Palm Bay Fl Info Please (Jacksonville, Miami: for sale, HOA, sex offenders)

[floridadragon]

Any info on Palm Bay is appreciated. How is the area? Any decent stores? All I know as of right now is that the house prices are really reasonable.Thank you.

[floridadragon]

Anybody Please Help..

[zee909]

Palm Bay is huge (landwise). In fact, before Jacksonville went Metro, it was the largest city in land area in the State. It is undergoing vaste, rapid expansion. Lots and lots of new construction. Whatever stores aren't there yet, they will be soon. Also, Palm Bay, Melbourne, West Melbourne all sort of smear together. You won't know you've left one and entered the other unless you see the city limits sign.

[irish36]

Most jobs are north of Palm Bay so traffic is bad for people trying to get to and from work. Suntree and Viera are nicer with nice neighborhoods, outlet mall, zoo, sidewalks, parks, courthouse and overpass for travel. Much better planned development. Does anyone remember when GDC was planning Palm Bay and then just fell through? It has been "pieced" together since then so some areas are runnned down becauses they are the older "pieces". More sex offenders than city-data says and bored teens for crime. Spend a little more check out www.viera.com But my house in Malabar is for sale $315,000, zoned for horses on property 4/2 2 story.

[GSD101]

irish36 has some very good points. Palm bay traffic is terrible and the more they develop it the worse it gets. Even when they made more roads a couple of years ago it didn't really help. Palm bay is more of a big residential neighborhood with bored kids looking for trouble. Malabar is a nice area, and so is Viera, but I would think it is more expensive (Viera). I could be wrong it has been a while since I lived in the area.

[floridadreamer]

Viera is a lot more expensive than Palm Bay. Malabar is nice in some areas but here are a lot of older homes there that will be cheaper therefore with lower income families.

[EXIT]

I have lived in Palm Bay since 1990. Palm Bay has its problems just like any other city. You talk about traffic. North Wickman around Suntree and Viera is worse. As far as shoping less than 2 miles from my house is a new Kohl's, Target, Marshalls, hhgreggs, with more stores to come. Yes that is in West Melbourne but Palm Bay Road is the dividing line. Palm Bay land wise is very big. Lots of buildable lots. We have Bayside a planned development with gated communities. We have great parks all over Palm Bay. If anyone needs more information just let me know.

[jdoty]

I've lived in Palm Bay for the past year, and my wife and I couldn't be happier. We originally discounted it due to the fact that it's looked down upon by many folks in Brevard County, but it ended up being perfect for us.

There were several things that attracted us to Palm Bay. One was the lower housing costs. We were able to get a much nicer house for the money than we would have been able to afford elsewhere. And unlike Viera and other newer developments, not every house is the same and they are on actual good sized 1/4 acre lots (ours is on a double 1/2 acre lot). We also like the fact that there is no HOA to take our money and tell you what you can and can't do, so you have more freedom when it comes to things like landscaping.

We also felt that there was more of a sense of community here. Many of the neighborhoods in Melbourne and Viera we looked at were ghost towns; nobody was ever outside. In Palm Bay, there are always kids out playing and adults out running, walking, or socializing with neighbors.

Palm Bay has an undeserved reputation for being high crime. This couldn't be farther from the truth, just go look at the city-data numbers. My wife and I have never felt threatened or in any danger here in Palm Bay, even doing things like going to Wal-Mart late at night or going for a nighttime walk. There are a few areas in Palm Bay to avoid (I wouldn't want to live in the far NE section where Palm Bay Rd. hits the railroad tracks, or along Lipscomb near the Melbourne border), but there's nothing so dangerous that you can't drive through during the day.

Palm Bay has it's problems however. No HOA does mean that you'll have houses with broken trucks in the yard and unmowed grass. It doesn't bother me a whole lot, but it does for some people. Some areas are better than others. We live in an older part of the NE section, east of I95. It seems like the older, more established parts of town tend to be better taken care of than some of the newer, more rual parts, but you'll need to drive around to get a feel for it yourselves.

The diversity is off-putting to some as well. Since housing is cheaper, you have people in a wider variety of financial situations. You'll have doctors and engineers living next door to cops and mechanics. You'll have retired folks living next to people who mow lawns for a living. Throw in a large Puerto Rican popluation, a good sized Jamaican community, and some truck-drivin confederate flag wavin southerners, and it makes for a colorful place. I love it and have met some great people I otherwise wouldn't have, but it understandably makes some people uncomfortable.

City services tend to be bad. Sewers are pretty much non-existent and there are large parts of the city without water service. Septic systems aren't bad, but the well water around here is terrible. Keep that in mind if you're looking for a home here. My wife and I insisted on a house with city water and are glad we did. Keep in mind also that no city water means no fire hydrants. Roads are also usually in poor shape. They do a good job keeping the main roads smooth, but the roads that aren't major through streets are falling apart. Many roads in the SW section aren't even paved. Palm Bay seems to be trying to improve things, but it's a slow, expensive process.

Also, traffic is terrible in a few places. Almost all of Palm Bay is west of I95, and almost all of the jobs are east of I95. There are only three places to cross: Palm Bay Rd, Malabar, and Babcock. For about an hour in the evening (5-6) and an hour in the morning (7-8), traffic really backs up at those bottlenecks. It's not Orlando or Miami bad, but it is obnoxious. And I'm pretty sure they time the lights intentionally so you hit every red.

[JimMe]

Originally Posted by jdoty

I've lived in Palm Bay for the past year, and my wife and I couldn't be happier. We originally discounted it due to the fact that it's looked down upon by many folks in Brevard County, but it ended up being perfect for us.

There were several things that attracted us to Palm Bay. One was the lower housing costs. We were able to get a much nicer house for the money than we would have been able to afford elsewhere. And unlike Viera and other newer developments, not every house is the same and they are on actual good sized 1/4 acre lots (ours is on a double 1/2 acre lot). We also like the fact that there is no HOA to take our money and tell you what you can and can't do, so you have more freedom when it comes to things like landscaping.

We also felt that there was more of a sense of community here. Many of the neighborhoods in Melbourne and Viera we looked at were ghost towns; nobody was ever outside. In Palm Bay, there are always kids out playing and adults out running, walking, or socializing with neighbors.

Palm Bay has an undeserved reputation for being high crime. This couldn't be farther from the truth, just go look at the city-data numbers. My wife and I have never felt threatened or in any danger here in Palm Bay, even doing things like going to Wal-Mart late at night or going for a nighttime walk. There are a few areas in Palm Bay to avoid (I wouldn't want to live in the far NE section where Palm Bay Rd. hits the railroad tracks, or along Lipscomb near the Melbourne border), but there's nothing so dangerous that you can't drive through during the day.

Palm Bay has it's problems however. No HOA does mean that you'll have houses with broken trucks in the yard and unmowed grass. It doesn't bother me a whole lot, but it does for some people. Some areas are better than others. We live in an older part of the NE section, east of I95. It seems like the older, more established parts of town tend to be better taken care of than some of the newer, more rual parts, but you'll need to drive around to get a feel for it yourselves.

The diversity is off-putting to some as well. Since housing is cheaper, you have people in a wider variety of financial situations. You'll have doctors and engineers living next door to cops and mechanics. You'll have retired folks living next to people who mow lawns for a living. Throw in a large Puerto Rican popluation, a good sized Jamaican community, and some truck-drivin confederate flag wavin southerners, and it makes for a colorful place. I love it and have met some great people I otherwise wouldn't have, but it understandably makes some people uncomfortable.

City services tend to be bad. Sewers are pretty much non-existent and there are large parts of the city without water service. Septic systems aren't bad, but the well water around here is terrible. Keep that in mind if you're looking for a home here. My wife and I insisted on a house with city water and are glad we did. Keep in mind also that no city water means no fire hydrants. Roads are also usually in poor shape. They do a good job keeping the main roads smooth, but the roads that aren't major through streets are falling apart. Many roads in the SW section aren't even paved. Palm Bay seems to be trying to improve things, but it's a slow, expensive process.

Also, traffic is terrible in a few places. Almost all of Palm Bay is west of I95, and almost all of the jobs are east of I95. There are only three places to cross: Palm Bay Rd, Malabar, and Babcock. For about an hour in the evening (5-6) and an hour in the morning (7-8), traffic really backs up at those bottlenecks. It's not Orlando or Miami bad, but it is obnoxious. And I'm pretty sure they time the lights intentionally so you hit every red.

Thank you for taking the time to do this detailed profile. We have family in SW Palm Bay that we visit almost yearly and what we've seen of the city we've liked immensely. It is high on the list of cities we may retire to in three years' time.