Info needed from Florida residents

[767Jockey]

Originally Posted by jmimac351

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.158615&z=13

The Villages is a mega, planned retirement city just north of where I live. It's like Disney World for retirees. Some people like that, some don't. I am a native Floridian. Grew up and went to High School in Fort Lauderdale. Went to UF in Gainesville. Lived in Tampa and Lakeland for a few years. And now live outside of Orlando. If I could pick one place to live in the state I would by a hunk of land in Ocala by the horse farms. If I HAD to live in South Florida (read: SE Florida), which I would avoid, I would live in Jupiter in the "Jupiter Farms" area. That's still "north" South Florida. In Tampa, I would stick to the north side of town. Gainesville is a very nice town. The St Augustine area is nice as well.

Well.........I don't think I am quite ready for the retirement village thing yet. Right now I have a list of 6 or so areas that I have been told about that I'm interested in. Remember, I am very limited in that I HAVE to be by a major airport that has relatively frequent service to the NY area so I can get to work 5 times a month. Right now, amongst other areas I am considering Ft. Myers area, Jupiter/Stuart area, Orlando area, Palm Coast area, and St. Augustine / Jax area. When I say area, I mean just that - all towns and villages in the general area of these towns. I just can't deal with the whole Miami / Ft,. Lauderdale craziness. Tampa is just too hard for me to commute out of, there are too many pilots competing for the few empty seats to fly up to NY on standby. My commute would be a nightmare.