the plane sat for 8 hrs as fog in DCA. then we sent to charlotte. missed the plane(by almost an hour) i presume US wanted us out of TPA. overnighted in charlotte. mor e fog in DCA, finally left"wheel up" they call it in the south east, at about 4pm. about an hour flight, and an hour home by 7pm. started at 5am in st pete to catch a 7am the day before.

i understand the prices of the mid sized houses. the comparison of price to the really big mansions is what amazes me.

here in dc, a lovely 5000 sq ft house on the potomac is under a mil.

There are some beautiful vacation rentals in all areas of Florida and I encourage you to take advantage of them to " live" in the area in which you are interested. You now have the ability to make a real choice of lifestyle and it can be lots of fun trying things out. VRBO and Homeaway are two good places to start - owned by the same company.

I am moving to SE Florida and likely will be working in FLL, more west towards Sunrise. Would North Miami Beach (Sunny Isle or Aventura) be too long of a commute.

Jacksonville is a great place (I'm sure I'll get plenty of crap for that statement, but oh well).

1) It EASILY has the best weather in Florida. Seriously, 8-9 months out of the year are gorgeous. Summer is warm, but if you think it's bad here, try Orlando, Tampa, Miami, etc.

2) Best airport in Florida. JAX is a gem. Clean, efficient, modern. It's one 45 minute flight from the largest DL hub in the world. One stop to anywhere, from Sydney to Bangkok to Tokyo to Paris to Istanbul to South Africa.

3) Lowest cost of living.

4) Professional sports (NFL). Great minor league baseball team.

5) Great fishing/outdoor activities

6) The beaches!! Beautiful beaches.

7) The river!! Beautiful river.

8) Riverside-Avondale (one of the top 10 neighborhoods in the country): http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2...-neighborhoods

Great place to live. Give it a chance...

I share your tastes (except I like a sporting event from time to time), your age bracket, and much of the other attributes that you have described.

About ten years ago we decided to move to Florida (without surrendering our NYC place) and had many of the same requirements that you did.

What we found was a townhouse on a canal just off the intracoastal in Boca Raton with two elevators and its own private dock. It is no more than a half hour to PBI and FLL with MIA being closer to an hour (except at the rush times). We do use MIA with regularity even for domestic since sometimes the destinations are unique or the schedules (or AA induced fare battles) are better. PBI ranks a distant third in our use, almost strictly for one destination which DL is debating with WN.

It is quite close to Boca Raton Regional Hospital (the quality of which I do not know). Considering that it is Fla and not NYC, the quality of medical care seems to be relatively satisfactory, which is a huge step up from what it was twenty years ago when my mother became ill and we needed to cast about to find even barely competent medical care.

The other thing that many do not know is that the southeast Florida area has a number of micro-climates and the one that we are in (200 yards from the ocean) is subject to constant sea breezes which keep the extreme heat (and, believe it or not the insects) inland, where one will frequently find the thermometer reading 10 degrees higher than at our house.

As far as cultural attractions are concerned, there are some things around here, especially at FAU, some very good movie houses, and we are absolutely are not loathe to drive down to MIA for theater and also the opera, which we much prefer to the same company's stagings at Broward Center in FLL.

We still work and make a business trip to Northern Virginia every month, among others (why do you think that I hang out around here?), so if you care for a bit more personal insight, a PM will get a response.

You won't get an argument from me. I live in Ponte Vedra Beach . For older people like the OP - we have great health care facilities too - especially the Mayo Clinic. Robyn

the houses in jax do not look like fl houses, they look like the stuff here in the dc area. brick colonials, not a lot of window. why? too many hurricanes?

We have all different kinds of houses in the JAX metro area - as do many parts of Florida. Note that storms and windstorm coverage are issues in all of Florida. And large window expanses are not necessarily a good thing (especially if you're dealing with older construction). Robyn

We have all different kinds of houses in the JAX metro area - as do many parts of Florida. Note that storms and windstorm coverage are issues in almost all of Florida. And large window expanses are not necessarily a good thing (especially if you're dealing with older construction). Robyn

That is a core issue living near the seashore here.

Be prepared for an insurance quote that will have you scratching your head.

FWIW - I think some of your requests aren't realistic for Florida. Just about all of the state is 88-90+ in June/July/August/September with high humidity. The immediate Atlantic coast is cooler than the Gulf or inland areas - but that's not saying much in August . If we only have 65 or fewer days when it rains - it means we're probably having a drought - and we don't want that.

There are no true urban areas in Florida - the more populated areas are more like suburbs on steroids.

At 75 - you don't want to be 50 (or even 25) miles away from your major medical center of choice - especially in those parts of Florida where the traffic is awful. I don't know what your medical needs are. We use the Mayo Clinic here in JAX now for most of ours. It's excellent.

What do you plan to use the waterfront for? Fishing - sailing - cruising the ICW - something else? If you're an avid boater of a certain type - that will narrow things down a lot for you.

All the major airports are about the same with regard to TATL flights - although MIA and MCO probably have more non-stops than the other airports (although not a huge number by - for example - New York standards). Note that dominant airlines will vary by airport.

All of Florida is pretty light on fine arts - shows - and great restaurants. But there's enough in most metro areas to keep most people happy.

In terms of real estate - do you mean Breakers Row (never heard of Front Row in Palm Beach before)? Note that Fisher Island is far from the most expensive real estate in Florida today. Robyn

If you don't want lots of snow birds or old people - you can pretty much rule out most of SW and SE Florida (with some exceptions - like Miami).

There must be something wrong with the larger houses you saw (assuming they're on the water). We have 7-10k sf waterfront houses in our HOA - and they run about $2.5-5 million even up here in the JAX metro area.

In terms of live-in help and staff and the like - if you have to ask what it costs - you probably can't afford it . The people in my HOA who have full time live-in staff are generally professional athletes (golfers - football players - etc.) who travel a lot. Most of us mere mortals rely on non-live-in help .

Note that I've lived in Florida for 40+ years (moved here after 20+ years in Miami). I know the state pretty well. Robyn

Apart from the unattainable low-rain goal, I would suggest a look at Fort Lauderdale's Rio Vista area:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/Rio-Vist...derdale-FL_rb/

Secluded in spite of its proximity to DT Fort Lauderdale, about 4 miles to FLL, many waterfront options including boat docking, several decent restaurants/bars on nearby Las Olas, not too far from touring shows at Broward Center and Parker Playhouse, Good Level 1 trauma center at Broward General about a mile away, two excellent hospitals - Cleveland Clinic Weston about 20 miles and Holy Cross about 7 miles, both on the Top 50 list in the US and the former on the recent AARP Top 50 Safest hospitals list (meaning they have proactive procedures in place to avoid mistakes).

That is a very good location, close to the seashore and right in the middle of things in Fort Lauderdale. If and when we decide to move to a single level house, that is a place that we think has a lot going for it.