Looks like my original reply got eaten.
My job doesn't require me to be in NH only from the standpoint that my job is "on-site". I suppose what I'm saying is that my 'career' is portable - if I found the right kind of job. I know wages are lower in the south along with the lower expenses. I'm in the process of trying to "downsize" more than just the stuff I own but also the expenses I have every month. Mostly it's that we have friends and family here in NH and New England (from CT to Cape Cod).
Having lived here since 1974, the "Live Free or Die" ethic has had a lot of time to sink in. With the covenants, it's more attitude than anything else I can think of. I mean, if it's "their grass is too long, maybe something's wrong and they need help or are on vacation" as opposed to "their grass is too long - goody, we get to write up a fine", then that's a GOOD thing. Unlike where my sister lived in Orlando where they got the measuring stick out for the grass and went postal if you put your HOA-approved-only-trash-bin out to the curb before 9pm the night before garbage day.
I really do have to take a look for myself and these replies only reinforce that. I certainly can't tinker with the honeymoon, though. For one, that's not until next year. It took me 20 years to get my passport (illegal adoption with no paperwork and a name change meant no paper trail - took years to 'fix') and we're going overseas (Paris, London, etc) with it being my first time across the pond - lifelong dream finally being achieved. But it looks like I really do have to carve out a weekend sometime soon so that we can judge more accurately. I've been to Florida over a dozen times since 1978 but that was for tourist-type vacations (draw a line from NASA to Busch Gardens and put a huge dot at Walt Disney World) and only once did I drive around other areas for anything other than a diversion along the way (like stopping at daytona Beach on the drive from NH to Orlando). I drove up to Clermont in the late 80s to see what it was like and I saw a lot of subdivisions popping up. After meeting my sister and hearing her horror stories it kinda turned me off of the idea.
That I'm even contemplating this is a testimony to how impressed I am with what I've seen so far. If you would have asked me 3 days ago if I'd consider this, I would have said "no". Now, I'm asking questions and my fiancee and I are SERIOUSLY considering it.
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