I have a question, Floridians -- Spouse and i are thinking of buying a house in Florida

[demwing]

13. West Coast here

I live in St Petersburg, which is a very liberal place.

One thing people rarely tell you - East Coast beaches have real ocean waves, West Coach beaches have...not so much. If you like to swim without too much wave action, go West Coast.

St Pete is a very mellow college town - active music scene is a mix between jazz, blues, and folk. A big plus is the art scene. There's a lot of local galleries downtown, and both the Dali Museum and the Chihuly Collection have their homes here.

We live in Pinellas county which is a part of the "I4 Corridor" that you might hear about. I4 is a highway between Tampa and Orlando, and the area is supposed to be a political "swing" region, but that's more historic than recent Here's how we voted for Presidents since 1960:

Pinellas County POTUS Winners 1960-2012

2012 - Obama: 52.1%

2008 - Obama: 53.6%

2004 - Bush: 49.6% (beat Kerry by < 1/2%)

2000 - Gore: 50.3% (Even though Gore lost, he got more votes than Clinton)

1996 - Clinton: 49.1% (Clinton never got a pure majority)

1992 - Clinton: 38% (Bush had 37.5%)

1988 - Bush: 57.8%

1984 - Reagan: 65.2%

1980 - Reagan: 53.8%

1976 - Ford: 50.8% (oops!)

1972 - Nixon: 69.8%

1968 - Nixon: 51.7%

1964 - Johnson: 55.0%

1960 - Nixon: 63.7% (Shame on us for not supporting Kennedy)


We are just a few miles from Clearwater - rated as one of the best beaches in the state. and a few miles from Tampa, which is a large urban area with an international airport.

St Pete housing is very affordable and pretty stable.

East or West coasts are far cooler/less humid than the Inland, and the South is warmer than the North. The mildest weather is in the panhandle up North, but then you're into the DEEP south, socially and politically.