We moved here from San Marcos 6 years ago. We weren't coastal, obviously, but, like you, experienced the benefit of SoCal weather. We also were concerned about adjusting to the heat and humidity, but it isn't as bad as we thought. During the summers, there are plenty of people walking/jogging around. But, they do this early in the morning.
Opposite of CA, our rainy season is the summer, not the winter and you can usually plan on some rain in the afternoon almost every day, so you plan outdoor activity accordingly. I find the afternoon thunderstorms somewhat pleasant. I often sit in the lanai under cover to listen to the rain. Central FL is also the lightning capital of the US, according to some sources, so you have to be careful. Also unlike CA, our winters can get chilly. We had a couple of winters where the nighttime temps were into the high 20's. I almost lost all the tropical plants I brought from CA. So you learn to landscape with hardy plants. My lawn service is under $50/month.
There are two assisted living facilities open within the community. I believe residents of both have resident privileges for our recreation facilities.
The home price doesn't include the bond on new sales. Generally, people who have paid off the bond will ask a higher price on resales to recover at least part of that expense. But, you will also get landscaping and home upgrades included for less than a new home. And it is all done, assuming you like what has been done. A/C is standard on new homes. Property taxes seem to be more equal for equal homes than you encounter in CA. We have no Prop 13 type disparities that I am aware of. Since I left CA before the housing market tanked, I don't know what happened to appraised value there, but here we have even seen some reduction in appraised value when the market overall slumped. We live in Sumter County where all the new construction occurs, so the tax base for the county is improving almost daily. We haven't had in increase in property tax rates for a few years now.
Outside of lovebug season there is no great problem with bugs/mosquitoes. Lovebugs occur twice a year, May and September, lasting about a month. To me, they seem to be attracted to light colors. They swarm during the daylight hours and mostly disappear at night. If you get them on your car, you should wash them off as soon as possible as their carcasses will eat through paint finishes.
I don't think the cost of living here is higher than CA. Sales tax is 7%, no state income tax, our CDD assessment is less than $1K/year and paid along with our property tax bill.
Perhaps it would be best to just summarize our feelings. We do miss the CA weather sometimes. We don't miss the traffic. We don't miss the feeling we had that we were living in a foreign land with gang graffiti everywhere. We miss our health care with Kaiser-Permanente.
When I tell people I moved here from San Diego County, they ask why I would do such a thing. I tell them I don't regret for an instant that move. I have made more friends here than I did in 30 years there. Our neighborhood takes care of each other. We looked at some communities for retirement out there. Most were built around a golf course. If you didn't play golf, you didn't have much to do. Here, the danger is getting involved in too many things that you don't have time to sleep. If, for some reason, you lose your driver's license, you can still get to anything you need within TV by golf cart.
I agree with Gracie that you need to book a Lifestyle visit, preferably in the summer so you can experience the weather. But even better would be to stay for a month so you have a chance to acclimate. It does take a little while coming from the low humidity area of SoCal. A lot of my neighbors came here from the eastern half of the US and are already used to humidity levels that don't occur in CA.
We would not move back.
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