What THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU About Moving To Florida | Honest Review 5 Years Later

so you're considering moving to Florida well you're not alone because over 300,000 people thought it was the right move for them in 2023 2022 and 2021 so you got to be on to something right clearly people agree because Florida was the second most popular relocation destination in the United States for the third consecutive year and just this past year money named Tampa one of the greatest places to live time named it one of the world's greatest places and Zillow says tample will be one of the real estate markets in 2024 all incredible honors and welld deserved but life here in the Sunshine State isn't all beaches boats flip-flops and margaritas even though I wish it was and how many wishes do I get in this video I'll share what they're not telling you about life here in Florida and my experience since moving to Tampa Bay a little over 5 years ago because let's be real y'all you have to live here every day you have to travel to get anywhere and most importantly you want to love where you live if we've never met before my my name is wan alala I make videos that are all things Tampa Bay what it's like to live here what it's like to work here what it's like to play here the food the dining the outdoors the beaches and the Sunshine and as discussed a little over 5 years ago I packed up my family of five we moved 1200 mil South to the Sunshine State and haven't looked back since I'm also a licensed real estate agent and a team leader here with the true living group where we help people just like you buy sell relocate and invest here in the greater Tampa Bay area but let's get right into this list now one of my goals with this video is to be as transparent as humanly possible and that starts with recognizing that I have a bias I love where I live we made the decision to move to Tampa Bay our family loves living in Florida and not everyone will and we make these videos with the intent of helping you make qualified decisions not trying to steer you to make them so I wanted to include a a clip of this article that was written by Julia glum because it gives fair and impartial perspective on her experience here in Tampa Bay it's great let's dig in Tampa is a rare combination of action-packed and affordable the median home sales price is about $381,000 one of the lowest on our list and you'll get plenty of bang for your buck there's nightlife Galore and ebore City District you can immerse yourself in sports the Buccaneers won the 2021 Super Bowl of course but fans can also enjoy University of South Florida Bulls games at Raymond James Stadium head indoors to catch the Tamp Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field or three times Stanley Cup champs the Tampa Bay Lightning at amley Arena the Tampa Bay area which includes nearby cities like St Petersburg and clear water is bursting with culture I agree it's a huge part of the reason why we decided to move to the Tampa Bay area but things have changed the median sales price on a home is now $430,000 and oh by the way the Buccaneers are back in the playoffs but let's get into what they are not telling you so the first thing on our list that we need to address is is the weather because this is the one that throws people for a loop and I know what I used to think about Florida right it's too hot it's super sweaty it's muggy all the time I don't want any part of that I used to think that all right so I'm one of those people if that's you I totally get it however what we learned was that's not necessarily true it is totally dependent on where you live Florida is a humongous State and you know a lot of the state is subtropical there are areas towards the north they get pretty cold I mean literally this morning in the Panhandle there were snow advisories you thought snow in Florida was so funny so that is interesting when you think about that one of the most beautiful areas in the entire State you know the Emerald Coast up there has gorgeous beaches but like y'all they were in danger of getting snow this morning so our weather is pretty diverse as well now here's what you need to know 8 months out of the year it is going to be warm/hot SL oppressive that's the the best way I can put it now here's what I'll say I moved from a northern climate Detroit Michigan it was cold dreary rainy or snowy sley or something terrible the entire 6 months from basically the middle of November all the way through to roughly around Mother's Day I hate the snow I hate the cold brutal okay I am so glad we made that exchange but not everybody's going to be for that now there's a little fun fact here in Tampa Bay it's never reached 100° which is pretty cool but when you get further Inland in the state areas like Orlando it's definitely going to be warmer it's typically 5 to S degrees warmer in Orlando in the summer than it is here in in the greater Tampa Bay area if you love hot humid weather then that could be a great spot for you you know from the months of July August and September all average 90° so that is some of the hottest season we have that is also our rainy season it typically Will Rain daily during that time period now when I say rain daily that doesn't mean it's gloomy and overcast all day long can it be yes but that's actually pretty rare typically how it starts out is it's warm and muggy in the morning because it was 80 something degrees overnight during those months um it gets warm all day it continues to heat up because the sun's beating down on it I literally will make you feel like you're in a bag of clams I heard that that uh term before and I was like that's a fair representation for sure um and then it'll usually rain sometime around midday that's the Earth doing its job it's cooling everything back down when I say cooling that's relative it is still warm but you know that's the time of year that it's really hot now from basically November all the way through to April we have glorious weather right very mild temperatures here through the winter we average in the 70° I mean it's absolutely stunning we can still have some cold evening typically we'll turn our heat on here maybe two to three times a year that's how few times we actually do it versus running it constantly but those summer months can be impressive is a term that I've heard before and I think that's a fair representation it's not going to be for everyone but if you're tired of cold dreary and you can put up with the heat you know those summer months are definitely not the end of the universe y'all lots of people have been living here there's over 20 million people that live in this state trust me they don't all get up and leave plenty of them have second homes here they live up north or in other places during the summer I understand why not everybody has that option but listen the weather is is worse than you think and better than you think too it's one of those weird paradoxes that you just have to deal with living here in Florida the second thing on this list is going to be bugs and Wildlife because if you're not used to seeing the type of wildlife or pest that we have here in Florida it can be a little bit of you know a jarring situation because not everyone is used to this if you live in areas that have a frost or a deep freeze every winter you know you get pretty spoiled in terms of what you have to deal with you know where we moved from we had that def freeze every year so we didn't have like you know poisonous snakes and um a lot of poisonous spiders there there were some right but like a lot of that stuff tends to die off in a rough winter and we're subtropic we don't have that issue right this this area is ripe to grow pest Wildlife all kinds of things so that is something to take into consideration you know um where we live here in the greater Tampa Bay Area mosquitoes are not nearly as big as a problem they aren't even as bad where I live here as they were back in Michigan so that is my experience and my perspective but I don't live in swampy areas if you do I assure you the mosquitoes are going to be terrible everything that you've ever heard about Florida is probably going to occur there right so like keep that in perspective you don't want to be in flood zones to begin with so don't stick yourself there if you want to live on a home in you know near a lake in a wetland area these are things you're going to have to take into account so just keep that in perspective but you've got things like termites here which you may not have where you live you've got no se those little buggers are way worse than the mosquitoes they will bite you they they're so tiny you can't see them hence the name no seeum but they probably bite two to three times harder I I I won't put them on par with like a um a deer fly or anything like that but like for something you can't see to to uh to give that kind of a poke man it's a weird experience you've also got fire ants you know just be mindful of that I don't go trudging around in my yard without chews on on a regular basis as much as I would like to I just understand and respect the fact that they there could be something in there um that could bite me my son has stepped on uh fire ants before no one else has in the house he got bit pretty good and it was not a pleasurable experience for him so keep that in mind you know we have um again snakes in 5 years I've seen one snake in my yard um there are alligators in the area so keep that in perspective crocodiles are not an issue here people ask me about the Gators all the time like Juan you know talk to me about the alligators and here's my share um in 5 years um there's never been an alligator exited in my neighborhood it's that simple I also don't live by a open body of fresh water so keep that in perspective if you live in in those areas you're going to experience what Mother Nature has to offer so keep that in perspective we also have really cool Birds here um and they get really kind of comfortable uh we've got uh egrets which will walk all over the neighborhood they kind of they they literally run in a flock which is awesome you'll see cranes in your yard from time to time I've walked outside and seen a 3-foot crane standing in my car it's very interesting um but you know they don't challenge you or anything like that we have peacocks I I mean the very first time we showed up to Dun Eden there was a peacock on the playground with the kids was unbelievable um and he left the kids alone the kids left him alone and when he showed his feathers it was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had you know we with those things also come the good things I mean you can go to the ocean and see the sting rays in there uh you can go we do have to teach the kids how to do the stingray Shuffle by the way you just shuffle your feet that way you don't step on one of those guys we've got dolphin out there of course we've seen sea turtle hatch you know there's a lot to love about that but you got to know what you're dealing with here okay it's you know you're going to encounter some things that you most likely have never experienced before just be prepared it's not the end of the world but for some people they can't take it you just need to know about it number three on our list is insurance and this has become a very hot topic if you look through the comments in these videos you will see people who are quite frankly they're uneducated um and most likely they don't live in the state they say things like Florida is you know sinking and you're never going to get homeowners insurance and and here's what I got to say about all that it's just completely false but you do need to be aware because this will be an adjustment for you um you know there have been a lot of insurance companies that have chose to leave the state of Florida you know we are challenged with hurricanes um as a state every single year you know we have severe weather with uh strong tropical storms those things are all true okay um and and it does make things difficult but everyone in the country is facing these things right now right State Farm which was the largest insur in the state of California chose to move out of that state because of things that happened to them naturally they're pulling out of all kinds of States Georgia Carolina it's just crazy when insurance companies are able to do to you and me as a citizen it hasn't you know part of it has to do with the state but more importantly this is about you know companies and their bottom line let's just be real about it so I want to share this transparently because you are going to spend more money here on Insurance are homes uninsurable no are some homes uninsurable yes if you build a home on the Gulf Coast literally right on the Gul Coast it is going to be very difficult if not impossible to get that home insured if you've got the money to do that that is the game that you choose to play okay I have a single family home a four-bedroom two bath home 2,000t with a pool we live less than 2 mi from the Gulf Coast of Mexico I live live in a non-f flood zone a non-evacuation Zone my home is 28 ft above sea level which in Florida is like a mountain and we pay currently $2500 a year for homeowners insurance and I don't know some of you are thinking that's outrageous others of you are laughing at that price keep that in perspective now we've had clients come here and try to buy properties right on the water homeowners insurance is $10,000 or more that is a reality that you need to be aware of the other thing that comes with insurance here in the State of Florida that you need to take in consideration is auto insurance we are not the worst you'll see that in the comments that's not true we are the third worst though which is not exactly you know you're still making the podium that's not a great thing Florida has more uninsured Auto drivers than anywhere else in the country that is a reality statistically speaking so that is what puts a lot of pressure you also have 20 million people here you've got plenty of uh of of new drivers and we of course have a lot of seniors in the state which puts a lot of pressure put that on top of the fact that everybody is from everywhere people move from all over the world and all over the country and they bring their driving habits to Florida you don't have to take another driver's exam to to to get on the road here if you have a driver's license they'll issue you a new one and listen if you're used to making leftand turns in a specific way where you live and you come to Florida it's completely different and no one's ever told you otherwise you start making mistakes and I tell everybody when it comes to Florida driving here is a full contact sport you got to have your head on a swivel you can't be farting around on your phone paying attention to things that don't matter because there are a lot of of just crazy things that I see on the road here and in my experience y'all I've traveled a ton I used to travel corporately I see more crazy things happening on the road here in the State of Florida than I have seen anywhere else all right you get out in the leftand lane here on on I75 or 275 and you're not doing 7585 mph they will run you off the road and not literally but it feels that way you do not belong out there if you are not hauling behind the right hand lane it that is put aside for people who like to do the speed limit and even then it can be a little bit of a challenge so I'm I'm kind of tongue and- cheek here but there is absolute truth in what I'm saying as well do your research do your homework you can still get insurance here you know cost of ownership on a property is important the type of car that you drive you know there's lots of factors on it if you have questions don't hesitate to reach out all of my contact information is listed down below including a link to my calendar so you can schedule of time that's most convenient for you and while you're down there if you wouldn't mind subscribing it does really help out the channel but it also helps other people who are considering making the move to Tampa Bay area so we were just talking about traffic I want to kind of get back into some of the bullet points here because traffic is also one of those things that not everybody's going to tell you about but you need to know about with those 300,000 new residents moving to the State of Florida for 3 years in a row it is definitely put some challenges on all of our infrastructure Miami Orlando Jacksonville Tampa we are grown growing like crazy trying to keep up with them and listen Tampa's an older City the infrastructure wasn't necessarily built to have 3.3 million people you know like we do here in the greater Tampa Bay area but here we are and we're all left to deal with it together it's a very interesting time again you have people that relocate here from all over the area so they bring driving habits with them both good and bad um you've got seniors and young people like we talked about before and then more importantly you have this tremendous amount of growth that has occurred in the area here and it's put a lot of strain on our roads our roads are in overall really good condition and you know again I might be biased because I moved for a metro Detroit that has some of the worst road conditions in the United States it was so sad you're called the Motor City but you can't drive anywhere without risk of getting a flat tire or driving in a pothole and ruining your car which is so sad but when you move to Florida it's not like that at all now are the roads perfect no have I run into some potholes yes and I'm going to use the term pothole Loop Loosely because my perspective of pothole is something that your car can go in and may not ever get back out of most certainly can blow a tire a pothole here to a local person is something that is not completely flat with the rest of the pavement so like there are divots is what I would call them from time to time I do see those but the overall row conditions here in the greater tip of barrier are awesome what is not awesome is the length of the lights and that is something that took me a very long time to get used to some of these lights can be 2 and 1/2 minutes long before you're able to either progress forward or make a turn it is insane to me you can um knit a blanket you could probably start a business you can definitely check up on your email you can do all kinds of things sitting in that car waiting for those lights to turn it just takes forever and every one of my clients who has moved here or my friends that come down they're like dude what is up with the lights and I'm telling you right now it is something you're going to have to get used to if you live in a world world where 30 m is 30 minutes that ship has sailed okay I'm just letting you know right now can you do it on the highway of course you can unless you're in downtown Tampa during rush hour then you're definitely not going to make those types of speed right downtown and and greater Tampa Bay Area you know be in in regular rush hour it is going to be congested and it can get what feels like ridiculous now we ranked 30th out of the 50 major cities in terms of congestion so put that in perspective but if you're a local and you've seen this growth it is I'm sure this has really been a thorn in your side and I got to be honest with you I don't love the traffic here either it's not great is it terrible no it's nowhere near what you see in Los Angeles or Chicago or any of those other areas but you definitely need to put a little bit more time you know into your drive because that it's probably going to take you a little bit longer than normal but we're really blessed here I mean honestly I live the furthest Western point of Tampa Bay and I can still be to the airport during peak hours and 45 to 50 minutes I have made it from my house which is on the Gulf Coast to the Tampa Airport in 28 minutes before so keep that in perspective make sure you do a little bit of research there it's not as bad but it's definitely congested now let's get into everyone's favorite topic if you don't live here hurricanes and you know I completely understand before we moved to Florida this was part of our research I went over to Dr Google started typing in where are the worst places for hurricanes in Florida and you know scared myself to tears it's like going to we MD don't do it because the reality is much different and you know being here for 5 years now we've had three encounters with hurricanes um the first one was supposed to come never even got close the second one was Hurricane Ian 2 years ago and boy that was a real shakeup for me personally I shared my experience with that um and mostly just because I've never been through anything like that before and Tampa Bay was spared you know it it's incredible how how blessed this region really has been it's 1921 was the last time a Tampa Bay took a direct hit from a hurricane and that you know hit St Pete pretty hard our infrastructure was entirely different at that point properties were built entirely different at that point but it's literally been over 100 years since we've had to deal with the direct shot of a hurricane now we have been impacted hurricane uh Ian you know two years ago definitely put an impact in the area we had some flooding in some areas um and a lot of wash out on our beaches erosion of the sand in our beaches that's really been one of the major impacts we've seen um the second um was Hurricane Ian this past year same thing we definitely had some flooding in the greater Tampa Bay Area um you know South Tampa and and downtown Tampa are very low-lying areas the bay itself is very shallow it's roughly about 12 ft deep all across the bay there um so it you know it definitely lends itself to some challenges in those low-lying areas and there was some flooding right on uh Bayshore Boulevard you can go check out the videos there was this one video I saw of um two guys trolling the news center because it wasn't nearly as bad as uh The Weather Channel said it was going to be I mean when Jim Cantor leaves you know it's not that bad um so you know it's just part of the deal but these guys were riding a rubber duck behind the Weather Channel um anchor you know making fun because the Weather Channel anchor is out there in full gear and these guys are out there shorts and a t-shirt riding this you know huge inflatable duck behind them it was awesome now here's what I want to share with you guys you need to be prepared you know when you come down here try to buy a home that's in a non-f flood non-evacuation zone those things make sense right like if you want to be on the Gulf Coast and that is your dream then you're going to make an exchange right the sun is hard on things the weather can be difficult on things we've made a decision as a family that basically if it's a category 3 or stronger we're leaving I always tell everybody I take my guitars I take my dog and I take my family everything else can be replaced VI of insurance and this is just just the exchange that we're willing to make we've been very fortunate my prayer is that that continues I can't make any guarantees on it but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be having said that it has definitely impacted some areas our brothers and sisters to the South down in Fort Myers and Cape Coral took the worst of it in Ian and it was pretty bad as you guys are well aware so keep those things in perspective you know you're going to have to make a trade you're going to be playing basically Russian roulette with the weather if you choose to live on the coast in Florida it's just a reality of living here the next thing they're not telling you about living here in Florida is the water quality is just flat out bad now I know there may be some areas where it's better than others but you know in general the water has been terrible all all of our travel through the state you know visiting family and friends all over the state didn't matter where we were the water tastes bad it was tough on our skin tough on your hair it's just not a pleasurable experience and if you are moving from an area that you have really good water this is going to be an adjustment for for you here in the greater Tampa Bay area where I live the water is pretty hard overall um it does not taste well it's never cold cuz our ground never gets cold keep that in perspective um it's really hard um and you know if you have a glass shower man it is very hard to keep up on those things if you don't have water treatment okay so my recommendation is if you're going to move here please take into consideration if your home doesn't already have a water softener you're probably going to need it obviously you want to get these things tested but most likely you're going to need a water softener if you're living here and then the other thing if you know if it is in your budget do yourself a favor and get some form of water treatment whether that's a reverse osmosis system or charcoal filter whatever it is that you can do to to help make that water better it's a strong recommendation you know we're working on all of those things in our house right now and we still buy bottled water we buy um spring water from Zephyr Hills um we've got those big five gallon jugs and that is our drinking water you know we bathe in it and everything else is great it's fine but like I would just prefer not to drink the water it's definitely not nearly as good as I had back home in the Great Lake State we were spoiled I understand that but like when you move here it's going to be an adjustment a lot of people will choose to use a a pump to irrigate their lawn rather than using their their um the city water because it's expensive so keep that in perspective now that's going to be relative I don't know where you live we pay about $125 a month for water here I have a large family I have three small children they are 11 um 9 and five I have a wife and myself and we have a pool so like just keep those things in perspective we spend about um $125 a month on water um but when you pump water out of the ground you'll see crazy stuff on the neighbors right some of their lawn will start to um turn rust color um it will stain the side of the houses because there's so much rust in the water and sidewalks will be stained too now now when you get out into the newer developments they are doing treatment on that water ahead of time so they're filtering so they're not having the staining and those types of things but this is something to take into consideration because if you like good good beer if you like good pizza if you like good pasta if you like good bread those things are going to be influenced by the quality of the water where you live and if you don't have great water it's really hard to have good items like we were just discussing right like you can't have great pasta great uh pizza and great bread if you don't have good water you know so keep these things in perspective I'm not saying it's not worth living here but you do need to know right if your skin is super sensitive if you don't like um hard water you know it's it's hard on your uh your washing machine just keep these things in perspective now the next one on our list here is the cost of owning a home what I have found in my experience is the cost of home ownership here in the State of Florida is more especially when you get on the coastal regions now you may live in a coastal region already and say one we're already used to that but when you add in the fact that we get approximately 250 days of sunshine and our UV index is usually maxed out at the top you will find that things start to break down faster you know most of the products that you and I touch on a daily basis or purchase especially when it comes to the exterior part of our homes are petroleum based and anything that is petroleum based does not necessarily hold up well to ultraviolet light hence the sun beating it up so things like your fence you know um things like your roof which is super important you know a shingled roof an uh an asphalt roof is made with petroleum our roads are made with petroleum so when you start to think about these things they they don't necessarily hold up the greatest a roof that should last 25 or 30 years you may only get 15 or 20 years of life out of that here in Florida that's why you will see people put things like a terracotta roof on or a steel roof to try to mitigate some of these issues um it's hard on your windows it's hard on the pain outside it's hard on your fence it's hard hard on the screens over your pool it's hard on your lawn it it just can be difficult on things so you add that in as one factor then you add the other side of it which is um we typically are humid and wet during the summer so mold and mildew can build up my recommendation is absolutely to get a power washer or hire someone to come out to your property two times a year because right now I mean we're rolling into bid January and my driveway is covered in mildew and I've already had it clean it wasn't even 5 months ago so it's just part of living here that you got to keep in consideration it's not the end of the world but you need to understand that you know you you factor in the Hurricanes you factor in the storms you factor in you know how hard the sun is on things and all of a sudden cost of ownership can go up our air conditioners run constantly they are much larger than you're probably used to to seeing in your own yard and they run all the time especially during the summer so these are things you need to take in consideration ownership here the expensive parts are going to be your roofs they are going to be your AC those are like two the biggest Factor actors you know if you've got older Plumbing that can mess with you as well but like and um you know you're going to paint more often than you probably do where you are now these are things to just take into consideration that way you have a full picture now the next thing I'm about to share I didn't hear anyone talking about before we made the move as a matter of fact my own family didn't share this with us and I've shared this before but my father-in-law lives on the Atlantic coast of Florida and we used to come down and visit him for years and we would always come down during the nicest time of the year right we'd be down in February April you know he lives in South Florida of course the weather is amazing we loved it a huge part of the reason why we wanted to move as a matter of fact we thought we were going to move to that Stuart Jensen Beach area for almost a decade and we ended up deciding on Tampa but what we weren't aware of is what's called red tide and this is a you know a bacterial it's an algae bloom that grows in warm Waters and it's typically fueled by nitrogen and you know I'm I'm not a biologist here so I want to tread lightly but I want you to understand the impact that it has on the community and the marine life because it's important to understand when Kate and I finally made the decision that we were going to call Tampa Bay home we knew that Indian Rocks Beach that was basically the area we wanted to be in we rented an Airbnb in September remember September still one of our warmest months here we flew down as roughly around September 18th I believe we flew into Tampa drove over to the beach we were so excited had a Airbnb over there the very first night we're like we're going to see a sunset it's us and our 10-month-old daughter and we walk onto the beach and um there wasn't a whole lot of people out there which I thought was kind of strange but you know hey it's September it's the off season you know didn't mean much but as we started to get closer um I started to recognize the smell her and I bolted but you know we just thought well that's weird it's kind of funky but um you know as we got closer to the water it really started to get strong and what we weren't aware of was there was a very healthy algae bloom red tide was on the Gulf Coast there um and that smell we were smelling was dead fish and um it was one of those situations where we weren't just so ignorant we didn't understand what it was and to be quite Frank we probably didn't belong there you know they had um you know they put these signs up that says hey you know the water's dangerous those types of things we did not go swimming by the way um and it was still a beautiful evening but it stunk and it was it was you know we would cough a little bit and it was just one of those weird moments um now we stayed the full week we ended up never going swimming in in indan Rocks Beach the week we were there we drove an hour north to get into the water that was the reality of it but we didn't care we wanted to live here so bad it was safe up there we we drove up there and got in the water um but we started to ask questions what does this mean what does this look like now the following you know we ended up um making our home purchase that December we came down no algae right the next year no algae uh the following year algae and it's kind of been this every other year thing since and it's crazy man it literally when it gets bad it can kill millions of tons of marine life it's because it what it does is it feeds off um you know the the what the what the fish in the marine life breathe and it's just so hard on on the marine and the community you know if you have you know um respiratory illness it's not necessarily a good thing for you and when it gets really really rough there are times you know I've told you before we're roughly 2 miles off the water there are times when we can tell the air quality changes and that is very interesting now that's only happened once but in 5 years that's two times too many as I'm concerned now is it enough to make me want to move no is it happening every single year no um do I go and swim in the beach every day no but there was an entire summer that we ended up not going to the beach because algae balloons were that bad um I know other people went but we just made the decision not to this is just something you're going to have to take into consideration you know these algae blooms are natural occurring but I'm sure things that we do on a day and day out basis like fertilize the crap out of our Lawns and you know being such a low-lying level here when you know it rains like cats and dogs like it is known to do all summer and all of that fertilizer runs into the Gulf Coast of Mexico and their water temps are warm all of these things are cocktail for more red tide so just sharing that perspective with you this has been our least favorite thing about living here in the area is it enough to make us move not a chance are we absolutely in love and so happy we made the decision to call Florida home 100% 5 years in now and we are not looking back we love living here we're so grateful that we made the decision if you have questions about calling Tampa Bay or Florida home don't hesitate to reach out to me and my team all of my contact information is listed down below be more than happy to jump on a zoom call have a conversation share transparently the good Bad and the Ugly because that's what we need to be honest with you I'm also going to leave two other videos up here that uh YouTube thinks you're going to like and until next time go out and live that Tampa life