brit_usa2014

Hey everyone I haven’t posted here in a long time but need advice - We currently live in Massachusetts and Considering moving to Florida. Looking at areas like Plantation, Weston, Parkland. Husbands office is in Hollywood. Hollywood is also fine. Which areas would you recommend for school district, good quality of life? Nice outdoors etc! No kids now but would be in the next few years.

How would you compare Boston to Florida ? Tell me all the Pros and Cons. I’ve been there for vacations (this definitely sounds touristy haha but we are USC’s) and like it but definitely know that living there day to day is different. We are considering moving because of the weather. We already own a home in Boston so would it be best to live in an apartment month to month basis in Florida and research the area before we sell the house ? Wait for a few years till interest rates hopefully come down, and then consider moving? We are a young couple late 30’s. Stick in Boston for the time being? We like Boston a lot but also feel a change of place would be good. How bad really is hurricane season ?

Thanks for all the advice 😄

Pulaski

I'm not qualified to answer most of your questions, but hurricane season depends on where your home is in relation to where the storm track lies. I live in NC, and here a post-hurricane storm can pass through some part of the state and at my home do anything from make it cloudy and "a bit breezing", to storm force winds and 1"+ rain per hour for 8-10 hours.

You just can't tell with any certainty until the eye is 24 hours away. So its the same in Florida, some years, even in Florida, not much happens, or you can get pummeled 3 or more times, or the far end of the state gets hammered, and you get "a few showers".

The biggest difference is that in NC, the most rain we usually get is 6"-8", and occasionally 10"-12". In Florida it can be twice that!

​​​​​​​The permutations are infinite, and if I was able to predict the next hurricane season, I would probably have won the lottery jackpot several times too.

Nutmegger

With children in your future, you should compare the state educational systems very carefully. Massachusetts is likely to be far superior, especially as Florida heads back into the dark ages with state wide book banning mandates.

durham_lad

Unexpected visitor in Florida.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...e_iOSApp_Other

zzrmark

Glad we got out of FL, it was a hellhole.
Hurricanes are fine if you have the means to pop out of state while they blow through but if the 'big one' blows through your neighborhood you won't know if you are going to be coming back to an unscathed home or a pile of matchwood. I've seen the roofs of trailers and high end homes homes taken off, hurricanes aren't fussy and even though building codes are supposed to prevent it happening to new builds the large construction firms find ways to circumvent codes, meaning it's potluck as to how well your home will withstand a blow. I was working on a roof one day when a small tornado passed right through the middle of the mobile home park I was working in. It passed by me about 100 yards away (amazing force of nature to witness, even if it was only a tiddler) and took off the roof of a home a couple of hundred yards before it blew past me.
Driving at 70 miles an hour in a rainstorm that reduces visibility to almost nil is quite the acquired 'skill', you basically have a choice of moving at the speed of everyone else or risk someone ramming themselves up your tailpipe.Assuming you find an area where traffic isn't perpetually jammed up because the road system can't handle the new construction.
If your views on politics, education, religion, civil rights or anything else he takes umbrage to differ from that of Ron Desantis then you might want to consider very carefully anything permanent move wise, FL is rapidly moving towards becoming an authoritarian state, although that does suit a large portion of it's inhabitant's. Your penny, your choice.

anotherlimey

Hurricanes are literally hit or miss, you might get some rain and wind but you might also lose your house.

Weather is nice from December to April but the rest of the year is brutally hot and humid.

Cost of living wasn't mentioned but it just keeps rising. Home insurance is really expensive (hurricanes).

The areas you named have nice parts, we have friends in Weston and Parkland with good standards of living and are active outdoors cycling, beach, boating etc.

robin1234

As someone who knows the Boston area pretty well (lived there for many years, have a daughter, in-laws, and many friends there,) and also know Florida quite well as a visitor over the last forty years (again, friends and family live there,) I’d have to say I love both places, but I’d agree with all the negative points other posters have raised about FL. Where do you live in the Boston area? Nice house, in good area? Good school district? The only implicit negative you mention in your post is weather .. hmm, seems to me, weather is pretty good year round in the Boston area, relatively mild winters, uncomfortable heat in summer only a couple of months at most. I’d do what other Massachusetts residents do - visit Florida. But, if you’re primarily moving to Florida for work, of course that’s a different story.

(I live in northern New York where winters are very long and temperatures are often twenty or thirty degrees colder than Boston - hence my comment about Boston winters being mild.)

PetrifiedExPat

I live in MA.
Stay in MA, FL will be largely underwater before long.
It's also (beyond cheap idealic golf for a weekend), an absolute hive of scum and villainy.

Derrygal

You might want to reconsider moving to Florida and enrolling your kids in Florida schools. I saw this on the BBC website today. Florida is still living in the dark ages.

Principal resigns after Florida students shown Michelangelo statue - BBC News

BristolUK

Sounds like CSI Miami.

anotherlimey

It's a bit dated but it hasn't really changed

karenkaren1

we chose Aventura when we first moved from the UK (which is close to Hollywood) - because of the school ratings. Aventura also has some excellent charter schools. One of my children is about to graduate in the first graduating class of a new charter high school which opened 2019. I also have friends who speak very highly of schools in Weston and Cooper City but I personally didn't want to live out west, I like the ocean way too much.

karenkaren1

Lol, Miami has its problems sure....as does everywhere else!! However I personally love living in paradise where every weekend feels like being on vacation. There are good areas and bad areas. I love it!

Pulaski

"Out west". Yeah, it must be terrible living 12-15 miles inland from the Atlantic coast!

PetrifiedExPat

FL, paradise? Do you love good old Ron?