Latest Topics

[GatorUnvrsty]

Herschel Talker, on 04 March 2013 - 08:44 PM, said:

If I had to recommend living in Florida, I would suggest a place just to the north. It's called Georgia.

It's nice to have the best of both worlds. SLB and I can spend time on either coast in either state whenever the urge hits us... dad lives on the Gulf coast in Florida, and mom has a condo on the East coast at Sea Island.

The beaches suck in Georgia, but the area is absolutely beautiful.

Also some of the best golf anywhere in the world at both places.

Edited by GatorUnvrsty, 04 March 2013 - 11:11 PM.

[JoeGator]

I am only in Georgia to infiltrate enemy territory.

[GatorUnvrsty]

JoeGator, on 04 March 2013 - 11:25 PM, said:

I am only in Georgia to infiltrate enemy territory.

The Atlanta Gator Club is the largest one outside of Florida. I'm proud to say I was living in Atlanta and one of the first to lay down a deposit to get to the mandatory number (10,000 I think) for Georgia to approve a UF Georgia license plate... my tag is in the 700's.

[THE_KRIEG]

@SheLuvsBama Seattle is literally my all-time favorite city. It's just too damn far from home.

GatorUnvrsty, on 04 March 2013 - 04:12 PM, said:

There are a lot of exemptions on things like property taxes in Florida, like the homestead exemption. If you make Florida your home, as opposed to just buying property for seasonal/vacation purposes, you get a pretty good break, and that's statewide. Also, no state income taxes and no tax on food.

Thanks for all the info, Tampa sounds amazing and is definitely in my top 5. Gonna make a trip down I75 that will include the St Pete/Tampa area as well as the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area. Although I'm hearing mixed reviews about Tal I'm still gonna check it out on the way back up.

One question regarding what you've said here, though. I can't imagine life without income tax, so what's the catch? Property, sales, estate, etc? Which taxes hit your wallet the most?

[GatorUnvrsty]

THE_KRIEG, on 04 March 2013 - 11:43 PM, said:

@SheLuvsBama Seattle is literally my all-time favorite city. It's just too damn far from home.



Thanks for all the info, Tampa sounds amazing and is definitely in my top 5. Gonna make a trip down I75 that will include the St Pete/Tampa area as well as the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area. Although I'm hearing mixed reviews about Tal I'm still gonna check it out on the way back up.

One question regarding what you've said here, though. I can't imagine life without income tax, so what's the catch? Property, sales, estate, etc? Which taxes hit your wallet the most?

None, the taxes aren't outrageous anywhere. The tourism windfall takes care of so much, additional taxes like that just haven't been necessary for a very long time. Public education is typically paid for by people's taxes in all states, and it eats up a lot of annual revenue everywhere, but Florida's lottery has been taking care of that for 25 years now. The tax burden down there is considerably better than anywhere I've ever lived or heard about.

Lots of locales need the additional revenue with outrageous tax rates, especially local sales taxes that make otherwise small state sales tax rates balloon. That's particularly true of red states. Their politicians would have you believe they have low tax rates and run for office on those platforms; but what they actually do is have low taxes that are the most publicly scrutinized, and shaft you at the local level.

I'll give you an example. I recently read an article talking about states with the lowest state sales tax rates, and Alabama made the list with a 4% tax rate. That's what gets publicized. But sales tax is actually 10-11% all over the state with local surtax added depending on where you live, not 4%. That's the highest sales tax rate I've ever heard of.

Georgia also has a 4% state sales tax rate, and it only goes up to 7-8% with the local surtax. Where I live sales tax is 7% and has been for at least a decade.

Florida starts out with a 6% state sales tax rate, and it climbs to 7.5% with the local surtax.

So, while the article is technically correct in saying that Alabama has one of the lowest state sales tax rates; they're actually one of the highest in the country for actual tax rate that you pay on everything you buy. You also have to pay taxes on groceries in Alabama; while Georgia caps the tax on groceries at 3% and Florida doesn't tax groceries at all.

If you just fall for the carefully worded publicity BS, you could make some poor decisions and assumptions about places; but I've lived in all 3 states discussed here, and was curious to know just how close the cost of living was in all 3 places after hearing countless idiots who haven't lived in any of the 3 comment that moving to Florida from Georgia or Alabama would cost someone a fortune.

I checked real estate rates, every type of tax/millage rate, gas prices, food prices, insurance rates, essentially every facet of spending imagineable, because that statement/rumor had never been my experience. In short, the opinion or rumor about cost of living is exaggerated at best, and just plain ol' uneducated, poorly informed nonsense at worst.

Even the magazines like Fortune and Forbes who do cost-of-living studies often don't go in-depth enough and leave out some very vital factors like the ones I discussed above. They fail to take into account all those lower tax thresholds, but they mean a whole lot of very real money to an average family over a year. Consider this...

If I buy a $2000 TV in Alabama, it'll cost me $2200 after sales tax. That same TV will only cost me $2140 in Georgia or Florida... that's $60 on a single item. If I buy $200 worth of groceries for my family every week, they'll cost me $220/week in Alabama; but only $206 in Georgia and the same $200 in Florida. If you saved $20/week just in grocery tax money over a year by being in Florida rather than Alabama, you'd save over $1000 every year... that's just in grocery savings.

If I buy a $30,000 car in Alabama, it'll cost me $33,000 dollars. The same $30,000 car in Florida will only cost me $32,250... a savings of another $750 just from sales tax.

You can see where I'm going with this; the bigger ticket items make it that much more glaring... now think about a house.

Florida doesn't have to rely on all of its revenue coming from its own residents; it gets a huge chunk of its overall revenue from its visitors. Hence, lower taxes for its residents.

Edited by GatorUnvrsty, 05 March 2013 - 12:46 AM.

[ABQAG]

Pensacola to Panama City is the best stretch of pardise in the country. Job market isn't great so I'm not going till I'm done working.

[Djshockley3]

Do not move to Key West, thats about all I can tell you.

[Hothotz]

GatorUnvrsty, on 05 March 2013 - 12:28 AM, said:

None, the taxes aren't outrageous anywhere. The tourism windfall takes care of so much, additional taxes like that just haven't been necessary for a very long time. Public education is typically paid for by people's taxes in all states, and it eats up a lot of annual revenue everywhere, but Florida's lottery has been taking care of that for 25 years now. The tax burden down there is considerably better than anywhere I've ever lived or heard about.

Lots of locales need the additional revenue with outrageous tax rates, especially local sales taxes that make otherwise small state sales tax rates balloon. That's particularly true of red states. Their politicians would have you believe they have low tax rates and run for office on those platforms; but what they actually do is have low taxes that are the most publicly scrutinized, and shaft you at the local level.

I'll give you an example. I recently read an article talking about states with the lowest state sales tax rates, and Alabama made the list with a 4% tax rate. That's what gets publicized. But sales tax is actually 10-11% all over the state with local surtax added depending on where you live, not 4%. That's the highest sales tax rate I've ever heard of.

Georgia also has a 4% state sales tax rate, and it only goes up to 7-8% with the local surtax. Where I live sales tax is 7% and has been for at least a decade.

Florida starts out with a 6% state sales tax rate, and it climbs to 7.5% with the local surtax.

So, while the article is technically correct in saying that Alabama has one of the lowest state sales tax rates; they're actually one of the highest in the country for actual tax rate that you pay on everything you buy. You also have to pay taxes on groceries in Alabama; while Georgia caps the tax on groceries at 3% and Florida doesn't tax groceries at all.

If you just fall for the carefully worded publicity BS, you could make some poor decisions and assumptions about places; but I've lived in all 3 states discussed here, and was curious to know just how close the cost of living was in all 3 places after hearing countless idiots who haven't lived in any of the 3 comment that moving to Florida from Georgia or Alabama would cost someone a fortune.

I checked real estate rates, every type of tax/millage rate, gas prices, food prices, insurance rates, essentially every facet of spending imagineable, because that statement/rumor had never been my experience. In short, the opinion or rumor about cost of living is exaggerated at best, and just plain ol' uneducated, poorly informed nonsense at worst.

Even the magazines like Fortune and Forbes who do cost-of-living studies often don't go in-depth enough and leave out some very vital factors like the ones I discussed above. They fail to take into account all those lower tax thresholds, but they mean a whole lot of very real money to an average family over a year. Consider this...

If I buy a $2000 TV in Alabama, it'll cost me $2200 after sales tax. That same TV will only cost me $2140 in Georgia or Florida... that's $60 on a single item. If I buy $200 worth of groceries for my family every week, they'll cost me $220/week in Alabama; but only $206 in Georgia and the same $200 in Florida. If you saved $20/week just in grocery tax money over a year by being in Florida rather than Alabama, you'd save over $1000 every year... that's just in grocery savings.

If I buy a $30,000 car in Alabama, it'll cost me $33,000 dollars. The same $30,000 car in Florida will only cost me $32,250... a savings of another $750 just from sales tax.

You can see where I'm going with this; the bigger ticket items make it that much more glaring... now think about a house.

Florida doesn't have to rely on all of its revenue coming from its own residents; it gets a huge chunk of its overall revenue from its visitors. Hence, lower taxes for its residents.

Thats a nice TV! Kudos.

When I was debating on if I wanted to open a new store on the Georgia / Florida line I did the research your talking about and found the same thing. I figured if I am going to have a new store I need to live down there with it, I had read the same internet rumor about how the cost of living in Florida was excruciating  After the research you find out it isn't so bad away from the heavy tourist sections of the state, but since I am to scared to pull the trigger to open a new store I can't justify moving down there away from my other businesses.


I will live there one day though, either Florida or Costa Rica. I would love to retire in Costa Rica.

[ShaunMac]

I Live on the southside of Jacksonville and I have to say its not that bad. Downtown is run down and ghetto but The Landing is a nice place right along the river where if Im not mistaken they hold some concerts there either every week or everymonth. Country music so I wouldnt know a whole bunch about it but its a nice little shopping area. Great Irish pub. And they also have football, basketball, arena football. But if youre looking for nice id say Dont go north of Beach Blvd. I wouldnt recomend sending children to the schools but I turned out fine.

Orange Park has traffic 24/7, mandarin is a nice place but really expensive.

But I would suggest Melbourne or Sattelite Beach because my cousins live there, but half the population down there worked at the Kennedy Space Center (My Uncle did) and a ton of people lost their jobs and are still jobless so the property taxes from what i hear are soaring. But if you can handle that it's a nice town right on the beach where the only crime is speeding.

[Herschel Talker]

In all seriousness, I've had a few friends move to the Tampa area.  They have nothing but great things to say.  One friend in particular has lived all over the country and settled in Clearwater Beach....he said he will never live anywhere else.

[AUskip07]

Watchout for sinkholes.

[GatorUnvrsty]

Hothotz, on 05 March 2013 - 05:28 AM, said:

Thats a nice TV! Kudos.

When I was debating on if I wanted to open a new store on the Georgia / Florida line I did the research your talking about and found the same thing. I figured if I am going to have a new store I need to live down there with it, I had read the same internet rumor about how the cost of living in Florida was excruciating  After the research you find out it isn't so bad away from the heavy tourist sections of the state, but since I am to scared to pull the trigger to open a new store I can't justify moving down there away from my other businesses.


I will live there one day though, either Florida or Costa Rica. I would love to retire in Costa Rica.

Earnings aren't bad down there either. I remember 1 summer I was staying with my grandparents in Orlando, and I decided to get a job for the summer.

My Uncle lived about a mile from Bay Hill (yes the same Bay Hill that Tiger Woods made famous by winning it virtually every year), which is also very close to International Drive. If you're not familiar with I-Drive, it's where Wet N Wild, The Hard Rock Cafe, Universal Studios, and countless other minor attractions are or near. Other than Disney, it's probably the most visited square mile in the state.

So, I'm 16 and while I'm visiting with my uncle, I decide to roll down there and get a part-time job to make some spending cash while I'm there. I land a job at the McD's on I-Drive. Now, as one might expect, this isn't your average neighborhood McD's; it has millions of people going through it from all over the world every year. The dining area has a theme and every booth has a huge aquarium built into the backrest part of it filled with rare and exotic fish. During my interview the manager informs me that it was the 3rd busiest McD's in the world the previous year.

Then he tells me what my starting pay would be, and I nearly fell out of my chair. Keep in mind that I'm 16, so it's 1984 and the minimum wage at that time was $3.35/hour... so that's what I was accustomed to making wherever I worked. My starting pay was $7.92/hour. That doesn't sound like much, but it's more than twice what the minimum wage was then and is still actually higher than what minimum wage is now, nearly 30 years later. So they're going to pay me $8/hour to clean up and watch the cashiers while I'm in training.

Couple that with the fact that there's no state income tax deduction from your check, and you realize, as a teenager, you think you just hit the lottery. I could probably make enough in 2 or 3 weeks to finance my entire 3-month trip and still be able to live it up like a high-roller on the party scene while I'm there. And that's just what I did. Hopped over to Daytona nearly every day after work, and showed up to every party that summer with the moniker Willie Wonka, because I became the candyman who always came bearing gifts... booze, buds, and blow everywhere I go. Pretty solid summer to say the least.

[ShaunMac]

GatorUnvrsty, on 05 March 2013 - 01:01 PM, said:

Earnings aren't bad down there either. I remember 1 summer I was staying with my grandparents in Orlando, and I decided to get a job for the summer.

My Uncle lived about a mile from Bay Hill (yes the same Bay Hill that Tiger Woods made famous by winning it virtually every year), which is also very close to International Drive. If you're not familiar with I-Drive, it's where Wet N Wild, The Hard Rock Cafe, Universal Studios, and countless other minor attractions are or near. Other than Disney, it's probably the most visited square mile in the state.

Bay Hill is aseriously nice area, my Dads uncle and aunt lived there and he lived right on the golf course down there hahaha. But I know exactly which Mickey d's youre talking about. I used to try and go there everytime I passed by it haha.

[ShowTime24]

I live in Jacksonville as well there are nice places And ghetto places in jax. The nice areas are mainly on the outskirts like Amelia island, ponte vedra, oakleaf etc. it really has neighborhoods and areas for anykind of living u want. If u like the moral rural country type you have Callahan, middleburg, or Baldwin. If you like more of the beach scene you have jax beach, fernandina, or ponte vedra. If u like the busy city life there is orange park, the south side or downtown. I seen a few people talk about how run down downtown is and 10 years ago that was the case but since then they have done so many improvement to that area it is actually coming back to a nice place and has a decent night life. Me personally live in Callahan and have a house on Amelia island as well. I wouldn't live anywhere else

[Boba Fett]

cocky4ever, on 04 March 2013 - 09:43 AM, said:

Only been to FL a few times, but have had friends move down there. It's a different kind of crazy down there. Good luck with that.


But from what I've heard the only place I can suggest(again, this is with no firsthand experience) is Lakeland.

@The Krieg Lakeland isn't too bad of a place to live. Hell I just moved out of there after living there for twenty three years. I'll warn you now though the job market in Lakeland blows some major ass.