Moving To Florida/Orlando

Great idea for a thread We moved to Championsgate from Boston July 2024.

We moved to North of Tampa in 2019 (from San Antonio) before the world closed for Covid (that was fun)...

I know everyone's different, but I'd do it over again if I could.. although we bought a house in 2019 as well and I'm not sure what we could afford these days.

Thats awesome!

Thanks! We love it, best decision we ever made

Would love to hear about your experience! I dream of moving to central Florida one day. What were the pros/cons for your family? What do you wish you would have known? Would you do anything differently?

Just the thread I was looking for! Hubs and I are looking to retire to FL in 5 or 6 years. I lived in FL as a child, but have been in NY my entire adult life; he's only ever lived in NY. We take multiple FL trips per year (not always Disney) and are in the "neighborhood-hunting" stage, rather than house-hunting. We're thinking central FL, though I adore the gulf coast (where I lived previously). My husband is a car buff, so our biggest requirement is a big garage, at least 3 bays. Would appreciate any advice!

Sorry for the delay, great questions!

It was a 5 year plan that turned into 7 years for us.

The pros for us:

1. Closer to our friends here in Florida.

2. Better financial opportunities.

3. Proximity to Disney, which is a big part of our lives.

4. The stars aligned and offered us a golden opportunity that wasnt a sure thing. It wasnt too good to be true, it required some faith in ourselves and a pretty serious flurry of work in a very small span of time. That felt real and fair to us.

Things i wish i had known:

1. Dishonesty is rampant, i dont want to generalize, but the majority of our interactions with realtors were negative. We visited 17 properties in the span of 3 days aceoss centrak Florida and only met 2 trustworth real estate professionals.

2. The driving here is on a different level. The “fast lane” is where people loiter like teenagers begging for change at a gas station and the middle lanes are either like a Nascar track or people cutting each other off to cut the hiant lines of people truing to merge into offramps. I used to love driving, now i dread it.

3. The cost and hassle of registering vehicles here is ridiculous. It cost me $2000+ to register and get plates for one vehicle and the coos had to come to my house and verify my vin and fill out a form for me to being back and stabd in line at the DMV with for the third time that day.

What woukd i have done differently:

1. Nothing, everything is how it was meant to be. We are bkessed and grateful. Follow your dreams and youll be here soon.

Hey there! We relocated from NY (Rochester) to Orlando (Hunters Creek).

Plan some weekend trips down and contact a realtor. A big mistake we made was trying to wing it. Trying to get realtors to honor appointments was like pulling teeth. Sellers/landlord agents trying to change the deal after you fall in love with a house. Being shown houses that have already been rented as a bait and switch. Get a professional from the area who is inventivized to work for YOU.

Just like DVC, buy where you want to live. Traffic is real here. Overcrowding is real here. If being parks frequently is a priority you need to focus on the southern and western parts of Orlando. Etc etc make sure the things you need in your life are where you wwnt them. We would visit a house, if we liked it we went back in the evening and drove the general area to see what amenities and infrastructure were available.

we did the same thing, we’d go back and drive around the neighborhoods to get a feel for it and to see what facilities etc were there

Dont forget to visit during all seasons. When my kids were little we would visit WDW in Dec. Being from Seattle, they loved it. I had to explain why whole backyards were screened in! The first trip we took them during "Spring" kinda cured them of wanting to move. Hot, Humid, Bugs, and Thunderstorms. I originally grew up in Texas. I do kinda miss thunderstorms off in the distance. But dont miss the bugs, heat and humidity. My eldest went to grad school in Indiana. She never did get used to tornado sirens and the hot muggy weather.

Also go through the neighborhoods during a rainstorm. See how the water runoff is handled, or if there is a lot of standing water. Really important how the water is handled.

For me, Florida is great place to visit, but no way would I ever live there. Politics aside, I just wont live where I sweat again. Yup it gets a bit dark and dreary here in the PNW in the winter, but that does not last very long. For us 50 is a cold day and 80 is a hot one. So I'll take a bit of dreary in December and January.

Thank you for the great advice! We happen to be in the Rochester area, too! We previously worked with a real estate agent, but she didn't impress us. Do you have any recommendations on how to find a good one? And since we don't plan to move for another 5 or 6 years, how far in advance of that should we reach out to a realtor?

Do you have to renew your car registration every 2 years, like in NY?

Florida doesnt have car inspections, which I find very odd, lol

Interesting! Do you know if a car registration has to be renewed every so often, or if it’s one and done?

Yes, its every 2 years

Me reading through this thread. Hey, this guy moved just like Phil and Pauleen from NY...reading further...oh wait.