Big difference my freind: About 900 people a day move to Florida...most from the North East, most will be buying homes ABout 900 people a day Invade Cali...most are from mexico....most will be mowing lawns and joining gangs
I know you're not into TA but what do you follow? Here's your fallacious logic. Person A lives in a quake zone. B lives in a 'cane zone. B was recently hit by a storm. Thus Person B has increased risk over A.
I've lived in a Tampa for almost 30 years and love it here. 4 or 5 months of the year it's way too hot and humid, but the rest of the year its nearly perfect weather. If you're single, there are plenty of hot women around. To be honest with you, the south tampa area is loaded with hotties. As far as real estate, it has more than doubled over the last five years in most places, although prices are coming down now. Also insurance prices have also gone way up with all the hurricanes that hit the state a few years ago and property taxes have also risen. It is still much more economical than California. I have family that lives in San diego and LA. I visit from time to time. I also love S. cal and would love to live there too.
I think I would rather deal with a once of year hurricane then a 3-6pm daily traffic gridlock. It's basically house arrest during those hours in CA. Plus Cali trading hours suck. As for all the talk about Mexicans and Cubans I don't mind multi cultural living in fact I prefer it to an all white 'polo shirt suburb' type setting.
I think a group of 5 year olds could drive better then the average Floridian, but overall I think its a nice place.