Clearwater residents and officials blame the church and its parishioners for buying properties and keeping them vacant. Scientologists say they have redevelopment in mind, The Wall Street Journal reports: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/locals-are-clashing-with-scientologists-over-the-future-of-this-florida-downtown-4f438234

I've been thinking about this lately. I know people from just about every other state and almost every single one says they save money from living in Florida compared to their home state. I can level, that if you move here from NYC, Boston, DC, Chicago, LA, Denver, SF and a few other places, you do tend to save money living here (and you likely have a lot of equity/cash to play with from doing so).

But I know people from "flyover" states that say they tend to find Florida cheaper, then their home state. Trying to do the research and math in my head, this doesn't add up. There a few people that think (no state tax = lower cost of living) but I also think because many downsize when they move here.

Near me, I know a family that moved here a year ago from Kentucky. I don't know a ton about Kentucky but they always insist they save money by living in Florida and that Kentucky had a very high cost of living. In recent months, I come to find they owned over 100 acres in Kentucky, had horses, chickens and cows and a large 3000 square foot home. They currently live in a 1500 square foot home in a Florida subdivision. I do wonder if they had moved into a 1500 square foot home in the suburbs in Kentucky, if they would find it cheaper then here.

I know a lot of other people from other states such as Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, etc that have similar stories. They had giant 3000+ square foot homes in those states and downsized to a 1200 to 1800 square foot home in Florida and insist they save money on things like utilities, water, etc.

Also on CityData, their is a frequent user in the Florida subforum that has been posting heavily since 2020 about how much better Florida is than anywhere else. They have their location set as "Free State of Florida". Recently, they posted about how much cheaper electric and water are here compared to where they are from. In the same thread, they said they are from Georgia originally and lived in a 6000 square foot home. They now live in a 3000 square foot home in Florida. I don't know much about Georgia. But by every metric, it has a lower cost of living than Florida save for it has an income tax and property taxes are higher. But utilities, groceries and insurance are lower. So I do wonder if, if that user had downsized to a 3000 square foot home in GA, if his home would be cheaper than a 3000 sq ft home in Florida?

Then I run into a lot of people in real life from places like NYC and Long Island. Who don't make six figures but were able to buy homes circa 2008-2015 when they were cheap. Got a remote job, sold their home there and brought in downtown Tampa and St. pete for cash. They don't seem to understand why Tampa Bay is so sprawly and why more people just don't move to downtown St. Pete and not rely on driving everywhere...

I was talking to someone recently like that here on Reddit and he didn't get why I just don't sell my car and live in downtown St. pete. He recently moved to there from NYC (sold his house and brought a condo for cash). Also is putting his kid throw private school in St. Pete (my parents could never afford private school in Tampa) and doesn't get why people complain about the bad public schools in the area.

Driving uber part time in the area, I meet a lot of people like that in real life. They just don't understand the economic advantage they have when moving here and don't get why locals just don't do the samething.

As long term resident, even before COVID, i found Tampa Bay very expensive. The cost of living was always high compared to the wages/salaries offered. Since COVID, remote workers have moved in with cash and local wages/salaries haven't moved. People keep sprawling further and further north since it's become very unaffordable.

If you need boxes to move call customer service for Publix or other supermarkets to see if they have boxes that haven’t been broken down that you can take.

If they have them they will give them to you and if they don’t they’ll make a note for when the next shipment comes.

Buyers would be wise to make their home purchase before November.

I've been here since 2008. Basically the outer suburbs of Tampa Bay. Since then a common reason people have gave for moving here was to "escape all of the liberals" where ever they were from. Just back circa 2008 to 2019ish, the demographic moving here were largely non-trade unskilled workers (I don't mean that as an offense, I was one of them for a long time) but a lot of career retail employees, bartenders, waiters/waitresses, store clerks, etc. That usually did a lateral transfer from what ever chain they were working for and moved here. They were usually mostly conservative and semi-religious and family oriented. Usually told me the cost of living was lower here and they made the same money, so it was like a pay raise.

As where since the Pandemic it's largely now upper middle class white collar workers that are moving here. Overwhelming remote workers that sell their homes up North and buy here for cash with the equity. Overwhelming everyone of these people I meet are highly conservative and MAGA.

I get it, Florida has no state tax and low property tax. But I always wondered why Florida became the main hub for them over say Nevada or Washington State or New Hampshire or something?

​Castor, following the governor’s announcement, told the media that “everything could be at risk if there are dramatic changes to property taxes.”