David Gewirtz never got used to the heat, even after 15 years in Florida.
Still, Mr. Gewirtz, who grew up in New Jersey, and his wife, Denise Amrich, liked their adopted hometown of Palm Bay, Fla., and probably would have stayed if it weren’t for the “brutal” hurricanes.
“Staring at those tracker maps for weeks before a hurricane hits starts to create a stress level,” said Mr. Gewirtz, a technology columnist in his early 50s. “It’s three weeks of wondering whether you’re going to have a house at the end.”
The couple evacuated their home in the path of 2017’s Hurricane Irma, kept driving until they got to Oregon and decided to stay. They listed their Palm Bay house for sale.
Florida, it turns out, isn’t for everyone. But you would never know it from the PR coming out of the state.
Amid the pandemic, Florida politicians and real-estate developers have promoted the…
