Working in Orlando, but want to live near the beach. Help? (Melbourne: house, construction)

[Sherllie]

We are headed to Orlando to do our preliminary scoping of the areas! I'll be looking at Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island for sure. We'll also look south just to feel it all out. Any suggestions on things to for sure check out, times of day, particular neighborhoods? Thank you!

[cfbs2691]

Be sure to drive during rush hour to/from where you’re interested in living and to where the job is.

[GAguy1234]

Hey Sherllie...I'll definitely be following this thread closely. My wife and I are contemplating a move to the Space Coast area next year. We have a 4th grader, so our priority is safe neighborhoods and good public schools near the beach. We currently live in the Atlanta area, but aren't happy here.

We visited the Space Coast area a few weeks ago to scope it out, get a feel for the neighborhoods, and look at houses. We were pretty impressed with parts of Melbourne Beach and Indiatlantic, but I can't believe we didn't explore Satellite Beach. If any locals on this thread can provide their insight as to how MB compares to SB for families, I'd really appreciate it.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you get back from exploring the area yourself! As you said, it's pretty stressful, and I just want to make sure we make a good decision for ourselves and our kid.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by GAguy1234

Hey Sherllie...I'll definitely be following this thread closely. My wife and I are contemplating a move to the Space Coast area next year. We have a 4th grader, so our priority is safe neighborhoods and good public schools near the beach. We currently live in the Atlanta area, but aren't happy here.

We visited the Space Coast area a few weeks ago to scope it out, get a feel for the neighborhoods, and look at houses. We were pretty impressed with parts of Melbourne Beach and Indiatlantic, but I can't believe we didn't explore Satellite Beach. If any locals on this thread can provide their insight as to how MB compares to SB for families, I'd really appreciate it.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you get back from exploring the area yourself! As you said, it's pretty stressful, and I just want to make sure we make a good decision for ourselves and our kid.

Mel beach is kinda quieter, farther away from the bridges, slower-paced. Satellite is a bit more bustling. Both good areas.

[Sherllie]

Originally Posted by GAguy1234

Hey Sherllie...I'll definitely be following this thread closely. My wife and I are contemplating a move to the Space Coast area next year. We have a 4th grader, so our priority is safe neighborhoods and good public schools near the beach. We currently live in the Atlanta area, but aren't happy here.

We visited the Space Coast area a few weeks ago to scope it out, get a feel for the neighborhoods, and look at houses. We were pretty impressed with parts of Melbourne Beach and Indiatlantic, but I can't believe we didn't explore Satellite Beach. If any locals on this thread can provide their insight as to how MB compares to SB for families, I'd really appreciate it.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you get back from exploring the area yourself! As you said, it's pretty stressful, and I just want to make sure we make a good decision for ourselves and our kid.

We visited a couple weeks back, and honestly didn't quite get a feel at all for Satellite Beach. I talked to several people who say it's a great area, with good neighborhoods and good schools, but I just couldn't really get a feel at all for the vibe. I need to go back and explore more bc I really wanted to love it. We liked Indialantic and Melbourne Beach best along the Space Coast, but unfortunately that's getting further from the job. We will go back again to try to understand the area better. I drove around a LOT (Winter Park, Oviedo, NSB, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach to Melbourne Beach, Viera), but I do not really know the areas yet. So take my opinion for what it is: I have only been to FL once and only for 4 days. Feel free to msg me. I would love to hear your opinions and what you're finding out via research and visiting.

I'm currently adding Port Orange to my online research now. It shows to have some good elementary schools and one of the high schools has the IB program. It's close to New Smyrna which I did visit and really liked the beach and town. The schools aren't great in NSB, but that beach, the restaurants and shops and vibe would be fun to be near.

[Crashj007]

Originally Posted by jghorton

<>We lived directly ON (and off) the beach in Satellite Beach for over 25-years<>The thing we discovered about beach living is that work, school, sports and other family activities reduce one's beach time to a few weekends<>

I have no experience with life in Central Florida, but I have lived on the beach at Charleston. I second horton's thought. We lived on Isle of Palms, which has a great beach, but hardly ever made it there with other obligations and things to do. Pick a place to go and visit the beach when you can.
I'm not sure you can get to Florida from anyplace North of Atlanta in a couple of hours, eh?

[nomadVAMDILFLTX]

I lived in Viera FL for 5 years with elementary through MS kiddos. It's a great area for kids and families! Public schools just as good as the best of the North Dallas area. In fact Plano's recently retired school superintendent was the Brevard County Schools superintendent before being recruited to Plano a few years back. Some of their specialty schools are the best in the state. We ended up in Dallas on a corp move, but am looking forward to getting back to the Space Coast when youngest grads HS. It's a commute to Orlando but have friends whose spouses did it.

[nomadVAMDILFLTX]

Originally Posted by Sherllie

We visited a couple weeks back, and honestly didn't quite get a feel at all for Satellite Beach. I talked to several people who say it's a great area, with good neighborhoods and good schools, but I just couldn't really get a feel at all for the vibe. I need to go back and explore more bc I really wanted to love it. We liked Indialantic and Melbourne Beach best along the Space Coast, but unfortunately that's getting further from the job. We will go back again to try to understand the area better. I drove around a LOT (Winter Park, Oviedo, NSB, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach to Melbourne Beach, Viera), but I do not really know the areas yet. So take my opinion for what it is: I have only been to FL once and only for 4 days. Feel free to msg me. I would love to hear your opinions and what you're finding out via research and visiting.

I'm currently adding Port Orange to my online research now. It shows to have some good elementary schools and one of the high schools has the IB program. It's close to New Smyrna which I did visit and really liked the beach and town. The schools aren't great in NSB, but that beach, the restaurants and shops and vibe would be fun to be near.

Cocoa Beach has a primary year IB program at Freedom 7 Elementary that is by lottery so can try to get in from other parts of county. We lived in Viera and children went to Freedom 7. There is also a MS and HS IB program at Cocoa Beach JR/SR HS. Another option depending on where you live in Brevard county is to apply to Westshore HS in Melbourne - think it's a combo app/lottery and is limited to southern part of county. Westshore is always in top 50 of US News best public HS's.

[nomadVAMDILFLTX]

Originally Posted by jghorton

We lived directly ON (and off) the beach in Satellite Beach for over 25-years - What a great area! -- and only engaged in the Orlando (metro) traffic when absolutely necessary! 5-years ago, we moved to the harbor/ Gulf in Destin (big difference!). The thing we discovered about beach living is that work, school, sports and other family activities reduce one's beach time to a few weekends, which is pretty easy with a one-hour+ drive.

This was true for us as well. Despite living 5 minutes from river and 20 minutes from beach if you've got school age kiddos engaged in sports - most weekends aren't spent at the beach or on the river, but at the soccer or football fields. Still there's something to be said for living 5 minutes from restaurants with beautiful views over the Indian River (Inter-coastal Waterway)

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by nomadVAMDILFLTX

This was true for us as well. Despite living 5 minutes from river and 20 minutes from beach if you've got school age kiddos engaged in sports - most weekends aren't spent at the beach or on the river, but at the soccer or football fields. Still there's something to be said for living 5 minutes from restaurants with beautiful views over the Indian River (Inter-coastal Waterway)

And less than an hour from a popular global metro like Orlando, no less. The airport offers several domestic and international flights out of proportion to a city of its size thanks to the theme parks