• A boomer living in Sarasota, Florida, said he can’t wait to move back to California.
• The former Los Angeles resident said Florida’s weather and lifestyle have driven him to house hunt.
• He’s willing to pay more for a home and daily expenses to live more comfortably in California.

Steve Prevesk, 63, spent eight years living in Los Angeles before a stint near his hometown in Western New York and finally a move to Florida. But the current Sarasota resident said he “can’t move back to California fast enough.”

Prevesk moved to Florida in 2018 for a business opportunity after his mother died. The constant heat and “disingenuous” lifestyle he’s experienced in Florida have pushed him to look for residences in California once again — and he’s willing to pay up.

“I’ve made the decision that I’m going to move, and I would love to move back to California, which is a little more expensive but I know there’s a cover charge to look there,” Prevesk said.

Nearly 51,000 former Californians moved to Florida between 2021 and 2022, according to US Census migration data released in October, many moving for slightly lower costs of living and a slower pace of life. However, many like Prevesk are moving out of Florida as prices continue to rise and many wealthier out-of-staters move in — over 28,500 made the move from Florida to California during that same period.

In total, nearly 490,000 people moved out of Florida from 2021 to 2022, while 739,000 moved in. While many have been attracted to the beaches and palm trees of Miami and the Tampa Bay area, others have left citing the weather, low wages, and housing prices.

“The perception of Florida in general, in my opinion, is not the reality,” Prevesk said.

Moving between Florida and California

Prevesk grew up in Western New York, where he recalled brutal winters with frequent blizzards. He knew as a kid that moving to Florida or California would be the goal.

He landed a scholarship to a school in central Florida, and after graduating, he moved to Orlando for a job in film and television.

After his business in Florida was “crushed” by the 2007-2008 financial crisis, he moved to California and worked as a professional writer there for eight years.

“I fell in love with California so much, it suited everything about me, my interests and my life,” Prevesk said. “The weather was perfect, I loved it every single day.”

When his mother got sick, he moved back to New York, which he said was “three years of hell.” After his mom died, he moved to Florida four years ago, where he kept his position as a professional writer. The qualities of Florida that spoke to him two decades ago disappeared, he said, as he’s gotten more and more burnt out.

“I just don’t like anything about it now,” Prevesk said. “It’s flat, it’s transient, it’s uninspiring. When you’re on the Pacific coast, those scenes and that weather, it’s just hard to go anywhere else.”

‘I can’t wait to get out’

This summer, Prevesk said he noticed his car temperature gauge reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit. A few days later, he saw it hover around 108 degrees. Those were the highest temperatures he’d ever seen in Florida.

“This is uninhabitable, you’re walking to your car and you’re soaking in sweat,” Prevesk said, adding the heat has physically worn him down and has led others to retire early.

In Sarasota, a drought last summer sustained the heat, which was a shock since in previous summers he lived in Florida, he said it would rain at the same time nearly every day.

By contrast, he said the consistently warm, but not too humid, weather along California’s coast has been calling his name ever since moving away. Even though temperatures would sometimes jump into the 90s where he lived near Studio City, it would consistently drop into the 60s at night.

Prevesk also mentioned he noticed politics “creeping into everyday life” in Florida, which he didn’t notice as much in California. He’s seen his area becoming much more polarized and somewhat more hostile.

He’s also missing some of the cultural diversity he experienced in Los Angeles, as he said his current area is a bit more homogeneous. Still, neither Florida nor California has given him the sense of community he had in New York.

He’s willing to spend more on housing and other living costs to enjoy the peace he finds in California. A comparable apartment in coastal Los Angeles compared to where he’s lived in Florida runs about $500 to over $1,000 more a month to rent, he’s observed — and there’s another $1,000 difference between Santa Monica and Studio City.

Still, he’s seeing rents in Orlando, where he lived before moving to Sarasota, rise significantly as more people from out of state move in. He’s noticed people getting priced out of Orlando due to a lack of affordable housing.

To be sure, the median rent for a property in Orlando is slightly over $2,000 a month, compared to $2,800 in Los Angeles, according to Zillow estimates.

“When people talk about moving to Florida because of the cost of living, those savings are shrinking,” Prevesk said. “It’s not as inexpensive as it used to be, and houses are hard to find because they don’t last in the market very long.”

He believes many out-of-staters moved to Florida as part of a “vacation effect” in which people visit for a week or two and then decide to move year-round, only to realize many of their expectations haven’t been met. He said while Florida often advertises itself as a “beautiful outdoor paradise,” the thrill only lasts a few months.

“I want to walk out of a 7-11 with a coffee in my hoodie on a crisp, cool morning and see a mountain in the distance,” he said.

In addition to Southern California, Prevesk is also potentially looking to move to Colorado or Utah for their nature and similar cost of living to Florida. As he can work as a writer from anywhere, financial considerations will be the ultimate decider of where he ends up.

“I’m looking forward to the seasons again. I’m looking forward to getting out of the heat. And I’m looking forward to skiing and hiking in the mountain hills,” Prevesk said. “That’s my timeline and those are the places, but I just need to do some homework.”

Have you recently moved to a different state? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].