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[fiona]

Hi Jane

We regularly go out in July/August as our children are senior school age, so have to go in UK school holidays.

Yes it is very warm then and you should allow for what we call the 3 o'clock showers. If we are going to the parks we try and pace ourselves, as otherwise it is just too much. We try and get to the parks as early as possible (have teenagers, this is almost an oxymoron!!) and then come back for a late lunch and laze by the pool, and go back for the early evening entertainment. We can then cope with the heat, feel relaxed and enjoy it all instead of just getting hot and bothered and give up!

We have stayed on the Gulf Coast at this time 3 times, twice at Sanibel and once at Marco Island and Naples. We've done some boat trips which have been great fun and lovely to have the dolphins racing the boats! I think this was almost the highlight of my daughters' trips.

And if it rains, well we just force ourselves to shop!! I almost forgot, the golf-mad person in our household usually manages to play some golf as well, but you have to get up very early or it is just too hot to move. He used to drag me off with him, but if some of his golfing mates are out they go off together. If he has the car the girls and I while away the hours painting our nails by the pool. It's a hard life isn't it!!!

[chrizzy100]

hi...I think my post got lost....a good start.....hehehehehe

I'm moving full time to Tuscan Ridge....'The village'..Christmas we think....the snow in Mass was fun.....but now it'll be nice to have sunny weather......we now live on Cape Cod in Mass.....we maybe buying a smaller house on the Cape for my husbands job.....if he wants to stay at it....so it could just be me and my son down there for a while...we are Brits..we're lived in the USA 3 years....but we came here to move around the country.....so Orlandos going to be our second stop....until my son finishes high school....

[Andy & Arlene]

Hi welcome to the forum Chrizzy.

How did you manage to get visas to stay in the US?

[chrizzy100]

My husband got a job offer ....they paid for us to come over...paid for the greencards...so here we are....

We wanted to live in Orlando after a trip there in 91....so we're now on our way.....

[Andy & Arlene]

Thanks for answering, but what happens if your husband changes jobs when you move to Florida. Are your green cards not reliant on him being sponsored by his present employer?

[chrizzy100]

No you can work for anyone with a greencard......he's staying on the Cape for the first year....we'll be looking for a Condo....we want to keep a foothold on the Cape while we still can.....the house prices are mad round here....we made a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in 3 years here on our house.....

And to be honest....we would make more money renting out a small 2 bedroom condo on the Cape...then we ever could with a villa in Orlando.....the house we own now...if we wanted to rent it out for the 6 months of the season...we would get around two thousand dollars a week for it......and around sixteen hundred a month in the winter.....but that would be a lot of hard work....the houses here need a lot of care.....

[fiona]

Investment wise I'd keep a foothold in the Cape if I were you, there's virtually none or very little appreciation on houses in Florida. I though the schooling is better up there as well?

[chrizzy100]

[Right now....we're looking to just own our home out right......I'm no longer worried about making money on the house in Florida....
The schools here are OK...my son's in a very good tech high school...he's not sure if he'll stay here...or come down with me.....the cost of living on the Cape is very high....you need to have a very good wage to live here.....lets say...in Orlando my husband could bring home half of what he does here and we would still keep our standered of living the same....

You'll not be able to buy any home here soon under three hundred thousand....even a garden shed....

[fiona]

No worse than in the Thames Valley area Chrissie, can't get anything for under £150K here - and that's a starter home with 1 room!!!

[Jane]

Hi all,

Thanks for info and advice re: July (summer holiday)in orlando. I now feel a lot happier, sounds like express tickets are a must for parks! - and can you believe I hadn't even thought about shopping!! (I must get out more)
Jane