Barb Carter Florida:The invasion of armadillos in Barb Carter’s home, which caused $9,000 in damage, was one of the first indications that her transfer to Florida did not live up to her idyllic existence. Following that, a hurricane struck, as did continued political problems, and we have yet to find a doctor who can remove the liver tumor. After a year in Florida, Carter packed her possessions into her car and headed back to Kansas, her home state. Despite moving closer to her daughter and grandchildren, she sold her Florida house for a loss of $40,000.
‘Why are you returning to Kansas?Many people ask this question, and Carter, as usual, tells them to take off their holiday goggles. “The advertisement was deceiving,” I thought. After living there, I realized it was not up to your expectations. The Census Bureau forecasts that over 700,000 individuals will relocate to Florida in 2022, contributing to the state’s remarkable population growth in recent years. By July 2023, it had overtaken all but one state in terms of growth rate. Last year, Florida had the second-most one-way U-Haul moves into the state, trailing only Texas. This is despite the fact that migration to the state has decreased since its epidemic peak. According to data analytics firm CoreLogic, for every person leaving the state in 2023, more than two buyers are migrating to Florida.
Nonetheless, according to the most current census data, about half a million people left the state in 2022, despite the pleasant weather, lack of income tax, and lower costs. Exorbitant insurance rates, an unfavorable political climate, increased traffic problems, and catastrophic weather events all influenced the decision to relocate. This finding is based on interviews with over a dozen persons who have either recently relocated to a new state or were long-term residents who left within the last two years.
One of the demonstrators holds a sign that reads he armadillo invasion, which cost Barb Carter $9,000, was one of the first indications that her move to Florida had not been as idyllic as she had hoped. Following that, a hurricane struck, as did continued political problems, and we have yet to find a doctor who can remove the liver tumor. After a year in Florida, Carter packed her possessions into her car and headed back to Kansas, her home state. She abandoned her children and grandchildren after selling her Florida house for a loss of $40,000.
“A lot of people want to know why you went back to Kansas. What were the reasons behind your decision?” Carter asked them to remove their holiday goggles. “The advertisement was deceiving,” I thought. After living there, I realized it was not up to your expectations. The Census Bureau forecasts that over 700,000 individuals will relocate to Florida in 2022, contributing to the state’s remarkable population growth in recent years. It has the second-fastest pace of growth among all states in July 2023. Even while migration to the state has decreased since the epidemic’s peak, Florida had more one-way U-Haul movements than any other state last year, trailing only Texas. According to data analytics firm CoreLogic, for every individual leaving the state in 2023, more than two will move to Florida to buy a property.
According to new census data, approximately 500,000 individuals departed the state in 2022, despite the fact that it had great weather, tax benefits, and lower pricing. Several factors contributed to their decision to relocate, including rising insurance rates, an unfavorable political climate, worsening traffic, and severe weather. This finding is based on interviews with over a dozen persons who have either recently relocated to a new state or were long-term residents who left within the last two years.
“The reality of Florida did not align with my expectations of a utopia,” Jodi Cummings, who relocated from Connecticut to Florida in 2021, wrote. I was surprised to learn that the temperature reached exactly one hundred degrees at night, as I had expected Florida to offer a more relaxed way of life, a slower pace, and nicer weather. Making acquaintances was not only expensive, but also time-consuming and frustrating. Cummings, a private chef in the Palm Beach area, expected her earnings to increase because there was no state income tax. However, the high costs of food, rent, and motor insurance limit the extra revenue. She began making plans to return to the Northeast after half a year of enduring the searing heat and traffic in South Florida.
“I lost all hope in Florida in a flash,” Cummings explained. Feelings of perplexity and remorse accompanied the desire to go, the act of relocating there, and then learning that it was so unlike what had been expected. While costs have risen across the country, certain areas of Florida have been hit more than others. Consumer prices in the South Florida region, which includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, increased by roughly 5% in February compared to the previous year, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The national average is 3.2%, therefore this is over that.
The average annual cost of homeowner’s insurance in Florida is $6,000, up 42% over the previous year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. This increase can be attributed to climate change and storm-related consequences. Furthermore, compared to the rest of the country, Florida drivers pay more than half as much for auto insurance. Florida was once regarded to have a moderately priced real estate market, but it is now one of the most costly places to buy a home. According to Zillow, the average price of a property in Florida has risen by 60% from 2020, to $388,500.
Carter, who moved from Kansas to an Orlando neighborhood in 2022 in pursuit of warmer weather, beaches, and a closer relationship with her grandchildren, was swiftly hit by rising expenditures. She purchased a mobile home and expected to pay $580 a month for the lot it sits on in her community. Her monthly bill had climbed from $750 at her arrival to $875 when she left, yet it had lowered during her stay. She lost $9,000 to armadillos, her auto insurance premium doubled, and Hurricane Ian caused substantial roof damage on her 62nd birthday.
Furthermore, she was growing tired of the never-ending political disputes. Carter, the self-described moderate Republican, has learned to keep her beliefs to herself. “Politics, which is always a part of any discussion there, is a very chaotic element.” “Right now, we’re enjoying retirement, which is usually a time for leisure and fun,” she went on to say. “I quickly learned a lot by keeping quiet, because I saw people in my community cut ties with each other because of it.” I dislike breaking up with people, especially over political differences.
However, she stated that the inability to find a surgeon capable of removing the 6-inch tumor from her liver was the deciding decision. Medical specialists cautioned that the tumor could explode at any time, resulting in sepsis and other potentially lethal complications. She was directed to several doctors before finding one willing to remove the tumor surgically. Unfortunately, when she attempted to schedule the operation over the phone, neither of her calls nor messages were returned. Finally, after months of trying and living in constant anxiety, she decided to return to Kansas for treatment. It felt like there would always be hurdles, but she persevered until a critical situation happened that she couldn’t handle anywhere else. “That was the most difficult year of my life, in my opinion.”
According to census data, 90,000 New Yorkers will relocate to Florida in 2022, making it the state with the highest number of transfers in previous years. According to CoreLogic, in 2023, around 9% of non-NY residents applying for mortgages were from New York. This percentage was comparable to that seen in 2019, however it was significantly lower than the two years prior. Some of those who moved to New York included Louis Rotkowitz. He spent fewer than two years in Florida.
On the phone, he said, “This is the ideal destination for any discerning New Yorker,” as he relocated his final items from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. “It is completely false.” Rotkowitz, who formerly worked in emergency medicine and had a near-death experience due to a COVID-19 infection he had on the job, stated that he and his wife wanted to relocate somewhere warmer so that they could save money and enjoy life more. To that aim, they plan to purchase a property in the West Palm Beach area in 2022. There, he was able to find work as a family doctor, and his wife a teaching position.
Still, he boasted that he quickly recognized his new property in Florida was considerably different from the one he had known from previous holidays there. Every day, he spent more than an hour going to and from work, he had difficulty accessing basic services such as dishwasher maintenance, and his HOA dues increased. According to Rotkowitz, “our quality of life was nonexistent” and, despite his excellent pay, they were unable to fulfill their basic expenses. Rotkowitz expressed his concerns about rising costs and his general dissatisfaction with the state. He blamed his patients’ injuries on unforeseen traffic. In addition, he mentioned a state law passed in 2023 that permits anyone to carry concealed guns without a license.
He pointed out that the public owns a high number of firearms. “Even though I think of myself as a conservative, I do think that people should have to go through some sort of licensing process if they want to own guns.” A Connecticut citizen named Veronica Blaski relocated to Florida from the state less than three years ago, citing fast growing costs as the basis for her departure. Blaski’s spouse was offered a higher-paying employment as manager of a landscaping company in Florida, right as the pandemic began. Blaski hoped that someday they will have better weather and a more leisurely lifestyle.
The married couple, both in their forties at the time, planned to relocate to a different neighborhood in 2023 after selling their Connecticut house. However, a “bulldozer” of costs, totaling a significant sum, was unexpectedly imposed on them. Her homeowner’s insurance threatened to cancel her policy unless she paid an estimated $16,000 to $30,000 to repair her nine-year-old roof. She also expected her house insurance costs to jump after installing a new roof. In a matter of months, one of her neighbors’ insurance premiums rose from $600 to $1,200.
Her property taxes rose as the value of her home increased. In addition, her monthly HOA dues jumped from $326 to $480. In addition, her insurance agent had advised her that when her auto insurance policy was up for renewal, the premiums would most likely double. Her spouse took on a second part-time job on weekends to assist cover the additional expenses. Even though Florida’s unemployment rate is lower than the national average, Blaski and others like him have complained that their earnings are insufficient to cover their expenses. Florida has one of the lowest median salaries, according to payroll processor ADP. According to Zillow, a potential homeowner would need to earn $109,000 per year to purchase a home in one of Florida’s more fairly priced metropolitan cities, such as Jacksonville. This amount is nearly twice as much as what buyers had to earn four years ago.
Blaski’s part-time retail revenue of $600 to $700 per month, which she said was going toward auto or home insurance, left her with little money for meals. Please ensure that you have extra funds set aside, as they will be required, because there are many hidden components to this that most people are unaware of. They leaped at the opportunity when the husband’s former employer in Connecticut called to see if he wanted to return. Even long-term Floridians are packing up and moving south, citing rising prices and dissatisfaction with the state’s conservative ideology. These policies address a wide range of topics, including a six-week abortion ban, state intervention in school curricula on racial issues, slavery, and sexuality, and stricter enforcement of laws against unauthorized immigrants.
Donna Smith relocated to Pennsylvania in December after living in the Tampa Bay region for over 30 years. Her decision to resign was mostly motivated by politics and rising health-care costs. Smith stated, “it deeply saddens me, truly,” because Florida was “really a remarkable place” when he first came there. Smith initially identified as a Republican; he grew raised in Oklahoma. However, as the political climate in Florida shifted to the right, she began to consider herself as a Democrat. Politics only lately began to intrude with her daily life, with neo-Nazis showing up at a Black Lives Matter event in her tiny town, as well as confrontations between neighbors and acquaintances.
When I initially moved to Florida, I discovered beach culture with a “just let it be” attitude. You encountered people from many places, and everyone appeared to be at ease. Surprisingly, that has disappeared completely at this time. “It has completely disappeared,” Smith, a 61-year-old competent graphic designer and illustrator, stated. Contrary to popular opinion, it is simply a highly stressful environment. I want to be clear that I am not the sort to raise unnecessary worry, but I have a feeling that an explosion might happen at any moment. What distinguishes that location are the moods and overall impression you get there.
She had been considering transferring to another state before her homeowner’s insurance provider informed her. However, she was informed that her roof, which was more than four years old, needed to be replaced if she did not want her insurance premium to increase from $3,600 to $12,000. She had already paid twice as much for her premium as she does now. The new roof did not prevent her from being informed that her annual premium would be $6,900. She needed to terminate her insurance policy before deciding what to do.
Smith then moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to be closer to her older children. She said that politics no longer have a significant impact on her life, despite the fact that the majority of her new county voted for Donald Trump in the previous election. Her opinion was that people in Florida no longer openly express their feelings as they formerly did, and she did not find it tyrannical. Usually, when you enter into a room, you won’t hear people raving about how much they love Trump or how they attended his event. Strangers frequently initiate these conversations when you’re doing something else, such as waiting for your car. It was seen everywhere.
Despite her son’s remaining year of high school, Noelle Schmitz decided to leave the state after more than 30 years for financial and political reasons. Her preferred destination was Winchester, Virginia. She claimed that politics pervaded her daily life. Another neighbor had the word “Trump” printed in enormous letters over their yard, while one of her old neighbors had a large Trump banner flying outside their house for quite some time. In 2016, she had a Hillary Clinton sign stolen and her house was vandalized with eggs. Her neighbors and coworkers suffered a change as a result of this occurrence, becoming more radicalized, confrontational, and politically outraged. I’m trying to figure out where this originated from. “These people do not resemble the people I remember,” Schmitz added. “The situation was getting worse, so I made the decision that we needed to get out of here quickly.”
According to a seasoned Florida real estate agent, some immigrants are particularly intrigued to the area’s political climate. Historically, homebuyers were not concerned about politics. Nonetheless, Desautels noticed that his clients now discuss it frequently. Prospective buyers are more interested in a neighborhood’s political connections than in its schools or facilities. “I don’t want to live in a neighborhood where people are mainly associated with the X or Y political party,” Desautels said, adding that this was one of the first things people mentioned. I spend a lot of time simply listening to folks express their anxieties about escaping the communist regime in XYZ. When we receive calls like this, politics is always at the top of our list of concerns, and they express a desire to find safety in a nation that values freedom and similar views. Nowadays, house showings are a contentious political topic. He recalls accompanying an old woman to a residence with Confederate flags on the front porch and swastikas swimming in the aquarium.
Politics may initially be a selling feature for the state, but it is also a typical reason for people to leave. Several of my LGBT and nonwhite clients have indicated disinterest in moving to the state due to the present political climate. “The problem is that while it makes for a good slogan, we must not forget that the people we are isolating are the ones who pay taxes in our town,” he went on to say. “I am facing financial setbacks because I back a state that encourages enterprise and free market capitalism.”
Carter says he is delighted to be back in Kansas. She relocated from a little village ten miles outside of Wichita to a 55+ community. Keeping her manufactured home on the lot in Florida cost her approximately $900 per month. However, the rent for her cottage-style flat is currently $520 per month. According to her, she would have paid approximately $1,800 per month for a comparable property in Florida. She can now afford to take a trip to Florida after saving enough money in Kansas.
