Moving to Florida

[flyrr100]

I could easily afford a second home, but I choose not to. And I think thats the case with most Americans. I dont want to be stuck with a house on the beach in Florida when I have the whole USA to go explore. And with hotel rooms across the USA avaraging at around $45 a night!
I'm sorry for your friends with their florist shop. They had bad luck. I still stand by my post. Americans, on the whole, have a great work ethic. Also most arent stuck to that 9-5 thing. They have no problems working at 6am, or going home at 10pm.

Oh, did I mention we have the Fox Soccer Channel?

[steph_goodrum]

"I still stand by my post. Americans, on the whole, have a great work ethic. Also most arent stuck to that 9-5 thing. They have no problems working at 6am, or going home at 10pm.

From what I've heard from Americans it's not from choice or any "work ethic" but fear and intimidation that they will be fired at a moments notice if they are considered to be underperforming, that in my book doesnt make for a good work ethic, it makes for a stressful life with homelife often coming a poor second or third if their job involves a lot of social networking out of hours.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by flyrr100
I could easily afford a second home, but I choose not to. And I think thats the case with most Americans. I dont want to be stuck with a house on the beach in Florida when I have the whole USA to go explore. And with hotel rooms across the USA avaraging at around $45 a night!
I'm sorry for your friends with their florist shop. They had bad luck. I still stand by my post. Americans, on the whole, have a great work ethic. Also most arent stuck to that 9-5 thing. They have no problems working at 6am, or going home at 10pm.

Oh, did I mention we have the Fox Soccer Channel?
[/quote]

Having a second home does mean you have to go there 4 or 5 times a year...but like you say with hotels so cheap...you get to see a lot of the USA on the drive to and from...I'm always joking that I'll be glad to live in FL so I can go somewhere else for my holidays...but then again I did a lot of my USA traveling from the UK...
If you make your homes work for you...you can end up with enough money to do what you want...

[Osceola]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by flyrr100
I could easily afford a second home, but I choose not to. And I think thats the case with most Americans. I dont want to be stuck with a house on the beach in Florida when I have the whole USA to go explore. And with hotel rooms across the USA avaraging at around $45 a night!
I'm sorry for your friends with their florist shop. They had bad luck. I still stand by my post. Americans, on the whole, have a great work ethic. Also most arent stuck to that 9-5 thing. They have no problems working at 6am, or going home at 10pm.

Oh, did I mention we have the Fox Soccer Channel?
[/quote]


I'm sorry but must disagree Jeff. Foreclosures of homes in central Florida is up something like a hundred percent over this time last year. That's hardly an indication of "most Americans" easily being able to afford a second home. I think the real news is that many Americans are just trying to keep the single roof they own over their heads.

I can't agree that a work ethic that causes people to forego vacations or to work while they should be relaxing, enjoying life or spending time with family is "great" - by most definitions it's unhealthy. As an update to my earlier comment about the US attorney, he recently told me that his colleague went on a two week vacation to Hawaii and still spend 45 hours working while there!

[chrizzy100]

I think he said he could afford it...not most Americans...
A lot of Americans do own second homes if our area is anything to go by..but they are mostly older people...people who have not used their homes as ATM machines...

We give us odd looks because we own outright at our age...people think we are mad not having holidays everywhere and new cars...

[shockey]

We lived in the US for a few years, and moved back to the UK. It was a great experience which we would not have missed for anything. Quite different from taking holidays in the US.

The one piece of advice we would give is to stay in the UK property market when you move to the US - keep your UK home and rent it out. Most people find it a lot easier to cover their outgoings on a UK home than they do with a Florida vacation home.

[esprit]

Having sold everything we owned in the UK and converted all our wordly goods to dollars which then proceeded to lose nearly 25 percent in value, I would agree wholeheartedly with that piece of advice. Once you are out of the UK housing market what with the rising prices, falling dollar and inability on your return to get a mortgage, it can mean you are out of the UK housing market for good.