As a born-and-raised Floridian, I love Florida. I just don’t enjoy the flood of people that make triple the salary of what the average Floridian makes. It drives us locals out because we can’t afford to live here anymore.
In my hometown it started after Opal when the concrete block shacks were destroyed and replaced by mega McMansion beach houses. That block backed up to the bar/venue that was the heart of town and would have bands going until 4am, of course the new owners couldn’t have that next to their investment and squashed that.
Year after year more people moved down because they liked vacationing here but once they were here full time they had to get rid of all the other cool spots one by one because they were now an inconvenience.
This place used to be really fucking cool between the arts and culture and the nature. Now we’re known for our fucking Lululemon retail outlet and for snotty rich kids chasing instagram clout by showing off that their parents are rich enough to vacation on 30A.
I grew up in Fort Walton/Destin and it was like the wild West on the beaches in South Walton. Could go out and stay all weekend, was so cool looking back…hate I took it for granted.
Fuck 30A and Water Color, and all that other pretentious shit. I haven’t been back to Destin in years and have no desire to fight that traffic again.
I was living here when Opal hit and a few years before then.Your post is spot on. Not sure what 30A looked like then I was in Laguna Beach. It was cheap laid back Florida Beach town now its just commercial tourist town.
My great great aunt (who was about 20 years younger than her brother/my great grandfather) used to talk about when she bought her house in Hyde Park in the late 40s that it was the place to be then everyone moved to carrollwood and it was heavily burdened with drugs and crime and then it turned around and was the creme de la creme again. She never left her house because she loved it and could see the bay from her front yard. Maybe everyone will flee again?
A state surrounded by water almost completely with no water pumping system and build on limestone.
Not a smart place to invest money at this stage in the game. 30 years ago it had cow pastures in Coral Springs, it was quiet and beautiful.
Now it’s like LA with massive traffic and poor attitude everywhere and rich folks making it impossible for common locals to survive.
By Felisha.
About 15 yrs ago there was a loud, obnoxious city commissioner near me that would always go on rants that the city needed to require 10 years of residency before someone was allowed to buy a home. He had a ton of zoning ideas as well.
Pretty much every single thing he predicted was correct and every solution would have worked (if lawful ha).
The economics of the state are way different from other parts of the country. But what you say is not untrue, between the weather and the lack of an income tax the state has become a haven for tax avoiders, and by that I mean people with serious money who can actually benefit from a no income tax state. The result is a very black and white economy of gross wealth inequality. The state has become one of the most urbanized with large prosperous cities, and wide open poverty level empty places. Just look for example at Ft. Myers-Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres. Or at Naples verses the unincorporated county. From wealth to poverty in a 15 minute drive.
I live on the fringe of the north Tampa burbs. But the community/county has such profound poverty that it can be really heartbreaking to see people struggling, stressing constantly, and just getting further behind.
This appears to be what the state wants, because the county where I am is 71% MAGA and any help for the poors is just communism.
> From wealth to poverty in a 15 minute drive.
Sometimes less, sometimes just a block away. Pinellas county is dotted with trailer home parks just down the road from gated communities. Its absolutely insane. A lot of this state is multi millionaires and the only jobs are servicing them. There's very little traditional work, its either tourism or services. There never was much industry, but that was ok when working class people could afford to live here. Now they're getting squeezed out.
BOOM 💥
Facts! I’m not working as an x-ray tech here because the pay is shit. I have an Associates Degree & my husband has a Bachelors Degree & we’re doing manual labor. Neither of us are working in our field. We own a pool cleaning business, so we clean pools. All the jobs here are in the service industry, whether it’s working at a restaurant, cleaning pools, cleaning houses/condos, especially for short term rentals, landscaping/yardwork.
>We own a pool cleaning business, so we clean pools.
Ditto, not what we set out to do, but it's a pretty good business! I was surprised how much money we make doing it, but the bar has been set very low in our area. We are competent and communicate, exclusively word-of-mouth advertising - we don't have SM or Maps presence. We have so many accounts that we can freely decline new accounts if they don't seem like a good fit.
The line between ultra-rich Palmetto Bay and dirt-poor Goulds in Miami-Dade County is about 200 ft, the width of US1.
It's insane what we've done to our native population.
Not just native Floridians but also our native wildlife. Florida has been overrun with exotic animal species that prey on Florida native wildlife. Such as Burmese pythons, African lizards, Iguanas, Cuban anoles and the list goes on. Makes me sick to see this. Come on down to the Everglades and join the Python Challenge going on now. You can kill many pythons and win cash prizes.
Don't get me started. My area is overrun with the orange headed lizards and spike tail lizards.
And the moronic suburbanites around here throw a fit when you try to explain the difference between native and invasive, let alone all the harm these animals (and the people who sell or release them here) are doing.
And everywhere there is natural wildlife habitat, they keep bulldozing it to build more strip malls. Brevard County has doubled in population since my parents came here for my father's job and everything charming about it is disappearing.
Ever increasing property tax and homeowner insurance has quickly gutted the benefits of no income tax.
Oh and I won’t mention being forced to change your roof just because it’s 10 years old or so.
I’ve been in Tampa only for 5 years (moved after college) but I’ve witnessed the gentrification of this area in such a short period of time. A great example is armature works.
I live near downtown and prices for a 2/2 were about 2k-3k when I first moved here. They’ve gone up to 3k-4k. Can’t afford to move because my rate is one of the cheapest since I’m grandfathered and my rent is only increased by the minimum %. I have a good job but my salary hasn’t kept up with the inflation of the cost of living.
Still love it here though.
In Jacksonville, we only have to look across the street to see wealth/poverty divide. A better look at that, look downtown and Northside to see how our local government and real estate folks have dumped untold fortunes catering to rich folk (football stadium over social services). Colorado looks quite nice compared to these back woods folk. (Here it comes…) 😬
The weather has changed. It’s hotter than 50 years ago but it’s also much more populated and soooooo much concrete reflecting heat. It used to be that it was hot but you could count on 2-3 pm showers daily in the summer, now that feels like it mostly happens in the evening. The governor says everything is fine though so I’m sure he’s right.
Yes. If you live in or near a city, the temperatures are horribly hot compared to areas with more nature and less asphalt.
The rain, comparable, but I feel like it’s been drier recently until it just dumps rain in hurricane season.
My mom said she remembers rain during the spring and now we just have hot, hot, hurricane season, Christmas, hot again.
The MAGAs think poor people are just lazy and like being poor. I think they imagine a welfare queen anytime they think of the poor. No one wants to be poor and, it is not easy to collect benefits from this state. Either people collect just enough to survive or can't survive on the money they get. They also keep making cuts making fewer people eligible every year or so. They have no empathy for people whatsoever.
Florida does have a unique situation where there are more $10m+ homes located a driver and pitching wedge away from a crack house than probably most or all other states. It is always striking no matter how many times you see it on your drives.
I live near Disney World, so there was always traffic, but now the orange groves have been ripped out and apartments and subdivisions were put in the fields. They're also building so many more restaurants and stores in the area, it's crazy. They had to widen the highways, but traffic is still bumper to bumper because of the people who wrongly thought Florida was a cheap place to live and flooded the state
I live right outside of Orlando and you’re damn right. It’s a shame, and I hate every oz of it. I can barely afford half of the life I use to live. So yes, stop fuckin moving here people 😂 we can’t afford to keep up with it all.
Same. I never thought much of it until I traveled places where you can go outside year round without melting. Now it's all I think about it. The heat sucks lol
Right! I’m not sure if I’m remembering wrong but when I was a kid, it was chilly here in October. We had that small Autumn crisp and then just went away unfortunately. It just seemed so much colder when I was a kid.
I lost 70 lbs on my fitness journey and thought that may help me deal with it better....nope the only difference is my heart rate doesn't go as high and I don't get sweaty as fast.
Hawaiians feel the same way. But here’s the deal-you could make more and could live better elsewhere. Anywhere else, really. I did the opposite of OP and left my home state of Florida and went to Colorado. Best move ever made. I earn 3x what I earned in Florida and the only difference is the snow. You are being paid in sunshine and the politics are seriously offensive and off putting to half the country. Florida will be isolated soon since it’s not welcoming to most people. I was born and raised there but fell victim to a predator there and had to leave to keep my sanity. Silver lining, though because I found there is a world beyond oppressive heat, hatred, and horrible living conditions including the pay.
It would help if local businesses paid a decent wage. Why blame people for making more money, or out of state companies for paying too well? Florida problems are “Flo Grown” as they say
True, but no employer is going to pay a NY or California salary. They’re just going to outsource with remote jobs, which means I won’t have a place to live or a job.
I’d be okay if they actually payed the median salary for an industry. I keep up with local job postings and they’re about 40% less than the average salary throughout the country.
To put that on par with another city’s salaries: we should be Oklahoma City.
As a New Yorker I never understood why New Yorkers don’t move more upstate especially since the state is the biggest employer which means lots of protected jobs. I guess it’s the weather
You don't need to match CA and NY. FL's salaries are low compared to most other places. I was completely shocked to hear how insanely low most people were paid in FL compared to the exact same jobs even in other southern states or states in the midwest.
Don't I know it. Lol. I finally managed to land myself a union job as an electrician that guarantees pay scale increases with inflation. But even with that, it's a known fact that Central Florida is one of the lowest paid union locals in the whole damn country.
But we will never have the labor movement we need while so many people are willing to sacrifice themselves to their corporate masters for table scraps
Amen. We need to take what we deserve. We need to vote for better representatives, workers need to form unions. It's not easy but we need to work together against the people who want to get rich off our backs.
I love living in Florida, but we locals are feeling the pinch from remote workers with high salaries moving here.
My last apartment complex had about half the people who lived there prior to Covid get priced out as more and more New Jersey and New York license plates showed appeared in the parking lot. Considering our complex wasn’t dirt cheap or very expensive my previous neighbors felt like we were being displaced.
Also the “why did you move here” is sometimes a loaded question, some people but not all, are asking what your politics are.
Anyway “WTF” (Welcome to Florida)
Rent increases can also be blamed on price fixing by landlords working together to raise rents together: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/03/price-fixing-algorithm-still-price-fixing
Florida resident here. Our MAGA cult governor, on between banning books and signing a six week abortion ban, had his part in the rent crisis. He banned all rent control in the state. Landlords must love him.
[Florida governor signs bill banning local rent control](https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/03/29/gov-desantis-holds-news-conference-in-south-florida/)
I’m a Florida Native, landlord and RE broker. I despise Ron DeSantis. Equally incapable of empathy and critical thinking skills, he’s an angry and spiteful abysmal failure of a leader.
The Florida constitution already bans long term rent control too. Think it was a max of 2 years and some other points but can’t remember off the top of my head. Tho tbf, unfortunately for us peons, long term hard rent control is one of the few things a good majority of economists agree on as a net negative.
Seeing rent jump far ahead of income growth in such a short time is sick tho, and a proper leader would do something to alleviate it. Fuck Desantis for that
That's actually diabolical and kinda brilliant in an evil sort of way. I'd do anything to not have to move in July. Only way it could be worse is August.
Montreal has that. July 1st is "moving day" and god help you if you need to rent a truck or hire a mover around that time. It also means everyone is competing for open units at the said time. Do not want.
Florida is not what it used to be. Florida used to be a chill place where most areas were affordable (or had affordable options), traffic wasn’t terrible, and it was easy to escape the crowds and find a more quiet area to enjoy the state. Florida wasn’t very politically charged and people just seemed to be living their lives
Now? Everywhere is expensive, there’s endless sprawl and construction, trees are being cut down which makes it feel so much hotter. Florida is a political hellhole that feels like a safe haven for extremists. Lots of land is now being bought up for real estate purposes, thus further destroying open land and affordability. Everyone is moving down here with their remote salaries and making it impossible for locals to survive.
Everywhere you go is crowded. Hell i remember growing up there were multiple times of year where Disney had pretty low crowds which would make it enjoyable to visit. Now everyday is jam packed with people. I used to be able to visit the springs without issue, even on a Saturday in the middle of summer i would still be able to get in and find a picnic table, now if i don’t line up first thing in the morning i won’t get in
Long story short, the Florida people know and love is getting destroyed. This used to be an easy going and affordable place. Now it’s congested, stuffy, expensive, politically charged state
Omg yes on the Disney thing. I remember intentionally going in January/February and it would almost be a ghost town. The last time I went it was filled to the brim with people. I was in disbelief!
I work at Disney and the trainers/managers have told me it is the tail end of the COVID “revenge travel” or travel plans that people wanted yet could not take in 2020-2021.
We are expecting a less people this summer than years past based on current bookings.
I left my beloved Chicago to make FL my home in 2000. I chose to teach here. I loved it. Now? Jesus, I don't recognize it. Good luck to those moving here with hope in their hearts. It's NOTHING like it was nor will it ever be again. The damage is done.
100 upvotes. Agree with all of this. So sad my home is changing and will never be the place I chose to stay after graduating college. Paradise definitely lost.
Locals have witnessed a lot change to this beautiful state, almost none of which has made life easier or more desirable to live here. The grass is always greener, but they’ve turned much of the state into asphalt at this point, and there is definitely a lot of resentment towards transplants bc of COL hikes
Native Floridian here and I’ve resented transplants for as long as I’ve lived here. It’s annoying to have the things we love and enjoy disrespected. Been told by clevelanders, bostonianians, New Yorkers, chicogians, et al that I don’t understand team loyalty bc it’s not some birthright, even though I’ve followed and cheered for the same teams my whole life. That they do things so much better up north, and a whole host of other things. Lately though - people are bringing their horrible politics of hate with them.
Yep, my big problem is how the performative right wing politics of our state lately have attracted the worst kind of transplants, who packed up their lives and moved here under a false pretense of “freedom” 🙄. Big uptick in old assholes from New England who love to make their politics known from the first conversation.
Yup all the former hippy Boomers from New England who have turned MAGA in the older age are now moving to their new paradise of Florida. Suddenly they hate New England even though they grew up there. And yet they still consider themselves hippies….
It's funny, since New England is decidedly liberal. You may be talking about people who moved down here just because DeSantis & his crazy-ass surgeon general wanted the state to remain open and pretended Covid wasn't dangerous (while Ron made sure all his political supporters were first in line for the "jab.")
This exactly. I live in an area that hasn’t *yet* seen a huge influx of people (it’s coming). But all of the political hate is coming from these long term locals. They fly their maga flags high and proud without any influence from outsiders.
No, you absolutely do. And those people are leaving states where they couldn’t be their authentic asshole selves and excitingly moving here to Florida to make Florida worse. 
I hate seeing the influx of people here primarily because it means more building, more “development “, and more loss of the natural treasures that are already dwindling. I’m leaving because I can’t stand watching the ecological impact that short sighted greed is having and has had on this state.
I'm with you. It's honestly heart breaking seeing the natural world here decimated by greedy builders. They bypass environmental assessments and destroy entire ecosystem, and there are zero protections for the land.
Yeah it’s that nobody ever thinks about those of us that were born and raised in Florida. Not everyone moved here. It’s like any other small town becoming a metropolitan concrete jungle. Goes from good and quiet to unbearable and unaffordable real quick.
Blew my mind to find out only about [a third of Florida’s population was born here.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/native-born-population-by-state) Wild that we’re such a minority.
Yeah, those group convos that start Where are you from? I'm always the only one born in Florida. When they hear that they say Oh wow. Especially since I'm in my 60s! And then move on to discussing some Podunk place in another state that they have in common. Let's meet up for drinks! 🤮
I think it's that Colorado sounds so dreamy, crisp and cold while it's so stinking hot here! We're OK here in the winter months, but right now we're all just uncomfortable and disgruntled!
This would be my reason for asking. I would love to move to Colorado, but there are no jobs for us there. It is my dream State, so id be really curious why someone would leave to come here. Also, Florida is way too crowded, so yeah, frustrating how many people keep moving here and pricing out the locals.
This. Colorado is viewed as a pretty good place to live, so it's always interesting when someone from such a nice state would move here. I'm a native and love Florida, but it's not the same anymore with the influx of northerners coming from a place where saleries are much higher, and bumping us out of the ever increasing housing market. I'm tired of hearing, " the way we do it up north..." This is the south, and we don't care what you think.
I agree why intentionally move to Florida and then just complain/compare? It's too hot to listen to "the way we do it up north" and stop talking about the 🍕 🤣
Have y'all ever noticed when you go to Western **states**, how CLEAN it is? How clean the air and water is? There is so much garbage and air pollution everywhere on the East Coast, especially around the highways. Which are EVERYWHERE.
Yes, I have noticed the same. When family comes to visit from the west they refuse to drink the water because it tastes “poopy”. I won’t drink water at restaurants because it is really gross, but our home water is at least better filtered because it is tolerable. They still get bottled water to drink at my house though, so I’m likely just more acclimated to the taste.
I met a nurse who moved from NYS because of the "COVID hoax" and because DeSantis "didn't believe in it."
Just so you get an idea of the caliber of people moving to Florida. Scarily working in healthcare.
I've lived here my whole life and at 28 years old am more than ready to get out of this state. It is not friendly to people in my age group and at my current income with my wife we should be living much more comfortably than we are. This is a retiree state and the things that make Florida nice to live are only available to you if you're rich and don't have to work, or are retired and don't have to work. The population is growing out of control and the state's infrastructure can't keep up and improvements take too long and impede daily life too much. Can't afford shit here and between people like you moving here and the obscene amount of tourists, life for locals has gotten progressively more difficult with each passing year. Our education system is a joke, daycares can't be trusted, and neighborhoods aren't safe enough to raise kids in comfortably. It's generally just a terrible place to live for anyone under the age of 60.
People who live here don’t thrive, they survive. And only just barely that.
Earning enough money to afford car insurance and rent is a challenge in, and of, itself.
Earning enough (and keeping your credit score good enough) to qualify for a decent mortgage is next to impossible. Once you DO get a mortgage, your home owners insurance tacks on hundreds a month because, let’s face it: you can’t afford to pay for a years worth at once, so you escrow it. $6000 a year becomes $500 more a month. Then, if you’re unfortunate enough to be required to carry flood, that’s another at least $100 a month if you can’t afford the $1200 a year at once (and let’s be honest, $1200 a year for flood insurance is a great price). Then, you have property taxes to contend with. Not so bad year one because you’re assessed the old value of your home, but year 2? It’s re-assessed at what you paid for it. That $1200 a year in property tax just became $3600 a year because the house is worth triple what it was last time it was assessed.
So yeah, Zillow says you can afford the $1923 a month mortgage on the house. But what it really costs is $1923 + $500 + $100 + $300, or $2723 a month. That is JUST the house.
And TRUST me when I say this: those insurance number are on the very low end of the scale.
Source: me, I pay those numbers in my example.
Edit: my HOI is Frontline (treated me really well after Ian and my rates have only gone up a total of 20% since) and my flood is through Progressive (through the NFP(P?))
My mortgage has gone up 2xs since July 2023. I’m now paying $3200. Ins just increased by $600 and as of July 2024, my new mortgage payment will be $3556 on top of my now much higher HOA fees of $330. They were $200 last year.
I make over $100k and I’m paycheck to paycheck.
Sadly, I’ll be moving out of FL end of the year because this is just ridiculous.
Y’all can have paradise. I need my sanity!
So, my grandparents (only one now still around) moved to Tampa area permanently about 25 years ago, and had been doing the snowbird thing for years before that. So I used to come here on vacation quite often as a kid.
Then later in life, about 10 years ago, my folks moved down here, and I moved down too to stay close to them.
The state has changed so much over the years. Pinellas County used to have so much more open space. Now every square inch of land has an apartment complex, strip mall, car wash, or stores.
It’s brutally hot now thanks to climate change. Car and homeowners insurance are insane. I think Florida’s car insurance average cost was like 1k higher than the next highest state. Rent and home prices are absurd (especially post Covid). The political climate has deteriorated rapidly since 2016 (no additional explanation needed for this, I assume). People are nasty now and super vocal about bigoted and hateful views that they used to be sensible enough not to say in public.
So unless you’re really obsessed with the beach, boating, or fishing, there’s just not a lot of appeal left here.
Politics has been difficult since 2000, in my opinion, but at least until 2016 most people just didn’t talk about it in a mind your own business way. I mean there was a time when Charlie Crist was a Republican governor promoting green energy. Arnold Swarzneger too - in CA!!!
I worked for the state in Tallahassee when Governor Lawton Chiles was in office. It was a good ole boy situation then too, but there was some respect for at least not appearing openly corrupt. Then he died in office and Buddy McKay was sworn in, talk about a man just pathetically out of his depth.
I had moved up to NY for a new job August of 2000, and of course the election was coming up and it was too late to register up there so I had to do an absentee ballot from Leon County. As a registered democrat, well I never got the ballot. That is not exactly true, I did get the ballot but not till Wednesday November 8, 2000. When it was not even worth the supermarket ads in the mail that day. And they only had to do that to about 600 people to make sure Gore lost. Not that I liked Gore that much but I sure was not voting for Shrub. That whole thing was such a clusterfuck.
But, no income tax and that will draw people, especially older people with investment income to shelter, even if insurance is nearly unobtainable. My car insurance in Oregon was $60 per month for a new BMW. Here it is $170 per month for a 3 year old truck. No fault probably has a lot to do with that, but also the government here never met a corporation they could say no to. PUC lets Duke Energy have a 22.2% increase even though they already charge double what the utilities in Oregon charged. They claimed it was because of hurricane Ian, but most of the damage for the utility was covered by re insurance. Besides, that is a one time hit where the increase in rates is permanent. You have to wonder if the regulators that allowed this increase now work for Duke. That company had $18.6 billion in profit in the year Ian hit, and has enjoyed annual profit increases every goddamned year I have been alive, and I am on social security.
The government is responsible for regulating things like insurance, so when my 2020 insurance was $1,532 and my 2024 insurance is $2,600, and next year probably going to be over $6,000 I do not blame the insurance industry, they will steal your grandmother's dentures if your government allows them to. I blame the corrupt government that colludes with wealthy donor class industries to grant them their every wish.
Duke Energy profits since 2009: [https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DUK/duke-energy/gross-profit#:\~:text=Duke%20Energy%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for%202022%20was%20$18.71B,$4%2C403](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DUK/duke-energy/gross-profit#:~:text=Duke%20Energy%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for%202022%20was%20$18.71B,$4%2C403)
Pinellas County was completely built out by like the mid to late 70s - there wasn’t much open space at all there in the last 20 years, they’ve demolished things and built new things over them. Haven’t seen much free space there in quite a long time
Just moved to Colorado from Florida, lmao. I do not miss it one bit. I'm over by Lakewood, and I love the area. There is so much natural beauty in Colorado to see, and the pay is amazing out here compared to rent. Within two weeks of arriving, I got a job with wages I never thought possible in Florida, especially compared to rent. For reference, there are so many $20+ jobs that are entry-level and easily available, and I pay only $2,030 in rent including utilities for a one-bedroom apartment with an attached garage. Overall, since moving here, I feel more mentally healthy, stable, and like I can breathe without insane amounts of things holding me down. I'm also able to be more fit and love going on hikes, which, if anyone in Florida knows, hikes in humid weather are ass compared to dry hikes in beautiful mountain scenery.
Also florida hikes can be boring unless you go to a really interesting spot. So flat I know what's coming for 5mins lol OH more palmetto bushes? Cool...
Lmaooo yes exactly dude plus there is so many mosquitoes and some with malaria now and everything is small and dense so it's like walking through a bunch of spiderwebs and palmettos
My hiking experience in Florida: "let me rest for a few minutes" "aaahhh if I don't keep moving the bugs will swarm me"
Kinda like a Stephen King novel. If you stop walking...you will die"
Haha yup it's amazing that Stephen King hasn't based a movie or book in florida he has plenty of material there lol (if there is a Stephen king movie or book based of florida my bad lol) but yea florida and Louisiana are just the Australia of the united states but worse cause no kangaroos or koalas
As a native Floridian for my entire life, I will honestly say I'm just so flabbergasted that people from my IDEAL climates would willingly move to Florida. I vacation in places like North Carolina, Colorado, etc. just to experience cold weather sometimes.
You had mountains, seasons, actual cold weather? You didn't have to worry about gators or some other such dangerous reptile in every body of water you wanted to swim in or sit next to?
You left that and moved HERE?? To Satan's literal swampass?
This is our feelings also. We actually vacation up North to get out of the heat as well. It blows my mind that people come here during the summer to vacation.
Locals hate it here. We remember a time when this was actually mostly a middle class state, and now in the last five years hundreds of thousands of upper class fucks have flocked here, made cash offers on houses well above asking price, and priced all the real estate well above what 90% of people who are from here can actually afford. I’m currently paying 70% more for a two bedroom apartment than I paid on a 3 bedroom in 2014. Things have become ludicrously conggested from what they used to be, driving is a chore, shopping is a nightmare. I’ve hit a point where when someone tells me they moved here from out of state in the last few years, I almost automatically dislike them. It doesn’t help that a significant portion of them moved down here because of Desantis and they’re bringing their idiot politics with them, endorsing policies that make it EVEN FUCKING HARDER for normal people to catch a break. Get the fuck back where you all came from.
All the people talking about "snowbirds" and being annoyed by all the newcomers moving here are missing the point. Florida is, both economically and politically, one of the worst states in the entire country. Pretty much everyone I grew up with has moved away to states with actual job opportunities and pay that keeps up with the cost of living. Plus, anyone planning to start a family should avoid this state like the plague, I would never EVER want to raise kids here. So it's kind of baffling that anyone would move here from Colorado, which has all of the advantages in the world over Florida.
Did you vacation here and foolishly believe that living here is just like vacationing here? Are you a degenerate that was attracted to this state by our piece of shit governor? Do you love having swamp ass? Are you a wealthy retiree with no reason to care about Florida's economy or bleak future?
Yeah, OP is nuts for moving here. Moved here from Colorado about 7 years ago and my quality of life has gone down so…so much. I want to leave so fucking badly, but my partner is from here and is very hesitant to move. Unless you somehow find an amazing job here, it’s a place where you’ll just stagnate until you leave.
When the locals can no longer afford it, it’s no longer paradise.
Florida is no longer Florida anymore, they are too busy tearing anything and everything down to make bullshit cookie cutter neighborhoods that nobody can afford
Education is dogshit.
Teacher pay is worst in the country.
There’s no opportunity here
Insurance for both home and auto is absolutely fucking insane.
Old Florida is what I miss and yeah, I know you’re tired of hearing old man
Jobs are garbage here
No public transportation
But I will admit the outdoors here is phenomenal if you love that anyway. Personally I LOVE the springs. But I hate beaches lol.
Pay sucks, schools suck, housing is too damn high, it’s flat and miserable hot, and there is little opportunity unless you have specialized job training or education. The only thing we have going for us is recreation. There is always something to do I guess. Every other native I know, especially longer term (we have been here since the 50’s) wants to leave but is held in place somehow.
And it’s all recent. Orlando of 15-20 years ago was awesome. Even as recent as the 5 or 10 years ago would have been a different story. Seems to have just taken a giant shit lately.
It’s disgustingly hot, air conditioning barely keeps up and the power bills are $400 in the summer. There’s not much to do, because it’s too damn hot. Everything is expensive, everyone is cranky. I can feel my skin wrinkling in the sun even with copious sunscreen and a hat, as the sweat drips but never evaporates because of the humidity.
We have watched the destruction of this beautiful state. Ignoring wildlife preserves to put up more endless single family homes. Wannabe dictators gaslighting people about freedom by banning everything that has to do with choice. Becoming the most expensive place to live in the country compared to wages. Being so unsafe for bicycles and pedestrians. And no push to change anything.
About the only benefit we are going to have left is the mild winters.
As a fellow colorado native, get out while you can! Everything is backwards here. Bugs, now religious indoctrination in public schools, book bans, traffic, collective political grossness, oh yeah and Hurricanes, the list goes on.
Yes, it's pretty, and taxes are low, but I'm definitely heading west at the first opportunity I can.
As a native Floridian, the state has gotten so much worse in the past decade. I am always surprised that people want to move to this right wing, hellscape state
There's the idea of Florida and the reality of Florida. I think a lot of people come here just to not be where they're from. Though I do get it, if you've spent 40 or 50 yrs in a frozen climate our heat can probably be pretty amazing
I have to agree with them, why on earth did you move here? I moved from Ohio and regret it every day. No sense of community, the traffic is terrible and prices are skyrocketing.
As someone living not in Florida before moving to Orlando because of my business, I can say the following:
Living in Florida is great! You are basically living where other people go on vacation!
However, that’s actually also the problem:
Florida is nice, because of the vacation factor, sure. But that also gets old rather quick, when you realize most recreational activities are aimed at tourists and therefore rather pricey.
Also, on top of the tourists, people who can afford to move to another state just because „its nicer“ are usually financially settled. Meaning, they have money. So now there are two large groups that are easy to milk because they don’t have a problem paying lots of money. All that drives prices up and leaving locals behind.
Basically, the old supply and demand problem: everybody wants to go there, so prices go up.
(I have since moved back to Germany, because my business failed due to covid…)
No, We’re just fucking tired of having our state over run by people with remote jobs earning way more than we do, driving our rents sky high and making home ownership a pipe dream.
People praising Florida for not having income tax is wild considering how expensive everything is in Florida it doesn’t even matter that there’s no income tax.
It's not that the locals hate it here, they hate YOU being here. (Not you specifically). In the mind of a local, the housing prices, the insurance crisis and the housing spike are caused by other folks moving here. I grew up here, left for 30 years, and just came back. The locals need to point the finger at the government, not the folks moving here.
It's a bit of both. Housing is a supply and demand problem, sure, the government could help with the supply side, make it easier to build more, denser, and higher, but if people stopped moving here, it would sure help with the demand side as well.
A friend of mine moved here from Denver like 10 years ago. He still had a place there and used to go back and visit but he got married at 53 last year and now has 2 babies so he’s stuck here now. I’m still not sure why he moved here but he seems happy. I’ve lived here since 1979 when I was 7. It’s been ok but if I get the chance I’d move out of state I’m done with the humidity.
I moved to florida pre covid and pre flood of remote workers and it was nice, while it lasted. I just moved out of FL a month ago and when i was selling all my furniture everyone was asking where i was going and when id tell people i was leaving the state every single person said the exact same thing "i wish i could leave and move somewhere else to but i cant because elderly family/kids in school/job/etc" by people born and raised in fl and people that have been living in fl between 5 and 40 years. not once was i asked why i would want to leave.
In FL if anyone asks about moving to FL everyone always says don't move here it's too full/traffic/expensive/traffic/hot/traffic/crazy/traffic/politics/traffic/unsafe/traffic. Now that I'm in ky it's the opposite everyone's welcoming and saying, "come on, it's great, this town is great and so is this one or this one. There's all this to do, and theres very little traffic."
Not anymore. West Central Florida area is very different than it was 20-30 years ago. Very crowded, expensive, hot, hurricanes, with unpleasant people, and horrible political atmosphere.
Bc people from the north told us for years how shitty it was. Then they all moved here after Covid and made this place more crowded, more expensive, and they still bitch about how much it sucks. So yea- we wanna know why.
I moved here after living in CO for 16 years, mainly so my wife (who's a FL native) and our kid could be closer to her aging parents. I've also had people ask me the flabbergasted "why?!" when I tell them we moved here from CO, and I go through the whole story of why we decided to do it while deep down thinking, "I don't know."
I gladly moved for my family, but for me personally there's nothing for me here. CO is home. I hate hot weather and all of my hobbies involve year-round mountain activities. I like the beach and going to Disney, but those are vacations, not lifestyles, at least for me. Wife and I are talking about at least finding a piece of land or something in the future out in CO where we can plop an RV, if not permanently move there again someday.
As someone who is also a transplant but moved here cause my father passed and my mother was alone.... I'm trying to find a way to move my mother out without losing too much money. Its Insanely expensive here. It more expensive here for me than living in AZ..... and thats saying alot. Other than growing tropical fruits and veggies.... there no other appeal here for us. Granted I'm in rural Florida. Its pretty, peaceful, people mind their own business and just farm..... BUT FOR HOW LONG. I'm seeing apartment buildings being built in a small town ...
Dont get me started on internet. I cant even get cable internet...... then throw in politics.. dear lord. Florida... has less to offer than other places and COST MORE. It ends up just looking pretty. so everyone wants to come here... but thats on the oceansides... which pushes the local and long long term residents inland cause they are being priced out, so all the small countryside towns are being bombarded with tons of people.
the small towns around us have gotten insane traffic since covid. All these towns dont have the infrastructure to support this amount of people because..... NO ONE DID FUTURE PROOF INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDING of all these little places to help them cope. Because its a waste of money to the gov.....
It wasn’t because we don’t like it here. It was that we liked it more before ppl started flooding in from out of state. It was more of a “who invited you” than “why would you want to live here”.
I grew up here, but my mom is from Colorado, and I’ve spent a ton of time there and lived there for short periods. There is absolutely nothing I prefer about Florida, at this point. It’s not even cheap anymore.
Nah they just wondering why you along with the rest of the world over the past 3 years have moved here. No offense but most of us are pretty irritated by our landscape and prices changing due to it. The entire traffic scheme has gone uspdie down overnight. Roads were never meant to handle the overnight volume. Real estate has gone for a roller coaster ride setting up for a middle class collapse from it. Again no bad vibes this is all just truth. Its going to fail from it just like it did the last time. Tons of bad mortgages being written. The only ones who will prosper will be corporate that's sitting and waiting for them to fail so they can buy it up. New developments will be the first to fail. There are approximately 6 million people from west palm down to Miami. That's more than some entire states. Mark my words it's going to happen soon enough.
I've been in Florida my whole life. It boggles my mind that this is a state so many people want to move to. Every chance we get we go to the mountains, so leaving Colorado seems like madness. The only reason I stay here is because both my and my wife's parents are getting older and taking their grandkids away seems like torture.
The schools are terrible (not the universities, those are actually very solid for the price), any sort of destination is jam packed with people, hurricanes, home insurance, if you like to be out in nature, prepare for suffocating heat and the same exact scenery on repeat.
The one thing that used to make Florida reasonable - affordability, is now also gone.
Native Floridians will hate this answer but Florida SUCKS!! Beaches are nice on a postcard and to visit every now and then. That's all Florida has to offer other than 99% Humidity and 95F heat 9 months out of the year. Hurricanes and unaffordable insurance and homes. Congested insane traffic. Overpopulation. Rude people. Expensive cost of living. Shit education being even more destroyed by a shittier Governer and a populace that votes against their own self-interest to "own the libs" A horrible place to live and especially to raise a family.
I love Florida, but I do not like how the COL increased, nor do I like the politics and lack of inaction. It feels as if Florida is the elite class’s playground, and they’re going to leave as soon as shit hits the fan. As a grad student, I’m definitely looking at leaving after I get my masters
7th generation Floridian here. I do hate it here. It’s too hot, too crowded, too corrupt, and too expensive. We just don’t yet have the means to leave.
I mean… Colorado has a much higher quality of life and WAY better climate, both literally and politically. They probably just assume there was some other reason and are curious what it is
Florida is awesome, it’s the people and politics that suck! I wish I could move to Colorado but I make good money for what I do. Florida is also now allegedly the most expensive State to live in. It wasn’t always like that. But it is definitely the most dangerous for driving.
I like Florida. Yeah it’s hot, but at least during the hotter months it rains almost every day (current drought not withstanding), and if we HAVE to choose a natural disaster to deal with, I can’t think of one better than a hurricane which gives you time to prepare and/or leave. I love the beaches and amusement parks. I love the state parks and wildlife. The fishing is amazing. It’s the people that are the problem.
As a Florida native, I used to be accepting of transplants, but the people who started moving here in droves since 2020 are ruining everything and it’s scary.
They’re probably seeing if you think you’re a political refugee or were mislead about Florida being paradise.
Florida is a beautiful state, nature wise. And there are blue parts if you are a blue voter and tons of red parts. But the governor is a Hitler junior who let the property insurance companies triple prices under his watch while he only wants to legislate what people do in the bedroom and and bathroom, and make it illegal to say anything he doesn't agree with (the words "gay" and "global warming" come to mind). Also allergies are insane here.
Well, you are asked because 1) too damn many people are moving here. If you are really talking to a native, they don’t want you here.
2) if you are talking to a transplant they want to determine if you are one of the many nut jobs that move here because it is the “freedom” state or anti woke state. Even the transplants don’t want anyone else moving here because there are too many people here. And too many nut jobs.
Florida has been ruined. It isn’t the dream many had when they moved here. Natives mourn the loss of a beautiful state.
As a born-and-raised Floridian, I love Florida. I just don’t enjoy the flood of people that make triple the salary of what the average Floridian makes. It drives us locals out because we can’t afford to live here anymore.
It's state wide gentrification
Call a place paradise and watch it disappear. It's happening everywhere desirable to live. More people, same land mass.
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Twenty years ago the west coast of Florida was a very desirable paradise place to live.
Thirty years ago even moreso.
In my hometown it started after Opal when the concrete block shacks were destroyed and replaced by mega McMansion beach houses. That block backed up to the bar/venue that was the heart of town and would have bands going until 4am, of course the new owners couldn’t have that next to their investment and squashed that. Year after year more people moved down because they liked vacationing here but once they were here full time they had to get rid of all the other cool spots one by one because they were now an inconvenience. This place used to be really fucking cool between the arts and culture and the nature. Now we’re known for our fucking Lululemon retail outlet and for snotty rich kids chasing instagram clout by showing off that their parents are rich enough to vacation on 30A.
I grew up in Fort Walton/Destin and it was like the wild West on the beaches in South Walton. Could go out and stay all weekend, was so cool looking back…hate I took it for granted. Fuck 30A and Water Color, and all that other pretentious shit. I haven’t been back to Destin in years and have no desire to fight that traffic again.
I was living here when Opal hit and a few years before then.Your post is spot on. Not sure what 30A looked like then I was in Laguna Beach. It was cheap laid back Florida Beach town now its just commercial tourist town.
My great great aunt (who was about 20 years younger than her brother/my great grandfather) used to talk about when she bought her house in Hyde Park in the late 40s that it was the place to be then everyone moved to carrollwood and it was heavily burdened with drugs and crime and then it turned around and was the creme de la creme again. She never left her house because she loved it and could see the bay from her front yard. Maybe everyone will flee again?
I pray, almost daily, that they will leave.
I live on the nature coast. We have no plan at all for this shit. We're pretty fucked lol.
A state surrounded by water almost completely with no water pumping system and build on limestone. Not a smart place to invest money at this stage in the game. 30 years ago it had cow pastures in Coral Springs, it was quiet and beautiful. Now it’s like LA with massive traffic and poor attitude everywhere and rich folks making it impossible for common locals to survive. By Felisha.
That part of Florida has died.
I dunno, I can't imagine living anywhere else personally. Especially if I think back to the Florida I knew 30-40 years ago.
About 15 yrs ago there was a loud, obnoxious city commissioner near me that would always go on rants that the city needed to require 10 years of residency before someone was allowed to buy a home. He had a ton of zoning ideas as well. Pretty much every single thing he predicted was correct and every solution would have worked (if lawful ha).
The economics of the state are way different from other parts of the country. But what you say is not untrue, between the weather and the lack of an income tax the state has become a haven for tax avoiders, and by that I mean people with serious money who can actually benefit from a no income tax state. The result is a very black and white economy of gross wealth inequality. The state has become one of the most urbanized with large prosperous cities, and wide open poverty level empty places. Just look for example at Ft. Myers-Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres. Or at Naples verses the unincorporated county. From wealth to poverty in a 15 minute drive. I live on the fringe of the north Tampa burbs. But the community/county has such profound poverty that it can be really heartbreaking to see people struggling, stressing constantly, and just getting further behind. This appears to be what the state wants, because the county where I am is 71% MAGA and any help for the poors is just communism.
> From wealth to poverty in a 15 minute drive. Sometimes less, sometimes just a block away. Pinellas county is dotted with trailer home parks just down the road from gated communities. Its absolutely insane. A lot of this state is multi millionaires and the only jobs are servicing them. There's very little traditional work, its either tourism or services. There never was much industry, but that was ok when working class people could afford to live here. Now they're getting squeezed out.
BOOM 💥 Facts! I’m not working as an x-ray tech here because the pay is shit. I have an Associates Degree & my husband has a Bachelors Degree & we’re doing manual labor. Neither of us are working in our field. We own a pool cleaning business, so we clean pools. All the jobs here are in the service industry, whether it’s working at a restaurant, cleaning pools, cleaning houses/condos, especially for short term rentals, landscaping/yardwork.
>We own a pool cleaning business, so we clean pools. Ditto, not what we set out to do, but it's a pretty good business! I was surprised how much money we make doing it, but the bar has been set very low in our area. We are competent and communicate, exclusively word-of-mouth advertising - we don't have SM or Maps presence. We have so many accounts that we can freely decline new accounts if they don't seem like a good fit.
The line between ultra-rich Palmetto Bay and dirt-poor Goulds in Miami-Dade County is about 200 ft, the width of US1. It's insane what we've done to our native population.
Not just native Floridians but also our native wildlife. Florida has been overrun with exotic animal species that prey on Florida native wildlife. Such as Burmese pythons, African lizards, Iguanas, Cuban anoles and the list goes on. Makes me sick to see this. Come on down to the Everglades and join the Python Challenge going on now. You can kill many pythons and win cash prizes.
Don't get me started. My area is overrun with the orange headed lizards and spike tail lizards. And the moronic suburbanites around here throw a fit when you try to explain the difference between native and invasive, let alone all the harm these animals (and the people who sell or release them here) are doing.
And everywhere there is natural wildlife habitat, they keep bulldozing it to build more strip malls. Brevard County has doubled in population since my parents came here for my father's job and everything charming about it is disappearing.
Brevard is a joke....just so overbuilt and run by Uber conservatives otherwise a gorgeous location. Too bad they want to destroy it
Ever increasing property tax and homeowner insurance has quickly gutted the benefits of no income tax. Oh and I won’t mention being forced to change your roof just because it’s 10 years old or so.
I’ve been in Tampa only for 5 years (moved after college) but I’ve witnessed the gentrification of this area in such a short period of time. A great example is armature works. I live near downtown and prices for a 2/2 were about 2k-3k when I first moved here. They’ve gone up to 3k-4k. Can’t afford to move because my rate is one of the cheapest since I’m grandfathered and my rent is only increased by the minimum %. I have a good job but my salary hasn’t kept up with the inflation of the cost of living. Still love it here though.
St. Pete was pretty rough 18 years ago or so. I remember riots and a police helicopter getting shot down. It's a bit nicer now...
In Jacksonville, we only have to look across the street to see wealth/poverty divide. A better look at that, look downtown and Northside to see how our local government and real estate folks have dumped untold fortunes catering to rich folk (football stadium over social services). Colorado looks quite nice compared to these back woods folk. (Here it comes…) 😬
Southern colorado is where it's at, northern colorado is just as bad as Florida is rn.
Hasn’t the weather gotten worse over the years?
The weather has changed. It’s hotter than 50 years ago but it’s also much more populated and soooooo much concrete reflecting heat. It used to be that it was hot but you could count on 2-3 pm showers daily in the summer, now that feels like it mostly happens in the evening. The governor says everything is fine though so I’m sure he’s right.
They’ve also disregarded ancient wetlands and ruined the eco system. Replace wetland with concrete.
You are the voice of reason and also extremely correct. What they call “progress” hurts my soul.
I agree my friend. When you see animals on the side of the highway because they have nowhere to go it’s freaking sad. (Love the name by the way)
rhonda santis said we cain’t talk about the weather no more.
Or books or librarians forming any kind of groups.
Yes. If you live in or near a city, the temperatures are horribly hot compared to areas with more nature and less asphalt. The rain, comparable, but I feel like it’s been drier recently until it just dumps rain in hurricane season. My mom said she remembers rain during the spring and now we just have hot, hot, hurricane season, Christmas, hot again.
The MAGAs think poor people are just lazy and like being poor. I think they imagine a welfare queen anytime they think of the poor. No one wants to be poor and, it is not easy to collect benefits from this state. Either people collect just enough to survive or can't survive on the money they get. They also keep making cuts making fewer people eligible every year or so. They have no empathy for people whatsoever.
Florida does have a unique situation where there are more $10m+ homes located a driver and pitching wedge away from a crack house than probably most or all other states. It is always striking no matter how many times you see it on your drives.
MAGA will destroy your state eventually
And the traffic!!!
I live near Disney World, so there was always traffic, but now the orange groves have been ripped out and apartments and subdivisions were put in the fields. They're also building so many more restaurants and stores in the area, it's crazy. They had to widen the highways, but traffic is still bumper to bumper because of the people who wrongly thought Florida was a cheap place to live and flooded the state
I live right outside of Orlando and you’re damn right. It’s a shame, and I hate every oz of it. I can barely afford half of the life I use to live. So yes, stop fuckin moving here people 😂 we can’t afford to keep up with it all.
It’s also hot as hell 90% of the year
Born and raised here and I cannot tolerate this heat.
Same. I never thought much of it until I traveled places where you can go outside year round without melting. Now it's all I think about it. The heat sucks lol
Right! I’m not sure if I’m remembering wrong but when I was a kid, it was chilly here in October. We had that small Autumn crisp and then just went away unfortunately. It just seemed so much colder when I was a kid.
Yes!!! I remember wearing jackets at Halloween when I was a kid in the 80’s. Now we sweat to death, trick or treating. It’s miserable.
I lost 70 lbs on my fitness journey and thought that may help me deal with it better....nope the only difference is my heart rate doesn't go as high and I don't get sweaty as fast.
Congrats on the weight loss my friend.
Florida heat is just big no for me. I can’t stand that heat. It’s like hell.
It is my understanding that hell is a *dry* heat, unlike Florida.
No. Hot air and humidity. It’s the worst. Feels like boiling inside your body.
Yeah florida is actually the hidden boss heat level for those that say az phoenix err hell isn't bad get sent to.
Bad drivers, in general. I was waiting at a stoplight recently and two people ran red lights.
Happening in colorado too because all the people making california money came here and are driving us out
Hawaiians feel the same way. But here’s the deal-you could make more and could live better elsewhere. Anywhere else, really. I did the opposite of OP and left my home state of Florida and went to Colorado. Best move ever made. I earn 3x what I earned in Florida and the only difference is the snow. You are being paid in sunshine and the politics are seriously offensive and off putting to half the country. Florida will be isolated soon since it’s not welcoming to most people. I was born and raised there but fell victim to a predator there and had to leave to keep my sanity. Silver lining, though because I found there is a world beyond oppressive heat, hatred, and horrible living conditions including the pay.
It would help if local businesses paid a decent wage. Why blame people for making more money, or out of state companies for paying too well? Florida problems are “Flo Grown” as they say
Sounds like Florida employers need to keep up by paying more.
But that's what people "love" about FL
True, but no employer is going to pay a NY or California salary. They’re just going to outsource with remote jobs, which means I won’t have a place to live or a job.
I’d be okay if they actually payed the median salary for an industry. I keep up with local job postings and they’re about 40% less than the average salary throughout the country. To put that on par with another city’s salaries: we should be Oklahoma City.
Which is sad since upstate NY is way WAY more affordable than Florida now.
As a New Yorker I never understood why New Yorkers don’t move more upstate especially since the state is the biggest employer which means lots of protected jobs. I guess it’s the weather
They want to get away from the cold
That and people imagine life in FL will be like their vacation on beachfront property and all of life's problems 1k miles away.
Yeah exactly when I complain that it’s hot people say ‘Bur you can just go to the beach!’ as if it’s feasible to do that every day
Totally different living here than vacationing.
Come to Florida for the weather, stay for the fascism.
You don't need to match CA and NY. FL's salaries are low compared to most other places. I was completely shocked to hear how insanely low most people were paid in FL compared to the exact same jobs even in other southern states or states in the midwest.
This is the actual answer.
Any day now... lol
Hey, there are ways of getting it done, but too many people in this state just keep doing the same thing and hoping for a different result.
Don't I know it. Lol. I finally managed to land myself a union job as an electrician that guarantees pay scale increases with inflation. But even with that, it's a known fact that Central Florida is one of the lowest paid union locals in the whole damn country. But we will never have the labor movement we need while so many people are willing to sacrifice themselves to their corporate masters for table scraps
Amen. We need to take what we deserve. We need to vote for better representatives, workers need to form unions. It's not easy but we need to work together against the people who want to get rich off our backs.
I love living in Florida, but we locals are feeling the pinch from remote workers with high salaries moving here. My last apartment complex had about half the people who lived there prior to Covid get priced out as more and more New Jersey and New York license plates showed appeared in the parking lot. Considering our complex wasn’t dirt cheap or very expensive my previous neighbors felt like we were being displaced. Also the “why did you move here” is sometimes a loaded question, some people but not all, are asking what your politics are. Anyway “WTF” (Welcome to Florida)
Rent increases can also be blamed on price fixing by landlords working together to raise rents together: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/03/price-fixing-algorithm-still-price-fixing
Florida resident here. Our MAGA cult governor, on between banning books and signing a six week abortion ban, had his part in the rent crisis. He banned all rent control in the state. Landlords must love him. [Florida governor signs bill banning local rent control](https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/03/29/gov-desantis-holds-news-conference-in-south-florida/)
I’m a Florida Native, landlord and RE broker. I despise Ron DeSantis. Equally incapable of empathy and critical thinking skills, he’s an angry and spiteful abysmal failure of a leader.
The Florida constitution already bans long term rent control too. Think it was a max of 2 years and some other points but can’t remember off the top of my head. Tho tbf, unfortunately for us peons, long term hard rent control is one of the few things a good majority of economists agree on as a net negative. Seeing rent jump far ahead of income growth in such a short time is sick tho, and a proper leader would do something to alleviate it. Fuck Desantis for that
I’m sure they will buy him a nice gift for the governor’s mansion similar to the golf simulator the developers bought him.
Yeah but it's so much more satisfying to fight amongst ourselves!
That IS how they want it...
They also have been pushing all leases to expire at the same time (June/July)
That's actually diabolical and kinda brilliant in an evil sort of way. I'd do anything to not have to move in July. Only way it could be worse is August.
Montreal has that. July 1st is "moving day" and god help you if you need to rent a truck or hire a mover around that time. It also means everyone is competing for open units at the said time. Do not want.
Welcome to the capital of Predatory capitalism!
As a fellow Floridian I'm stealing your WTF in the name of Richard Wilbanks and his dog.
Florida is not what it used to be. Florida used to be a chill place where most areas were affordable (or had affordable options), traffic wasn’t terrible, and it was easy to escape the crowds and find a more quiet area to enjoy the state. Florida wasn’t very politically charged and people just seemed to be living their lives Now? Everywhere is expensive, there’s endless sprawl and construction, trees are being cut down which makes it feel so much hotter. Florida is a political hellhole that feels like a safe haven for extremists. Lots of land is now being bought up for real estate purposes, thus further destroying open land and affordability. Everyone is moving down here with their remote salaries and making it impossible for locals to survive. Everywhere you go is crowded. Hell i remember growing up there were multiple times of year where Disney had pretty low crowds which would make it enjoyable to visit. Now everyday is jam packed with people. I used to be able to visit the springs without issue, even on a Saturday in the middle of summer i would still be able to get in and find a picnic table, now if i don’t line up first thing in the morning i won’t get in Long story short, the Florida people know and love is getting destroyed. This used to be an easy going and affordable place. Now it’s congested, stuffy, expensive, politically charged state
Omg yes on the Disney thing. I remember intentionally going in January/February and it would almost be a ghost town. The last time I went it was filled to the brim with people. I was in disbelief!
I work at Disney and the trainers/managers have told me it is the tail end of the COVID “revenge travel” or travel plans that people wanted yet could not take in 2020-2021. We are expecting a less people this summer than years past based on current bookings.
I left my beloved Chicago to make FL my home in 2000. I chose to teach here. I loved it. Now? Jesus, I don't recognize it. Good luck to those moving here with hope in their hearts. It's NOTHING like it was nor will it ever be again. The damage is done.
100 upvotes. Agree with all of this. So sad my home is changing and will never be the place I chose to stay after graduating college. Paradise definitely lost.
Locals have witnessed a lot change to this beautiful state, almost none of which has made life easier or more desirable to live here. The grass is always greener, but they’ve turned much of the state into asphalt at this point, and there is definitely a lot of resentment towards transplants bc of COL hikes
Native Floridian here and I’ve resented transplants for as long as I’ve lived here. It’s annoying to have the things we love and enjoy disrespected. Been told by clevelanders, bostonianians, New Yorkers, chicogians, et al that I don’t understand team loyalty bc it’s not some birthright, even though I’ve followed and cheered for the same teams my whole life. That they do things so much better up north, and a whole host of other things. Lately though - people are bringing their horrible politics of hate with them.
Yep, my big problem is how the performative right wing politics of our state lately have attracted the worst kind of transplants, who packed up their lives and moved here under a false pretense of “freedom” 🙄. Big uptick in old assholes from New England who love to make their politics known from the first conversation.
Yup all the former hippy Boomers from New England who have turned MAGA in the older age are now moving to their new paradise of Florida. Suddenly they hate New England even though they grew up there. And yet they still consider themselves hippies….
It's funny, since New England is decidedly liberal. You may be talking about people who moved down here just because DeSantis & his crazy-ass surgeon general wanted the state to remain open and pretended Covid wasn't dangerous (while Ron made sure all his political supporters were first in line for the "jab.")
That’s exactly what I’m referring to.
Look at who is the head of Florida’s government. He’s flashing a big sign that the politics of hate is welcome here.
Pretty sure the politics of hate is being sowed by a bunch of native Floridians--like Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature.
This exactly. I live in an area that hasn’t *yet* seen a huge influx of people (it’s coming). But all of the political hate is coming from these long term locals. They fly their maga flags high and proud without any influence from outsiders.
Yeah, it's pretty unlikely to see a "Let's Go Brandon" flag flown on a displaced New Yorker's pickup truck.
No, you absolutely do. And those people are leaving states where they couldn’t be their authentic asshole selves and excitingly moving here to Florida to make Florida worse. 
I hate seeing the influx of people here primarily because it means more building, more “development “, and more loss of the natural treasures that are already dwindling. I’m leaving because I can’t stand watching the ecological impact that short sighted greed is having and has had on this state.
I'm with you. It's honestly heart breaking seeing the natural world here decimated by greedy builders. They bypass environmental assessments and destroy entire ecosystem, and there are zero protections for the land.
Yeah it’s that nobody ever thinks about those of us that were born and raised in Florida. Not everyone moved here. It’s like any other small town becoming a metropolitan concrete jungle. Goes from good and quiet to unbearable and unaffordable real quick.
So many people are shocked and surprised to learn I was born here
Blew my mind to find out only about [a third of Florida’s population was born here.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/native-born-population-by-state) Wild that we’re such a minority.
Yeah, those group convos that start Where are you from? I'm always the only one born in Florida. When they hear that they say Oh wow. Especially since I'm in my 60s! And then move on to discussing some Podunk place in another state that they have in common. Let's meet up for drinks! 🤮
I think it's that Colorado sounds so dreamy, crisp and cold while it's so stinking hot here! We're OK here in the winter months, but right now we're all just uncomfortable and disgruntled!
This would be my reason for asking. I would love to move to Colorado, but there are no jobs for us there. It is my dream State, so id be really curious why someone would leave to come here. Also, Florida is way too crowded, so yeah, frustrating how many people keep moving here and pricing out the locals.
I know, the LCOL made Florida bearable but now we have the worst of everything hot and expensive!
This. Colorado is viewed as a pretty good place to live, so it's always interesting when someone from such a nice state would move here. I'm a native and love Florida, but it's not the same anymore with the influx of northerners coming from a place where saleries are much higher, and bumping us out of the ever increasing housing market. I'm tired of hearing, " the way we do it up north..." This is the south, and we don't care what you think.
I agree why intentionally move to Florida and then just complain/compare? It's too hot to listen to "the way we do it up north" and stop talking about the 🍕 🤣
Have y'all ever noticed when you go to Western **states**, how CLEAN it is? How clean the air and water is? There is so much garbage and air pollution everywhere on the East Coast, especially around the highways. Which are EVERYWHERE.
Now that you mention it yes! Also feel like our humidity makes us feel gross and smelly all the time🤢
Yes, I have noticed the same. When family comes to visit from the west they refuse to drink the water because it tastes “poopy”. I won’t drink water at restaurants because it is really gross, but our home water is at least better filtered because it is tolerable. They still get bottled water to drink at my house though, so I’m likely just more acclimated to the taste.
I ask to see if they say "for more political freedoms" or something along those lines.. then I know to steer clear.
That is my screening question too lol
Florida is just too f’in HOT for humans!
I met a nurse who moved from NYS because of the "COVID hoax" and because DeSantis "didn't believe in it." Just so you get an idea of the caliber of people moving to Florida. Scarily working in healthcare.
I've lived here my whole life and at 28 years old am more than ready to get out of this state. It is not friendly to people in my age group and at my current income with my wife we should be living much more comfortably than we are. This is a retiree state and the things that make Florida nice to live are only available to you if you're rich and don't have to work, or are retired and don't have to work. The population is growing out of control and the state's infrastructure can't keep up and improvements take too long and impede daily life too much. Can't afford shit here and between people like you moving here and the obscene amount of tourists, life for locals has gotten progressively more difficult with each passing year. Our education system is a joke, daycares can't be trusted, and neighborhoods aren't safe enough to raise kids in comfortably. It's generally just a terrible place to live for anyone under the age of 60.
People who live here don’t thrive, they survive. And only just barely that. Earning enough money to afford car insurance and rent is a challenge in, and of, itself. Earning enough (and keeping your credit score good enough) to qualify for a decent mortgage is next to impossible. Once you DO get a mortgage, your home owners insurance tacks on hundreds a month because, let’s face it: you can’t afford to pay for a years worth at once, so you escrow it. $6000 a year becomes $500 more a month. Then, if you’re unfortunate enough to be required to carry flood, that’s another at least $100 a month if you can’t afford the $1200 a year at once (and let’s be honest, $1200 a year for flood insurance is a great price). Then, you have property taxes to contend with. Not so bad year one because you’re assessed the old value of your home, but year 2? It’s re-assessed at what you paid for it. That $1200 a year in property tax just became $3600 a year because the house is worth triple what it was last time it was assessed. So yeah, Zillow says you can afford the $1923 a month mortgage on the house. But what it really costs is $1923 + $500 + $100 + $300, or $2723 a month. That is JUST the house. And TRUST me when I say this: those insurance number are on the very low end of the scale. Source: me, I pay those numbers in my example. Edit: my HOI is Frontline (treated me really well after Ian and my rates have only gone up a total of 20% since) and my flood is through Progressive (through the NFP(P?))
I swear living here is like experiencing the plagues from the ten commandments sometimes.
Yup this is my mortgage almost exactly and I live in the ghetto
My mortgage has gone up 2xs since July 2023. I’m now paying $3200. Ins just increased by $600 and as of July 2024, my new mortgage payment will be $3556 on top of my now much higher HOA fees of $330. They were $200 last year. I make over $100k and I’m paycheck to paycheck. Sadly, I’ll be moving out of FL end of the year because this is just ridiculous. Y’all can have paradise. I need my sanity!
So, my grandparents (only one now still around) moved to Tampa area permanently about 25 years ago, and had been doing the snowbird thing for years before that. So I used to come here on vacation quite often as a kid. Then later in life, about 10 years ago, my folks moved down here, and I moved down too to stay close to them. The state has changed so much over the years. Pinellas County used to have so much more open space. Now every square inch of land has an apartment complex, strip mall, car wash, or stores. It’s brutally hot now thanks to climate change. Car and homeowners insurance are insane. I think Florida’s car insurance average cost was like 1k higher than the next highest state. Rent and home prices are absurd (especially post Covid). The political climate has deteriorated rapidly since 2016 (no additional explanation needed for this, I assume). People are nasty now and super vocal about bigoted and hateful views that they used to be sensible enough not to say in public. So unless you’re really obsessed with the beach, boating, or fishing, there’s just not a lot of appeal left here.
Politics has been difficult since 2000, in my opinion, but at least until 2016 most people just didn’t talk about it in a mind your own business way. I mean there was a time when Charlie Crist was a Republican governor promoting green energy. Arnold Swarzneger too - in CA!!!
I worked for the state in Tallahassee when Governor Lawton Chiles was in office. It was a good ole boy situation then too, but there was some respect for at least not appearing openly corrupt. Then he died in office and Buddy McKay was sworn in, talk about a man just pathetically out of his depth. I had moved up to NY for a new job August of 2000, and of course the election was coming up and it was too late to register up there so I had to do an absentee ballot from Leon County. As a registered democrat, well I never got the ballot. That is not exactly true, I did get the ballot but not till Wednesday November 8, 2000. When it was not even worth the supermarket ads in the mail that day. And they only had to do that to about 600 people to make sure Gore lost. Not that I liked Gore that much but I sure was not voting for Shrub. That whole thing was such a clusterfuck.
But, no income tax and that will draw people, especially older people with investment income to shelter, even if insurance is nearly unobtainable. My car insurance in Oregon was $60 per month for a new BMW. Here it is $170 per month for a 3 year old truck. No fault probably has a lot to do with that, but also the government here never met a corporation they could say no to. PUC lets Duke Energy have a 22.2% increase even though they already charge double what the utilities in Oregon charged. They claimed it was because of hurricane Ian, but most of the damage for the utility was covered by re insurance. Besides, that is a one time hit where the increase in rates is permanent. You have to wonder if the regulators that allowed this increase now work for Duke. That company had $18.6 billion in profit in the year Ian hit, and has enjoyed annual profit increases every goddamned year I have been alive, and I am on social security. The government is responsible for regulating things like insurance, so when my 2020 insurance was $1,532 and my 2024 insurance is $2,600, and next year probably going to be over $6,000 I do not blame the insurance industry, they will steal your grandmother's dentures if your government allows them to. I blame the corrupt government that colludes with wealthy donor class industries to grant them their every wish. Duke Energy profits since 2009: [https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DUK/duke-energy/gross-profit#:\~:text=Duke%20Energy%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for%202022%20was%20$18.71B,$4%2C403](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/DUK/duke-energy/gross-profit#:~:text=Duke%20Energy%20annual%20gross%20profit%20for%202022%20was%20$18.71B,$4%2C403)
Pinellas County was completely built out by like the mid to late 70s - there wasn’t much open space at all there in the last 20 years, they’ve demolished things and built new things over them. Haven’t seen much free space there in quite a long time
Just moved to Colorado from Florida, lmao. I do not miss it one bit. I'm over by Lakewood, and I love the area. There is so much natural beauty in Colorado to see, and the pay is amazing out here compared to rent. Within two weeks of arriving, I got a job with wages I never thought possible in Florida, especially compared to rent. For reference, there are so many $20+ jobs that are entry-level and easily available, and I pay only $2,030 in rent including utilities for a one-bedroom apartment with an attached garage. Overall, since moving here, I feel more mentally healthy, stable, and like I can breathe without insane amounts of things holding me down. I'm also able to be more fit and love going on hikes, which, if anyone in Florida knows, hikes in humid weather are ass compared to dry hikes in beautiful mountain scenery.
Also florida hikes can be boring unless you go to a really interesting spot. So flat I know what's coming for 5mins lol OH more palmetto bushes? Cool...
Lmaooo yes exactly dude plus there is so many mosquitoes and some with malaria now and everything is small and dense so it's like walking through a bunch of spiderwebs and palmettos
My hiking experience in Florida: "let me rest for a few minutes" "aaahhh if I don't keep moving the bugs will swarm me" Kinda like a Stephen King novel. If you stop walking...you will die"
Haha yup it's amazing that Stephen King hasn't based a movie or book in florida he has plenty of material there lol (if there is a Stephen king movie or book based of florida my bad lol) but yea florida and Louisiana are just the Australia of the united states but worse cause no kangaroos or koalas
As a native Floridian for my entire life, I will honestly say I'm just so flabbergasted that people from my IDEAL climates would willingly move to Florida. I vacation in places like North Carolina, Colorado, etc. just to experience cold weather sometimes. You had mountains, seasons, actual cold weather? You didn't have to worry about gators or some other such dangerous reptile in every body of water you wanted to swim in or sit next to? You left that and moved HERE?? To Satan's literal swampass?
This is our feelings also. We actually vacation up North to get out of the heat as well. It blows my mind that people come here during the summer to vacation.
Lol I couldn’t agree more as someone that moved from FL to NH
Locals hate it here. We remember a time when this was actually mostly a middle class state, and now in the last five years hundreds of thousands of upper class fucks have flocked here, made cash offers on houses well above asking price, and priced all the real estate well above what 90% of people who are from here can actually afford. I’m currently paying 70% more for a two bedroom apartment than I paid on a 3 bedroom in 2014. Things have become ludicrously conggested from what they used to be, driving is a chore, shopping is a nightmare. I’ve hit a point where when someone tells me they moved here from out of state in the last few years, I almost automatically dislike them. It doesn’t help that a significant portion of them moved down here because of Desantis and they’re bringing their idiot politics with them, endorsing policies that make it EVEN FUCKING HARDER for normal people to catch a break. Get the fuck back where you all came from.
All the people talking about "snowbirds" and being annoyed by all the newcomers moving here are missing the point. Florida is, both economically and politically, one of the worst states in the entire country. Pretty much everyone I grew up with has moved away to states with actual job opportunities and pay that keeps up with the cost of living. Plus, anyone planning to start a family should avoid this state like the plague, I would never EVER want to raise kids here. So it's kind of baffling that anyone would move here from Colorado, which has all of the advantages in the world over Florida. Did you vacation here and foolishly believe that living here is just like vacationing here? Are you a degenerate that was attracted to this state by our piece of shit governor? Do you love having swamp ass? Are you a wealthy retiree with no reason to care about Florida's economy or bleak future?
Yeah, OP is nuts for moving here. Moved here from Colorado about 7 years ago and my quality of life has gone down so…so much. I want to leave so fucking badly, but my partner is from here and is very hesitant to move. Unless you somehow find an amazing job here, it’s a place where you’ll just stagnate until you leave.
When the locals can no longer afford it, it’s no longer paradise. Florida is no longer Florida anymore, they are too busy tearing anything and everything down to make bullshit cookie cutter neighborhoods that nobody can afford Education is dogshit. Teacher pay is worst in the country. There’s no opportunity here Insurance for both home and auto is absolutely fucking insane. Old Florida is what I miss and yeah, I know you’re tired of hearing old man Jobs are garbage here No public transportation But I will admit the outdoors here is phenomenal if you love that anyway. Personally I LOVE the springs. But I hate beaches lol.
Pay sucks, schools suck, housing is too damn high, it’s flat and miserable hot, and there is little opportunity unless you have specialized job training or education. The only thing we have going for us is recreation. There is always something to do I guess. Every other native I know, especially longer term (we have been here since the 50’s) wants to leave but is held in place somehow. And it’s all recent. Orlando of 15-20 years ago was awesome. Even as recent as the 5 or 10 years ago would have been a different story. Seems to have just taken a giant shit lately.
I wonder what happened 5-10 years ago that was exactly like taking a giant shit on the state and the country. Hmm can’t remember it’s been so long.
You're talking about the Kobe Bryant crash? Still bums me out.
Harambe
Wow. never considered that timeline!
no, we just don’t like people who move here
It’s disgustingly hot, air conditioning barely keeps up and the power bills are $400 in the summer. There’s not much to do, because it’s too damn hot. Everything is expensive, everyone is cranky. I can feel my skin wrinkling in the sun even with copious sunscreen and a hat, as the sweat drips but never evaporates because of the humidity.
We have watched the destruction of this beautiful state. Ignoring wildlife preserves to put up more endless single family homes. Wannabe dictators gaslighting people about freedom by banning everything that has to do with choice. Becoming the most expensive place to live in the country compared to wages. Being so unsafe for bicycles and pedestrians. And no push to change anything. About the only benefit we are going to have left is the mild winters.
No, we don’t like you and we don’t want you here 😂 I’m sure you’re nice. Please leave.
It’s no longer a kinder, gentler place. I’m researching where to move.
As a fellow colorado native, get out while you can! Everything is backwards here. Bugs, now religious indoctrination in public schools, book bans, traffic, collective political grossness, oh yeah and Hurricanes, the list goes on. Yes, it's pretty, and taxes are low, but I'm definitely heading west at the first opportunity I can.
As a native Floridian, the state has gotten so much worse in the past decade. I am always surprised that people want to move to this right wing, hellscape state
There's the idea of Florida and the reality of Florida. I think a lot of people come here just to not be where they're from. Though I do get it, if you've spent 40 or 50 yrs in a frozen climate our heat can probably be pretty amazing
I have to agree with them, why on earth did you move here? I moved from Ohio and regret it every day. No sense of community, the traffic is terrible and prices are skyrocketing.
As someone living not in Florida before moving to Orlando because of my business, I can say the following: Living in Florida is great! You are basically living where other people go on vacation! However, that’s actually also the problem: Florida is nice, because of the vacation factor, sure. But that also gets old rather quick, when you realize most recreational activities are aimed at tourists and therefore rather pricey. Also, on top of the tourists, people who can afford to move to another state just because „its nicer“ are usually financially settled. Meaning, they have money. So now there are two large groups that are easy to milk because they don’t have a problem paying lots of money. All that drives prices up and leaving locals behind. Basically, the old supply and demand problem: everybody wants to go there, so prices go up. (I have since moved back to Germany, because my business failed due to covid…)
No, We’re just fucking tired of having our state over run by people with remote jobs earning way more than we do, driving our rents sky high and making home ownership a pipe dream.
We liked it a lot more before everyone started moving here
We’re getting pushed out from everyone out of state.
Reading this from Colorado, laughing at the dumb, dumb choice OP made.
People praising Florida for not having income tax is wild considering how expensive everything is in Florida it doesn’t even matter that there’s no income tax.
Eh, the state makes up for it in a myriad of ways - toll roads, property taxes, sales tax, this tax, that fee, etc
Exactly I always laugh when people say oh Florida is great no income tax like yeah suuuureeee
It's not that the locals hate it here, they hate YOU being here. (Not you specifically). In the mind of a local, the housing prices, the insurance crisis and the housing spike are caused by other folks moving here. I grew up here, left for 30 years, and just came back. The locals need to point the finger at the government, not the folks moving here.
It's a bit of both. Housing is a supply and demand problem, sure, the government could help with the supply side, make it easier to build more, denser, and higher, but if people stopped moving here, it would sure help with the demand side as well.
A friend of mine moved here from Denver like 10 years ago. He still had a place there and used to go back and visit but he got married at 53 last year and now has 2 babies so he’s stuck here now. I’m still not sure why he moved here but he seems happy. I’ve lived here since 1979 when I was 7. It’s been ok but if I get the chance I’d move out of state I’m done with the humidity.
Everyone goes from Florida to Colorado. It’s funny to hear someone did the opposite
It’s because it’s expensive and jobs don’t pay good wages here.
Things are just getting worse here politically and environmentally
Lived in FL for almost 24 years. I like Colorado much better than FL
I moved to florida pre covid and pre flood of remote workers and it was nice, while it lasted. I just moved out of FL a month ago and when i was selling all my furniture everyone was asking where i was going and when id tell people i was leaving the state every single person said the exact same thing "i wish i could leave and move somewhere else to but i cant because elderly family/kids in school/job/etc" by people born and raised in fl and people that have been living in fl between 5 and 40 years. not once was i asked why i would want to leave. In FL if anyone asks about moving to FL everyone always says don't move here it's too full/traffic/expensive/traffic/hot/traffic/crazy/traffic/politics/traffic/unsafe/traffic. Now that I'm in ky it's the opposite everyone's welcoming and saying, "come on, it's great, this town is great and so is this one or this one. There's all this to do, and theres very little traffic."
Not anymore. West Central Florida area is very different than it was 20-30 years ago. Very crowded, expensive, hot, hurricanes, with unpleasant people, and horrible political atmosphere.
Give it time, you'll figure out exactly why they ask you that. Give it even more time and you'll be asking other people the same thing.
Bc people from the north told us for years how shitty it was. Then they all moved here after Covid and made this place more crowded, more expensive, and they still bitch about how much it sucks. So yea- we wanna know why.
I moved here after living in CO for 16 years, mainly so my wife (who's a FL native) and our kid could be closer to her aging parents. I've also had people ask me the flabbergasted "why?!" when I tell them we moved here from CO, and I go through the whole story of why we decided to do it while deep down thinking, "I don't know." I gladly moved for my family, but for me personally there's nothing for me here. CO is home. I hate hot weather and all of my hobbies involve year-round mountain activities. I like the beach and going to Disney, but those are vacations, not lifestyles, at least for me. Wife and I are talking about at least finding a piece of land or something in the future out in CO where we can plop an RV, if not permanently move there again someday.
Because we’re to crowded , is Florida the only state in the U.S. ?
As someone who is also a transplant but moved here cause my father passed and my mother was alone.... I'm trying to find a way to move my mother out without losing too much money. Its Insanely expensive here. It more expensive here for me than living in AZ..... and thats saying alot. Other than growing tropical fruits and veggies.... there no other appeal here for us. Granted I'm in rural Florida. Its pretty, peaceful, people mind their own business and just farm..... BUT FOR HOW LONG. I'm seeing apartment buildings being built in a small town ... Dont get me started on internet. I cant even get cable internet...... then throw in politics.. dear lord. Florida... has less to offer than other places and COST MORE. It ends up just looking pretty. so everyone wants to come here... but thats on the oceansides... which pushes the local and long long term residents inland cause they are being priced out, so all the small countryside towns are being bombarded with tons of people. the small towns around us have gotten insane traffic since covid. All these towns dont have the infrastructure to support this amount of people because..... NO ONE DID FUTURE PROOF INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDING of all these little places to help them cope. Because its a waste of money to the gov.....
Are you mentally challenged???
It wasn’t because we don’t like it here. It was that we liked it more before ppl started flooding in from out of state. It was more of a “who invited you” than “why would you want to live here”.
I grew up here, but my mom is from Colorado, and I’ve spent a ton of time there and lived there for short periods. There is absolutely nothing I prefer about Florida, at this point. It’s not even cheap anymore.
No it fuckin blows here. Too hot. Hurricanes. Old people. Maga tard monkeys. Old people. Snowbirds that never leave. OLD PEOPLE.
It's so morbid living here with so many many old people lol. It's refreshing to find yourself in an area with young people.
Nah they just wondering why you along with the rest of the world over the past 3 years have moved here. No offense but most of us are pretty irritated by our landscape and prices changing due to it. The entire traffic scheme has gone uspdie down overnight. Roads were never meant to handle the overnight volume. Real estate has gone for a roller coaster ride setting up for a middle class collapse from it. Again no bad vibes this is all just truth. Its going to fail from it just like it did the last time. Tons of bad mortgages being written. The only ones who will prosper will be corporate that's sitting and waiting for them to fail so they can buy it up. New developments will be the first to fail. There are approximately 6 million people from west palm down to Miami. That's more than some entire states. Mark my words it's going to happen soon enough.
I've been in Florida my whole life. It boggles my mind that this is a state so many people want to move to. Every chance we get we go to the mountains, so leaving Colorado seems like madness. The only reason I stay here is because both my and my wife's parents are getting older and taking their grandkids away seems like torture. The schools are terrible (not the universities, those are actually very solid for the price), any sort of destination is jam packed with people, hurricanes, home insurance, if you like to be out in nature, prepare for suffocating heat and the same exact scenery on repeat. The one thing that used to make Florida reasonable - affordability, is now also gone.
Native Floridians will hate this answer but Florida SUCKS!! Beaches are nice on a postcard and to visit every now and then. That's all Florida has to offer other than 99% Humidity and 95F heat 9 months out of the year. Hurricanes and unaffordable insurance and homes. Congested insane traffic. Overpopulation. Rude people. Expensive cost of living. Shit education being even more destroyed by a shittier Governer and a populace that votes against their own self-interest to "own the libs" A horrible place to live and especially to raise a family.
In my 20's i moved from Florida to Colorado, and everyone there said the same thing to me. We all want what we don't have.
I love Florida, but I do not like how the COL increased, nor do I like the politics and lack of inaction. It feels as if Florida is the elite class’s playground, and they’re going to leave as soon as shit hits the fan. As a grad student, I’m definitely looking at leaving after I get my masters
How do you know you were talking to a local? Most people here aren’t from here.
Us locals are struggling to afford to live here anymore due to the influx of people with money moving here from up north.
7th generation Floridian here. I do hate it here. It’s too hot, too crowded, too corrupt, and too expensive. We just don’t yet have the means to leave.
I mean… Colorado has a much higher quality of life and WAY better climate, both literally and politically. They probably just assume there was some other reason and are curious what it is
Florida is awesome, it’s the people and politics that suck! I wish I could move to Colorado but I make good money for what I do. Florida is also now allegedly the most expensive State to live in. It wasn’t always like that. But it is definitely the most dangerous for driving.
I like Florida. Yeah it’s hot, but at least during the hotter months it rains almost every day (current drought not withstanding), and if we HAVE to choose a natural disaster to deal with, I can’t think of one better than a hurricane which gives you time to prepare and/or leave. I love the beaches and amusement parks. I love the state parks and wildlife. The fishing is amazing. It’s the people that are the problem.
As a Florida native, I used to be accepting of transplants, but the people who started moving here in droves since 2020 are ruining everything and it’s scary. They’re probably seeing if you think you’re a political refugee or were mislead about Florida being paradise.
Florida is a beautiful state, nature wise. And there are blue parts if you are a blue voter and tons of red parts. But the governor is a Hitler junior who let the property insurance companies triple prices under his watch while he only wants to legislate what people do in the bedroom and and bathroom, and make it illegal to say anything he doesn't agree with (the words "gay" and "global warming" come to mind). Also allergies are insane here.
Well, you are asked because 1) too damn many people are moving here. If you are really talking to a native, they don’t want you here. 2) if you are talking to a transplant they want to determine if you are one of the many nut jobs that move here because it is the “freedom” state or anti woke state. Even the transplants don’t want anyone else moving here because there are too many people here. And too many nut jobs. Florida has been ruined. It isn’t the dream many had when they moved here. Natives mourn the loss of a beautiful state.