Where would you live in Florida?

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Largo, FL isn't ideal for diving but it's not terrible and we have gigabit fiber here.
Gigabit fiber is a myth. :D :D :D I live off a path on the tail end of a digital dirt road. I pay an exorbitant fee for two DSL lines I have paired to get a very modest connection.
These fossils are from less than an hour from my house and could be dove from shore.
You now have my attention. We have Megs on the East coast of Florida? Salt or fresh?
 
Tampa probably has something good but I’m not sure what it is.

I’m buying a cargo van to support my two drug habits...track riding and diving.

Load up Thursday night, go to work Friday, get on the road for 3 hours to north Florida or South Florida to burn some gas going fast or breathe it going deep.
 
Thanks so much everyone. This thread has been very informative on so many levels. People have suggested some very tempting places such as Florida Keys etc but I am assuming that the real estate there would be much higher compared to other more remote and less visited places? For me, since I intend to work from home, being in a city or the beach fronts are not important. I am perfectly fine driving 3 hours to cave diving or ocean diving.

How is the area between Clearwater and Vero Beach? Looks like a lot of territory that would put you in the middle of nowhere but driving distance from everywhere right?
 
It's not a good plan, but I would still vote for you over DeSantis. I would probably support Goofy over you, but you're a darn sight better than our current Gov.

It's amazing to me how horrible fences and walls look. Shortly after I moved here, I removed over a mile of fencing. The guy who sold it to me was amazed at how the place looks now. I paid $75k for 10.82 acres with a mobile home and 3 outbuildings. 1/4 acre lots in the Keys start at a quarter mil. I could probably sell it for a lot more now just by cleaning it up. I do have a blog here on SB about it: I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!
Different strokes for different folks.

I could not live where you live - it is a gorgeous area.

I have been looking to move out of florida and have been so amazed at how much more reasonable prices are elsewhere. I also realize what a deal we got when we bought our place down here before the market went through the roof.

Larger place than we have now, with 2 car attached garage and a 2+ car detached garage/workshop on an acre for the same price we could get for our 3bedroom "townhouse" in deerfield beach.
 
How often are you REALLY going to go diving if it’s a 3+ hour drive one way? I would keep that in mind.

An hour or so isn’t a big deal. Three hours? You’re going to have days that you’re just not going to want to make that drive. That and a drive like that is taking away from time you could spend in the water.

If you move down there...to me...the point would be to make more frequent diving readily accessible. A 3+ hour drive doesn’t accomplish that.
 
Thanks so much everyone. This thread has been very informative on so many levels. People have suggested some very tempting places such as Florida Keys etc but I am assuming that the real estate there would be much higher compared to other more remote and less visited places? For me, since I intend to work from home, being in a city or the beach fronts are not important. I am perfectly fine driving 3 hours to cave diving or ocean diving.

How is the area between Clearwater and Vero Beach? Looks like a lot of territory that would put you in the middle of nowhere but driving distance from everywhere right?
Consider where you want to do the majority of your activities.

Are you moving here just to dive, or would you like to be able to enjoy other outdoor activities?

If you want to do other stuff, Northern Florida is more doable in the summer than Southern Florida.

Do you want to be able to shore dive or just boat dive? That will define you're east vs west coast.

Honestly if you are willing to drive 3 hours, live elsewhere and just fly down. It's a ~3 hour flight from Baltimore DC would be less. Fly into pbi on a Friday night, for boat diving or fly into Jax or somewhere up north for cave diving.

Fly with a carryon only, rent tanks down here.

I'm not trying to talk you out of anything.

Just think what you really think you're going to do.

Florida is miserably hot ~8 months of the year. And filled with snowbirds and tourists ~6 months out of the year.

Living where you vacation sounds fun.
 
Consider where you want to do the majority of your activities.

Are you moving here just to dive, or would you like to be able to enjoy other outdoor activities?

If you want to do other stuff, Northern Florida is more doable in the summer than Southern Florida.

Do you want to be able to shore dive or just boat dive? That will define you're east vs west coast.

Honestly if you are willing to drive 3 hours, live elsewhere and just fly down. It's a ~3 hour flight from Baltimore DC would be less. Fly into pbi on a Friday night, for boat diving or fly into Jax or somewhere up north for cave diving.

Fly with a carryon only, rent tanks down here.

I'm not trying to talk you out of anything.

Just think what you really think you're going to do.

Florida is miserably hot ~8 months of the year. And filled with snowbirds and tourists ~6 months out of the year.

Living where you vacation sounds fun.

Another option that I would throw out there is to live in northern Florida (if that’s the area that does it for OP and his wife), get a cheap RV, and drive down to southern Florida for a few days at a time to get your diving fix in.

If you find a RV park(s) with good WiFi, there’s no reason that you couldn’t be mobile for weeks at a time. If you did that, a 3+ hour drive on occasion wouldn’t be a big deal.

On the concerns about the heat and humidity...my grandparents ran into that. They visited Florida several times over the years (generally during the winter...they were from New England) and eventually decided to go all-in and move down there. Sold the house they had for 40+ years and bought a place down there.

They lasted ONE summer in Florida. They just couldn’t deal with the heat and humidity. They sold that place, moved back north, but by that time...the real estate had gone up in New England, so they had to settle for a place that was nowhere near as nice as the one they had (small trailer in a park instead of a detached place on over an acre).

Moving back down there is a dream for me (I was born in Florida and lived all over the state when I was younger). I’m stuck here for work for the long haul now though. Get out while you can.
 
I’ve been reading this thread because I’m interested in other places to retire someday.
Some of the prices being thrown around are unreal to me.
In my town we are dealing with San Franciscans moving up here to get out of paying 5K a month on a 800 sf apt in the city. Many work remotely now so it seems Santa Rosa is their new target. Home prices here have soared 50% in the last 6 mo.
You will pay 750K to over a million for a basic house.
When I hear prices in the 300 to 400 range I laugh.
Nothing but fires every year for the last four years, being evacuated, power shut offs, PGE rates soaring to cover for all the lawsuits against them.
Summer heat temps in SR 110 - 112.
Over 40 million people here now, more and more crowding into the the state for what reason I don’t know. Probably all the freebies?
It just keeps getting better and better.
When threads like this pop up I’m all ears.
 
I keep hearing about the heat and humidity.
Yep in S. Florida is nice and hot in the summer, but is quite hot in the summer in many other places up north. I was one summer in Menphis and it was in the 100s and felt quite muggy. So you get stupid hot and then stupid cold.

So Florida is definetely not the place for people that doesn't care for heat and humidity... For me is fine, I don't particularly enjoy the July-August extreme but I handle it better than the cold fronts of 50s and 40's get get between Dec and Feb, anything less than 70 should stay north.
Back to the OP, avoid S. Florida... It is already full.
 
When it gets hot and muggy out, I go for a swim in a 70F spring and I've got plenty to choose from. They are 70 year-round, so even when it's a bit chilly, I can go for a swim. I don't think we got above the low nineties last year, and in the three years I've been here, we haven't gotten above 100F. There were only a few days above 95. I don't think we had any days over 95F last year. This is from my weather station for the month of February.

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