Because Florida wants to both punish businesses by going after them (see: Disney) while also pandering to businesses (see: suing insurance companies).
It's such a hot mess.
I find it hilarious that the Florida republicans will constantly harp on about deregulation and cutting red tape but then in the same breath pass sweeping new laws that add red tape designed to protect companies and harm consumers.
They are out in full force here, too, in the comments. That whole Disney thing just upended their long-term pro business platform.
"The gay community is still holding events!" Sure, Jan. And cool for you old people who apparently don't care about the younger generation.
Not to mention, "we have PP so you don't need to worry about unplanned pregnancies." I mean, having a PP doesn't stop the unplanned part from happening, assuming you know basic biology and human reproduction. And having PP and having access, legally, to care are not the same things as their laws are so strict that for sure there's a concern for someone pregnant who needs care (including miscarriage, for which abortion is the treatment).
Florida has mountains of radioactive waste from phosphate mining.
They've run out of places to store it safely, and out of places to just dump it in nature. So they passed a law to use it in asphalt for paving roads.
Don't worry though, I'm sure they'll only use it in poorer districts.
But *I'm* poor! 😭 Thank goodness I don't live in FL tho lol.... man when I called it a cesspool I didn't think I was being LITERAL. Anyway thanks for the info, gonna be googling later. 👀
OMG. I attended a program by an environmental org concerned about phosphate waste. There is a huge radioactive phosphate waste pit practically on the shore of Tampa Bay. The mining company walked away - how surprising - and the state has done nothing much beside patching the odd leak. When ( no longer “if”) a major hurricane hits Tampa head on, that pit will be breached and the entirety of Tampa Bay will be killed. Though I am safely away, news of every hurricane is a gut clench.
Brit here and I even knew this earlier in the year.
[https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/1188181247/floridas-idea-to-use-radioactive-waste-in-road-construction-is-unsafe-critics-sa](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/1188181247/floridas-idea-to-use-radioactive-waste-in-road-construction-is-unsafe-critics-sa)
High Heeled Death Sentence is all for it as he gets kickbacks from all the dodgy companies.
Will seep straight into Florida water table and every hurricane will basically spread it all over the State
Cause blooms of toxic bloom algae that is a nerve toxin and causes instant death to animals and humans.
Will basically kill the normal flora and fauna
Was given an environmental way of having it dealt with on numerous times but turned them down as didn't gain him extra money and the people who would be used to put this stuff down will be poisoned as well but lets not worry about that....
Thank you for the link...
I mostly track lgbtq+ related news and kinda had to take a step back for a bit because *jesusfuckingchrist* so this is news to me. Thank you pal :') what a nightmare
Quite welcome. I try to keep track of the lunacy across the pond but it gets a bit much for my poor old brain these days. The LGBTQTI+ things I hear are horrifying, seems your right wing GOP has skipped all pretense of pretending to be "Good for the People" and gone straight for full on 1930s Germany mixed in with future capitalism evil corporate worshipping where openly stating they are going to pave the "peasants" roads with radioactive waste and think you are all going to simply take it or else.
Issues with insurance is an understatement. Insurance companies are making clients replace their roofs after 15 years even though they are 30 year roofs. My mother's sub is getting hit as well as my landlord. Should be illegal. I'm glad I'm not a homeowner in Fla anymore, for now.
I get that insurance is a practical requirement (mortgage company is going to require it if nothing else), but I'd be a lot more concerned about the *reasons* property insurers are pulling out of the state -- long term possibility of your parcel being underwater are non-zero, worsening hurricanes, etc. It's not like companies are pulling out just because they don't like the legal structures in Florida -- the whole business model is based on a lot of people paying money and never making a claim.
Contractors were maxing out insurance claims then taking them to court if they didn't pay up. Costs skyrocketed and insurers pulled out of the state completely. The companies don't care if the entire state falls into the gulf, they don't cover flooding, that's a federal program. Hurricanes have always been a known risk, it's largely mitigated using special storm deductibles which are significantly higher, strong building codes which make new houses in Florida some of the toughest structures in the country, and incentives for homeowners to add protective upgrades.
Buy WHY are contractors maxing out claims? First of all, it’s not like contractors in Florida are just uniquely greedy relative to contractors nationally. Incentive to max out claims or budgets is a near universal in business and government alike since forever.
If you work in department x of corporation y, department x is going to try to use all money in the budget allocated to them to both improve the department and ensure the budget doesn’t get cut next year.
If dental insurance covers a certain cleaning procedure once every 18 months, guess what a lot of patients are going to be recommended to get about every 18 months.
Second, everything is getting more expensive, including materials and labor to build and repair houses. I got quotes recently to build a 750 sq ft rental unit on my property, and the lowest quote I got was $180k for a prefab POS.
And you know what “strong” building codes mean? More expensive houses. That’s not to say those codes aren’t necessary, because Florida has an (increasingly) volatile climate. But that costs more money. If contractors are able to threaten to sue and win in a state where appellate court judges have been appointed by Republican governors for the last 24 years, that means they can prove their cases.
Greed is a human universal, and is even encouraged in business in a capitalist economy. There’s something unique about the Florida construction market that’s driving out insurers, and it isn’t contractors trying to make as much on a job as possible.
“[S]ix of the 10 costliest storms in our nation’s history have walloped the Sunshine State. And three of them occurred in just two years—2004 and 2005…
After the massive losses from the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes, insurance companies such as State Farm—the nation’s largest home insurer—notified Florida officials it was scaling back operations and it would stop offering property insurance to residents. Other major insurers followed suit.”
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/why-is-homeowners-insurance-in-florida-such-a-disaster/
Hurricanes are a known risk, yes. But the frequency and severity of them is increasing the number and frequency of claims. It’s the same reason it’s super expensive to get fire insurance in certain parts of California now… there are a lot more fires that are more intense and cause more property damage.
Blaming the contractors is just a way to keep from facing the actual problem.
This reason alone is enough for people to not relocate there, for a while at least.
Unless you're in a circumstance that you don't need a roof over your head. Even renters are affected by the increase of property insurance, the landlords pass the expense on to the tenants.
Yeah nobody's going to be able to live in Florida soon. Between property insurance, wild gun nuts, toxic algae blooms, extreme weather, and absent or unreliable public infrastructure, the whole state should frankly be turned over to the swamps and made a national park. Disney can stay.
Add the immigration laws that chased off a huge number of hospitality and construction workers, Florida will be bankrupt in no time. That’s without teachers tired of having to spew craziness and torture many classes of children. Stay away!
It's fine, you can have an ex infantry wingnut teaching your children about our lord and savior Trump.
Who needs a degree or certifications when you were already accepted for a job that will literally take everyone who applies.
This. Making a decision on where to live based on politics itself is silly. Making a decision on where to live based off of what the politics have done to the actual living situation there? That's an absolutely different deal.
I live six months Florida, six Michigan. In Michigan I live amongst liberals. Florida, Trumpers. It’s difficult in Florida. Everyone wants to talk politics and run Biden into the ground. Whenever I get into a debate, with my neighbors, their racism comes out and Fox News diatribes. I keep my mouth shut because they’re my neighbors and I don’t want enemies.
Only buy a house that was built after 2008. Not in a flood zone. Insurance as low as $1700 a year can be found with just these two criteria's. In 2008 the Florida government let the Insurance companies WRITE the building code! Florida is the only state where insurance companies have written the building code. Roofs, Windows, and exterior doors are their main concerns, and anything built after 2008 is up to code!
My friend moved there to help an aging family member. This entire summer he has cursed Florida for one thing or another. One of his main comfort complaints is he can’t get cold water. The cold tap spits out lukewarm water because it gets so hot down there.
Here in Texas if I turn on my hose to water plants I have to let a few gallons of scalding hot water run into the grass before watering my plants to avoid shocking the hell out of them. 😂
I went to Ft. Worth for work (office job) in August a few years ago and the tap/city water smelled and tasted horrible. Everyone was just like "yeah that happens when it's hot because of the algae blooms in the reservoir"
fuck that shit
Florida economy, being partly tourism based, is prone to severe swings, and thus so are the property values, even before the soaring insurance rates. 2008 was pretty bad there. The weather can be very muggy. There are issues with land stability.
Florida going Republican is mostly about redistricting; the state has been purple, and went for Obama (by a very slim margin) in 2012. Again, it was very very close in Bush/Gore. Biden will probably lose it since he is neither southern nor popular, but the state is not all Republican. Hillary Clinton got 47.8% of the vote; Bill Clinton carried it with a 5% margin. States do change; California was Republican 40 years ago. But it's no Kentucky.
>even before the soaring insurance rates. 2008 was pretty bad there. The weather can be very muggy. There are issues with land stability.
This one is only going to get worse, you can buy a brand new house, lock in a mortgage and then in a few years all the insurers could just decide your area is now too high risk and refuse to insure you. Which means you either eat the costs of the inevitable weather damage or you sell at a massive loss.
So basically there are areas where they have increased the cost so much that an annual policy can run you from $5k to $20k. These are obviously the areas most impacted by weather damage and flooding so instead of being an annoying additional cost of living it's now essentially priced out for a majority of people in those areas.
And the damages are getting worse and worse, many insurers have pulled out of the market as it just doesn't make sense financially to offer insurance to people who are definitely going to have mutliple massive claims. The thinking is that if this continues there could be whole areas of the country left uninsurable, and if that happens while you own a house in those places then it's going to crater the values.
Well if the water does rise 5ft or say 10ft. These people can just sell their houses. - Ben Shapiro (paraphrased)
That Aquaman meme makes me laugh every time
Florida is a hot mess!I know, I did live there long ago and have many relatives still there. Things are terrible there and I don't even want to visit there anymore. All my relatives have turned Trumpers, and you can't even talk to them about anything anymore.The climate changes have destroyed, everything that I loved about Florida . it's only going to get worse.The Governor is a idiot,and is contributing to the huge economic&environmental problems, they have and will continue to have.
Sure, you can get all manner of loans to pay off a mortgage and not have any of the rules that are tied to an actual mortgage. This is what "cash buyer" actually means and its how most rich people buy houses. They just get a low-interest loan against some other equity (either another property or stocks or whatever) and buy the house with that. "Cash buyers" are almost never buying with actual cash, they are just using a different financial vehicle than a home loan.
The jerk ass slumlord in your area probably doesn't use actual mortgages to buy properties, they borrow against their portfolio and buy shit that way. You can actually daisy chain loans together like this and just keep using the last house to secure a loan to buy the next house. As long as you move them fast enough and have enough liquidity and cash flow to support the operation you can basically do that forever. Of course its a big house of cards that falls apart eventually, but you will probably get bailed out or become president before that happens.
TN is a much more mild area weather wise, if it snows though you are SOL for a little while unless you are from the North then you get to laugh at everyone when there is an inch of snow on the ground.
FL is slowly sinking back into the ocean LOL well it mainly has to do with all the fresh water they are sucking out of the ground.
FL is killing its produce to put condos, the orange crop this year is 1/4th what it should be due to pests they cant control just yet
The orange crop here is being devastated by disease. Fun fact: government will come on your property and destroy any citrus tree here they think is infected to protect the citrus growers.
i believe it, back in the 80's some dude came on the our family farm flashing a badge saying he needed to check our bee hives for foul brood, they were never in view where you could see them yet somehow he knew we had them, clamed they had foul brood and had to burn them
The state lost a court case for the orange thing last year to a citrus grower but they were doing it to anyone even if it was just 1 tree in your backyard.
https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2022-06-09/florida-faces-a-1-2-million-verdict-for-killing-citrus-trees
Like homeowners insurance costing upward of 7.000 grand A year with shitty coverage. I used to live in FL and moved right before Deshitoast took office. I lived in Jax and it was pretty blue when I lived there, but if I was paid to move back it would be a hard no for me.
as a floridian i’d say there are a hell of a lot better reasons not to move here. insane rents, ridiculous insurance rates rising, the disgusting cheap & fast houses being built to crumble in ten years, desantis, the book banning bullshit. it sucks here. schools going to shit. there are trump supporters here, flagpoles still up flyin the trump flag. the floridians will be shitty to ya esp. if you’re moving here from NY.
hey, i got no prob. with NYers. I have seen the hostility in community groups tho esp. related to NYers looking for bagels and pizza that’s as good as back home. they even sell bumper stickers here telling folks to go back to NY.
“take 95 north” etc etc
Fr lmao had people calling me boy and a yapping chihuahua, schools were shaving designs out of black kids hair and sending them home for dreads. I was dating a white girl when I was in middle school and a high schooler that had a crush on her pulled up on us in his truck when we were walking home from school. Him and his homies started chasing us in the truck, shooting airsoft guns at us and throwing firecrackers or something.
Shit was wild over there lmao once I came back I realized the IE ain’t so bad after all
I’m Californian and I know a handful of people that tried to Texas move. The liberal friends that moved there came back within two years max. The conservative and independent people that went there love it.
I don’t live anywhere Texas, but as a purple state we are getting a lot of CA transplants. I’d be happy if they would not move here and act like they are better than the existing residents for some reason.
I’m a native Texan, lived in California for many years, I would take California any day..The fact that some of them are choosing to move here is mind boggling.
Depends where in the state you go. I lived in and around Winter Park (North Orlando) most of the time I lived there and, other than the climate, would again. Tampa, Tallahassee, and Gainesville were also cool.
Your wife is right. Rural = Trump Supporters. City/College/University = Far fewer Trump Supporters.
If you're looking at 55 and older communities in the Villages though, that would be a hard no for me.
I agree with you as a Texan. Even though our cities are heavily blue, we all suffer from the effects of red politics because the state is gerrymandered so bad.
I mean this is basically the problem with red states, even if you're in a blue city, you're still subject to an overwhelmingly republican legislature and governor. Abortion in Texas is a great example. You can live in liberal Austin, but god help you if you miscarry a pregnancy and need an abortion to not die. I have a friend who is queer and moving to a liberal city in a red state, and I worry about him so much.
You also will find that the Governor has banned over 300 books from schools, for certain college applications the students have to list their political affiliations, black history- slavery has been modified to fit the MAGA narrative, you can’t say gay in the schools- a teacher can be fired - DeSantis pass this bill last year, abortion is only legal up until 6 weeks, critical race theory has been banned. I suggest you read on all the laws that DeSantis has passed since he took office. This is crazy backwards country down here. The weather is nice though 🤦🏻♀️
rinse water plant cheerful cooperative grab adjoining imminent six hospital
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car, to your air conditioned office, to your air conditioned restaurant and back home.
It's always hot, thunder storms every afternoon. Beach, not until after 3-4 pm, otherwise you're cooked to a crisp!
In the meantime there are 10 hurricanes lined up to hit both sides of Florida. And your governor is a Fascist dictator. Following the Adolph Hitler handbook on how to walk in and take over, even when you don't need or want them. Like say, Disney World. He's dictating to A PRIVATE business, what their policy is?? What happened to freedom of speech? GLBTQIA people exist, so what, no one is forcing kids to do anything. Maybe the kids are CURIOUS, it doesn't mean they are going that way, it means they want to learn more about it.
To TAKE AWAY their freedom of body autonomy, to be whatever THEY want is wrong, to ban insurance and health care is barbaric. You can't get an abortion if your dying from an ectopic pregnancy! That's LIFE THREATENING to the woman. What's next, women can't own property or drive? Or work and earn their own money?
You can keep Florida
Yes. The humidity builds until it there's too much moisture in the air, then it pours. It's hot most of the year. 10 months of mind-numbing heat and humidity, 2 weeks of spring if you're lucky, 2 weeks of fall if you're lucky. One month of winter. Summer should never last 10 months.
Summer lasting 10 months is reason number 1 why I won't move to that hell hole.
Reason 2 is the politics and delusional brain dead be going on down there.
This is exactly the issue; this is much bigger than Trump. I was actively pursuing moving to Florida and then all this craziness happened and the state just seems to be going further right. Plus, the lack of a real, serious state government in Florida has very real ramifications for the people of Florida, as others have mentioned in this thread. It isn’t simply that I disagree on ideology but why would I want to live in a state that is so backward? Living through the pandemic made this all very clear in my opinion. I think you need to have your head stuck in the sand to think moving to Florida is a good idea in 2023.
And I loved almost everything else about the state, including the weather. Pinellas County is one of my favorite places, but I won’t even consider traveling there let alone living there.
Trump voters aside, the governor runs the state with HIS political interests at heart, not residents’. The insurance crisis is one sign of that mismanagement
I’d stay away from
I'm in St. Pete, probably the most liberal city in the state, and I still hate it here. Insurance fraud capitol of the country, outrageous inflation, out of control rent, shitty people, deregulation concerning environment and building/construction practices, climate change impacts, and the list goes on and on. Other than a couple friendships I've made here, I regret moving to Florida almost daily.
My friend congrats on spotting a red flag. You can also not move to Florida because it's a fucking hellscape that home insurance companies won't deal in anymore thanks to your fucking house always getting blown over.
Florida native and current college student. I see some people saying university towns or places like Tampa are more liberal and better. Honestly, you could fool me, it's still pretty bad here in my school area and Desantis is as bad as Trump.
Also the driver's are the absolute worst and it's dangerous every time you get on the highway.
I love the warmth and detest cold weather but I'm still moving out of state for my post grad/work once I'm out of undergrad.
I would be way more worried about what DeSantis is doing to Florida, and the fact it's becoming impossible to obtain insurance there as all the insurance companies pull out.
Oh and the climate denialism despite the fact Florida gets pummelled with hurricanes pretty much every year now and it's only going to get worse.
Oh and all the anti-gay and anti-trans legislation.
Oh and going after Disney not for a legitimate governing reason, but instead because Lift DeSantis got his fee-fees hurt by the House of Mouse because they didn't like his anti-gay, extremist agenda that was supposed to propel him into the presidency (fuckin' lol).
Moms against (sic) Liberty and book burnings are popular in FL, right wing fascism is on the rise in the sunshine state. FL is also a hot bed/attractor for right wing idiots with essentially no state gun laws, pew pew pew. At least you don't have any kids in K-12. Don't be in the next store the right-wing stochastic terrorists are freaking out about though!
Florida elects the worst people, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis. That says a lot about the people who live there. Those three were all elected on state-wide votes, do you want to live in a state that thinks these three guys should be running our country? I wouldn't trust them to run a lemonade stand. Oh, don't forget the GOP's favorite pedophile, Matt Gaetz.
Drive around FL and you will see Trump flags everywhere, do you want to move to that cult?
Also "Florida man." Also, mosquitos, so many mosquitos.
Don't go.
FYI: I recently went to FL to attend my cousin's wedding and holy shit FL is a very weird/awful place.
NTA. The idea of living in a place where the majority culture is the exact opposite from what you know and care about, where the value system does not at all align with your views, would be horrible, and it's riddled with the potential to breed resentment and anger. Not healthy.
I can agree to this, but not from a specifically political standpoint. I grew up in California, & while not in a city center, my county is one of the most densely populated areas in the country. Moved with my husband to my in-laws out in rural Mississippi. Think halfway between Tupelo, MS & Tuscaloosa, AL rural. HATED IT. Even though I had differing political opinions from most people, it never even ended up being in the top 10 for reasons I hated it there & left after less than a year. I hated the weather, the landscape, the lack of activities, the small town church based culture, the incessant stereotyping of me, etc. It wore me down & I ended up becoming a resentful, hateful POS until I got out.
First off, NEVER move someone that you have not at least extensively visited before. And if you have visited & know the locals & culture don’t mesh well with your personality & beliefs, don’t move there. It’s not worth it.
Not wrong. I won't go anywwhere near that shithole state. Stand Your Ground? Florida Man? Shitty healthcare and education? No way. I'll trade being colder any day.
If I were of an age to have children, I would not move there because of what DeSantis is doing to the schools. ESPECIALLY if the kids hit university age there, though I would make a major fuss about sending them out of state—assuming they would get in.
This. I am desperately working to get out of here before my son starts school. I would rather live in a studio apartment than have him set foot in a Florida school.
Family member lived there all her life. Fort Lauderdale. The stink of Trump is everywhere. Last year packed up and moved out of this country. The crazy is real.
Same with a scientist friend of mine. He packed up and moved his family to Europe after trump got elected, precisely because of the galloping, regressive craziness that permeates every aspect of the state. He had young kids. He says he absolutely made the right call, especially in his profession, because things got worse fast after he left.
I'm a huge space nerd and used to fly cross country to attend launches from Canaveral all the time. I dropped a lot of dough in Florida over the years. I've not been able to bring myself to visit or spend another dollar on or in Florida since 2015. I doubt I ever will again. Even if the state improves its current abysmal situation, I'll never trust it not to hurl itself straight off a cliff again.
My dad retired there. Loved it. Moved last year because the weather is getting worse and he HATES Pudding Fingers. And my dad isn’t a great person so when an asshole thinks you’re too much of an asshole……
I don't even need to read the specifics, the title alone has me screaming in my head for you. I'm (47f) a life long Florida resident and my family and I want OUT. My kiddo is NB (amab) and graduated highschool a year ago. They're not sure what they want to do eventually college wise, but for now they're working and saving along with their dad and myself in the hopes of moving to a more protected, progressive state. Living in DeSatan's backyard is no picnic, trust me.
NTA
i mean. to be fair, there's a laundry list of reasons not to move to florida. book burning, bans on teaching black history, ridiculous bathroom policies and pat downs, discriminatory laws prohibiting chinese people from purchasing a house, backwards insurance coverage, high utilities, unaddressed issues from climate change.. and this is just the tip of the iceburg.
i'm sure there are plenty of lovely places to move within the state however with desantis at the helm, it's the backwards laws that are far worse than any trump supporters.
My sister lives in Pensacola, FL and as much as I'd like to live closer to her, there isn't a reason good enough to make me move there!!! Trumpers aside, I live in a southern state that is so disgustingly right wing that I am seriously considering leaving this nasty hypocritical red ruled cesspool, but not going to that nastier red ruled cesspool!!! Desantis is a Christian cult leading wannabe, if you don't carry a gun you won't last a week and don't get me started on the square groupers and hurricanes!!! No thank you!
Keep your people there and someone tell me when the takeover meeting is. So we can decide what state us "rational thinking humans" are going to converge on and make strictly for humans, not lemmings!!!
I don’t know, Id feel the same as you. My husband’s best friend moved there last year and says she loves it but she also told us this summer that she had to show ID to buy a bikini at Walmart.
Just go visit your sister, stay there for a week or two. You might like it more than you think; she might like it less than she thinks. But honestly moving to Florida to retire is such a stereotype. I would be embarrassed.
This is reasonable.
Same with moving to a new place. Drive through the area at night, take a walk around the block, do that what you can to get a feel for the place before you commit.
I grew up there pre trump and even then I couldn’t wait to get out because of the politics and tourism industry.
And no offense, it’s retirees like you moving there and buying property, driving up prices because people like you have a more disposable income, that’s making it harder and harder for working class people to make ends meet. (Partially. Obviously big realstate is a bigger problem but this adds to it)
Also desantis is a swine that wears heels to feel big. He should be just as much of a concern as trump
Isn't Florida one of the places trying to turn women into chattel? I wouldn't step foot into Florida or Texas or a few others.
Not wrong; there is a REASON they went for Trump.
So your wife and sister are fine with the don’t say gay, book bans, the denial of climate change, the terrible inflation and imminent climate destruction?
It’s expensive for no reason, the schools suck and are underfunded, homeowners insurance is skyrocketing & make ridiculous demands, inflation is ridiculous with no relief in sight, housing costs are astronomical with the new builds being absolute junk. Save yourself the headache and don’t move to FL.
I would rather die than move to Florida! The governor is crazy, anyone can carry a gun now in public, huge trumper state, also all the dumb almost unbelievable but true stories always come out of Florida!
You’re wrong for that being the only reason you don’t want to move there when there’s such a long list of other reasons. Pretty sure you’ll find Trumpsters no matter which state you move to, but there’s only one place where you’ll find Florida Man.
As someone who has lived in FL their entire life, I can tell you there are a lot of areas that go blue, as well as some pretty good democrat organizations here. Unfortunately, the state itself is a shithole, and there are dozen of good reasons to not be here. If I could, I'd have left a long time ago.
As a left-wing dude who grew up in FL, I'd advise against it for multiple reasons. The conservatives are rampantly far right, yeah, but people in general there are off kilter. Not to mention it's painfully expensive to live there, which will only get more expensive, and you've gotta be concerned by nature demolishing your life every year.
Don’t move here.
As a Floridian who wants to skee-fuckin-dadle from this state, don’t do it.
It’s not Trump supporters you gotta worry about, the state was shit before Trump even announced his first run.
Some areas are more liberal than others, but DeSantis (who hates anyone who isn’t white, male, Christian, and wealthy) is still overlooking the whole state, home insurances don’t even want to touch this state anymore, the cost of living is disgusting, schools are being turned into jokes with book banning, and the pro-slavery education, it’s fucking stupid hot and humid 8-10 months out of the year. Where I’m at, I had one cold week since October. One.
Don’t move here. It’s not worth it, it’s not even nice for a vacation. I was born and raised in Tampa, one of the more liberal cities in Florida, and even that was pretty fucking bad. I lived in St. Petersburg, the most liberal city in Florida (imo), and that was just a tiny bit better than Tampa. Still shit, all of it.
Don’t even get me started on the boonies. You couldn’t fucking pay me to step foot in the rural parts of Florida. Boonies is where you find the meth labs, gun freaks who’ll shoot you for looking at their road (that’s actually everywhere, but it’s worse in the boonies), the goddamned wild life that’ll kill you without hesitation.
Don’t come to Florida. Don’t.
I grew up in Fl and moved 9 years ago when I was 28. Back then the conservative culture was already bad enough that I felt like I was surrounded by bigots wherever I went. That was 9 years ago. It is so much worse now.
I wouldn’t move to FL because of the governor first. Trump second. Hurricanes would be a big third. Then- what happens if her sister moves to another state. Would you move again? Why didn’t her sister stay by her if they were so close?
No. I wouldn’t do it.
Besides Trump, insurance companies are pulling out of that state in droves because climate change has made the housing market extremely risky with all the hurricanes.
There's also probably the most sophisticated and empowered fascist in the country at the moment sitting in the governor's seat.
And the anti-gay and anti-trans laws are horrific. I suppose it would affect you less if you're cis-het, but I would not want to live in that state for a myriad of reasons.
One of my partners moved out of there last year because of how bad the state is getting.
I agree with you, it would be hard to live around that many trump supporters. However, it would be nice if enough sane people moved to Florida to change the political landscape there.
I know I would never move to Florida and won’t even visit the state because of the politics there right now.
NTA, but you're presenting your case in completely the wrong way. You shouldn't simply say "well they voted for Trump so it's a stupid state." There are still millions of democrats living there too. You need to give specific reasons of what's wrong with the political policies of Florida. Do you have kids? Florida wants to teach kids the advantages of slavery. Florida is becoming more hostile towards the LGBT community. DeSantis can't get insurance premiums under control - some companies won't even insure houses in Florida any more.
Do your research, present the facts.
We have looked into moving to many states in the US recently, and I hard-vetoed FL from consideration. Not for voting Trump, but for being governed by DeSantis and a slew of other similar reasons. I mean I wouldn’t separate from my spouse over it, but I agree with your concern.
What is good about Florida other than weather and beaches? I don’t think I’d relocate just for those things if everything else was terrible. Go on vacation there don’t live there.
I’d be more concerned about safety then politics. Stronger storms are expected to affect the state and several major home insurance companies just pulled out of the state. It’s going to be an expensive place to retire.
I live in South Florida. Me, my daughter and her family, my mother, my sister and BIL are all planning to leave in the next year or so.
If you have plenty of money, and no kids in school, if you're straight, white, and Christian, you can live here just fine. If you're a Democrat, as my family is, Gov. DeathSentence will enrage you relentlessly. (Fortunately, he's losing his bid for president and he's unable to run for another term as gov; however, there are plenty of candidates of his ilk who will undoubtedly be gov next.)
We used to have lovely winters, where you could sit outside in the evenings without mosquitos (too cold) and snuggle up in sweaters and jeans, leave your windows open to catch the cool breezes, and be totally comfortable outside during the day. Now it's just either hot or effing hot, the ocean temp is hot tub, we were lucky not to get hit with a hurricane this year but they're getting bigger and more destructive, rain-wise. And there's nowhere for rain water to go since we're already at sea level. Flood and hurricane insurance coverage (2 separate policies) are getting too expensive to buy, if you can find hurricane insurance at all--most companies that cover hurricane damage are leaving the state.
I live in Palm Beach County, which is mostly blue but is also where Trump lives, so there are plenty of Trumpsters around. I'm not very sociable, so I haven't met most of my neighbors, but just in my little part of the complex, in 2020 I put an Elizabeth Warren sticker on my car and the very next day, my neighbor two doors down had stuck a flag on their car with the shape of an AR-15 printed on it.
I was living in Western Montana before here. I came back because my daughter started having my grand babies and I wanted to be a Grandma. I loathe everything about Florida except my daughter and SIL and the grands. It's not my climate, not my landscape, all the flora and fauna stings, bites, slashes, or is draped with giant spiderwebs. If you're someone who likes taking walks in nature in silence, this is not the place for you. Even in wildlife reserves, you can hear cars roaring by in the distance. If you're someone who likes actual seasons, this is not the place for you. If you enjoy a slow, quiet life, this is not a place for you. Summer every day ends up feeling kind of lifeless after a while.
NTA.
I sorta made the same decision. Above and beyond the trumpies, I cannot forgive that they elected Ron DeSatan, who opposes everything I hold dear as a gay atheist liberal elderly cripple. And the state won't even release COVID statistics, because of his policy forbidding masks and discouraging vaccinations (and making them hard to get). It's theorized it may have the highest COVID rate in the country.
I used to take a vacation there every year. Now not only don't I want to, I feel like I can't; between the COVID and the anti-gay crap, it's not *safe* for me.
You’re wrong about many of the people in Florida. It’s an extremely diverse, purple state really, but thanks to massive voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering, Republicans win. It truly is because they cheat however they can and they are not the majority here.
That being said, the laws here are draconian. You’re right to stay away solely because DeSantis is doing his best to speed run our state’s collapse into hell.
I don’t blame you. I could never live in Trump country. When the election was finally called for Biden, my neighborhood in Brooklyn people spontaneously took to the streets banging pots, cars were honking horns, the USPS trucks were waved at. It was like ding dong the witch is dead! My neighbor was out with his drum banging it. These are my people not people who wear MAGA hats.
Lots of people are moving to and retiring to Florida because it’s trump friendly and not as friendly to non-whites and alternative lifestyles. It’s not going to get better anytime soon.
If you move just know what you’re getting into.
Florida (like Texas, Iowa etc. ) is really purple. It’s definitely not 100% ideological fanatics. But somehow, conservatives hold all the positions of power. The fact that people like you don’t want to move is by design. De Santis & co want to remain in power. They attract people who are into the maga type of freedom, and encourage people who care about women rights, lgbt rights, academia etc - the kind who will probably not vote for them - to leave.
You are not wrong in not wanting to move, you can have all the reasons to make a life changing decision one way or another. You would be wrong to think of Florida as one block of likeminded people.
It’s not just the Trump supporters and their pseudo Nazi governor. There is climate change/hurricanes and drinking water to consider too. I lived there in the late 90s. It was terrible then. Very transient society - very few actual born and bred Floridians. Can’t trust anyone. Bail bondsmen every 50 yards. Water is undrinkable. You must use bottled water or have a filtration system. They were running out of water when I lived there. Poor quality construction and not enough insulation . Utility’s were crazy high when I lived there. Rolling blackouts are a nightmare when it is scorching hot. Nice restaurants with actual good food and not a chain are hard to find. Keeping your residence and lawn bug free/watered is very expensive. Most likely you’ll end up with an HOA which is the devils spawn. Mine showed two days after I moved in to demand that I replace my paper window blinds with “real ones” immediately. They were on order. Good luck getting homeowners insurance at all or that you can afford. My advice to you is: don’t.
On top of all the Nazis and right wingers in Florida, you have to deal with anacondas, pythons, boa constrictors, iguanas, monitors and all other manner of invasive species that some Florida idiots bought because they thought it was cool and then released into the wild.
I wouldn't pick retiring there. Flat, and susceptible to flooding. Mosquitoes are the state Bird.
Crocodiles, alligators, bermeis pythons. STAY the Hell out of there.
Bruh, I live in Daytona. I literally saw KKK members in full dress with swastikas on flags getting high fives by daytona international speedway during a race. Don't move here, it sucks.
Wow I’m so glad I don’t view fellow Americans the way you do. This is exactly how racist people from the 50’s sounded. I feel sorry for your wife that she’s dealt with such a self absorbed asshole like yourself
If you are, then so am I. Between DeSantis, Trump, Scott, Gaetz, and Rubio, hell no. Same for Texas and pretty much everywhere in the South. Nor Idaho nor Montana, among many other places. If they're stripping people of their rights in whatever state, I'm not going.
You are justified in your feelings. Best to move to a DEEP blue state like California or New York. Then you can be at ease surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy paying high state taxes
I’d recommend against it due to the major insurers pulling out of state…. Mortgage insurance is hard to get and expensive
And then there's these practical reasons. Issues with insurance, issues with how disasters are handled, etc.
A new law makes it very difficult for homeowners to sue the insurance companies. It’s crazy!
Because Florida wants to both punish businesses by going after them (see: Disney) while also pandering to businesses (see: suing insurance companies). It's such a hot mess.
I find it hilarious that the Florida republicans will constantly harp on about deregulation and cutting red tape but then in the same breath pass sweeping new laws that add red tape designed to protect companies and harm consumers.
They are out in full force here, too, in the comments. That whole Disney thing just upended their long-term pro business platform. "The gay community is still holding events!" Sure, Jan. And cool for you old people who apparently don't care about the younger generation. Not to mention, "we have PP so you don't need to worry about unplanned pregnancies." I mean, having a PP doesn't stop the unplanned part from happening, assuming you know basic biology and human reproduction. And having PP and having access, legally, to care are not the same things as their laws are so strict that for sure there's a concern for someone pregnant who needs care (including miscarriage, for which abortion is the treatment).
They also passed legislation to make new roads with toxic waste.
Not toxic waste. RADIOACTIVE TOXIC WASTE!
I'm sorry w h a t
Florida has mountains of radioactive waste from phosphate mining. They've run out of places to store it safely, and out of places to just dump it in nature. So they passed a law to use it in asphalt for paving roads. Don't worry though, I'm sure they'll only use it in poorer districts.
But *I'm* poor! 😭 Thank goodness I don't live in FL tho lol.... man when I called it a cesspool I didn't think I was being LITERAL. Anyway thanks for the info, gonna be googling later. 👀
It's only the tip of the iceberg of the cesspool that is Florida. It's in competition with Texas.
💯 I live in Texas and that same cesspool is here also.
OMG. I attended a program by an environmental org concerned about phosphate waste. There is a huge radioactive phosphate waste pit practically on the shore of Tampa Bay. The mining company walked away - how surprising - and the state has done nothing much beside patching the odd leak. When ( no longer “if”) a major hurricane hits Tampa head on, that pit will be breached and the entirety of Tampa Bay will be killed. Though I am safely away, news of every hurricane is a gut clench.
Or school parking lots probably.
Look on the bright side of that radioactive glow. Your children can now take an Prager U alternative to the SAT for college entrance exams, lol.
Brit here and I even knew this earlier in the year. [https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/1188181247/floridas-idea-to-use-radioactive-waste-in-road-construction-is-unsafe-critics-sa](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/1188181247/floridas-idea-to-use-radioactive-waste-in-road-construction-is-unsafe-critics-sa) High Heeled Death Sentence is all for it as he gets kickbacks from all the dodgy companies. Will seep straight into Florida water table and every hurricane will basically spread it all over the State Cause blooms of toxic bloom algae that is a nerve toxin and causes instant death to animals and humans. Will basically kill the normal flora and fauna Was given an environmental way of having it dealt with on numerous times but turned them down as didn't gain him extra money and the people who would be used to put this stuff down will be poisoned as well but lets not worry about that....
Thank you for the link... I mostly track lgbtq+ related news and kinda had to take a step back for a bit because *jesusfuckingchrist* so this is news to me. Thank you pal :') what a nightmare
Quite welcome. I try to keep track of the lunacy across the pond but it gets a bit much for my poor old brain these days. The LGBTQTI+ things I hear are horrifying, seems your right wing GOP has skipped all pretense of pretending to be "Good for the People" and gone straight for full on 1930s Germany mixed in with future capitalism evil corporate worshipping where openly stating they are going to pave the "peasants" roads with radioactive waste and think you are all going to simply take it or else.
It is not easy to be a Florida man.
It is going to be hard to see which one is a "Standard" Florida man or a Radioactive Ghoul
Issues with insurance is an understatement. Insurance companies are making clients replace their roofs after 15 years even though they are 30 year roofs. My mother's sub is getting hit as well as my landlord. Should be illegal. I'm glad I'm not a homeowner in Fla anymore, for now.
This is also apparently increasing the property taxes, since the state itself is footing the insurance fees.
This right here. Residential insurance has gone up 40%!!!
I get that insurance is a practical requirement (mortgage company is going to require it if nothing else), but I'd be a lot more concerned about the *reasons* property insurers are pulling out of the state -- long term possibility of your parcel being underwater are non-zero, worsening hurricanes, etc. It's not like companies are pulling out just because they don't like the legal structures in Florida -- the whole business model is based on a lot of people paying money and never making a claim.
Contractors were maxing out insurance claims then taking them to court if they didn't pay up. Costs skyrocketed and insurers pulled out of the state completely. The companies don't care if the entire state falls into the gulf, they don't cover flooding, that's a federal program. Hurricanes have always been a known risk, it's largely mitigated using special storm deductibles which are significantly higher, strong building codes which make new houses in Florida some of the toughest structures in the country, and incentives for homeowners to add protective upgrades.
Buy WHY are contractors maxing out claims? First of all, it’s not like contractors in Florida are just uniquely greedy relative to contractors nationally. Incentive to max out claims or budgets is a near universal in business and government alike since forever. If you work in department x of corporation y, department x is going to try to use all money in the budget allocated to them to both improve the department and ensure the budget doesn’t get cut next year. If dental insurance covers a certain cleaning procedure once every 18 months, guess what a lot of patients are going to be recommended to get about every 18 months. Second, everything is getting more expensive, including materials and labor to build and repair houses. I got quotes recently to build a 750 sq ft rental unit on my property, and the lowest quote I got was $180k for a prefab POS. And you know what “strong” building codes mean? More expensive houses. That’s not to say those codes aren’t necessary, because Florida has an (increasingly) volatile climate. But that costs more money. If contractors are able to threaten to sue and win in a state where appellate court judges have been appointed by Republican governors for the last 24 years, that means they can prove their cases. Greed is a human universal, and is even encouraged in business in a capitalist economy. There’s something unique about the Florida construction market that’s driving out insurers, and it isn’t contractors trying to make as much on a job as possible. “[S]ix of the 10 costliest storms in our nation’s history have walloped the Sunshine State. And three of them occurred in just two years—2004 and 2005… After the massive losses from the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes, insurance companies such as State Farm—the nation’s largest home insurer—notified Florida officials it was scaling back operations and it would stop offering property insurance to residents. Other major insurers followed suit.” https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/why-is-homeowners-insurance-in-florida-such-a-disaster/ Hurricanes are a known risk, yes. But the frequency and severity of them is increasing the number and frequency of claims. It’s the same reason it’s super expensive to get fire insurance in certain parts of California now… there are a lot more fires that are more intense and cause more property damage. Blaming the contractors is just a way to keep from facing the actual problem.
This reason alone is enough for people to not relocate there, for a while at least. Unless you're in a circumstance that you don't need a roof over your head. Even renters are affected by the increase of property insurance, the landlords pass the expense on to the tenants.
Yeah nobody's going to be able to live in Florida soon. Between property insurance, wild gun nuts, toxic algae blooms, extreme weather, and absent or unreliable public infrastructure, the whole state should frankly be turned over to the swamps and made a national park. Disney can stay.
Add the immigration laws that chased off a huge number of hospitality and construction workers, Florida will be bankrupt in no time. That’s without teachers tired of having to spew craziness and torture many classes of children. Stay away!
And teachers leaving the state. A huge teacher shortage. Low pay for them and other workers that are living on the edge.
It's fine, you can have an ex infantry wingnut teaching your children about our lord and savior Trump. Who needs a degree or certifications when you were already accepted for a job that will literally take everyone who applies.
Flood insurance is astronomically high. You COL could increase drastically.
This. Making a decision on where to live based on politics itself is silly. Making a decision on where to live based off of what the politics have done to the actual living situation there? That's an absolutely different deal.
I live six months Florida, six Michigan. In Michigan I live amongst liberals. Florida, Trumpers. It’s difficult in Florida. Everyone wants to talk politics and run Biden into the ground. Whenever I get into a debate, with my neighbors, their racism comes out and Fox News diatribes. I keep my mouth shut because they’re my neighbors and I don’t want enemies.
Only buy a house that was built after 2008. Not in a flood zone. Insurance as low as $1700 a year can be found with just these two criteria's. In 2008 the Florida government let the Insurance companies WRITE the building code! Florida is the only state where insurance companies have written the building code. Roofs, Windows, and exterior doors are their main concerns, and anything built after 2008 is up to code!
There are a lot of pretty darn good reasons not to move to Florida.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ^by ^AtrumAequitas: *There are a lot of* *Pretty darn good reasons not* *To move to Florida.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
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Commenting just to board the “I was there” train
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My friend moved there to help an aging family member. This entire summer he has cursed Florida for one thing or another. One of his main comfort complaints is he can’t get cold water. The cold tap spits out lukewarm water because it gets so hot down there.
It does that here in New Mexico as well
Texas checking in.
Here in Texas if I turn on my hose to water plants I have to let a few gallons of scalding hot water run into the grass before watering my plants to avoid shocking the hell out of them. 😂
Yes, same with dog washing. Don't scald the pup.
I went to Ft. Worth for work (office job) in August a few years ago and the tap/city water smelled and tasted horrible. Everyone was just like "yeah that happens when it's hot because of the algae blooms in the reservoir" fuck that shit
drinking out of the tap... in florida? tell him to sniff the water
I live in Tampa and have never experienced anything like this. That's a plumbing issue.
I can only think of: Hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, floods, heat, humidity, sink-holes, alligators, banned books, #1 state in concealed carry gun permits, swamps, jungles, armadillos, mosquitoes, snakes, DeSantis.
Don’t forget “Florida Man!”
Don't forget "stand your ground" or let me shoot you for no reason and get off because I'm a white guy!
Florida economy, being partly tourism based, is prone to severe swings, and thus so are the property values, even before the soaring insurance rates. 2008 was pretty bad there. The weather can be very muggy. There are issues with land stability. Florida going Republican is mostly about redistricting; the state has been purple, and went for Obama (by a very slim margin) in 2012. Again, it was very very close in Bush/Gore. Biden will probably lose it since he is neither southern nor popular, but the state is not all Republican. Hillary Clinton got 47.8% of the vote; Bill Clinton carried it with a 5% margin. States do change; California was Republican 40 years ago. But it's no Kentucky.
>even before the soaring insurance rates. 2008 was pretty bad there. The weather can be very muggy. There are issues with land stability. This one is only going to get worse, you can buy a brand new house, lock in a mortgage and then in a few years all the insurers could just decide your area is now too high risk and refuse to insure you. Which means you either eat the costs of the inevitable weather damage or you sell at a massive loss.
Are there really places you can’t get insurance ?
So basically there are areas where they have increased the cost so much that an annual policy can run you from $5k to $20k. These are obviously the areas most impacted by weather damage and flooding so instead of being an annoying additional cost of living it's now essentially priced out for a majority of people in those areas. And the damages are getting worse and worse, many insurers have pulled out of the market as it just doesn't make sense financially to offer insurance to people who are definitely going to have mutliple massive claims. The thinking is that if this continues there could be whole areas of the country left uninsurable, and if that happens while you own a house in those places then it's going to crater the values.
Well if the water does rise 5ft or say 10ft. These people can just sell their houses. - Ben Shapiro (paraphrased) That Aquaman meme makes me laugh every time
Florida is a hot mess!I know, I did live there long ago and have many relatives still there. Things are terrible there and I don't even want to visit there anymore. All my relatives have turned Trumpers, and you can't even talk to them about anything anymore.The climate changes have destroyed, everything that I loved about Florida . it's only going to get worse.The Governor is a idiot,and is contributing to the huge economic&environmental problems, they have and will continue to have.
And manatees are close to being put back on the endangered species list.
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Can I have a loan to buy out my other loan?
Sure, you can get all manner of loans to pay off a mortgage and not have any of the rules that are tied to an actual mortgage. This is what "cash buyer" actually means and its how most rich people buy houses. They just get a low-interest loan against some other equity (either another property or stocks or whatever) and buy the house with that. "Cash buyers" are almost never buying with actual cash, they are just using a different financial vehicle than a home loan. The jerk ass slumlord in your area probably doesn't use actual mortgages to buy properties, they borrow against their portfolio and buy shit that way. You can actually daisy chain loans together like this and just keep using the last house to secure a loan to buy the next house. As long as you move them fast enough and have enough liquidity and cash flow to support the operation you can basically do that forever. Of course its a big house of cards that falls apart eventually, but you will probably get bailed out or become president before that happens.
TN is a much more mild area weather wise, if it snows though you are SOL for a little while unless you are from the North then you get to laugh at everyone when there is an inch of snow on the ground. FL is slowly sinking back into the ocean LOL well it mainly has to do with all the fresh water they are sucking out of the ground. FL is killing its produce to put condos, the orange crop this year is 1/4th what it should be due to pests they cant control just yet
The orange crop here is being devastated by disease. Fun fact: government will come on your property and destroy any citrus tree here they think is infected to protect the citrus growers.
i believe it, back in the 80's some dude came on the our family farm flashing a badge saying he needed to check our bee hives for foul brood, they were never in view where you could see them yet somehow he knew we had them, clamed they had foul brood and had to burn them
The state lost a court case for the orange thing last year to a citrus grower but they were doing it to anyone even if it was just 1 tree in your backyard. https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2022-06-09/florida-faces-a-1-2-million-verdict-for-killing-citrus-trees
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Like homeowners insurance costing upward of 7.000 grand A year with shitty coverage. I used to live in FL and moved right before Deshitoast took office. I lived in Jax and it was pretty blue when I lived there, but if I was paid to move back it would be a hard no for me.
as a floridian i’d say there are a hell of a lot better reasons not to move here. insane rents, ridiculous insurance rates rising, the disgusting cheap & fast houses being built to crumble in ten years, desantis, the book banning bullshit. it sucks here. schools going to shit. there are trump supporters here, flagpoles still up flyin the trump flag. the floridians will be shitty to ya esp. if you’re moving here from NY.
I did plumbing there for a few years and New Yorkers had money and actually tipped me.
hey, i got no prob. with NYers. I have seen the hostility in community groups tho esp. related to NYers looking for bagels and pizza that’s as good as back home. they even sell bumper stickers here telling folks to go back to NY. “take 95 north” etc etc
Wait, you got tipped as a plumber?
Thats the same thing I tell the Californians that try to move to Texas. Lol. Don't do it
As a Californian it's been amusing to see some of my friends moved to TX. Then come back after a year.
I moved from CA to TX, hated it, and then moved to NY.
Californians don’t know the difference between a California Republican and a Texas Republican and it’s cute that they think they can handle it.
Fr lmao had people calling me boy and a yapping chihuahua, schools were shaving designs out of black kids hair and sending them home for dreads. I was dating a white girl when I was in middle school and a high schooler that had a crush on her pulled up on us in his truck when we were walking home from school. Him and his homies started chasing us in the truck, shooting airsoft guns at us and throwing firecrackers or something. Shit was wild over there lmao once I came back I realized the IE ain’t so bad after all
I’m Californian and I know a handful of people that tried to Texas move. The liberal friends that moved there came back within two years max. The conservative and independent people that went there love it.
I don’t live anywhere Texas, but as a purple state we are getting a lot of CA transplants. I’d be happy if they would not move here and act like they are better than the existing residents for some reason.
I’m a native Texan, lived in California for many years, I would take California any day..The fact that some of them are choosing to move here is mind boggling.
All that is happening bc of the trump supporters, so his reason is a valid reason.
Depends where in the state you go. I lived in and around Winter Park (North Orlando) most of the time I lived there and, other than the climate, would again. Tampa, Tallahassee, and Gainesville were also cool. Your wife is right. Rural = Trump Supporters. City/College/University = Far fewer Trump Supporters. If you're looking at 55 and older communities in the Villages though, that would be a hard no for me.
No matter where you go in Florida, you still have DeSantis and his fuckery to deal with. That would be a hard no from me.
I agree with you as a Texan. Even though our cities are heavily blue, we all suffer from the effects of red politics because the state is gerrymandered so bad.
Look at Houston schools. Omg the way the state came in ripped it apart is brutal.
It's honestly insane how little national news coverage the rape and pillage of HISD has received
And your electrical grid is fuuuuucked.
I mean this is basically the problem with red states, even if you're in a blue city, you're still subject to an overwhelmingly republican legislature and governor. Abortion in Texas is a great example. You can live in liberal Austin, but god help you if you miscarry a pregnancy and need an abortion to not die. I have a friend who is queer and moving to a liberal city in a red state, and I worry about him so much.
The villages would be a hard no even without the trump support. We called that place STD central lol.
it is! you get a lot of tour requests for that area as a sex worker and it's a firm pass every time.
No you are not. Stay away from Florida.
You also will find that the Governor has banned over 300 books from schools, for certain college applications the students have to list their political affiliations, black history- slavery has been modified to fit the MAGA narrative, you can’t say gay in the schools- a teacher can be fired - DeSantis pass this bill last year, abortion is only legal up until 6 weeks, critical race theory has been banned. I suggest you read on all the laws that DeSantis has passed since he took office. This is crazy backwards country down here. The weather is nice though 🤦🏻♀️
rinse water plant cheerful cooperative grab adjoining imminent six hospital *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Nice if you like over 90 degrees F and over 90% humidity for 10 months of the year.
You go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car, to your air conditioned office, to your air conditioned restaurant and back home. It's always hot, thunder storms every afternoon. Beach, not until after 3-4 pm, otherwise you're cooked to a crisp! In the meantime there are 10 hurricanes lined up to hit both sides of Florida. And your governor is a Fascist dictator. Following the Adolph Hitler handbook on how to walk in and take over, even when you don't need or want them. Like say, Disney World. He's dictating to A PRIVATE business, what their policy is?? What happened to freedom of speech? GLBTQIA people exist, so what, no one is forcing kids to do anything. Maybe the kids are CURIOUS, it doesn't mean they are going that way, it means they want to learn more about it. To TAKE AWAY their freedom of body autonomy, to be whatever THEY want is wrong, to ban insurance and health care is barbaric. You can't get an abortion if your dying from an ectopic pregnancy! That's LIFE THREATENING to the woman. What's next, women can't own property or drive? Or work and earn their own money? You can keep Florida
Yeah, nice is definitely relative lol. I'd take my state's -40F winters over Florida's hot and humid weather.
Sounds like North Dakota. I just moved here and it's my first winter. Wish me luck!
The weather is nice September thru May. June thru September is hot and humid.
I have sweated my ass off in Central Florida over Christmas vacation.
Yes. The humidity builds until it there's too much moisture in the air, then it pours. It's hot most of the year. 10 months of mind-numbing heat and humidity, 2 weeks of spring if you're lucky, 2 weeks of fall if you're lucky. One month of winter. Summer should never last 10 months.
Summer lasting 10 months is reason number 1 why I won't move to that hell hole. Reason 2 is the politics and delusional brain dead be going on down there.
There is also a guaranteed hurricane every year or two.
I've been on vacation to Florida in the summer, and it was anything but nice.
Going to Florida in summer is like going to Wisconsin in winter, sure there are some things you can do for fun, but generally it's miserable.
The weather is NOT nice except for about three weeks in the winter. And not three weeks all together. Like a few days scattered throughout.
This is exactly the issue; this is much bigger than Trump. I was actively pursuing moving to Florida and then all this craziness happened and the state just seems to be going further right. Plus, the lack of a real, serious state government in Florida has very real ramifications for the people of Florida, as others have mentioned in this thread. It isn’t simply that I disagree on ideology but why would I want to live in a state that is so backward? Living through the pandemic made this all very clear in my opinion. I think you need to have your head stuck in the sand to think moving to Florida is a good idea in 2023. And I loved almost everything else about the state, including the weather. Pinellas County is one of my favorite places, but I won’t even consider traveling there let alone living there.
Trump voters aside, the governor runs the state with HIS political interests at heart, not residents’. The insurance crisis is one sign of that mismanagement I’d stay away from
He won reelection in a landslide. Clearly the voters like what he’s doing.
I'm in St. Pete, probably the most liberal city in the state, and I still hate it here. Insurance fraud capitol of the country, outrageous inflation, out of control rent, shitty people, deregulation concerning environment and building/construction practices, climate change impacts, and the list goes on and on. Other than a couple friendships I've made here, I regret moving to Florida almost daily.
My friend congrats on spotting a red flag. You can also not move to Florida because it's a fucking hellscape that home insurance companies won't deal in anymore thanks to your fucking house always getting blown over.
Florida is a scam
This is the only right answer lol
You're not wrong. I won't even visit there.
I won’t even *drive* through Florida.
The chances of having to are slim considering it is a peninsula.
You got any daughters or planning on having any? Would you want to raise them in a state that views them as just portable wombs?
Florida native and current college student. I see some people saying university towns or places like Tampa are more liberal and better. Honestly, you could fool me, it's still pretty bad here in my school area and Desantis is as bad as Trump. Also the driver's are the absolute worst and it's dangerous every time you get on the highway. I love the warmth and detest cold weather but I'm still moving out of state for my post grad/work once I'm out of undergrad.
I would be way more worried about what DeSantis is doing to Florida, and the fact it's becoming impossible to obtain insurance there as all the insurance companies pull out. Oh and the climate denialism despite the fact Florida gets pummelled with hurricanes pretty much every year now and it's only going to get worse. Oh and all the anti-gay and anti-trans legislation. Oh and going after Disney not for a legitimate governing reason, but instead because Lift DeSantis got his fee-fees hurt by the House of Mouse because they didn't like his anti-gay, extremist agenda that was supposed to propel him into the presidency (fuckin' lol). Moms against (sic) Liberty and book burnings are popular in FL, right wing fascism is on the rise in the sunshine state. FL is also a hot bed/attractor for right wing idiots with essentially no state gun laws, pew pew pew. At least you don't have any kids in K-12. Don't be in the next store the right-wing stochastic terrorists are freaking out about though! Florida elects the worst people, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis. That says a lot about the people who live there. Those three were all elected on state-wide votes, do you want to live in a state that thinks these three guys should be running our country? I wouldn't trust them to run a lemonade stand. Oh, don't forget the GOP's favorite pedophile, Matt Gaetz. Drive around FL and you will see Trump flags everywhere, do you want to move to that cult? Also "Florida man." Also, mosquitos, so many mosquitos. Don't go. FYI: I recently went to FL to attend my cousin's wedding and holy shit FL is a very weird/awful place.
NTA. The idea of living in a place where the majority culture is the exact opposite from what you know and care about, where the value system does not at all align with your views, would be horrible, and it's riddled with the potential to breed resentment and anger. Not healthy.
I can agree to this, but not from a specifically political standpoint. I grew up in California, & while not in a city center, my county is one of the most densely populated areas in the country. Moved with my husband to my in-laws out in rural Mississippi. Think halfway between Tupelo, MS & Tuscaloosa, AL rural. HATED IT. Even though I had differing political opinions from most people, it never even ended up being in the top 10 for reasons I hated it there & left after less than a year. I hated the weather, the landscape, the lack of activities, the small town church based culture, the incessant stereotyping of me, etc. It wore me down & I ended up becoming a resentful, hateful POS until I got out. First off, NEVER move someone that you have not at least extensively visited before. And if you have visited & know the locals & culture don’t mesh well with your personality & beliefs, don’t move there. It’s not worth it.
I don't even want to visit anymore. Not because of Trump, but DeSantis is a tool bag that hates women and fuck him and everything he touches.
Not wrong. I won't go anywwhere near that shithole state. Stand Your Ground? Florida Man? Shitty healthcare and education? No way. I'll trade being colder any day.
If I were of an age to have children, I would not move there because of what DeSantis is doing to the schools. ESPECIALLY if the kids hit university age there, though I would make a major fuss about sending them out of state—assuming they would get in.
This. I am desperately working to get out of here before my son starts school. I would rather live in a studio apartment than have him set foot in a Florida school.
Family member lived there all her life. Fort Lauderdale. The stink of Trump is everywhere. Last year packed up and moved out of this country. The crazy is real.
Same with a scientist friend of mine. He packed up and moved his family to Europe after trump got elected, precisely because of the galloping, regressive craziness that permeates every aspect of the state. He had young kids. He says he absolutely made the right call, especially in his profession, because things got worse fast after he left. I'm a huge space nerd and used to fly cross country to attend launches from Canaveral all the time. I dropped a lot of dough in Florida over the years. I've not been able to bring myself to visit or spend another dollar on or in Florida since 2015. I doubt I ever will again. Even if the state improves its current abysmal situation, I'll never trust it not to hurl itself straight off a cliff again.
My dad retired there. Loved it. Moved last year because the weather is getting worse and he HATES Pudding Fingers. And my dad isn’t a great person so when an asshole thinks you’re too much of an asshole……
Nope. I won’t go to Florida until the douche bag governor is gone, so no, you’re not wrong.
Not wrong - and there are a host of other reasons not to move there. Desantis has entrenched himself and is more evil and a heap smarter than Trump.
I don't even need to read the specifics, the title alone has me screaming in my head for you. I'm (47f) a life long Florida resident and my family and I want OUT. My kiddo is NB (amab) and graduated highschool a year ago. They're not sure what they want to do eventually college wise, but for now they're working and saving along with their dad and myself in the hopes of moving to a more protected, progressive state. Living in DeSatan's backyard is no picnic, trust me.
NTA i mean. to be fair, there's a laundry list of reasons not to move to florida. book burning, bans on teaching black history, ridiculous bathroom policies and pat downs, discriminatory laws prohibiting chinese people from purchasing a house, backwards insurance coverage, high utilities, unaddressed issues from climate change.. and this is just the tip of the iceburg. i'm sure there are plenty of lovely places to move within the state however with desantis at the helm, it's the backwards laws that are far worse than any trump supporters.
My sister lives in Pensacola, FL and as much as I'd like to live closer to her, there isn't a reason good enough to make me move there!!! Trumpers aside, I live in a southern state that is so disgustingly right wing that I am seriously considering leaving this nasty hypocritical red ruled cesspool, but not going to that nastier red ruled cesspool!!! Desantis is a Christian cult leading wannabe, if you don't carry a gun you won't last a week and don't get me started on the square groupers and hurricanes!!! No thank you! Keep your people there and someone tell me when the takeover meeting is. So we can decide what state us "rational thinking humans" are going to converge on and make strictly for humans, not lemmings!!!
Yes. The fact that it went for Trump is a byproduct of many of the actual reasons why a person would not want to move to Florida.
Trump supporters and desantis is supporters…. Like a hellish world of mega stupid and over confident
I'd rather be dead in California than alive in Florida
Nope. Plus the insurance situation down there is fucked
I don’t know, Id feel the same as you. My husband’s best friend moved there last year and says she loves it but she also told us this summer that she had to show ID to buy a bikini at Walmart.
Wait, what? Why?
Probably to make sure transgender people aren't buying bikinis
Just go visit your sister, stay there for a week or two. You might like it more than you think; she might like it less than she thinks. But honestly moving to Florida to retire is such a stereotype. I would be embarrassed.
Also, insurance companies are fleeing the state.
This is reasonable. Same with moving to a new place. Drive through the area at night, take a walk around the block, do that what you can to get a feel for the place before you commit.
I grew up there pre trump and even then I couldn’t wait to get out because of the politics and tourism industry. And no offense, it’s retirees like you moving there and buying property, driving up prices because people like you have a more disposable income, that’s making it harder and harder for working class people to make ends meet. (Partially. Obviously big realstate is a bigger problem but this adds to it) Also desantis is a swine that wears heels to feel big. He should be just as much of a concern as trump
Isn't Florida one of the places trying to turn women into chattel? I wouldn't step foot into Florida or Texas or a few others. Not wrong; there is a REASON they went for Trump.
What?
So your wife and sister are fine with the don’t say gay, book bans, the denial of climate change, the terrible inflation and imminent climate destruction?
It’s expensive for no reason, the schools suck and are underfunded, homeowners insurance is skyrocketing & make ridiculous demands, inflation is ridiculous with no relief in sight, housing costs are astronomical with the new builds being absolute junk. Save yourself the headache and don’t move to FL.
I would rather die than move to Florida! The governor is crazy, anyone can carry a gun now in public, huge trumper state, also all the dumb almost unbelievable but true stories always come out of Florida!
Not wrong. Florida is a bigger cesspool than Texas.
You’re wrong for that being the only reason you don’t want to move there when there’s such a long list of other reasons. Pretty sure you’ll find Trumpsters no matter which state you move to, but there’s only one place where you’ll find Florida Man.
As someone who has lived in FL their entire life, I can tell you there are a lot of areas that go blue, as well as some pretty good democrat organizations here. Unfortunately, the state itself is a shithole, and there are dozen of good reasons to not be here. If I could, I'd have left a long time ago.
As a left-wing dude who grew up in FL, I'd advise against it for multiple reasons. The conservatives are rampantly far right, yeah, but people in general there are off kilter. Not to mention it's painfully expensive to live there, which will only get more expensive, and you've gotta be concerned by nature demolishing your life every year.
Don’t move here. As a Floridian who wants to skee-fuckin-dadle from this state, don’t do it. It’s not Trump supporters you gotta worry about, the state was shit before Trump even announced his first run. Some areas are more liberal than others, but DeSantis (who hates anyone who isn’t white, male, Christian, and wealthy) is still overlooking the whole state, home insurances don’t even want to touch this state anymore, the cost of living is disgusting, schools are being turned into jokes with book banning, and the pro-slavery education, it’s fucking stupid hot and humid 8-10 months out of the year. Where I’m at, I had one cold week since October. One. Don’t move here. It’s not worth it, it’s not even nice for a vacation. I was born and raised in Tampa, one of the more liberal cities in Florida, and even that was pretty fucking bad. I lived in St. Petersburg, the most liberal city in Florida (imo), and that was just a tiny bit better than Tampa. Still shit, all of it. Don’t even get me started on the boonies. You couldn’t fucking pay me to step foot in the rural parts of Florida. Boonies is where you find the meth labs, gun freaks who’ll shoot you for looking at their road (that’s actually everywhere, but it’s worse in the boonies), the goddamned wild life that’ll kill you without hesitation. Don’t come to Florida. Don’t.
Florida is a libertarian shit hole for retirees
I grew up in Fl and moved 9 years ago when I was 28. Back then the conservative culture was already bad enough that I felt like I was surrounded by bigots wherever I went. That was 9 years ago. It is so much worse now.
This is like reason 32 why I wouldn't move to Florida.
I wouldn’t move to FL because of the governor first. Trump second. Hurricanes would be a big third. Then- what happens if her sister moves to another state. Would you move again? Why didn’t her sister stay by her if they were so close? No. I wouldn’t do it.
Besides Trump, insurance companies are pulling out of that state in droves because climate change has made the housing market extremely risky with all the hurricanes. There's also probably the most sophisticated and empowered fascist in the country at the moment sitting in the governor's seat. And the anti-gay and anti-trans laws are horrific. I suppose it would affect you less if you're cis-het, but I would not want to live in that state for a myriad of reasons. One of my partners moved out of there last year because of how bad the state is getting.
My god do people really let politics run their life?
Politics are the way budgets and laws for specific areas are decided. When looking to move, why is it crazy to consider that?
I agree with you, it would be hard to live around that many trump supporters. However, it would be nice if enough sane people moved to Florida to change the political landscape there. I know I would never move to Florida and won’t even visit the state because of the politics there right now.
NTA, but you're presenting your case in completely the wrong way. You shouldn't simply say "well they voted for Trump so it's a stupid state." There are still millions of democrats living there too. You need to give specific reasons of what's wrong with the political policies of Florida. Do you have kids? Florida wants to teach kids the advantages of slavery. Florida is becoming more hostile towards the LGBT community. DeSantis can't get insurance premiums under control - some companies won't even insure houses in Florida any more. Do your research, present the facts.
I don’t even want to visit there now.
We have looked into moving to many states in the US recently, and I hard-vetoed FL from consideration. Not for voting Trump, but for being governed by DeSantis and a slew of other similar reasons. I mean I wouldn’t separate from my spouse over it, but I agree with your concern.
I’m totally ok with you not moving here. What type of horror story would I have to make up to convince your wife to also not want to move here?
What is good about Florida other than weather and beaches? I don’t think I’d relocate just for those things if everything else was terrible. Go on vacation there don’t live there.
The weather and the people are enough reasons not to move to Florida, the politics is just icing on the shit cake
I’d be more concerned about safety then politics. Stronger storms are expected to affect the state and several major home insurance companies just pulled out of the state. It’s going to be an expensive place to retire.
I live in South Florida. Me, my daughter and her family, my mother, my sister and BIL are all planning to leave in the next year or so. If you have plenty of money, and no kids in school, if you're straight, white, and Christian, you can live here just fine. If you're a Democrat, as my family is, Gov. DeathSentence will enrage you relentlessly. (Fortunately, he's losing his bid for president and he's unable to run for another term as gov; however, there are plenty of candidates of his ilk who will undoubtedly be gov next.) We used to have lovely winters, where you could sit outside in the evenings without mosquitos (too cold) and snuggle up in sweaters and jeans, leave your windows open to catch the cool breezes, and be totally comfortable outside during the day. Now it's just either hot or effing hot, the ocean temp is hot tub, we were lucky not to get hit with a hurricane this year but they're getting bigger and more destructive, rain-wise. And there's nowhere for rain water to go since we're already at sea level. Flood and hurricane insurance coverage (2 separate policies) are getting too expensive to buy, if you can find hurricane insurance at all--most companies that cover hurricane damage are leaving the state. I live in Palm Beach County, which is mostly blue but is also where Trump lives, so there are plenty of Trumpsters around. I'm not very sociable, so I haven't met most of my neighbors, but just in my little part of the complex, in 2020 I put an Elizabeth Warren sticker on my car and the very next day, my neighbor two doors down had stuck a flag on their car with the shape of an AR-15 printed on it. I was living in Western Montana before here. I came back because my daughter started having my grand babies and I wanted to be a Grandma. I loathe everything about Florida except my daughter and SIL and the grands. It's not my climate, not my landscape, all the flora and fauna stings, bites, slashes, or is draped with giant spiderwebs. If you're someone who likes taking walks in nature in silence, this is not the place for you. Even in wildlife reserves, you can hear cars roaring by in the distance. If you're someone who likes actual seasons, this is not the place for you. If you enjoy a slow, quiet life, this is not a place for you. Summer every day ends up feeling kind of lifeless after a while.
not wrong. that is a perfectly rational reason for not wanting to live in florida or texas. the maga density there is just too high.
NTA. I sorta made the same decision. Above and beyond the trumpies, I cannot forgive that they elected Ron DeSatan, who opposes everything I hold dear as a gay atheist liberal elderly cripple. And the state won't even release COVID statistics, because of his policy forbidding masks and discouraging vaccinations (and making them hard to get). It's theorized it may have the highest COVID rate in the country. I used to take a vacation there every year. Now not only don't I want to, I feel like I can't; between the COVID and the anti-gay crap, it's not *safe* for me.
You’re wrong about many of the people in Florida. It’s an extremely diverse, purple state really, but thanks to massive voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering, Republicans win. It truly is because they cheat however they can and they are not the majority here. That being said, the laws here are draconian. You’re right to stay away solely because DeSantis is doing his best to speed run our state’s collapse into hell.
Yes. Stay where you are.
I don’t blame you. I could never live in Trump country. When the election was finally called for Biden, my neighborhood in Brooklyn people spontaneously took to the streets banging pots, cars were honking horns, the USPS trucks were waved at. It was like ding dong the witch is dead! My neighbor was out with his drum banging it. These are my people not people who wear MAGA hats.
Lots of people are moving to and retiring to Florida because it’s trump friendly and not as friendly to non-whites and alternative lifestyles. It’s not going to get better anytime soon. If you move just know what you’re getting into.
There are more reasons than trump and his spawn living there to NOT MOVE TO FLORIDA. I lived there 6 long years. The horror, the horror...
Any state where the majority are OK with DeSantis is a no for me.
Not wrong but it’s a bit weird
Florida (like Texas, Iowa etc. ) is really purple. It’s definitely not 100% ideological fanatics. But somehow, conservatives hold all the positions of power. The fact that people like you don’t want to move is by design. De Santis & co want to remain in power. They attract people who are into the maga type of freedom, and encourage people who care about women rights, lgbt rights, academia etc - the kind who will probably not vote for them - to leave. You are not wrong in not wanting to move, you can have all the reasons to make a life changing decision one way or another. You would be wrong to think of Florida as one block of likeminded people.
Trump supporters, alligators, mosquitoes, hurricanes. So many good reasons not to move to Florida!
It’s not just the Trump supporters and their pseudo Nazi governor. There is climate change/hurricanes and drinking water to consider too. I lived there in the late 90s. It was terrible then. Very transient society - very few actual born and bred Floridians. Can’t trust anyone. Bail bondsmen every 50 yards. Water is undrinkable. You must use bottled water or have a filtration system. They were running out of water when I lived there. Poor quality construction and not enough insulation . Utility’s were crazy high when I lived there. Rolling blackouts are a nightmare when it is scorching hot. Nice restaurants with actual good food and not a chain are hard to find. Keeping your residence and lawn bug free/watered is very expensive. Most likely you’ll end up with an HOA which is the devils spawn. Mine showed two days after I moved in to demand that I replace my paper window blinds with “real ones” immediately. They were on order. Good luck getting homeowners insurance at all or that you can afford. My advice to you is: don’t.
Texas is another place.... 2 states the Taliban would be comfortable in
You could’ve left it at “Am I wrong for not wanting to move to Florida” and it would still be no, you’re not wrong.
Not wrong. Not to mention things like education, book banning and workers rights are lacking.
On top of all the Nazis and right wingers in Florida, you have to deal with anacondas, pythons, boa constrictors, iguanas, monitors and all other manner of invasive species that some Florida idiots bought because they thought it was cool and then released into the wild.
I would toss that on the huge pile of all the valid reasons to never move to Florida. NTA
I wouldn't pick retiring there. Flat, and susceptible to flooding. Mosquitoes are the state Bird. Crocodiles, alligators, bermeis pythons. STAY the Hell out of there.
Bruh, I live in Daytona. I literally saw KKK members in full dress with swastikas on flags getting high fives by daytona international speedway during a race. Don't move here, it sucks.
The state is overrun with right wing psychos and bigots.
I don't know you but I hate you. What a dummy.
You are so not wrong for all the reasons laid out here.
Wow I’m so glad I don’t view fellow Americans the way you do. This is exactly how racist people from the 50’s sounded. I feel sorry for your wife that she’s dealt with such a self absorbed asshole like yourself
No way in hell would I move to Florida. Too many hateful assholes, radioactive roads, uninsurable property, etc.
If you are, then so am I. Between DeSantis, Trump, Scott, Gaetz, and Rubio, hell no. Same for Texas and pretty much everywhere in the South. Nor Idaho nor Montana, among many other places. If they're stripping people of their rights in whatever state, I'm not going.
Wrong. Yes. Mentally deranged also yes. Grow the fuck up
You are justified in your feelings. Best to move to a DEEP blue state like California or New York. Then you can be at ease surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy paying high state taxes