questions for usa forum members
 

These questions are probably more to people who live in colder parts of the usa growing Bananas and other tropical plants, if the UK had different climates I would move to the warmest part, to grow my beloved nanas unless London where house prices are ridiculous cost, which I would need to win the lottery, so I am wondering if you live in colder parts, what would hold you back from moving to San Diego,Miami or Homestead. would it be

1 House prices

2 Jobs

3 different laws in different states

4 Family

5 combination of the above

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

None of the above.
I was born and raised in cold Europe, but I live my dreams.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Not much from keeping me from moving wherever the heck I want (no wife, car payment, no court record, awesome education) but.... I think I'd much rather move to SC than FL or Ca.
I think it has a lot to do with the friendly folks... I haven't been very far out of state but I've met very many people from other states that just don't seem like happy people.
And when furniture market is in town (half of traffic is out-of-state license tags) I can usually make more than a few bucks from helping millionaires load cargo and wire showrooms....

SC seems a little more lenient with some laws but law enforcement is overkill.. Myrtle Beach... almost scare to go back.

I have family in all my surrounding states... middle works for me.

Ahh and as for my job I'm in the middle of the state near a major highway... I get places fast. I still like it here sooo...

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

I know I'm not from usa,but horrible UK. If I had the money I would leave the UK now and move to a warmer country. You must agree that the UK is a ripoff, with unpredictable weather

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

For me it would have been overall loving the place more than any of those places and that being more important than what plants I could grow. I spent most of my life in the SF Bay Area and would never have considered any of those places, though I hated how cold it was there.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Wow.......broad question.......

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

I had hoped to move to southern Dade County when I retired, but my wife was never interested. I think that she was worried about the weather, though Florida has lately been spared major hurricanes. Of course there are other considerations - we have put an obscene amount of money into the house and would never get it back if we sold, and friends and family are all in the Northeast. I have seen occasional complaints about lack of agricultural land in Florida, but networking with the Rare Fruit Council could find people who would sell if they could be sure that their fruit trees would be maintained.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

On this side of the pond we have Snowbirds.
These are people who have dual residences in a northern state and southern state. Some have homes while others have condos.

In the winter months these snowbirds flock to their warm retirement/nesting ground in the south, many to Florida. Many will drive their out of state cars and the loaded ones will have their cars trailered in, having their car delivered to the doorstep. And when spring comes they migrate back north leaving dents ,scrapes and car parts on the way.

Snowbirds generally drive slow, drive the wrong way and run red lights.
The Florida economy thrives on the return of the snowbird each year.

Generally homes/condos will cost more when there is a scenic view or they are situated near the water/ocean.
There are plenty of jobs to go around .....you just have to find one in your profession.
Cost of living/taxes are slightly higher.

Laws do very according to your declared residence, so you pick the state that has the best laws that will benefit you the most and you declare it your home state.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Hi Rob

You live in Hawaii now, so in a way you are living the dream, to grow anything you want, i bet there isn't a plant on earth that wouldn't grow in Hawaii

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Don't forgot many plants need "chill hours" to be successful. :08: but there are several climates in HI. so maybeee most all plants could survive?

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Mushtaq -- please note: The climates of San Diego and Miami/Homestead are very different.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Hi Richard

Excluding hurricanes, what else would be different.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Latitude, humidity, rainfall, airborne minerals, spring and fall temperatures, composition of municipal water, soils ...

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Jobs would be the main reason people would choose not to move to these areas. There's no easy way to get a high paying job in your field. Most jobs in FL are very low paying but the cost of living is also low.

And Miami is probably the last place many people would want to live (unless you are rich)...

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

I live in Northeast Florida in the US.
Houses are all prices, from super cheap(think $75k for nice, lower for not-as-nice) to Million dollar homes. Land is similar, I can find land fairly cheap, less than $1k/acre for good dirt to ridiculous amounts for sandy lousy places. Finding a good house on good dirt for cheap is the hard part.
Jobs? Depends on what you do and what skills you have. It seems most skilled machine operators, welders, drivers and such are okay, office help is a bit harder to find jobs for because there's tons of folks who want to work in an office. Seasonal work is common.
I'm not sure what laws you want info on.
Family? Well, technically I have a few hundred family here plus some others scattered around the rest of the US. I'm not sure how that helps you out though.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

were I live you cant get a house for less than 130,000 for a trailer more if you want a real house.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

Where I live near sea level, many things won't grow or won't grow well. I'd love to grow garlic, but I don't think anything other than elephant garlic (really an onion) has been grown successfully. But for bananas and many tropical fruits it's great. I eat completely different fruits than I did when living in CA. I almost never have apples, peaches, pears, etc.

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

For San Diego county, the median detached single family house price is about $400k and the median single family income is about $60k. The climate zones range from 8a to 11a, although most of the metropolitan area is in zone 9b on clay soil. A lot more data can be found here: City-Data: San Diego County, Ca

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

This will make me sound like a jerk no matter how I phrase it...

All things being equal, I don't move to Florida, or California, or Texas because the economy there is very very 1% vs the 99% with no middle class. The cost of living is insane. And regardless of whether you're in the 1 or the 99 percent, everybody who lives there seems to piss me off; both socially and politically everybody's attitude just sucks. Lastly, the population density is tragic. I need room to stretch my legs as it were.

Actually, when it comes down to it, a lot of stuff I don't like (like going out to bars, restaurants, shopping, etc.) is because there are too many people already there and they are loud and obnoxious.

Get off my lawn!

Re: questions for usa forum members
 

I like the social tolerances of people I meet in coastal CA much better than the class-based and often xenophobic attitudes I've encountered in the Midwest and other regions of the US.

As for the idea that its the 1% vs the 99% here, the more accurate statistic is that its the 20% vs the 80%. And in metropolitan San Diego another interesting statistic emerges: 80% of the adult population are enrolled in or employed by an institute of higher ed (college).