Hmm, you're considering moving to a place with a 4am opening bell, high taxes, filled with superficial airheads in the entertainment industry, socialist politicians, and located on a huge earthquake zone? Surely Florida would be much better - cheaper, less tax, reasonable opening hours, better gun laws, and hurricanes at least give you a warning.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/14/news/economy/greenspan/index.htm?postversion=2008081407 His statement makes me laugh.. no, not because he is saying there is a bottom. But the fact that his statement is basically saying nothing : Prices can be a bottom/stablized in 2009 and beyong.. yet it can still drift lower and beyond. Basically I can do the same 'prediction'. "This stock can go up, but yet, it can still go down"!
I'm a big fan of Florida for all the reasons you mention. I'll always keep Fla as my "official" residence. It's tough stalking Lauren Conrad from here..... In fact I'm souring on the whole L.A. Thing. The move will only be part time IF and it's a big if-if my agent thinks I need to take meetings on a frequent basis with a minimal âheads upâ in scheduling. (television idea/pitch/treatment) Natural disasters. Here's the deal Cutten and it's an important distinction. Yes a hurricane gives you warning. Not perfect though. Those things can zig and zag in unforcastable fashion. One can't evacuate every time a hurricane is in the region yet a sudden turn can take you from safe zone to danger in 48 hours. I'm not bullish on SoFla's ability to evacuate 5 million people in a pinch. An earthquake is of course unforcastable in the micro. There's nothing I've read about earthquakes making me yearn to experience one. HOWEVER and this is KEY: A Cat3-5 storm will WIPE OUT the area it hits. And it's a given that sooner or later one will devastate SoFla. If Andrew were to be replicated today a few miles further north the damage would be so immense I don't even know what monetary figure one could assign. And it'll happen. A Quake will ALSO occur. The diff though is L.A. Has ALREADY had a 6.4 (Northridge in 1994) and the loss of life and damage were pretty minimal given the strength and the populous epicenter location. In other words big Cane-unsurvivable. Big Quake-quite survivable. Insurance rates reflect this......
I seem to recall that Katrina crossed Florida as a Cat 1 and was expected to die without causing much damage.
Funny but just the other day I was reminding someone that Katrina did in fact make landfall in Hallandale right on the Dade-Broward county line. Officially she killed 14 Floridians but most were by related auto accidents,electricutions from downed power lines, ect. Even as a Cat 1 the damage estimates were over a billion dollars.