Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Hurricane Ian just missed you by 100 miles. Next year, there will be another hurricane. I wouldn't be so smug that it didn't affect you.

When I lived in Sarasota, I loved driving to Ft. Myers. I loved going to Englewood to Manasota Keys.

Traffic on I4 isn't horrendous except around WDW. I never drove when I lived in the DMV so I didn't spend that much time in traffic there by comparison. I'm sure it's worse in the DMV. That's not the point. When people from the DMV and NYC and Philly move to Florida, they bring they're driving and honking habits with them.

Sarasota used to be a place where mostly Midwesterners lived. It's changed in the last few years.

I'm not being smug, I'm being grateful. Also, people on DCUM seem to think hurricanes smash into every community in FL yearly while that is obviously not the case. I lived on the east coast of FL for 6 years and now the SW coast for 3 and the worst hurricane I have ever experienced myself was when I lived in NoVa, a tree fell on my house and the streets were flooded.
Sarasota has not suffered a direct hit from a hurricane in 63 years and has never even experienced sustained hurricane force winds according to The Weather Channel.

I go between Sarasota and Orlando regularly and traffic on I4 is horrendous most of the time, sometimes near Lakeland, sometimes near downtown Orlando, always near the parks, unless you drive late at night which I often do.

In my Sarasota community there are people from many areas of the country including the midwest but also north east and and other parts of the country. I find most people I meet here are delightful whether they are transplants, locals or snowbirds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Hello Sarasota poster. We are moving there for my husbands job this summer from the east coast of Florida. He’ll be working in long boat. We have a rising 9th grader and rising 8th grader. I’ve been put several times - spent some time on the coastal side and in Lakewood ranch. What insight might you have. Traffic is busy but seems less so than our Miami/Lauderdale traffic. Budget is relatively healthy so we can swing a lot of places. Any other insight you have is appreciated!

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in central FL and lived in Sarasota for awhile before moving to NOVA. Sarasota’s actually the only place in Florida I would ever consider moving back to, especially now that I have kids. I loved the Ringling, plays at the Asolo and Venice Thestre, Simon’s Coffeehouse on Saturday mornings. Traffic is pretty bad, so that was good preparation for moving here. The schools in Sarasota County are (were) decent, although we left in 2012 and my teacher friends there tell me we got out at a good time.

I wouldn’t raise my kids in Polk/Orange/Osceola counties for anything.

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Hurricane Ian just missed you by 100 miles. Next year, there will be another hurricane. I wouldn't be so smug that it didn't affect you.

When I lived in Sarasota, I loved driving to Ft. Myers. I loved going to Englewood to Manasota Keys.

Traffic on I4 isn't horrendous except around WDW. I never drove when I lived in the DMV so I didn't spend that much time in traffic there by comparison. I'm sure it's worse in the DMV. That's not the point. When people from the DMV and NYC and Philly move to Florida, they bring they're driving and honking habits with them.

Sarasota used to be a place where mostly Midwesterners lived. It's changed in the last few years.

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I found Florida very shallow also - shallow and ignorant. "So you're jewish - so you don't do a tree or anything?" "Wait, but do you celebrate Thanksgiving?" And I thought there were so many NY transplants - yet I seemed to meet every Floridian who'd somehow never met a jewish person. On my lunch breaks, women would show other women before and after pictures of their breast implant surgeries and nose surgeries.

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Sarasota since 2020 and absolutely love it. I do not find any of these anecdotal comments to be true for me. I cannot even imagine why anyone would prefer living in central Florida vs the gulf coast. I left during Ian for a few days because it was supposedly heading right for us. When I came back I found out the power never even when out in my community. There was some tree damage and landscaping debris to clean up. It was nothing especially compared to Ft. Myers 100 miles south.

Like the OP I came from NoVa and I do not miss that scene at all. It's a nice place to visit, that's all. The people I've met here are great, my life here is great, there is a lot of traffic during snowbird season but it's a lot better than DC area traffic. Traffic in central Florida, especially I-4, is pretty much awful all year round.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You summed it up very well in your OP. Florida is all about appearances, the house, the car, the looks. The dichotomy of the wealthy and their servants (which include well paid servants like doctors and lawyers). People moving from DC to Florida shouldn’t delude themselves that anyone will care about their degrees, pedigree, cultured-ness, creativity or kindness. Relationship are transactional.

We moved to St Pete from DC and this has not been my experience at all. Maybe we just got lucky, where we picked to live.

Maybe you're younger and you have more time to work and save for retirement.

I personally would not raise a family in Florida.

I'm 50 and moved here ten years ago. We have remote jobs we brought with us from DC, and both of us have changed jobs a couple of times since we got here - staying remote. That certainly makes it easier. But I just haven't found it to be about appearances or there to be any kind of upstairs/downstairs sort of life here. We aren't part of the country club crowd, and we live in a very family oriented neighborhood in the city, so maybe we just live in a different Florida than the people who are unhappy.

Look there's plenty not to like about Florida - but it sounds like folks here have been trying to join the Mar A Lago plastic surgery society, and honestly that's on them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You summed it up very well in your OP. Florida is all about appearances, the house, the car, the looks. The dichotomy of the wealthy and their servants (which include well paid servants like doctors and lawyers). People moving from DC to Florida shouldn’t delude themselves that anyone will care about their degrees, pedigree, cultured-ness, creativity or kindness. Relationship are transactional.

We moved to St Pete from DC and this has not been my experience at all. Maybe we just got lucky, where we picked to live.

Maybe you're younger and you have more time to work and save for retirement.

I personally would not raise a family in Florida.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I found Florida very shallow also - shallow and ignorant. "So you're jewish - so you don't do a tree or anything?" "Wait, but do you celebrate Thanksgiving?" And I thought there were so many NY transplants - yet I seemed to meet every Floridian who'd somehow never met a jewish person. On my lunch breaks, women would show other women before and after pictures of their breast implant surgeries and nose surgeries.