let's talk central florida....

[bell]

the end of september i started this thread
help us decide where to relocate....

and i know i said i wouldn't move to florida but after doing some research it looks like my skills are VERY marketable in the orlando and surrounding areas.....meaning i should have no problem pulling in 15% more than i make in ohio within days of arriving.
plus there are a couple other options should i not stay in my field as i have mucho "vision-to-fabrication" skills with wood/fiberglass/metal.

the other positive i see are no state income tax, and no real change in cost of living as long as we're not on the coast, sure rent is a little higher.....but the available houses are much much nicer than what i've seen elsewhere.

also i'll be able to regularly attend the rolex 24 and sebring and countless other fun year round 911 stuff

i'm sure once a year i'm going to want to head back to ohio to see friends/family, but i'll just do it the weekend of hershey and make a small detour

so far we have been looking into davenport, and clermont.
so anyone with local knowledge of central florida please lend me your brains.......there's a pelicanhead coming your way in 08'......just don't don't where we're going to land yet.

[rammstein]

Too bad you can't make it a bit further south.

[stomachmonkey]

You have kids?

Any monetary savings will get eaten up sending them to private school.

I looked into FL.

Wife has her Masters in education.

Was REAL tough to find school districts comparable to LI NY.

Also check out the HO Ins rates. They have gone crazy in FL due to Hurricanes.

EDIT,, just saw your sig. Never mind, you are not to kid stage yet.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

If you don't live on the coasts or in a suburb of O-Bland-O, you'll soon find yourself without most of your teeth, walking around barefoot and talking in that twangy deliverance drawl. Oh, and you'll lose about 80 I.Q. points too. And look forward to "gator rasslin'".

Sorry, I lived in FL for 5 years. It was 5 years too long. And I was on the coast, which is considerably more civilized than some of the inland hamlets. Some were downright scary. Ask me about the woman at the gas station with the Bowie knife sometime. Or the drunk chick that plowed into me when I was driving my roommates brand new 300ZX turbo.

It'd take me a lot to go back to FL. There's no force in the universe that would attract me to any part of it not within 3-5 miles of the coast or near O-Town. Unless it's changed appreciably since I was there (and I doubt it), there are likely still some VERY scary places between the coasts and Orlando.

[RickM]

If you consider the Hudson area let me know as I have a friend there who owns a restaurant and studio down there. He's also pretty connected in the car and audio scene as well. FWIW, he just told me that '07 was one of his worst years in recent memory.

[legion]

Bell, your skills should be marketable anywhere there is an NBA franchise...

[bell]

yes alot of shops had bad years, this is usually associated with poor technicians whos work requires many service visits, along with poor sales it kills many smaller shops.
i have been called a retail audio machine, and always have the most efficiant dollar/time/profit workload with any shop i've been at.
add to that the fact that i've been in this field for about 15 years and i'm considered a veteran, there aren't too many of us as most have gone on to other fields or started their own shop.
i'm at the top of my game and my resume shows it

and i really like the idea of year round porsche use, the main reason for the move is that michelle and i are just absolutely tired of ohio, we just got married and want out of here, the carolinas were appealing, but job prospects in the orlando area are the most favorable.

[rammstein]

One Porsche problem in Florida is no hills. As in NONE. Its flat here. Ohio had MUCH better roads, and KY had the best.

But then again, I went swimming on Thanksgiving.

[bell]

i had to really think about the hills......i am about 5 minutes from a very fun park system with big sweeping hills and lots of places to have redline-kind-o-fun with, but i think i can counter that perk with more track time.....i hope so anyway.
i did tell michelle that i'd give florida a year, should i absolutely hate it.....if that ends up being the case we'll probably end up in charlotte or charleston.

her brother just moved to the fl east coast and said thanksgiving there was like being at a barbecue.......sounds good to me....i hate the cold

[Jims5543]

If you do not mind a little commute, look Northwest of Orlando, like Tavares. Hilly, twisty roads, rural area.

Also the Martin Sports Car club puts on some fun Autocrosses there. They also do a Mini Prix on the road course test track in Gainesville once a year.

I would take some time and explore the area Altomonte Springs is nice too.

Its been almost 20 years since I lived in Orlando so my info is a little dated. I would honestly take a couple of weeks and look the entire area over including the burbs.

[rfuerst911sc]

I live in Southeast Orange county and I'm a transplant from upstate N.Y. I've been here for about 12 years now. I am a hot weather guy so my opinion is biased but you couldn't get me back to cold country for anything. My wife and I raised our boys for half their school life in public schools here and they turned out fine. I do run around barefoot/flip flops but I have all my teeth and I don't gator rassle. There are 3 excellent independant Porsche shops in the area and a good PCA club. Orlando is like any small city growing at a too fast pace, there are growing pains but you put up with that or leave. For my remaining work years I will stay here. For retirement I will still stay in FL. but probably move a little farther north mainly to be closer to my son that lives in Atlanta. Hope this helps you out.

[FastCarFan]

Originally Posted by rammstein

One Porsche problem in Florida is no hills. As in NONE. Its flat here. Ohio had MUCH better roads, and KY had the best.

I would add "and there are no turns...other than entrance/exit ramps & 90-degree turns at intersections".

I live very close to you & I, too, love to blast through the Cuyahoga Valley in my 911, in addition to taking the back-roads through the Mohican National Forest on the way to Mid-Ohio. I lived in FL for 2 years (granted it was 1987-88, a long time ago) & I was bored to death by the lack of entertaining roads. I recently went to the Rennsport Reunion III. I flew into Orlando & drove to Daytona & I was reminded of how boring the roads are there.

As for more track time, I would guess the tracks are flat in FL -- definitely not Mid-Ohio. And remember, even with more track time, the vast majority of your time will still be on the public roads.

Each person has to make his/her own decision. What is important to me or anyone else is irrelevant -- the only thing that matters is what's important to you.

Another big downside to FL (to me anyway) are the hot & HUMID summers. And remember, 911s have horrible A/C! Did I say that it is HUMID in FL? As I think I said in a previous post, up north in the winter you can always put more clothes on. Down south in the summer you can only take so many clothes off.

Having said all of this, a big downside to OH is the fact that I have to store my 911 each winter. In fact, I put it away yesterday. But I think it is still more fun driving my R32 daily driver through the valley than a 911 on FL's roads.

My 2 cents. Good luck with your decision.

[Jims5543]

I too am a hot weather person, I will take hot any day over cold. Bring on the 100° 100% humidity days. I have a vacation home in the North Carolina Mountains on Saturday morning the temp on my front porch was 18° the next morning in Florida it was 70° and I was back in shorts and flip flops.

Hot is uncomfortable if its not for you, cold just plain old hurts and once it gets to your bones it ruins your day. If I get too hot? wet down my hair and drink a cold drink and I am go to go again.


I plan all my track days in the winter, the temps are nice and the chance of rain is nil. Besides Daytona and Sebring, you have Moroso and Homestead and Roebling all within 4 -5 hours of you. That is 5 road courses in striking distance. Roebling has hills too.

Look into Lake County I think you will like it a lot it has great roads elevation change and less crowds (maybe its been a while)

[bell]

all good info.....keep it coming

i think the fact that i've been in ohio my whole life is driving the move to florida, just need a big change, i'm bored with where we're currently at, even the charlotte area kinda reminded me of ohio. we already have made the decision as to what state to move to, now we just need to nail down a vicinity.

when it comes time to move i'll be going down first and will find temporary lodging, michelle will stay at her moms in ohio and will keep working her current job. this will let me find a job and a nice house, then i'll fly home and drive the moving truck with the 911 on a trailer, michelle will follow me in her crv with the pets.......so the basic plan is laid out

i'm used to working in the heat, it never really bothered me.....hydration is key

[RANDY P]

red tide season can be a b@tch.

Sitting in a condo in Cocoa Beach till tommorow - last night was bad enough that being next to the water made me cough and gag..

rjp

[targa911S]

I just moved from there 1 year ago. Moved from CLE Ohio, and was there for 20 years. I loved the weather of course, but you must know that it is expensive to live there. I wanted to retire and believe it or not it was too expensive to do that there. Cost of living is on average with OH., but taxes, housing, and insurance are killers. Also LOTS OF PEOPLE. Traffic sucks. Hurricanes have to be considered too. They were lucky the last few years but eventually they will get hit big. Water too is getting short there. Bugs....BIG bugs lots of them. Don't miss those. Moved to W. PA now and living comfortably in a small town. Not like a king but better off than I would be if I stayed.

[URY914]

I've lived in Florida all my life and from one end of it to the other and I like to hear what other think about it.

-Would you really rank "no Porsche roads" as a reason not to move here?
-When was the last time someone moved from Florida back to Ohio? I thought I-75 was a one way road.
-Hurricanes? GMAFB.
-Good schools can be found. It is the parents that make the difference.

Make the move. Over a thousand people a day are doing it.

[s2per]

I've been here for over 25 years. I miss my Pittsburgh home country for a few days each fall and my wife (a Cracker) loves seeing the snow once every 5 years or so. I love the heat and the humidity is just something that you learn to live with. I'm wearing shorts to the office today.
There's still a lot of opportunity here in Central FL. Real estate deals are EVERYWHERE. The suggestions of Lake County with its "hills", more interesting roads and less traffic than in O-town are good ones. Further to the west, east Pasco and Hernando counties (Dade City and Brooksville) offer the same and are 1 hour or less to Tampa and 1-1/2 hours to downtown Orlando. Check homeowners insurance rates (and taxes) first before signing.
Oh, and very active PCA regions plus DEs every month. You'll love it!

[Jims5543]

BTW - I have lived in Florida for 22 years now. In those 22 years I only had to deal with 3 Hurricanes over a 2 year spread. Two of them were strong the last one was not so it does nto count.

So 2 storms over 22 years. Your looking in Orlando, inland, where we on the coast evacuate to. Get the picture?

[sewell94]

I grew up in NE ohio, but have lived here in fl for past 9 years, my wife(also from NE ohio) has lived here for 8 years, i like it here, and the car scene stuff that you do is alot stronger here. The weather is great, you can take your car out whenever you like. I don't even worry about the hurricanes, you'll be in orlando, which doesn't get hit by anything big anyways(hurricanes will weaken by time they get to orlando)

My wife on the other hand hates it, she has been in ohio for the past year doing rehab from our accident, and she doesn't want to come back. People are alot different here, not a freindly, and if you move here you better get used to the culture shock of it, lots of spanish areas in orlando, and alot of times you'll be the only one in a store that speaks english. You'll be a minority, and you'll feel like it. Traffic is 5 times worse than cleveland. There are no change in seasons, think august summer for 8 months, spring for the rest. Holidays are weird here, it doesn't have the same feel, and more than usual its a group of friends and not family that get together. The schools here suck, car insurance is almost double ohio rates, and the pay here is lower than ohio. I know alot of people that moved here to fl in the past 10 years, and are moving north.

I have a shop that does performance work(i used to do stereo stuff also), and shop prices here are ALOT lower than ohio, i think due to more shops, more cut thoat, and more cheap labor. So make sure you shop around on what they'll pay you before you take the plunge.