Moving to Florida Don't believe everything you hear!

Moving to Florida   Don't believe everything you hear!

So, you're considering moving to Florida. And of course, I'm sure that you've been out and looking all over the place on the Internet and seeing all these crazy things that people keep posting. You're wondering, do I need to move there? What's going on with everybody? What's real? Well, in this video, we're going to go over what to pay attention to and kind of dispel some of those myths. So, don't believe everything you hear. We'll tell you what's real and what is it.

So, let's get into Florida, let's get into the state of Florida. We're going to expand our boundaries off the panhandle look across. So, I went through and did some research just like you did and found 10 things that people said about Florida. And we're going to dispel some myths that are out there was real, what's not. Of course, the other questions that people are asking when they come here. So, let's go!

1. You’re Going to be Eaten by Alligators

No. It's not real. You had to be a complete idiot to be eaten by an alligator or go out there. Now, there are certain places of Florida, normally, towards the Everglades where you're going to see a higher population of alligators and actually a whole lot more wildlife that's going to be a little bit further down. As you go further north, northeast, you're going to see less and less of that as you go. And of course, if you come over here to the panhandle of Florida, you're northwest Florida, it's very, very minor. Basically, just like anything, if you see it, you see a gator, just, you know, stay away from it. It can't move that fast. So, stay away from it. Don't bug it, don't get a stick and poke it, and you guys will probably be fine. Right? So, you're not going to get eaten by gators.

2. TOO MANY YANKEES

I love this one. Number two, there's way too many yankies around here. Alright? So, I thought this was hilarious when they said that because there are a good amount of people that come from, specifically, New York, that end up moving down to Central, South Florida. I was actually in South Carolina Myrtle Beach, and I was having a conversation with somebody. They're like, you yankees we like you. But we don't want you to stay. When you end up staying, we call you damn yankees. Now, like, what? But yeah, basically that's it. Now, I'll let you know that a lot of people that do come here are what I like to call a transplant. I myself wasn't born a raised here in the state of Florida, but this is where I ended up eventually because it's pretty awesome for a certain amount of reasons. Right? So, there are a lot, but it's not just from the Northeast. We're seeing a good amount of people coming from California as well and all over the states. Texas is a big one that's been moving out this way. So, things are changing, but just know that there's going to be a diverse community depending upon where you go. And as you get into more popular destination and population centers, that you're going to see a bit more diversity as that goes.

3. IT'S TOO HOT

This one's true. It gets odd, it gets ridiculously odd. The thing about the heat is that it's not so much because you kind of look at it and you're like, oh, you know, 80, 90 degrees. You're like, that should be pretty hot. It's a humidity that makes it so much worse. As you go out there and you take about five steps and you're just like, oh, I'm drenched. Terrific moisture in the air. Just know when the humidity comes out here, it makes the hot hotter. Also makes the cold colder. Does it get cold? Well, if you come here to our neck of the woods in Northwest Florida, it can get pretty cold as well, Florida cold. For you guys in Minnesota, it's definitely no or Wisconsin this isn't cold. But, it can get down sometimes to, I've seen it 20 degrees, but that's very rare. Our average temperatures is, like, mid 40s to mid 50s during our winter time, which is December to about March. When it does get hot, just make sure that you prepare for it. It's not too, too bad. When I got down here, especially coming from New York, upstate New York, and when it got cold, we just too cold, we would just run to the heat, you know, from your car into the house or whatever. In the hot part of the summer, we do the same thing except we run from AC to AC. Right? So, it just kind of flips when you look at that. Alright.

4. It's Nothing but Retirement Communities and Golf Courses

Well, I'm going to say that that's kind of true in some areas, but they specifically built communities for 55 and up in certain parts of central in South Florida. We don't see a whole lot in Northwest Florida, although there are a couple here and there. But it's not all like that at all. There are specific places, which is nice that kind of builds that out if that's what you're looking for. And of course, there's always golf courses because, you know, we get to golf year-round. It's pretty awesome. The entire state, we get to golf year-round. So yeah, they're going to be everywhere, but it's not just that. Alright.

5. IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE

Well, that's going to be relative. If you're coming from New York City, coming from LA or any place in California, it's going to seem pretty cheap. But, let's kind of put it across the board. For the entire state of Florida, let's look at the cost of living index. If you haven't seen any of my previous videos for here, this is how the cost of, or cost of living index codes. You can of course look that up. You can go on areavives.com to get the same information. So, what they do is they take the cost of living where the average is 100% and then they go above and below just based on certain things, like how much housing is, groceries, what have you. The entire state of Florida is sitting at a 102. So, let's say that's 2% higher than the average in the United States. So, really not that bad. You know, when you think about Florida, you're like, no. That's got to be, like 150. No. It's not that bad. Now, I know housing rises or housing prices have been rising, but that's been a kind of across the country altogether. But, not too bad.

6. There's Nothing but Tourists Here

Now, I can contest that that's not true. I mean, I live here. Now, there is a good amount of people that do live in the specific areas. You also have people that snowbird. Who will have a second home somewhere, and then in the winter, come down to Florida. And then when it finally gets tolerable back in the North country, they'll go ahead and go back north and rent it out for the rest of the time or just leave it vacant or what have you. But, there's a lot more to the tourists, all the tourists and the locals make it very interesting driving around here. And it's kind of, I know that we have Daytona and there's the racetrack there, but there's no reason that we need to do that, you know, on a highway, strawberry state. Alright.

7. I Don't Want to be the Florida Man

Now, if you've done any research on the Florida Man, you could definitely see there. Now the reason, if you haven't seen it by the way, go check it out. There's always stories about something ridiculous that somebody did. I think the last one I saw was that somebody actually went into a pond, a murky pond to go get a frisbee and ended up getting eaten by a gator. Very, very rare that this happens. I have no idea. I think there was alcohol or drugs involved. But yeah, those are the florida man stories. The reason you see so many things come from Florida, is that anything that goes into an arrest is actually public record. So, you can look up anybody or anything and it will get posted. It's like one of those things. So this web site, took that and just took the very cream of the crop, so to speak, of people doing stupid stuff, and then just post it up to the world. That's why we get a bad rap. Still hilarious, but that's why we got it. Alright.

8. TOO MUCH TRAFFIC

Again, depends where you come from. Yeah, traffic sucks. This is also true. It's too much traffic for me personally. It does get a little bit crazy, but just know as you get away from certain population centers, certain times of the year, it's not so bad. However, yeah, traffic's pretty terrible. That's true. Alright.

9. Hurricanes are Going to Blow my House Away

Hurricanes are going to blow my house away or blow me away. That's not necessarily true either. When you go into hurricane season, which starts usually from June 1st to November 30th. Yeah, that's six months. For half of the year. Right? They have different storms and tracks that kind of come through here. Depending upon where you are in Florida, you may have a high probability of a storm coming over the top of you or what have you. But just know that most everything is being built down here has to go up to a code. Everything here has built into their home insurance, hurricane deductibles. But also make sure that all builders put hurricane clips on top of it in the rafters of the roof. They do all these different things kind of help you out. And honestly, as long as you have a plan, if a big enough storm rolls through here because that whole hurricane, you need to need to leave for. But if it's big enough storm or you don't feel comfortable, just have a plan to be able to get out of there. Have a kit, make sure that you're good to go, and you'll be fine. But, they're very rare that they'll blow through here.

10. Way Too Flat

Last but not least number ten, it's way too flat. Yes. This one's true as well. It is flat all throughout here. It's not completely flat. It's not like high plane desert sort of flat. But, it is pretty flat out there. There are some places though that does have some elevation change, but it's not a whole lot. But you'll notice some of that as it goes around. But, there's some hills. But, I mean, you could pretty much see the tallest point by standing on your tippy toes and looking around. So yes, it is pretty flat, but it is when it is when you get here.

Alright. Well, that's all I have for you for moving to Florida. And don't believe everything you hear except for some things that those were actually true. If you have any questions about anything I mentioned here, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com