Finally got out!

We moved to Florida in 2015 when my job gave me the opportunity to leave Tennessee and head to Orlando. The wife and I moved into an apartment, then waited a year and bought a house between Orlando and Daytona. We got a really good deal on a four bedroom, two bath, two story house just outside Orlando. We also locked in a good interest rate, considering it was before pandemic. Right before pandemic happened my job was toying with me moving to Fort Lauderdale from Orlando. I had always wanted to move to South Florida so this was exciting news for us. They told me it was coming, so the wife and I started preparing the house to be sold. We waited for them to say we were moving and then pandemic happened. During pandemic a lot of people were selling their houses for good money (more than they owed), so knowing that I would be going to Fort Lauderdale after pandemic, the wife and I put a plan together to sell our house. We got a really good amount of money for the house and put what we made as prophet away in the bank for our future house in Fort lauderdale. We moved into an apartment near Orlando to wait for the go ahead to move. My company then told me after pandemic it was safe to move to Fort Lauderdale. Without thinking we moved. That was the worst mistake I've ever made in my life. I literally moved to an expensive city after it got way more expensive. We went on the hunt for a house but even with the money we had saved we couldn't come up with a good down payment and could not find anything that we could remotely afford that wasn't a two bedroom 1000 sf bodega. So, we opted to stay in an apartment in pompano until prices cooled. The wife and I moved into a two bedroom one and a half bath apartment paying $2,500 a month in rent which was almost double what our mortgage was in Orlando. I really liked South florida. I really liked the vibe (not the drivers), all of the scenery, and especially living next to the ocean. That was something I'd always dreamed about. Unfortunately, after a year and a half of living in pompano living paycheck to paycheck, we decided enough was enough. I started job hunting for something else, because my company couldn't do anything to help me in the situation I put us in. They were already paying me a little more than my job required and that still wasn't enough to keep our heads above water. With some persistence and a little luck, my job gave me the opportunity to move to North Carolina. Charlotte to be exact. Long story short we have been here now for almost three weeks and it's the best thing we ever did. I ended up getting a five bedroom, three and a half bathroom, 2,500 sf two story house for $400,000 which is way more than I would have gotten for that price in Fort lauderdale. With the money we had saved up from selling our previous house, we were able to put down a 20% down payment and still had money left over to get the floors redone, get a new roof and put a fence in the backyard. If you are considering getting out of Fort Lauderdale, and don't think it's possible, I disagree and highly suggest you look at the Carolinas. The houses are priced better for the size you get and the only negative is you go back to paying state tax. After what we just went through for two years, I'm saving tons of money by getting out of Fort Lauderdale. Luckily for me I was able to do another (hopefully last) transfer with my job. The wife works for the same company as well so we both got to transfer and keep our jobs when we moved.

TLDR; moved to Fort Lauderdale after pandemic and everything got super expensive. After 2 years of living paycheck to paycheck I said enough was enough. Got out of Fort Lauderdale with a job transfer and moved to Charlotte North Carolina. We saved a whole lot of money and finally got a large house we could afford.