today i will speak about 10 things that you will need to be able to handle if you move to
florida i absolutely love living in florida and florida is for a lot of people but it isn't for
everyone i talk to other towners and people who live here all the time and this video is based
on their feedback if you're new to this channel i'm katrin a local ruler in the sarasota florida
area the question though is will you be able to deal with these 10 facts let's get right into it
politics florida has been a swing state and is well known for close calls in the election some
people do not like to be in a swing state because they're used to being part of a political majority
that's just where they feel more comfortable what you have to know is there are certain
areas here that are heavily skewed towards one political side so for example the villages and
naples are mostly conservative that's where you're going to see a lot of this and then you have fort
lauderdale which is mostly democratic and that's where you're going to see a lot of this here's a
chart from bestneighborhood.org which can help you get a better feel for the political atmosphere but
i do believe that deciding where to live based on just the political makeup of a place can be
somewhat limiting but i also do understand it is important to many people these days cost of living
we all know it is getting expensive to live in florida prices of homes have shut up especially
since the start of the pandemic long gone are the days you could buy an amazing piece of property
for say four hundred thousand dollars in desirable places such as miami or naples as of june 2022 the
median list price in florida.com was about 499 000 which is actually an increase from may and
is also above the us average of 450 000 to give you a point of reference just six years ago the
median list price was about three hundred thousand dollars ouch many people are now intimidated or
priced out of the real estate market part of the price increases have to do with the general
housing supply and demand and balance but more and more people are also wanting to live in a
place where you have perpetual summers no state income tax and amazing beaches to choose from
this extra demand has driven up prices very very fast and that it's not just in the real estate
market rent has also appreciated to historic levels in florida just to give an example miami
was designated as america's least affordable place to live per realtor.com so now miami's
average monthly rental price was said to be on par with san francisco at over three thousand
dollars on average per month but what i want you to know is that there's are still affordable
places to live in florida in general the south and southwest areas will be more expensive
as you venture inland it becomes more affordable because people usually want to be closer to the
coast so if your budget is tight do a bit of research to determine where you can afford
living in florida and chances are you may actually find a more affordable option that's also a good
option for you it's address home insurance the florida home insurance industry is going through
a major crisis premiums in many cases have doubled and in general higher than the u.s average this
insurance crisis is being driven by litigation and fraud and billions in losses from recent national
disasters my premium doubled just last year after the insurance carrier dropped out of florida and i
actually had to search for a new insurance carrier which now charges me double diversity florida
is interesting in that some places in florida are very very diverse demographically speaking
in some areas not at all if the population makeup is of concern to you you could start investigating
a place by looking at the u.s census bureau data so here's an example for naples florida you can
see population estimates to get a sense of how big a place is first of all you can also review
characteristics such as race education and housing information now understand that just looking at
the demographics data is somewhat limiting and the best way to get a feel for an area is to obviously
visit and spend some time there this will provide you with a sense of the atmosphere to see if this
is a place you can be happy living in there's so many great places in florida to visit that is one
of the reasons why i actually love living here you don't have to travel far to feel like you're
experiencing something new to feel like you're on vacation just think of miami key west crystal
river orlando st augustine and truly the list goes on and on these are all amazing places that people
visit from all over the world not just the us but we have the luxury that we can just drive to
these places which is awesome but because we have these amazing travel destinations here in florida
florida gets pretty busy in the winter months when we have tourists that come to visit this can make
traffic far worse and attending public places can be really really frustrating especially when you
have to wait longer in line for example here's a fun fact florida is the second most visited state
in the us now snowbirds add to the challenge snowbirds are people that typically live up
north but in the winter months from about december sometimes january through april they come here to
be in a warmer climate these folks at tremendous population increase pressure and destinations such
as naples venice and fort myers now i'm personally okay with the influx of people in the winter as i
learn how to adapt to it and we need to remember that the tourism industry contributes to a large
part of the revenue generated by florida that is one of the reasons why florida residents do
not have to pay state income tax so in many ways tourists are a good thing for florida also the
tourist industry keeps a large florida workforce employed just think of disney for example gun
laws florida is a very gun-friendly state and if this is an issue for you then maybe florida is
not the place you're going to want to live in at this time you do not need a permit to buy a gun
and you do not need to register the gun but there are some requirements that need to be met right
so for example you have to be at least 21 years of age or older you have to be eligible to purchase a
firearm by being a florida citizen and an american or a resident alien in general when it comes to
carrying a gun you can only openly carry it when lawfully hunting or practicing an indoor range the
floridians tend to talk about guns very freely and i know plenty of people that own more than one gun
one of their past time is to go to a shooting range to practice and even have some fun
as you can tell florida's gun laws are more relaxed than in many other states across the u.s
and will likely become even more relaxed in the future as a matter of fact governor desantis has
talked about passing the constitutional carry gun law which per the national association of
gun laws is defined as any law-abiding adult who's legally able to possess a handgun
should be able to carry that handgun openly or concealed without first having to pay a tax or
obtain a government permit healthcare florida has a lot to offer that's why people are moving here
in droves most that live here absolutely love it here they love the warm weather
they enjoy the relatively relaxed lifestyle and they really take advantage of all the things you
can do outdoors year round but florida's not known to have the best healthcare system in the u.s
now i believe the state should improve general healthcare options for the public as a whole
but some pockets in florida such as sarasota where i live has very well rated healthcare institutions
so it really depends on where you live in florida now if you're someone that needs
good health care options make sure wherever you move to that that's going to be available to you
now you could start by researching online and check the local hospital rankings and reviews
for other health care providers in the area and i also tell people just talk to locals and get their
input and that input is typically going to be very unfiltered red tide there was lots of chatter last
year we got a red tide and some of my customers expressed concern about red tide so i'm going to
address it in this video if you're somebody that's not planning to live on the gulf coast this is not
going to be a concern for you at all well what is red tide red tide is when colonies of algae
grow in the water and multiply more than normal which scientists actually refer to as algal bloom
as the outbreak grows the water changes in color this occurrence of red tide is not specific to
just the gulf coast it actually occurs across the world in the u.s it typically is found in the
gulf of maine california and the gulf of mexico of course now every few years we have red tide
on the gulf coast but by no means does it happen every year we just had an outbreak in the summer
of last year and then previously to that we had one in 2018. this year as a matter of fact we've
had an outbreak what causes red tide the answer to that is somewhat controversial but typically
it has been blamed on pollution climate change and different weather patterns red type produces
a toxin called brevetoxin this toxin is specific to the gulf coast and can affect marine life if
humans are close to the shore and the toxins are airborne it could cause respiratory problems in
humans here's what you have to remember though not every beach will have an algal bloom you
may not be able to go to your favorite beach when there's a bloom but you will likely be able to go
to beach that's in driving distance where there is no significant outbreak and as long as you're
not at the beach at all where there's a bloom you'll be perfectly fine unfortunately i wish
this theme could be said about marine life i live about 10 minutes from siesta key and during blooms
i just stay away from the golf area all together instead i'll venture into parks or take advantage
of all the biking trails that we have here in sarasota i.e the legacy trail and so there's
so many other fun things to take advantage of in beach towns beyond just going to the beach
in case there's an algal bloom extreme summer weather i personally believe that florida weather
is close to perfect in the winter the temperature drops to a really comfortable level it's pretty
sunny during that time of the year and there's no need to shovel snow because well we have none here
but of course nothing's ever perfect right then there's the summer the extreme summer weather can
be intimidating to some people in the summer we have almost daily lightning storms now i will say
that a typical summer lightning storm will last no more than an hour but you're still going to want
to be careful and seek shelter during one of these storms and then we also have hurricanes hurricane
season is officially from june 1st until november 30th and peaks in september and october if you
move here definitely you will encounter hurricanes now most are mild and will likely just result in
a hurricane party and those can be actually a lot of fun but we've also had some more severe
hurricanes such as hurricane irma which came by in 2017 and did a lot of damage across florida
this is a reminder that if you move to florida and you're going to be a cash home buyer get
the home insurance it's just peace of mind that you're not going to regret you probably
didn't know this because it's not talked about as much as hurricanes per the florida climate center
florida also has a higher frequency of tornadoes per 10 000 square miles than any other u.s state
but i will say this even with the extreme weather patterns that we have here in the
summer time i would still much rather take those weather challenges versus having to deal with the
cold weather up north the wintry snowy month or even earthquakes which you can't really prep for
i don't believe leave me a comment below if you know because now i'm curious wildlife and critters
florida's home to lots of critters and wildlife especially when you live a bit more rural there
are plenty of youtube videos that address wildlife and critters and that's because there's so many
people who are actually concerned about this so if you don't like critters but you still want to
live in florida your best bet is to actually live inside of the heart of a city because there you'll
likely not encounter alligators or snakes but what you need to know is that every body of fresh water
will have alligators but if you don't live close to a body of fresh water or you're otherwise not
venturing near one chances are you will never see a gator however if you buy or rent a home that is
close to a lake yeah you'll see them occasionally we also have palmetto bugs which is florida's
version of the roach and it doesn't matter how tidy you keep your house or apartment you will
need to deal with them occasionally especially in the summer these critters are surprisingly
fast and seem to be able to squeeze the tiniest of cracks i've seen it it's so easy for them to
come in through sliding doors or windows or really any other type of opening and they can breed very
fast inside of your house which is really not what you want them to do my recommendation is to get a
quarterly exterminator or when needed we also have lots of mosquitoes especially in the summertime
during the rainy season and that's because mosquitoes breed in still standing water by laying
eggs now if the wildlife critter conversation sounds a bit scary to you i will say this most
of you will get used to the wildlife and critters here you will likely not even give it much thought
after a while and that's because humans learn to co-exist with their surroundings and you
may even enjoy seeing animals such as dolphins and manatees in the wild and you will if you live here
in florida and i must say the geckos in my lanai area are actually so cute especially when you
see them doing push-ups and they truly are doing push-ups if you live in florida you've seen it you
know what i mean most of us moved to florida from up north because of the warm weather for one but
many of those that moved to florida underestimated the heat and humidity in the summer and then ended
up moving halfway back to where they came from to such places as georgia it's absolutely true
there's actually a name for this these people are known as half-backs and so you don't want
to be one of these people because that's just a lot of effort and money spent and relocating
just to relocate once again so my recommendation is before you move here make sure you can handle
the weather in the summer and so the best thing to do is to come on vacation here but not in the
winter come here in the summertime to get a feel for what it's like if you can handle the summer
i promise you you're gonna be good to go when it comes to florida weather personally i far prefer
the summer weather over the winter months up north but hey we're all different and that's
okay let me know in the comment section which one of these points is somewhat concerning to you
i want to emphasize that i absolutely love living in sarasota the point of this video was to make
you aware of some of the cons so you can actually give them some consideration and so if you then
still decide to move to florida the chances of you being far happier in florida are going to be
much greater because you've really kind of thought through all of this before for those of you who
are seriously planning to move to florida watch this video here to learn more about the true
cost of living here please like this video and subscribe to this channel and if you're interested
in so real estate call me anytime i'd love to team up with you and help you on your journey thank you
so much for watching especially until the very end i always appreciate when you do take care