Calling all former Floridians...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second the Winter Park rec.

I was going to recommend Winter Park too based on OP's desire for a small downtown area, but I'm not sure whether 600k can get a SFH. Also, traffic around I-4 can be pretty bad though. I grew up in Lake Mary, which isn't too far from there, and it was nice, but super suburban.

The public schools always seemed fairly decent to me as a kid, but maybe not as high achieving as some of the Fairfax County schools where we live now. Regardless, I went to FSU and saved a ton of money (not the only decent university in FL despite what a UF poster will have you believe) and I had multiple top tier law schools offer me nearly full ride scholarships. So I don't think FL schools are as bad as PPs claim.

That being said, I have no desire to move back because there are many more career opportunities here and I love all the nearby cultural amenities. But if you can telework and enjoy a more laid back lifestyle down there, the COL can't be beat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the pp at 15:18. Schools in St John's county are excellent. Better than our experience in Fairfax. Ignore the intellectual snobs.

I'd move their in a minute - a minute! - if I wasn't so damned attached through three generations to this place.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Winter Park as a kid. Awesome place to grow up. It's far less small town, "old" Florida than it once was--more national chains and fewer local shops on Park Avenue. But it is really pretty with the old houses and the chain of lakes. The schools have always been good. I'm sure the historic neighborhoods cost a fortune, but you could look to see what's in your price range. Perhaps parts of Maitland, too.

[Anonymous]

Ponte Vedra! Or Fruit Cove. Fantastic schools, great weather, friendly people. We loved it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a related note, why do I see Florida license plates all over here in DV region? I'd it s mass exodus after university graduation? I see way more FL plates than PA or GA or NC bits weird.

Because of the military population here. If you are military and have lived in FL you can keep your residency there. No income tax.

Thanks that explains a LOT. No income tax is sweet, but get to live in Md.

Nah. We just all keep our FL plates so we don't pay property tax on our cars. I did it for 7 years and many of my friends did as well. Neighbors did the same. I've never met any military personnel with FL plates yet though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the pp at 15:18. Schools in St John's county are excellent. Better than our experience in Fairfax. Ignore the intellectual snobs.

My kids were in St Johns County Schools as well - Julington Creek, Fruit Cove, Creekside. We thought they were much better than MOCO and Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Funnily enough we just relocated to Gainesville, Florida after 16 years in DC. We love it. Warm community, great college town, great jobs, and you can get to the ocean and gorgeous beaches in a 2 hour drive. After commuting 1.5 hours each way, everyday from Baltimore to DC and back for work my husband loves making the beach trip. No sweat for us former DC drivers. We do it quite often.
We miss our longtime DC friends, our old neighbourhood, the Nats games and more but we come back and visit quite a bit. we love Gainesvile and our elem school kids do too. And don't get me started on the affordability. We made bank on the sale of our DC home and have cut our costs in half basically. Schools are great and again the warmth and kindness of this town is astounding. Makes me wonder why I put up with the vitriol of the DC metro area for so long. You deserve to be happy, OP. Consider Gainesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

Stop the presses. $46k! That is mad money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

Stop the presses. $46k! That is mad money.

Yeah, but when you have, say, two married teachers in their mid 30s who are now each making $56k (I'd guess that's a reasonable amount of raises for working for 10-15 years), and they aren't paying 8% income tax (like i do in DC), it seems pretty viable to buy a $350k house in a nice, new part of town on that salary. Lots of nice neighborhoods in Floirda with good schools where you can get something for $350k. So yeah, those kinds of salaries can afford to buy in nice neighborhoods in Florida.

[Anonymous]

Pine View High School in Sarasota is considered one of the best high schools in the country. I have several friends who graduated from there. Also, I think schools tend to be good in towns dominated by major universities, like Tallahassee and Gainesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

Stop the presses. $46k! That is mad money.

Yeah, but when you have, say, two married teachers in their mid 30s who are now each making $56k (I'd guess that's a reasonable amount of raises for working for 10-15 years), and they aren't paying 8% income tax (like i do in DC), it seems pretty viable to buy a $350k house in a nice, new part of town on that salary. Lots of nice neighborhoods in Floirda with good schools where you can get something for $350k. So yeah, those kinds of salaries can afford to buy in nice neighborhoods in Florida.

My mom was a teacher in Florida. You don't get those kind of raises. She retired 5 years ago and made peak $60k by doing a lot of overtime/homeschooling. Every teacher in FL has to have a side hussle to cover summer of no pay. Or marry a doctor. Teachers are not valued in FL nearly as much as in MoCo or the like, though I guess in truth maybe the housing cost/salary ratio still works out in FL. But they aren't living next to doctors, which was the original point. Doctors by and large live in the gated communities that litter the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

Stop the presses. $46k! That is mad money.

Yeah, but when you have, say, two married teachers in their mid 30s who are now each making $56k (I'd guess that's a reasonable amount of raises for working for 10-15 years), and they aren't paying 8% income tax (like i do in DC), it seems pretty viable to buy a $350k house in a nice, new part of town on that salary. Lots of nice neighborhoods in Floirda with good schools where you can get something for $350k. So yeah, those kinds of salaries can afford to buy in nice neighborhoods in Florida.

My mom was a teacher in Florida. You don't get those kind of raises. She retired 5 years ago and made peak $60k by doing a lot of overtime/homeschooling. Every teacher in FL has to have a side hussle to cover summer of no pay. Or marry a doctor. Teachers are not valued in FL nearly as much as in MoCo or the like, though I guess in truth maybe the housing cost/salary ratio still works out in FL. But they aren't living next to doctors, which was the original point. Doctors by and large live in the gated communities that litter the state.

Okay, so even assuming crappy raises, the two teachers could possibly buy a $300k house a few blocks down from a $550k house where the early-career doctor working at the UF hospital with a sahm lives. I had a lot of doctor friends in their thirties in florida who were living in that house price point. They aren't all plastic surgeons! And same with lawyers down there. There are probably only 10 kids a year in florida that get hired out of law school at the big law $160/180k starting salary. Most lawyers are lucky to get offered a starting salary of $80k in the major cities; less in the smaller towns. So certainly lawyers are living along side teachers. Maybe not the same street, but in the same communities and sending their kids to the same schools. But in DC, the teachers aren't even living in the same county as lawyers (unless they married rich). Florida salaries are much more closely gathered around the mean.

[Anonymous]

For 300,000 you can get a brand new 4 bedroom all stucco home in a golf, swim tennis community with a Waterpark, fitness center and other amazing amenities near the beach. Great Schools. Look at Nocatee. At one point it was the best selling neighborhood in the US.

46, 000 a year starting salary would allow a new teacher to purchase a home in really nice neighborhood in St Johns. You could easily buy a townhouse in Julington Creek for 160,000. Gated community with all the amenities.

Every where is not ridiculously expensive like DC.

https://nocatee.com/amenities/

http://www.jcpcdd.org/aquatics.html

OP- We can't wait to move back to St Johns!!! Definitely visit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard the public schools in Florida are not good anywhere. Period. And, most people with money put their kids in parochial or private schools. My family lives full time in the DC Metro area but we own a home in Boca Raton. I would never move down there with grade school children. I have kids in middle school now. At least in the DC area you have a wide variety of school options but not in Florida. Plus, people down there are stupid (culturally, socially, politically...) at least in South Florida. OP, you should think long and hard about it.

You must have missed the part where I said I lived in florida for 7 years and love it.

But, you have kids now which is a critical component. You weren't concerned about schools when you were loving it.

I was mostly responding to the bolded. No one can be so stupid to think that there are literally no excellent public schools in the entire state of florida, so that I didn't even think to respond to that part of the PP's comment.

NP. I grew up in Florida. Don't do this to your kids. You understand great school ratings don't work across state lines? And though UF is not a bad school, it is the only viable in state option and decent university for like 600 miles.

Culturally there is a reason why Florida is the butt of many jokes. And summers are unbearable unless you live on the beach. No one will be walking in your cute downtown area for 5 months of the year because of the blistering heat. And it is the south with a bunch of lower income folks who moved down from up north to live large.


If you must do this, Gainesville is cute college town but kind of grungy, St Augustine is decent option, bayside in Tampa, parts of New Tampa are where all my friends with professional jobs ended up (but suburban sprawl). Maybe Celebration, but snooty. Winter Park I think is ok but less familiar with Orlando. Space coast might be nice but has been in decline since NASA outsourced everything to SpaceX and Russians.

You will not find cats and dogs and teachers and doctors living together; teachers make $30k, it just doesn't happen unless teacher marries a doctor. Gated communities are EVERYWHERE.

OP, people are just stupid. This poster has no idea what she is talking about. My daughter is a teacher in St Johns. Starting salary several years ago was 46,000 a year. That's just one small example of the nonsense on the board. There are several great colleges in Florida. Smart, high performing kids in Florida go to college at almost no cost. UF and FSU are good as are University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Miami, ....... Plenty of good in-state options. We have lived in every region of this country (including several years in Hawaii) and in three overseas countries. We can't WAIT to move back to Florida.

Stop the presses. $46k! That is mad money.

Yeah, but when you have, say, two married teachers in their mid 30s who are now each making $56k (I'd guess that's a reasonable amount of raises for working for 10-15 years), and they aren't paying 8% income tax (like i do in DC), it seems pretty viable to buy a $350k house in a nice, new part of town on that salary. Lots of nice neighborhoods in Floirda with good schools where you can get something for $350k. So yeah, those kinds of salaries can afford to buy in nice neighborhoods in Florida.

My mom was a teacher in Florida. You don't get those kind of raises. She retired 5 years ago and made peak $60k by doing a lot of overtime/homeschooling. Every teacher in FL has to have a side hussle to cover summer of no pay. Or marry a doctor. Teachers are not valued in FL nearly as much as in MoCo or the like, though I guess in truth maybe the housing cost/salary ratio still works out in FL. But they aren't living next to doctors, which was the original point. Doctors by and large live in the gated communities that litter the state.

Okay, so even assuming crappy raises, the two teachers could possibly buy a $300k house a few blocks down from a $550k house where the early-career doctor working at the UF hospital with a sahm lives. I had a lot of doctor friends in their thirties in florida who were living in that house price point. They aren't all plastic surgeons! And same with lawyers down there. There are probably only 10 kids a year in florida that get hired out of law school at the big law $160/180k starting salary. Most lawyers are lucky to get offered a starting salary of $80k in the major cities; less in the smaller towns. So certainly lawyers are living along side teachers. Maybe not the same street, but in the same communities and sending their kids to the same schools. But in DC, the teachers aren't even living in the same county as lawyers (unless they married rich). Florida salaries are much more closely gathered around the mean.

Oh, I didn't see where in OP said she wanted to live next to lawyers.

I agree any lawyer in FL is not big law; I won't use the pejorative that is thrown around DCUM to describe it.

I'm just saying as someone who grew up in FL, I wish my parents had stayed in the NE, it was awful and I hope OP really things hard about what she is doing. It's fine for vacation or to party in your twenties. Why not look at someplace in Colorado or Seattle? Is it the beach? North Carolina or Jersey are doable options.