Do it Dave!!!!!! I like the gulf side. That is where more of the Midwestern folks go. NY/east coast folks tend to stay on the Atlantic side.
Yup, if you like unending traffic, congestion, and endless crowds by all means - move to the FL west coast. It leaves more privacy for us east coasters. Personally, we are about 15 miles inland from the Atlantic. Our boat is on the St. John's river which is a boaters and fisher mans paradise. From where we keep our boat, we have about 200 miles of River to navigate, and access to Lake George, Lakr Monroe, Beresford Lake, and many others. We can go north on the St. John all the way to Jacksonville. Also easy trailer to the East, and the Indian River and the Intracoastal. Yes, we have alligators, but those exist in most deep South states.
By comparison, we are renting a lake house in Connecticut for this July. It's the third largest lake in the state, and what I am experiencing with boat traffic here makes me happy NOT to be based here. Plus, I look at all the docks, lifts, floats, etc that are in the lake, and just thinking about the fact that ALL of those need to come out of the water every year in fall makes me cringe.
As an ex Connecticut resident (lived here 30 years, owned a thriving business, great house, and tons of toys) I can tell you that my wallet likes the fact that we sold the business, property, and retired to our FL home and became FL residents. Everything, other than car insurance, is cheaper down here.
We have a son with family in Charleston. He is quite successful, and living in a prime part of Charleston right on the tidal marsh. We love that area, but the cost to live there compared to FL makes our choice of FL a real good choice. Besides, it's only 5.5 hours for us to visit each other, which we do frequently. Kind of the best of two worlds. Just my two cents, but it works for us!
Only thing missing is a swimming pool.
