Probably moving to Miami..who's from there?

[athena_ny 1]

You're one of the few looking to move here, most people I know in South Florida are looking to leave.

But, I live here in South Florida and yes the cost of living is border line rediculous. Especially that salaries and wages have not moved inline with the cost of living.

Alot of places here are always looking for bilingual (english/spanish) employees. And in Miami / Hialeah it's the norm to hear mostly spanish spoken.

So if you can put up the the 5-6 months of heat, humidity, hurricanes, crazy drivers (miami just rated #1), high insurance and real estate taxes you are bound to find jobs here and one that you husband can work at.

Because after all that you have the beaches, the night life, and 70 degree days in the middle of January.

I live in the Tampa Bay area (St Pete right now but I REALLY HOPE that we can move to Clearwater in less than a year) and the cost of houses here are ridiculous. I make 27,000 a year which isn't a lot, but decent for where I'm coming from (college dropout at the moment, 20 years old) - and he doesn't make much either, we'd never be able to afford a house here. And if we could, we'd have to compromise in the neighborhood, etc. which I don't think is right. My parents (granted this was about 16 years ago) paid 150,000 for a decent house in a NICE neighborhood - wouldn't be over 250,000 now - right outside of Albany, NY. My husband wants to move to CT - I hate downstate NY, but CT is close enough to NYC to make him not have to feel like he's living in total isolation (grew up in Lima, Peru) and while the cost of living is what some people want to call "high" - I'd move there before I'd move to Miami, any day. (Even after all that, I wouldn't be able to convince my husband to move to Miami, he hates everyone assuming he's Cuban.)

As bad as traffic is in the Tampa Bay area, I can handle it - while I REFUSE to drive in Miami. It took me almost an hour to get in and out of the gas station.

[LaGreenEyes 0]

I know..a lot of people thought we were crazy!! We spent 3 days down there last week, I had an interview for a promotion with my company, and my husband had one in person interview and one phone interview. We go back down this week, I have an interview for a different position, and my husband has 2 more interviews with different companies. It's a whirlwind!!! He feels so good about himself and our situation, I haven't seen him like this in a long time, and it feels good I don't care if we have to live in a shoe box at this point there, just seeing his pride and self esteem go through the roof makes it all worthwhile. Actually we will probably rent if we live in Miami. We can afford a rent, and won't have to worry about taxes, only renter's insurance. The rent market is competing for renters there. .We will probably hold on to our house in Texas for a year or two and rent it out, because it's in a high demand up and coming area. Our property values have gone up twice as fast as much of Texas. We could buy our investment/retirement property in Panama earlier than we thought if we follow this plan.

[MandR 0]

Good luck with the interviews.

Let me know what areas you guys are looking to rent and I can let you know if good, bad, etc.

Many people work in the Miami area and live in Hollywood, Miramar, Pembroke Pines just north of Miami (Miami-Dade County) so give those a look at as well compared to where your jobs maybe

[MandR 0]

I'm leaving here in Florida for about one year..my husband leaves here since 1975...from my experience I can tell you...THINK IT TWICE...Florida have the worst market place in all the USA...things are so expensive and if you're planning to live next to the beaches and all the staff..you should be saving a lotttt of money for paying US$270 and up for a condo of one tiny bedroom and a 10sq living room..and installing hurracaine shutter (probably us$1200) for hurraicaines....

Whatever is your decision, I can tell you taht maybe it would be better to find a nicest and cheaper place in another cities in Florida .... don't move just because of the nice environment here..or the nice night live and the blue sky beaches....better think about how much money you should be saving since now..as the salaries down here are NOT THE BEST..

Good lucks guys...