[buster84]

I'm going to be moving to florida next summer since my GF will be going to nursing school out there. We decided on Florida for a chance of scenery. We've both been in CA our whole lives and want to move around before settling down. We decided on Florida, just not sure what region yet. We figured if we don't really like it we will move on after school is finished.

For those who have come from CA can you help with some questions?

1) Coming from CA, how you like it? How's the humidity (is it year around or seasonal?).
2) What area's near Miami are worth checking out?
3) Compared to CA how do you like florida?
4) How's the bmw crowd in florida?
5) How are the smog law's? Could you get away with running cat-less DP's?

Also we were planning a trip this past august, but something came up. Were thinking about making a trip in late december/early January. Would that be a good time to visit or will the weather not be so good?

[mccannable]

I can answer only a few
1. Hell year round coming from Colorado
5. You don't need mufflers and you car
Can burn more oil than gas and you are fine. No smog checks at all.

[reelop19]

I hope you guys enjoy paying out of state tuition. Yikes! You have to prove residence for a year before getting in state tuition here

[buster84]

Originally Posted by mccannable

I can answer only a few
1. Hell year round coming from Colorado
5. You don't need mufflers and you car
Can burn more oil than gas and you are fine. No smog checks at all.

Thats good about the car, but not sure about the humidity part. I can handle humidity for the most part, but constant year around might be alot. Anyone from CA have any input on this?

Originally Posted by reelop19

I hope you guys enjoy paying out of state tuition. Yikes! You have to prove residence for a year before getting in state tuition here

Yeah, we factored that into our plan. I work from home, make 120k+ a year with my online business and the out of state tuition wouldn't be that bad since I'm saving 9.3% off state income tax. So the money I'd normally pay CA would just go to tuition for that year. I thought about renting a room/shared room and never using lol, just to get my girlfriend all setup with an address and license ect... but never made the trip in august, so i ended up not going that route lol. Since shes not currently working, she could have used the room if she so desired, but that was probably unlikely.

Sounds like i need to really take a trip out their first to make sure its something that will work for us.

[2010MSPORT335i]

I am not from CA but I have visited there many times.

I live in Orlando and Tampa.

Personally I like FL a lot more than CA, I dont think the humidity is too terrible but im probably used to it.

The BMW crowd is a lot more present in CA but there is still a huge car scene in FL.

You can get away with a lot here. Ive ran catless with a full exhaust on previous cars for 4+ years. Ive never gotten hassled. There are no inspections or anything like that.

Welcome to FL, hope you enjoy it

[buster84]

Originally Posted by idk alex

I am not from CA but I have visited there many times.

I live in Orlando and Tampa.

Personally I like FL a lot more than CA, I dont think the humidity is too terrible but im probably used to it.

The BMW crowd is a lot more present in CA but there is still a huge car scene in FL.

You can get away with a lot here. Ive ran catless with a full exhaust on previous cars for 4+ years. Ive never gotten hassled. There are no inspections or anything like that.

Welcome to FL, hope you enjoy it

Thanks, are there any specific cities that have less humidity, or is it all of Florida? I thought about the Tampa area as well as Sarasota ect... The Miami area is her preferred choice for school, but we will see what happens next summer after she gets her choices. Are there any good cities next to Miami that would be a nice place to live?

Where in CA are were you from? I'm from Sac and I'm used to the 100+ weather (we had alot this year) I figured its not to much different except Florida has water vapor in the air (humidity) lol.

[2010MSPORT335i]

Im not from California but Ive spent some time there in the hottest of months. I was in the LA general area.

Florida never really gets that hot. Itll get into the 90's but rare to see it much past that.

I spent most of my life in the Tampa Bay area and I love it there. Ive spent a lot of time in Orlando finishing up my degree and working over there but I am constantly in between cities.

I have been down to South Florida often but it was never for me. Personally I like the general Tampa Bay area to be the best. Especially Pinellas county.

[buster84]

Originally Posted by idk alex

Im not from California but Ive spent some time there in the hottest of months. I was in the LA general area.

Florida never really gets that hot. Itll get into the 90's but rare to see it much past that.

I spent most of my life in the Tampa Bay area and I love it there. Ive spent a lot of time in Orlando finishing up my degree and working over there but I am constantly in between cities.

I have been down to South Florida often but it was never for me. Personally I like the general Tampa Bay area to be the best. Especially Pinellas county.

Oh, whoops. I read it on my phone and read it wrong lol.

I'll have to make sure to drive to tampa when i visit miami.

Up in Palm Beach County there are a few modded bimmers but not as many as I thought. Now that I go to school down in Davie there are a ton of nice Bimmers I see every day so I think it is more popular down in Broward county I guess

[JSAN23]

Not from CA but have lived in So. Fla pretty much my whole life.

Humidity is year round, particularly terrible in the summer. Like someone said, it never really gets that hot, just the humidity. Starts cooling down around November I would say.

BMW crowd is nowhere near as big as CA. But there is a good number of bmw owners, just gotta find them.

And there are no smog checks

[dbudh001]

FL is great
try boca, aventura or weston for living,
no smog tests, rain almost every few days in the summer,
balls sweating hot in the summer,
beaches are great.. find them a lot better than CA beaches,

you find nicer beaches on the west coast of FL... ( for a little get away )

for schools.. NOVA, FIU, UM, FAU... all decent
tons of strip clubs :-D if you're into that
tons of clubs, ..no closing down at 4am as in other states

[wmb39e]

Ok so I had to chime in because the more opinions the better..I am born in raised in Tampa but have been to CA (Ventura, San Fran, and Santa Barbara) many times for months at a time. CA is much cooler obviously. The humidity here makes it hot..just walking outside for a couple minutes will make you sweat sometimes. I like it though and you will get use to it.

As far as Miami goes, I was just there for one month for work. Miami itself is actually small and there are small towns surrounding it (Miramar, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, and many more). One thing I have to mention is traffic. There is a lot of it in Miami..Also, the interstates in Miami are under construction until 2017 according to the locals. Everyone honks their horn..Hopefully you speak Spanish because there is a large Spanish population there.

Dec/Jan would be a good time to visit since you have a good chance of the temperature being "cooler". When you do visit, watch the local news..it will help you decide what area you want to live at due to crimes. If I had to pick one place to live around Miami, it would be Coral Gables..it's pricier but nicer homes. I will have to say, staying in Miami for one month makes me appreciate Tampa that much more.

[buster84]

Thanks guys. Lots of good advice and information.

Miami was just one area based on her school. The other area would be the tampa sarasota area. If she goes to school out their we will be looking in that area for places. What cities do you guys recommend around the tampa/sarasota area other than those two nice cities

When we make a trip, i plan to rent a car and drive from city to city/hotel to hotel checking it out. I might stop off at disney world while im their too, if the weather is nice.

I actually prefer warming temperatures. I don't like SF and most of the bay area because its cold year around for most cities. I like it when its 80+ outside. We do get cold nights in Sacramento as well, it can get below 30 degree's in winter, but most the time its above 50. I'm sure that I could get used to humidity pretty easily. Only way to know will be to visit though lol.

Are their any local restaurants that are a must see while visiting the miami/tampa/orlando area? Or cities near by?

[AKS14]

Coral gables / miracle mile and coconut grove are nice areas in Miami. Also mid town is coming up, lots of shops and resturaunts. I like enriquetas in mid town for authentic Cuban food.

Orlando area winter park and Thornton park are nice areas, for food I like ravenous pig, dexters, rusty spoon, pho 88.

[buster84]

Originally Posted by AKS14

Coral gables / miracle mile and coconut grove are nice areas in Miami. Also mid town is coming up, lots of shops and resturaunts. I like enriquetas in mid town for authentic Cuban food.

Orlando area winter park and Thornton park are nice areas, for food I like ravenous pig, dexters, rusty spoon, pho 88.

Thanks. I'll make sure to look them up when i get down there.

[AKS14]

No problem, also if your looking for places to relax and grab a drink, in Miami (wynwood area) you could check out Wood Tavern, pretty chill, affordable drinks for Miami, younger 'hip' crowd. Blackbird Ordinary is also pretty chill depending upon then night. And in Miami Beach you could check out Purdy Lounge (sunday night used to be pretty good, havent been in awhile) or Kill Your Idol (its got another bar attached to it with pool tables and usually has a pretty relax local crowd)

And in orlando, thornton park area you have Falcon Bar, crowd varies depending on the night, its a bit more relaxed and mature than the main downtown strip off Orange Ave, that or you can go to Orange and go to IBar (usually a bit younger crowd, large dance floor, a bit louder) The Courtesy (cocktail/mixologist bar thats a bit more chill) or BBQ Bar (younger hipster crowd for the most part)

[Rotorocious]

Keep in mind you get to have real guns now too

[wmb39e]

Tampa is widespread and there are suburbs just outside of Tampa..I actually live in the suburb of Lutz. In Tampa the nicer areas are South Tampa/Hyde Park (older homes), Bayshore (world's longest sidewalk), and New Tampa (newer homes). The trendier place to live is in South Tampa though, lots of nice restaurants and bars. If you haven't been to Bern's Steakhouse you have to check it out. You must make reservations and be sure to include the dessert room..You will spend around $200 for two people, but well worth it. Also University of South Florida and University of Tampa both have excellent nursing programs.

[buster84]

Thanks everyone for responding to me last year. I ended up having to wait another year since I found out that my mother was sick, but now that she's doing much better so I'm back on track with what I'm planning. I've concluded that I'm going to end up in Fort Lauderdale area/surrounding cities. I'm flying out in 3 weeks to check it out and look for a place.

Does anyone have any recommendations of what areas to look at and what areas i should totally avoid? I can afford upto 2k for rent since thats what I'm paying now, but I'd prefer to find a smaller place at around $1300-1600 since I just feel like having a big home is a huge waste for me since Im always in the living room, garage or outside and all the extra space just goes to waste. I'm mostly looking for a 2+ bedroom house that way i can still have a garage. The idea of living in a sky rise condo is nice, but I'm not sure if i can live without a garage since i have enjoy working on my cars lol.

Also if you know of any good websites to search for places to rent in florida please post them or pm me. Thanks!

[Velocity26]

You will likely find a nice place for half of what you would spend in Cali. You can get a large waterfront in the Tampa area for less than what you are paying now, and nice homes easily within your budget. Take a peek at Zillow.com for rental rates.

[buster84]

Originally Posted by Velocity26

You will likely find a nice place for half of what you would spend in Cali. You can get a large waterfront in the Tampa area for less than what you are paying now, and nice homes easily within your budget. Take a peek at Zillow.com for rental rates.

Will do thanks.

[GetSomeE92]

I know rent in Miami is pretty high, especially for what you get. I'm not sure how the prices are in Fort Lauderdale but I can't imagine it is that different if you want to be near all the bars and/or downtown. Definitely check out Zillow.com for what is available in the area.