How do you like Florida?

There are a few of us in or around Gainesville. I like it but I have lived here for 32 years so I don't really know anyplace else. The people are fairly intelligent. The job market is pretty lousy due to a large number of recent graduates floating around with degrees just looking for anything to earn a check. The car scene is freakishly non existent locally due to the transient nature of a student population. The dragstrip is here with a small roadcourse that hosts an occasional autocross for CFR I think. The FIRM in Keystone has a decent rallycross setup and is showing promise for a decent smallish road course. Orlando/Tampa/Jacsonville etc... are all only a few hours away and have a fairly established motorsports scene. If you like dirt track stuff there are circle track events in any direction. Gainesville is right in the middle of the state so hurricanes usually just mean rain. Salt water is 1 1/2 hours away so cars don't really rust here. No inspections of any kind to register a car so you can tag just about anything. That's the short ramble. I'm sure some of the other locals can chime in with more.

On fire and sliding off into the ocean? Seriously, I'd push the button. South Florida is like another country. Gainesville is pretty rad though. Hot chicks from tiny towns. Plenty to do cheap/free. Awesome dragstrip/mini RR course. Bike friendly. If I had to live in florida, I'd consider that area. North (high springs) south (whatchamacallit) and west (newberry?) is awesome, DIRT berkeleyING CHEAP land. East is ghetto. Further east is redneck ghetto. For "in town" the North side (222/NW 39th ave) isn't bad. Mostly retired and/or professional types and less traffic. I miss the ville sometimes.

PS: TIP No seriously. Tip 20% for decent service. Tell all your friends from the great white north.

PPS: What the berkeley do I know? I lived there over 10 years ago. Listen to the dudes who live there now. I might be way off.

PPPS: Seriously: Watch yourself if you're the first in line at a red light turning green. Running reds is a weird cultural phenomenon there. My brother has the big zipper to prove it.

Yeah, poop is on the mark, definitely check in with some locals before you pick a place to live.

cwh wrote: wbjones- You serious? I would swear nothing around there was that high. Down here, only thing over 100' is a couple of trash piles. No joke.

Bok Tower (in Polk County) is supposed to have an elevation of 298 feet

poopshovel wrote: PPPS: Seriously: Watch yourself if you're the first in line at a red light turning green. Running reds is a weird cultural phenomenon there. My brother has the big zipper to prove it.

....and not just cars. During citrus harvesting season, all the trucks hauling oranges run lights on the way to the processing/packing plants. When the light turns green, count to three before you start moving. If you don't, you risk getting run over by a heavily laden semi.

Poopy is correct about SoFla being another country. Anything south of Lake Okeechobee is very ethnically diverse. Dade County, Miami, is where you have trouble finding someone who will speak English, even though they mostly can. You will hear Spanish, Caribbean accents, Haitian Creole, French, German, Russian, Polish, and that can happen in 20 minutes at our favorite meat market, seriously.

Wife threatens divorce, otherwise I would be in Tampa now.

cwh wrote: Poopy is correct about SoFla being another country. Anything south of Lake Okeechobee is very ethnically diverse. Dade County, Miami, is where you have trouble finding someone who will speak English, even though they mostly can. You will hear Spanish, Caribbean accents, Haitian Creole, French, German, Russian, Polish, and that can happen in 20 minutes at our favorite meat market, seriously.

I live a bit north of CWH in lower Palm beach County and ^ is the same here. I think I'm the only person on my street over 25 Y/O with English as a first language. Lots of car stuff going on here all the time. I picked the area to live because of weather and car activities. There's big climate differences depending on location in FL. As an example it hasn't gone over 93 degrees (that I know of) at my house since I bought it in 05.

Tampas not bad. Just drive a 4wd pickem up with a rebel flag on the back, you'll fit right in. OK, it used to be like that, has improved a bit since then. I have a good friend there that is retired Tampa PD. Full blooded Cuban, talks like a good ol' boy, but can speak in Cuban Spanish, Miami Spanish and Columbian Spanish. Retired narcotics cop. Tells some scary stories. Lives on Crooked Lane. Guess that was an inside joke.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Very appreciated. I'm not too concern about the heat, believe it or not, it gets really hot and humid around here in the summer. poopshovel, when you're talking about the rednecks area, it's between Gainesville and Jacksonville/Daytona I guess? I gotta say that the critters are freaking me out. Which area is nice to live in? i.e. kid friendly.

We need more details about what you want, do, think, family structure, etc...

The critters aren't bad if you have a decent saddle.

SVreX wrote: The critters aren't bad if you have a decent saddle.

Now you are just exaggerating, the roaches are more like roller skates, not horses.

The bugs aren't bad if you are properly equipped; I suggest a minimum of a .22. A laser scope will help. We get them up here, too.

fanfoy wrote: Thanks everyone for the comments. Very appreciated. I'm not too concern about the heat, believe it or not, it gets really hot and humid around here in the summer. poopshovel, when you're talking about the rednecks area, it's between Gainesville and Jacksonville/Daytona I guess? I gotta say that the critters are freaking me out. Which area is nice to live in? i.e. kid friendly.

Anything east of town sucks IMO. Palatka is weird. North side of town would be more kid friendly I guess(?) I lived there when I was 18, so "kid friendly" wasn't on my radar. There is some AMAZING farm land outside of town in pretty much any direction. Nothing like watching a big nasty storm rolling in on a couple hundred acres of prarie with a private lake.

Don't worry about the critters. Spray outside 4 times a year and don't leave food out. You'll never see so much as an ant.

Night time in summer load the deet on or HTFU and don't worry about it.

Take the kids to Payne's Prarie (South) and springs (North) to see alligators in their natural habitat. If you get a BIG rain, you can take 441 south of town and see dozens of yellow eyes on the side of the road. Pretty cool. I swam in black rivers (St. Lucie) as a kid. I wouldn't let my kid do it, but we never got hurt. Got "bumped" by a gator once, and had the piss scared outta me by a manatee, but no worse for wear. There is a lotta fun outdoors stuff to do in the area. As someone else said, job market SUCKS.

We would stay in Gainesville for a couple of years while my wife finishes her studies. So if we get a house, it would have to be not too far from the university. I have three young kids (3,5 and 7) so a place with good schools not too far. I am spoiled with a pretty decent garage, so I'd like something similar. Are people really stuck-up about working on your cars at your home, or leaving non-functional cars in your driveway? I looked at the real estate, and my GOD its really cheap compared to around here. Houses are about 150k to 200k cheaper than similar houses over here. Maybe I was just looking at the ones in the ghetto. Its hard to know when you don't know the town.

MrJoshua wrote:

SVreX wrote: The critters aren't bad if you have a decent saddle.

Now you are just exaggerating, the roaches are more like roller skates, not horses.

Get a little further south and not only do they grow even more (3" or so), but they FLY. There is something thoroughly un-fun about a critter who can spend it's mornings in your septic tank, and it's afternoons dive-bombing your Whopper and fries from a treetop vantage point.

Freakin' mutants.

I live about an hour to the East. I've lived here all my life. The town in which I live is fairly small, under 30,000 residents, so we go to Gainesville often for shopping. We prefer the much more laid back atmosphere there as opposed to the much faster paced cities like Jacksonville and Orlando. If the job market were a little stronger, we'd be living there. I do think the area is ripe for a small business, though. Restaurants on and near campus seem to make quite a bit of money.

fanfoy wrote: We would stay in Gainesville for a couple of years while my wife finishes her studies. So if we get a house, it would have to be not too far from the university. I have three young kids (3,5 and 7) so a place with good schools not too far. I am spoiled with a pretty decent garage, so I'd like something similar. Are people really stuck-up about working on your cars at your home, or leaving non-functional cars in your driveway? I looked at the real estate, and my GOD its really cheap compared to around here. Houses are about 150k to 200k cheaper than similar houses over here. Maybe I was just looking at the ones in the ghetto. Its hard to know when you don't know the town.

Nah. I was shocked at how cheap houses were watching the real estate channel all hung over at the last Challenge. Carports are pretty easy to come by in older homes (northside.) When I was there, they had just passed a "no more than x amount of cars at any one house" ordinance to stop "multi family" living in neighborhoods like ours, so yeah, they might get bitchy about junk cars. Dunno about the schools.

There are plenty of houses /trailers to look at here G ville for sale . You have a great central location in G ville for day trips . Very nice springs for diving /tubing . And you are only an hr from here

Yeah, I should have refreshed before I hit post.

I live in Palatka. I am personally not a fan. I like the proximity to a lot of cities, but I don't like the lack of options around here. Tons of rednecks here, and all they do is breed. Dead serious. We have fairly high crime and a woefully inadequate law enforcement presence where it's needed, but they have no problem clocking you as you go through town and writing you a nice fat ticket.

We have an alright job market if you don't mind doing hard labor and you get to know someone with an in. I've lived here my whole life and have yet to find a good, solid connection to the good old boys system that runs this town.

In reply to Karl La Follette:

Is that yours?

Gainesville home prices are lower than they have been for 10 years so you are set for low buy in. Whether you would lose money in a couple of years depends on your thoughts on the economy. Mortgage rates are really low and it is a great rental town so buy it with as little money down at a low rate and be prepared to turn it over to a rental company when you leave and it would be hard to lose. Stay out of the "University Commons" area and out of association neighborhoods and you are fine with cars. All cars must be registered unless they are in a garage, but car covers and $100 pep boys 12x20 awnings count as some sort of garaged storage.

Derick Freese wrote: In reply to Karl La Follette: Is that yours?

It hurts me how much I envy Karl.

While you think about all these other things, don't lose sight of the quality of schools. They're not exactly the best-rated in the country. You have three youngsters, you said. Look up the school's score based on standardized testing and see how they stack up.

I've spent a considerable amount of time in Tampa/St. Pete, Miami, Orlando, Jax, and Okeechobee. I've also spent a large amount of time visiting my (now deceased) grandparents in Ruskin and Sarasota.

Most of the middle part of the state is kinda boring to me. Its pockets of flamingo-colored commercialism to support the old people, and a ton of, um... shall we call them Rural folks? People who are either immigrants or trashy mullet-types who's favorite passtime is shootin' cottonmouths fer the grill. Nothing wrong with any of that demographic, I just don't necessarily have much in common with them.

Miami is an interesting city. Its kinda like L.A. in that its hard to make enough money to live there unless you're a real big-wig. The city vibe is interesting. Its not a specific thing, just kinda the feeling I got there. Its oddly individualistic. Not much of a neighborly feeling. Tampa has some nice stuff, but its not very progressive... yet. Its getting better. There is a nice night-life in Ybor City, plenty of gulf boating and fishing, and its getting younger.

My overall feeling about Florida is that its a nice place to grow oranges, but its VERY MUCH not my kind of place to live. (just my personal opinion.)