise"... no. Sea level rise will erase small, poor, low-density areas where 80% of the existing structures won't get bulldozed and rebuilt in the next 50 years

goddamn! are you a cast member of "glengarry "? what a fucking bitch!

Florida will continue to grow like mad. In my lifetime Florida's population has gone from 3.5 million to 21.5 million. As a kid I remember us driving down down the main seaside road in Panama City Beach and there was nothing for miles. Only an occasional 2 story motel every few miles.

I've never gotten the "Florida is too hot in the summer" thing, especially from people in the Northeast.

It's not like New York in August is filled with cool tropical breezes. Every bit as hot here and at least in Florida everything is air conditioned, unlike say, NYC subway stations.

It's cheap.

R38 I’m guessing 3.5 million was 1950. But it could have been 1960. That feeling of long ago was beyond words. I remember driving to Florida (in the 1970’s) before that whole 95 industry had started and it was 100’s of miles of beautiful nothingness!

One of my friend's parents moved to a beautiful seaside golf retirement community on the gulf side. Very expensive and exclusive.. Second year in there were two flooding incidents where the whole community was underwater. Third year they were back in Pittsburg .

Large numbers of people are now moving out of Florida for fear of climate change flooding the coasts

[quote] "Why do people move to Florida?" Because they want to leave NYC.

Actually they move to Florida to claim it as their residence and pay no state tax...but they keep an apartment in NYC and fly back constantly

Florida and Ohio have much in common, large urban areas but much more rural areas just a few miles outside of the city proper. Florida's largest cities are mostly blue but the state as a whole (thanks to gerrymandering) is red. Same with Ohio. My mom is a snowbird but votes in Ohio. Her district is aligned with cities up to 1 hour from her to make to whole district red.

Miami Beach is my favourite. with so many Europeans. It's quite popular amongst expats: lots of Suisse, Germans, Poles, and French in addition to the Brazillians, Cubans, and everyone else.

Sometimes at restaurants and bars, you don't feel as if you're in America any longer; I like that.

You're the one that doesn't want to talk about the heat. Too bad. I'd tell you about my chimes. The wind chimes on my porch. They keep ringing and I go out there expecting a cool breeze. That's what they've always meant. But not this summer, this summer it's just hot air.

Yep R44. There are 46 direct flights from LGA/EWR/JFK to Orlando alone this Friday. That doesn't include the rest of FL. The back and forth between the two states is huge.

French tourist here : june in NY subway is hell : the AC in the subway released hot air in the tunnels and the stations, you end up with a cold going from overheated station to super cold train. A nightmare.

[Quote]Large numbers of people are now moving out of Florida for fear of climate change flooding the coasts

Then why are they constantly building new housing here?

Mar-a-Lago is doomed.

Depending on where you live in Florida, and are moving them from a really high cost area - it's damn cheap. You can buy houses for about 1/3 what I currently pay. That means, were I to move there, I'd pay cash for my house. Property taxes are also about 1/4 of what I'm paying. Total housing cost per year would be around $5K, plus insurance and potential an HOA fee. Call it under $800 per month. That keeps it within guidance for social security + annuity + 401K savings.

Why? As I get older, my medical expenses will go up. I expect the housing in Florida will be flat to slightly dip in value. But, when you have to shuffle off to "assisted residential living", that's one of the things you get to sign over. Might as well not get stupid about it. Oh, and pay for your long-term care insurance while you're still employed. It's not what your employer offers as LTD. This costs about $2K to $6K per year.

That's why we look at Florida. It's budget friendly even though it's a bunch of redneck hillbillies who should have been drowned at birth.

When I was a very small child, my mother and I visited for a few weeks her father who had retired to a mobile home in a suburban area of Tampa. It was not in a park, but on a country road with several other mobile homes nearby.

I don't recall everything in great deal, as I was only 5 years old. But I do remember weathering Hurricane Carla in a rocking mobile home. It did not hit Tampa, but did cut across the Gulf of Mexico and that was plenty close enough. Gah! Another day, before or after the hurricane, I remember playing in the back yard and an alligator slowly crawled onto the property. My mother saw it, scooped me up and ran.

Hurricanes. Alligators. All good reasons not to go to Florida. But in 1979, I returned for a week to celebrate graduation from college. That put me there when John Spenkelink was executed by the state of Florida, the first person to get fried by the state after the reinstatement of the death penalty. I got a week of people cheering the man's death.

Fuck Florida. Fuck it right in the ass.

The only place in Florida I'll travel to is Walnut Hill. And if I want to see the gulf I'll spend a weekend on Perdido Key.

The rest?

Never. No. No how.

[quote] you end up with a cold going from overheated station to super cold train

No you don't. Colds are caused by a virus, not fluctuations in temperature. That's a very old and very stupid wives tale.

I predict a glut of retirement villas there as the next generation in 15 years wont be as interested in this "OK Boomer " lifestyle.

[quote]Depending on where you live in Florida,

Yeah, this is the thing about Florida. You can live cheaply, but you better bet it will be in the woods not to far from trailer parks with Trump hillbillies. If you are looking to move to the urban centers, especially in South Florida, than you are going to pay. You have wealthy people coming from South America and Europe driving up the prices for fancy condos.

And mega hurricanes are a way bigger threat to Florida at this time than rising sea levels. Most people who move here don't realize that from August - September every year is a gamble. We NARROWLY avoided major destruction from Hurricane Dorian this year.

R55 thanks doctor, how much do I owe you? My GP only charge 25€ for a 15 min consultation and a prescription but I've heard in the USA it's like 3 digit?

R57 Completely agree with everything you said, honestly. I'm used to hillbillies: I grew up around them and my family tree is nothing but hillbillies. It's a smooth trunk, obviously from the inbreeding.

If you're totally posh and looking for the LA or NYC lifestyle at hillbilly prices - write and tell us how it is.

Florida is not cheap. A crappy 1BR in crappy Wilton Manors is $1400-$1500. The crappy concrete block houses are selling for close to $1 million! In crappy Wilton Manors!?! Maybe after the next big real estate crash - but I am befuddled by the amounts people pay to live in such an ugly place. The beaches are the only redeeming trait - but they are far from anything affordable and I can’t imagine I would use them as a super pale sunburn magnet.

Only thing I can see as a plus is the tax issue. But tbh I prefer Texas for low tax living. Texas is cheap and it has substance, space and real jobs. The social undercurrent of Florida is just sleazy, shady, chasing more money or a sexier body.

Fine for 2-3 months in winter. But not as a place to live and call home.

I’m moving to Fort Lauderdale from Jersey for retirement. It’s got a reasonable cost of living, gorgeous beaches, and lots of “old man bars.” I love a good piano bar where I can relive the past. There’s also a wonderful male stripper bar called Johnson’s staffed with some of the finest ass and cock I’ve ever seen! The escort services down there are also extremely affordable.

R61 knows what he likes and he knows how to get it.

Enjoy, Daddy!

R61 - some good arguments for Florida. Wilton Manors is a great place to while away the days in gay bars that cater to us eldergays. And Johnson’s is the best strip club I’ve been to recently. Gorgeous men. Also agree that the escorts are abundant - though don’t think they are particularly affordable.

While I like your attitude, I fear that I would go broke much more quickly with such easy access to bars, strippers and hookers. Need to limit it to a week here and there during the winter. But if you’re a rich eldergay, I can see the appeal. Good for you.

I lived there for several years and ended up missing the seasons you get in the north. However, I had some of the best sex in my life there. So many men from all over the world ALL THE TIME. It was seriously like a sex candy machine.

Exactly r60. I don't see the appeal of actually moving to South Florida for whores, bars and beaches, meanwhile you are spending way too much for shitty, overpriced house or apartment that might lose its roof during a hurricane. I'd rather keep a home in another place and just visit occasionally. But to each his own.

[quote]So many men from all over the world ALL THE TIME. It was seriously like a sex candy machine.

There are beautiful men, and unlike NYC and LA, tops are plentiful. So I guess if you have lived in a city of bottoms for most of your life you'd be willing to give it all up lol.

R58 I am not a doctor, but I play one on TV.

I moved here for the recreational drugs. They are cheaper and more plentiful than any other state I’ve been to. I’m a regular marijuana smoker and a “festive occasion” cocaine user. I get both with a simple text, and he delivers! My father had Parkinson’s and I have it in my mind I won’t develop the disease if I keep smoking weed. I’m now 61 and no shakes yet!! 🤞

Are any low tax states blue? I was trying to thing of a place to move with low taxes and low cost of living and most of those places are filled with Bible thumpers and Fox News fans.

There are blue zones in low tax states. But also remember those low taxes mean no support for social services. And regressive taxes like sales tax on everything. You can live in Houston or Miami with pretty progressive city governments. But issues like Medicaid expansion and unemployment benefits can come back to bite you.

r60, houses in Wilton Manors carry a HUGE premium over comparable nearby areas because it's within walking distance of Wilton Drive & 97% gay. Oakland park & Pompano are slightly cheaper, Margate & Tamarac are enormously cheaper (but still mostly white, albeit rather elderly)

R68 Delaware is low tax and blue. But, it has the same horrible weather as northern states. Worse, the beach areas are completely overrun by assholes from New Jersey who are already pushing for expensive infrastructure that isn't needed and will double taxes in the next five years.

Seriously, if you want shit to be exactly like where you already live - stay there. Quit screwing up everybody else's retirement.

[quote]Beaches, palm trees, warm winters, no income tax, relatively low cost of living.

Hurricanes, alligators, snakes, swampland, huge disgusting insects, oppressive humidity, bizarre freaks (the nonstop news stories prove this), and Republican.

If you’re into that sort of thing.

Because they're sketchy hos or lounge lizards, that's why. You have to be crazy to want to LIVE in Florida. Visit, fine. LIVE --- you're crazy.

Within the next few years, I'm planning to buy a beach condo in Northern Florida and snowbird February and part of March, then rent it out as a weekly vacation rental. Then live there when I am ready to retire.

Folks also retire there as there's no estate tax.

Florida's no state tax attraction is a fraud. They (just like any state with no state tax) make up for it with a higher sales tax and property taxes that are higher than the national average. So one way or the other you're going to pay those taxes.

Going from a high tax state like NY or NJ to FL will save homeowners a ton of money in property taxes, and no income tax.

I thought DE was a low tax state. Then I realized they have a significant State income tax. And even the town taxes income at 1-2%. Why is DE considered a low tax state? Is it like CT - used to be no income tax but is now on a fast track to some of the highest taxes in US?

Disney World!!!!!!😍😍😍😍

Retiring to Florida is not a good idea. The medical and emergency system is broken because there is no tax money or political will to do anything about it.

More importantly, everyone in the know is trying to sell their property and get out of dodge. If you by chance survive the hurricanes, the insurance is still extremely high, and will eventually run out.

That's what I was going to say, R80. I lived five blocks from Tampa Bay back in the '00s, and when they took the federal tax supports off my (mandatory) flood insurance, it quadrupled. So I moved north and inland, an hour and a half north of Orlando. No worries now, and very cheap living. Only an hour west of the beach.

And don't forget the homestead tax exemption if you live here 6+ months a year. It cuts the value of your property $25K for property tax purposes, and double that if you're over 65.

And don't forget OJ's reason for moving here; even if you're sued or claim bankruptcy, they cannot take your house ("homestead") away from you.

warm weather. it is COLD up here in the north.

Lots of international drug dealers have homes there, especially in Miami. No taxes and a good place to park illegal drug money on a waterfront house. It cant even be taken away through bankruptcy. That's why OJ moved there after the murders.

No state taxes. Senior-friendly. Warm. (When you get old, cold weather becomes more of a problem.). So, many old folk would consider it a paradise.

For the gays, there are some remarkably gay enclaves, like Wilting Manors.

Meth. Meth addicts, Hurricanes, Shark attack, bugs and alligators.

[quote] Senior-friendly.

That's the understatement of the year, more like Senior Orgy!

I think I’d rather live in a studio in Jersey City before I’d live in Wilton Manors. Literally bored to death.

[quote]For the gays, there are some remarkably gay enclaves, like Wilting Manors

Translation = Strip mall bars full of grandpa gays looking for young Latino hustler dick.

R11, sinkholes are a real problem in central Florida... but they're a problem that will be largely solved by Florida's inevitable Manhattanization.

Sinkholes destroy homes today because the home's entire foundation is a cast in place concrete slab that's usually smaller than an average sinkhole.

If you're building skyscrapers, the first thing you do is drill deep holes, then hammer concrete pilings down into them. If there are any sinkholes, those pilings are going to go right through them before your first major concrete pour... in which case, the developer fills the underground cavern with concrete grout (possibly quite a bit), reinforces the foundation a bit just in case, and the problem is solved.

Ditto, for townhomes. Eventually, Florida's building code will be amended to require that if you're building a long row of townhomes, the slab needs to be 2-way reinforced with continuous welded rebar along its entire width and depth and engineered with enough strength to allow an entire unit to cantilever unsupported, or two entire units to bridge over a sinkhole not involving an end unit. Once again, problem effectively solved. Sinkholes are big relative to the foundation of individual homes, but almost never involve more than 2 adjacent homes. Or at least, almost never involve more than 2 adjacent homes faster than the remaining ones can be saved by pumping concrete into the sinkhole to stabilize it once it's discovered.

Being Trantor (Phase I) has its benefits.

I don't live in the US.Is California nicer than Florida?Florida seems very built up as people have already mentioned and has a lot of purpose bult towns

Another very important point regarding sea-level rise and flooding: any projection of urban flooding made using USGS baseline terrain elevation data is fundamentally flawed and garbage, because USGS terrain data is based upon NATURAL elevation, NOT "as-built" elevation. In a state where pretty much EVERYTHING is built on several FEET of crushed limestone, it makes a HUGE difference.

Put another way, if USGS baseline elevation data says a particular building in Miami is 17 inches above sea level, don't believe it. The original VACANT LOT might have been 17 inches above sea level, but whatever is sitting on that lot TODAY is probably 12-20 feet above sea level, along with the road in front of it, the neighboring structures, and everything else besides manmade canals and lakes (which, in Florida, more often than not are used as a cheap local source of locally-mined limestone fill).

Present-day apps that purport to show climate-change-related flooding are basically an example of how you can misrepresent seemingly-objective data to lie and distort reality, because most people don't KNOW that USGS elevation data doesn't actually reflect present-day as-built elevation.

California is on the West Coast, 3,000 miles from Florida on the East Coast. Totally different from each other facing different oceans. California has beaches, mountains and cliffs giant Redwood forests and deserts. Florida is flat like a pancake, barely above seawater, with lots of trees, beaches and low life white trash Trumpiters.

[quote]If you're building skyscrapers, the first thing you do is drill deep holes, then hammer concrete pilings down into them. If there are any sinkholes, those pilings are going to go right through them before your first major concrete pour... in which case, the developer fills the underground cavern with concrete grout (possibly quite a bit), reinforces the foundation a bit just in case, and the problem is solved.

That's complete bullshit. I went to architecture school. Trust me, if they found a sink hole in the location of a new skyscraper, they would NOT build there. The cavern could be huge, and there is no way to tell without extensive excavation. Do you have any idea how big some caves can be?

Thanks.I know California is miles from Florida as am interested in America in general.I just wondered how they compared.From what I have seen of California I prefer it as it seems to have more diverse landscape.

[quote]sinkholes are a real problem in central Florida... but they're a problem that will be largely solved by Florida's inevitable Manhattanization

Good luck with that, the entire state is made of a limestone that is riddle with holes from the rain that acts like an acid cutting out new holes every time it rains. The thin layer of clay gives home builders a false sense of security of the impending doom that lies below them.

Hopelessness?

[quote]Florida's inevitable Manhattanization

So that be like Pensacola, AKA the Red Neck Riviera, just what Merca needs, more white trash.

We actually hate cold gray weather. It's really as simple as that.

Ditto R98. - California

Is the state of California itself posting in this thread now?haha

R93, you might be an architect, but I'm an engineer.

Just about the only terrain that's truly impossible to build a skyscraper in is permafrost (and by extension, a nuclear-melted glacier field, since even if you turned a mile radius into a meltwater lake, there's still going to be permafrost deep underground below it). Permafrost is too deep to hammer through deeply enough to reach bedrock, and a skyscraper just weighs too much to compensate for with any existing foundation-refrigeration technology.

The irony with sinkholes is that the presence of a sinkhole might stop you from building a SMALL tower, and force you to build a SUPERTALL tower instead. The bigger the supertall, the less any sinkhole matters because everything about a supertall skyscraper is so huge, it ends up completely dwarfing natural features of the land (besides permafrost and glaciers).

So... 10-story commieblock, yeah, sinkholes are a deal-killer. 1,000+ foot supertall? Yawn. The sinkhole ITSELF will probably end up being excavated away and barely noticed.

For the poster inquiring about California and Florida:

SoCal (coastal) I find to have the best weather in the US (of the 49? out of the 50 states).

I have to even admit it is better than my favourite place in the world (West Coast of Australia) whose weather I once thought to be astonishing.

Of the world’s Mediterranean climes (Mediterranean Europe, SouthWest - and Southern/Adelaide- Australia, SoCal and Baja, and Southern Africa), I am unfamiliar with South Africa.

I’d be interested to hear from folks on their thoughts on So. Africa’s Med. climate.

I have lived in Florida. The humidity was oppressive some time ago. With climate change, things seem to be in flux and extreme. Has the humidity increased as a result? Or eased?

We’ve actually had a cooler and (relatively speaking) more moist past several years here in Southern California.

After living comfortably without air conditioning, it would be challenging to return to it.

[quote] I have lived in Florida. The humidity was oppressive some time ago. With climate change, things seem to be in flux and extreme. Has the humidity increased as a result? Or eased?

Let me answer.

It's gotten worse. We used to have terrible humidity in the summer that leveled off in the fall. Right now, as I type this, in fucking December, it is HUMID and hot outside. The climate change thing here is ridiculous. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, we would wear winter jackets to school by December. Right now, it's too hot for a thin sweater.

Hurricanes

Flooding

Cockroaches

Alligators

Sediment soil

Swamps

More than a fair share of murderers, drug cartels, and crazies

The never ending news reports of people looking sad beside their collapsed homes and trailers.

Surrounded by redneck States

I wouldn’t miss Florida when it sinks, collapses, implodes.

I agree that Mediterranean climates are the most comfortable. Warm sunny days, low humidity, and night that cool off substantially, often so much that a light sweater or jacket is called for. Unfortunately, Mediterranean climates are one of the most vulnerable climates in our era of climate change. They are going to be more prone to droughts, according to the climate prognosticators, and the natural flora is designed to be flammable (for plant regeneration). Whether maquis, chapparal, fynbos, or Australian bush, that stuff is full of flammable oils and resins. Some are predicting that southern California will soon have the climate of central Baja,, northern California will have the climate of Southern California (with massive die off or burn off of the lush forests), and the Pacific Northwest will have the climate of northern California. I lived in northern Florida for 12 years, and I can say that except on the rarest of mid-winter days with low humidity and the heat on, my skin was constantly moist from the humidity. The beaches are beautiful, though, especially the sugar white sand beaches of northwest Florida. Yes to the people who complained about the amount of insect life, most of which finds its way into human dwellings. Fire ants are their own special hell. Add to that the numerous varieties of poisonous snakes, alligators, frogs, and plants that are almost all armed with thorns, and you don't find nature to be your friend in Florida. The daily summer thunderstorms are exciting, but fall is a period of high anxiety because of the constant threat of hurricanes. And late winter/early spring is the season of tornadoes. Florida has many many tornadoes, although they are rarely the strength of midwestern tornadoes.

One benefit though - I never had to iron clothes. The retained moisture meant I could hang up a cotton item and the weight of the water in it would cause it to hang straight. Or put it on with a slight wrinkle and it would quickly flatten out on the body. My impression of Florida as a tourist destination and as a retirement destination, is that it attracts mostly blue collar retirees and tourists. Cultural offerings are few. Golfing, bowling, shuffleboard, or wading in a pool - these are the activities of choice. Plays, symphony performances, ballets, book stores, exciting museum exhibitions? They exist, but you have to work hard to find them.

I love this thread! There’s some highly educated posters here (esp the architect and engineer) and I’m learning quite a bit. To the guys “in the know,” I once lived on Galveston Island in Texas and was told by a know-it-all friend that the west end of the island would be covered by water in 50 years (2070) due to sea levels rising. Was there any truth to that claim?

There are high-rises in Downtown Orlando and I've never heard of one falling in a sinkhole.

R91 That was the single most interesting thing I've learned this week. Thank you!

[quote] According to the wildlife commission, the likelihood of a Florida resident being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident in Florida is roughly only one in 3.2 million

What the hell are you whining bitches going on about alligators for? Oh I know, because you have a pathological need to piss and moan.

R91: So you should ignore the disappearing fresh ground water because you're perched on crushed limestone? And people shouldn't notice the water lapping up against their South Beach condo building (friends of mine did notice and moved inland).

Most sunbelt areas are environmentally unsustainable and it's usually the water (disappearing and or being degraded) as much as anything else. They're also, in my experience, full of unhappy looking people who thought sunshine was going to solve their problems---it doesn't.

The answer is easy: to shop at trip malls and become serial killers.

^strip

Basically, Florida has sun. Except at 5 pm everyday in the summer, for 15 minutes, when you get the heat storms. And except for hurricane days.

The northern half of Florida is, generally, very unlike the southern half. North Florida is Georgia South; South Florida is Cuba North. In between (getting smaller and smaller), you have horse country from Gainesville (Ocala) on down until you hit the pre-Orlando development. Horse country is very pretty - rolling fields, almost an African landscape, but greener in the summer. Around those middle areas you also find a lot of tiny Southern towns with Spanish moss, oak trees, ice-cold natural springs for swimming and diving, and some amazing pulled pork and beef barbecue (say hi to Frog's in Williston, even though it's no longer in the back of an old store attached to an old school gas pump station, with a creaky screen door and a walk-up window...still good). These towns could use some gays and some gentrification, but I don't know if they're ready (emotionally or culturally, or financially) for it yet.

But it is un-possible to enjoy 1/3 of the year without air conditioner. There's a reason for rocking chairs and front porches, and sweet tea and fans, as you do nothing all day for fear of drowning in your own sweat. You get used to things moving more slowly, and it becomes okay.

The beach and water communities in the northwest ("red neck Riviera") are very nice, too, I understand.

Forgot to mention St Augustin, on the east coast of Northern Florida. Very old, Spanish town. Lots of charm and beaches and all that good stuff. Don't know about nightlife or sex life - my 80 yo aunt lives there and to my knowledge she hasn't looked to hire young Latino gay escorts.

Linking to horse country, which also shows as you scroll down the general landscape of non-Beach Florida.

I love St. Augustine.

Sanibel Island was incredibly unspoiled when the CIA used it as a training area for the planned Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The beaches were nothing but miles of powdery white sand. Then they built a causeway to the mainland - making it easy to get to - and it's been downhill ever since. Just one more place in Florida destroyed by development.

Now Red Tide is there half the year, making the water toxic and the traffic and the crowds seem almost pleasant by comparison.

I moved there in 2011 because I was close to running out of money after I retired in Jersey. I bought a condo in Fort Lauderdale and it was less than $200,000. My monthly HOA dues are only $185/month. The humidity is great for my skin, and walk the beach at sunrise almost daily. Hearing the crashing waves is my meditation. If a hurricane comes, I’ve decided to stay and wait it out. If it’s my time, it’s my time!

No state taxes.

It's not so much the hurricanes and flooding as much as the hurricane (wind) and flood insurance.

Clearly you have never partied in South Beach. It is the BEST TIME EVER for gays!!!!!!!!

[quoote]There are high-rises in Downtown Orlando and I've never heard of one falling in a sinkhole.

Because they do and excavation and surveys to make sure they don't build on top of one. They dont just dig and hope for the best, that could be a dealdy mistake. Besides, most of the sink holes happen to be in other locations. Known sink holes that is.

[quote] If a hurricane comes, I’ve decided to stay and wait it out. If it’s my time, it’s my time!

Your an idiot. But then you know that right? Do us a favor, when the hurricane comes and you are on the roof of your condo about to drown, do us a favor and don't call for help. Rescue people are busy helping people who want to help themselves.

r110, that's why Florida is already moving forward with desalination.

Miami Beach does have a problem with transient tidal flooding of some streets. Ironically, it's due to the city's ongoing efforts to mitigate sea level rise. Miami Beach is systematically fortifying its perimeter against rising sea levels, but it can't do all the construction everywhere at once because it would cause a traffic apocalypse. The problem is, when Miami Beach gets seasonal extra-high tides, the water that USED to leave most of the yards under a quarter inch of water NOW gets concentrated into a smaller area and leaves the streets themselves under an inch or two of water for a few hours. The water flows around the newly-raised streets, and enters through the ones that haven't yet been raised. Sandbagging won't work, because it would block traffic (however, if an actual building were in danger of flooding, it could of course be effectively sandbagged individually).

Likewise, Dade County has had persistent problems for YEARS with clogged storm drains, especially during the year after a hurricane (Katrina, Wilma, and Irma in particular). The hurricane downs lots of trees, the rotting vegetation ends up getting washed into the storm drains, and clogs them until the county gets around to cleaning them out many months later. After Hurricane Katrina & Wilma, the Doral area in particular had really bad flooding problems until the storm drains were finally cleaned out about two years later. The parking lot for the Walmart on NW 87th Avenue by SR836 was particularly bad... even a minor rainstorm would submerge it under several inches of water for hours, and during the following summer, half the parking lot was literally unusable and perpetually flooded. Walmart blamed the county, the county said it was walmart's problem anyway, lawsuits flew, then the county finally got around to unplugging the storm drain that was causing the whole area to back up, and almost overnight the problem just went away.

The key point is that NONE of that inland flooding had anything whatsoever to do with sea level rise, and everything to do with a county that persistently failed to budget enough resources to quickly clean out its storm drains after hurricanes clogged them with rotting vegetation. Broward had similar problems for a few months after Irma... but at least Broward got its shit together and got all of ITS storm drains cleaned out before spring, so we only had 2 or 3 episodes of minor flooding during the months after Irma.

R122, downtown Orlando has sinkholes EVERYWHERE. Pretty much every single lake IN downtown Orlando (and the Orlando metro area in general) is a sinkhole.

There are two kinds of sinkholes... the ones that form rapidly due to underground water movement eroding away the land from below, and ones that have been there more or less "forever", and won't really collapse until a future combination of heavy new construction eventually causes it to cave in. Central Florida sinkholes are overwhelmingly the latter type. They take down single family homes by surprise because it makes no economic sense to spend $20,000 doing a geological study for every new house, because only a small number of subterranean voids that COULD potentially collapse actually WILL. In the case of a skyscraper, they DO a full geological study... and if they somehow missed it, one of the concrete pilings getting hamnmered down into the ground would punch through and cause it to be quickly discovered anyway.

As noted, just about the only terrain where you CAN'T build a skyscraper is permafrost. You could build a skyscraper over open water in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico if you wanted to. In fact, there are a bunch of such skyscrapers... they're called "offshore oil rigs". With a skyscraper, as long as glacial ice and permafrost aren't on the table, it doesn't really MATTER if the pilings pass through what used to be a potential sinkhole void, because ultimately they're going to be sitting directly on solid bedrock.

Ann Wilson's husband Dean moved her to Florida (think: farthest lower 48 location AWAY from Washington State) around the time of his assault on Nancy Wilson's two sons. Ann was just all over it, talking about how she was in a place where 'a dollar is still a dollar.' She did, of course have to complain that it was Trump Country. Dean is PSYCHO. He separated Ann from her family, talked her into moving across country.

I don't know what the psychological name for a new significant other who blazes onto the scene, starts 'other speak' about their significant other's family/friends/job. It's a form of mind control. Of course Ann did all this of her own volition, but anybody with some sense can see what was going on.

I don't know if Ann and Dean still reside in FL. I know I couldn't take the heat or the 'fleas the size of rats sucked on the rats as big as cats' winged insects. As far as the available men, it sounds lovely. But here in Ski-attle there are at least a few guys who put their T-pipe down. Sometimes. You just gotta catch them on a day when they're aware of anything outside of that. lol

I would move out of Florida if they are all as long winded as R124, R125, and R126. about a fucking sink hole.

Reply,102.The west coast of Australia is where Perth is,right?I don't like that kind of desert heat.I like heat with a bit of a breeze.Just as well I live in a climate that is rubbish at summer.

Have heard that Florida has some beautiful and undeveloped islands so wouldn't mind seeing some of those.California still wins hands down for me though

All the nuts talking about rising sea levels putting Florida cities underwater need to read r124. Florida will likely be underwater due to mismanaged municipal infrastructure, WAY before rising sea levels become an issue. People need to concentrate on why we can't get through summer rainy season without streets being flooded because of storm drains and canals not being cleared out, something feasible that can be handled.

To paraphrase Lauren Goff, every time you go outside in Florida, a snake is watching you. There is no lie.

*Groff. Apologies.

This has been a very strange winter here in Florida. Very cool in November, and this month it has been raining constantly like its June/July. A I feel sorry for anyone coming Florida looking for sunshine this holiday season.

Can they take the rainwater and make it potable? It rains so, so much here. Every morning there are huge puddles of water everywhere. I don't know why we have to rely on aquifers so much, since apparently we are depleting them.

Plays, symphony performances, ballets, book stores, exciting museum exhibitions? They exist, but you have to work hard to find them.

Maybe that's been your experience, R105, but it isn't everyone's, so don't speak as though it were. Northwest Florida native here who grew up immersed in all of that.

To die.

I wasn't going to say that, r5. I was going to say "hurricanes."

R133 The hell you say.

I spent six months in Florida. Hated every moment of it. Had to return to the northeast. Now of course even the northeast is intolerable . So what'd I do, a year ago I moved to the Atlanta area. Much better. No snow so far the people are awesome I just love it here.

So they don't slip on the ice and break a hip.

Florida is for criminals and the elderly. I do enjoy Fort Lauderdale from time to time. I hate everything Disney.

Had a beautiful $400,000 condo overlooking Lake Worth and the Atlantic that would have cost well over $4 million for comparable space and views in New York.

Sold it last spring Nothing to do except swelter and drink. Spending more than a month there (outside of January => March) is enough to drive you fuckin’ insane.

When I was a kid, we once had a family reunion in Florida and I Remember going on Collins Ave. and later, once going to Wolfie's Delicatessen, and eating apple strudel, and we stayed at a hotel where a waiter brought us freshly squeezed orange juice, and I ate pancakes, and we were seated outdoors with tables that had umbrellas attached. I've been down to Florida twice since then, at ten year intervals, or more, and it is nasty, seedy, low class, and gross, and the weather is unbearable except for three months a year. Maybe. I hate Florida and it will probably flood out and disappear within the next 50 years or less. Ugh. As a rule I try not to visit red states.

It’s truly awful and I’d never live there, but I always have a blast when I go there. I think it’s because it’s impossible to take anything seriously there because it’s all so over the top ridiculous. Even the wildlife. Swarms of alligators and freaking 30-foot pythons, for Christsakes!

And then in the midst of all the silliness there are places filled with true natural wonder and grace. Ocala National forest is one of the most hauntingly beautiful places on the planet.

Well tanned and reasonably clean foreskin.

Thank you, R143. Finally someone offers a reason to move to Florida then I can understand and appreciate.

We can't afford the run the A/C. So, we leave the sliding glass doors open and the snakes craw into the trailer.

The mosquitoes are so big that they can wear saddles on their back.

When the manatees fart and you can smell it 50 feet away.

The rain never quits. Our place is only 9 feet above mean low tide and I am sick of pushing the water out of the trailer with a push broom.

I HATE THIS PLACE: FLORI=DUH

Move you trailer, R145.

R146: We can't move it. The back end of the trailer is stuck in a sink hole.

Wow, R147. You've got the Total Florida Experience.

You all are summing up all of Florida based on a couple of places you've been - it's a huge state and has some beautiful places and wonderful people.

In Florida there is no state income tax, the GOP is in charge, the cost of living is not high, there are state laws that protect the wealthy and discriminate against the poor. Ask yourselves why so many wealthy people live in Florida.

R149 is correct! Florida has a wealth of natural resources and it's a natural peninsula with hundreds of miles of beaches.

[quote] Lots of international drug dealers have homes there, especially in Miami.

[quote] ...it's a huge state and has some beautiful places and wonderful people......and .....has a wealth of natural resources and it's a natural peninsula with hundreds of miles of beaches.

Shaddup you two. Please don't tell um the truth. We are painting a false picture to keep the masses away from here!! Real Estate developers are going nuts as it is.

Sunshine 🌞

What R91 ignores is the evidence of our eyes. Every year, in my Miami suburb, we see the flooding getting higher and higher on our street after a heavy rain. I do not care if the projections are strictly accurate or not. The precise number of inches do not really matter that much when you see it for yourself.

I am retiring in five years, and then I am out of Florida for good.

R102 Perth to Adelaide has a low dew point. That helps keeps the air fresh in summer. But it's also close enough to the tropics that daylight hours don't fluctuate much. Perth has no humidity in Summer. It's always dry with intense sunshine. Summer nights are often incredibly pleasant too. Cool enough to go out with a jacket on at night.

Never in a million years did I think I’d ever consider retirement in Florida.

However, when my partner ‘s mom moved to Tampa, I actually began to like it.

I’m looking forward to eventually moving out of NYC to Florida for the warmth, lack of state taxes, and relative inexpense of everything.

Of course by the time I do, global warming may have washed everything away

Tampa has the red tide, R156. When it gets to blooming, the poisonous fumes kill everything on land and the water kills everything in the water.

Be careful !!!!

I am going to make a prediction: Within the next 20 years,Florida will be damned near uninhabitable. Maybe the northern part away from water, but everything is going to be toxic.

Because in most areas, it rarely goes below 50 degrees F. You will never have to buy/wear a heavy coat, walk to your car in the painfully cold air, warm up your car, scrape ice off your windshield, put chains on your tires. Wherever you are located, there's a beach within a two-hour drive. And the beaches on Florida's gulf coast are the most beautiful in the country: clear green water with gentle waves, very soft sand.

So, the summers are hot; summers are hot in lots of places. You'll have to put up with alligators, sinkholes, giant roaches, and those bugs that crash into every inch of your car in September.

Not a place I would live but I could see having a place for the winter. However it’s gotten crazy expensive for housing. Little shacks in Wilton Manors are $500k+. And it’s ugly. The beach is nice but not very practical for stores and everyday living. And even more insanely expensive.

You talk about the gulf coast and the beautiful beaches and when I think of the Gulf Coast, I think of the BP oil spill and the fact that that shit is still leaking out all these years later. The Gulf is toxic.

I don't think anyone goes to Wilton Manors for the beach. They go to suck limp noodle and drink themselves to death.

I’m 44 and I live in Wilton Manors. I’ve been able to make a couple hundred dollars per weekend letting older gentleman suck my dick. I usually dont even cum, but they will pay anywhere from $20 to $60 to slobber on my cock. (I keep babywipes in my truck to clean off their spit afterwards). I work at Lowe’s, but this $800-$1200 a month is a nice supplement.

R163 may be a troll - or not. But it is fully believable. It’s exactly my image of Wilton Manors. Bored elder eldergays drinking every night and hiring middle eldergays for sex. I enjoy visiting for a weekend - and staying at the beach. But living there would turn me into a depressed alcoholic.

But I bet you could get a bitchin blowout or highlights if you wanted R164

Or even one of those 1960s dos

Florida cheap? Been looking for a two bed condo near a beach in a decent area and been astonished by the cost of utilities, property taxes and astronomical HOA fees! How can ordinary Americans afford to live there?

Look. You get yourself a van or an SUV to sleep in. You rent the smallest storage locker for your personal belongings. Get a PO Box, and you're in business. If you can afford it get a gym membership so you can bathe.

We bathe in the ocean..

WTF a BATHE?

When you consider all the insurance required - such as home, wind, hurricane, flood - all separate policies - it gets expensive to own property there.

Exactly. So buy a nice sized van.

I’m no criminal, but I do get by being creative. I find that it’s very easy to get people to sign up for MLMs (multiple level marketing) schemes here. People are just chasing the American Dream and very vulnerable. I also made a mint selling time shares in the 90s, but that’s slowed considerably. So if you’re a persuasive sales guy, you can make good money.

OK.So in my van, I have a nice dorm-sized fridge. I have some small appliances like a crock pot, an electric tea kettle and a toaster oven. I have a plastic tub for cereal, canned goods and peanut butter. And another plastic tub for some clothes and toiletries. That's it. Cover the floor with a nice mattress sheets and a blanket, and make sure you have plastic tarp to cover it with when it's not being a bed. A few nice throw cushions and bingo. Get yourself a battery operated flashlight for night reading. If you have to take a crap go to Mac Donald's. So you'll pay monthly for a storage locker, a post office box and car insurance. Oh. And you'll need a phone so there's that.

Pied-à-terre Orlando

That guy has too much stuff piled up, but yeah, R174, he's livin' the life!

To avoid paying NY-level taxes

r158, and your feeling is based on... what?

Is there toxic waste in Florida? Of course. And it's *nowhere* close to the amount present in places like New York, Boston, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or pretty much *anywhere* that had real industry prior to the 1960s.

Is Florida going to need desalination to support a future doubled+ population? Absolutely and unquestionably.

Does sea-level rise need to be taken into account for new buildings? Of course it does. But, as noted, most of the flooding seen NOW is due to substandard infrastructure built for a smaller, poorer, semi-rural state with 6-8 million people, not a half dozen vast sprawling conurbations slowly converging into a single ecumenopolis with 80-100 million or more future residents.

My folks wintered near St. Petersburg. It does not have Miami-type weather. Sometimes it snows there, a little.

There is, pretty consistently, a weather line that starts on the west coast near a Sarasota, and then turns up, around Daytona. Below the line is Miami-type tropical. Above that line is cooler. I have no idea why it is so consistent.

[quote]You talk about the gulf coast and the beautiful beaches and when I think of the Gulf Coast, I think of the BP oil spill and the fact that that shit is still leaking out all these years later. The Gulf is toxic.

I was just going to say that. Not really into shrimp cocktail with tar spots on the tail and god only knows how poisonous the actual shrimp are.

[quote] ........I think of the BP oil spill and .......The Gulf is toxic...

The BP oil mega disaster hit the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Red Neck Riviera. That is hardly all of Florida beaches.,

In my research I found that The Orange Shit Ass regime is getting rid of the Obama regulations aimed at preventing another mega Oil Spill.

Whatever R180 but the local seafood still comes from all parts of the gulf. I would not eat anything that comes from there. Especially shrimp which are filter feeders.

R181, fine with me. And please stay out of Florida, there are way too many people here already further messin up my state.

R182 I’m a well hung power pocket top. Sure you won’t leave a light on for me?

A sweltering toxic cesspool of red algae, and lunatics. A stew of bottom-feeding crustaceans marinating in glossy, oil rich slime. Septic skin rashes of indeterminate origin, ....and lots of MAGAts.

R180 do you think water just sits still? That toxicity has polluted vast areas of our oceans. Between the Japanese nuclear disaster, and the BP oil spill, there aren't too many areas of ocean where fish is safe to eat. North Atlantic, and around the Scandinavian countries, and that's about it.

[R127], which sinkhole are you referring to? Seattle or the state of Florida. Long winded? Maybe your mom fed you too many sound bytes. I'm sorry if you found my post long winded. Actually, I think I edit and spell check and grammarcize my posts here more than I ever did for anything at uni.

I've grown to accept DL is full of cavilling cunts who take pleasure in aiming and firing their incandescent vitriol at whomever or whatever offends their denture clenching idea of reality. It's forced me to grow a thicker skin and to not be afraid of posting when I feel I have something to add.

And no one need look any further than the internecine ranting on DL for the reason the American Left will never accomplish anything more than changing the shade of varnish on their toenails.

See, anybody can be an asshole when they put their mind to it.

[quote]please stay out of Florida, there are way too many people here

LOL I have on interest at all. That's MAGA country.

^^NO Interest^^

MAGA Beach AKA Redneck Rivera

Hundreds of herpes infected monkeys. Yet another reason to avoid Florida.

Gulf shrimp is absolutely delicious. I’ve grown up on the Texas gulf and have eaten dozens of pounds of gulf shrimp and have no negative health issues. I simply refuse to eat the cheaper shrimp from Malaysia or whatever slant-eye country they come from.

[quote] Malaysia or whatever slant-eye country they come from.

You are disgusting, R191.

Not only disgusting, R192, but likely eating his way to a cancer diagnosis with all those BP-brand shrimp.

Karma has a way of repaying people for comments like that...

Save it R193 . Cancer rates are soaring all over,and it has nothing to do with shrimp solely. The food ,water and air are all polluted. In the past decade,I went from never knowing anyone who had cancer to losing several friends to it,as well as having 2 family members battling it . And know 3 other people who are battling it as well. One a lifelong health nut .

[quote] I simply refuse to eat the cheaper shrimp from Malaysia or whatever slant-eye country they come from.

You dont need to worry about that when that toxic cancer shit you have been eating shows up as a third eye.

Happy New Year and enjoy your cancer crustaceans R191.

The men are dumber and easier to take advantage of. Hot young men eager for sex. Same with parts of Texas. Those alone are great reasons. Not uppity City boys up north who charge too much and act like they're something.

Retired to Flawda three months ago.Last night I heard more gunshots then I heard in three decades in LA.

I remember the first time I visited Florida was Ocala - and I saw those huge pits lining many of the streets. I asked what they were and was told "Just watch when it rains." Those pits fill to brim with water and then 15-20 minutes later the water is gone. It was then I realized that Florida is built on a swamp - much like the northeast for that matter - Boston, Providence, New York, D.C. All built on swamp.

If I wanted to meet hundreds of herpes infected monkeys I wouldn’t have to leave NYC, I’d just go to West Side Club.

My God, R198, WTF did you find them. These are real people. Now that is terrifying.

So, stay outta Florida or my man will get you!

[quote]The men are dumber and easier to take advantage of. Hot young men eager for sex. Same with parts of Texas. Those alone are great reasons.

If you are fugly fat bald predator that is.

I prefer not to have to trick people in bed thank you.

Do you think the guy in R198 can get on the TV Show Botched?

Bumping this because I am thinking of moving to Florida this year.

Where should I live?

My mother lived in Central Florida. There were so many hospitals & rehab places that when we visited my mother & my aunt in two different hospitals within 5 miles of each other, we also accidentally went to a third hospital in the same 5 miles from those 2 hospitals. It’s confusing because all the hospitals have “Lake” in their name because that’s the only distinguishing natural feature in the whole of central Florida - lakes. Which are all sinkholes.

Lots of sandy ground then all of a sudden a lake with big houses that have tiki bars near the shores and boats at their private docks.....and an alligator wall. My nephew was at one of the lakes sunning himself when trees started falling - they were cutting down trees to make an alligator wall to keep the gators from going into peoples‘ backyards & swimming pools.

Front row seats for the coming inferno/deluge.

There are alligator farms where people film themselves torturing alligators. For real.

R206, Where I live in Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley) there are hospitals, Urgent Care centers, and medical offices galore! Can't swing a dead cat without hitting one or the other! IOW, I sold my Cape Coral lot years ago and am staying put.

[quote]Bumping this because I am thinking of moving to Florida this year.

Don't do it.

[quote] Where I live in Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley) there are hospitals, Urgent Care centers, and medical offices galore!

Someone will come up with outpatient McCancer centers like we have in NY.

Get out while you can. I kept my parent's place on Sanibel after they died for 10 years before selling it in 2004. It couldn't be rented out and only used by family and with us there only by the grace of God because we inherited it when we were under 55. It was paid for, but upkeep, insurance, taxes, the HOA fee and the need to run dehumidifiers and have someone make sure they're working and draining right all summer cost about $1200 a month in late '90's - early aughts dollars. For which $15,000 or so annually my sister and I each got to spend about a month there every winter because we were both working. It also meant neither of us did much traveling anywhere else back then given the time and money we were spending on the Florida place. We didn't want to carry it until we retired given what it cost to keep. Too bad - it used to be a gorgeous place back then but over-development, the effects of hurricanes, and now Red Tide have taken the bloom off that rose.

There are no state income taxes in Florida but fees for everything. The insurance costs a fortune. The traffic was awful then. It's incredibly bad now. The island was OK but everything else nearby: FM Beach, Ft Myers, Cape Coral, etc. was trashy. For me, Florida is over and not just because of sea-level rise. Which is something you have to think about when you own a house on land that's seven feet above sea level.

R205, you should move to Weeki Wachee and become a mermaid. It will be so cool.

Send photos!

R208, that's disgusting. Ugh.