[paradiddle]

Originally Posted by Anne1125

We plan on Englewood for our retirement. Venice is nice, but costs a bit more. Why are duplexes a negative? Are renters the ones that tend to cause the crime?

Anne

In Englewood, the duplexes are the low income housing. My friend from VT has a duplex and used one side in winter and rented the other. He had problems with tenants. His is one of the nicer duplexes. There are exceptions.

Also buy concrete block homes. forget wood construction, doesn't hold it's value and you will need constant termite control.

We live in South Venice which is not in the City Of Venice. It borders Englewood. Big difference in prices. So. Venice is more the price of Englewood. South Venice and the North part of Englewood are in Sarasota County. The rest of Englewood, Rotunda, Placida (expensive) is in Charlotte County.

County life. You are either in a city or in the un-incorporated areas. That means a lot. Un-incorporated means you only get county services. We can't call the Venice Police, we need to call Sarasota County sherriff.

[fumbelinabumpkin]

Wow, thanks for all the replies.

We do want to stay away from the biggest cities, although comming from a state that has more cows than people, everything in Florida is a city.
We are planning on renting for quite a while. We want to stay in the U.S. while our son is little, but then we are planning on traveling and working in Europe, Australia, and Japan, doing some international living.

We could have the opportunity to move to Melbourne (FL, not Aus.), my husbands company has a flight school there. The space coast sounds really fun. The only thing I've heard on this forum about Melbourne is that is is run down, dumpy, and boring???? (don't see how that is possible with all the space stuff and beaches) Anyone love Melbourne?

Jupiter Looks super. Is it really busy because it is so close to Miami? Or is it a pretty relaxed atmosphere?

Thanks for the positive input from Tampa - is crime bad in Tampa?
My grandparents-in-law live in Sarasota during the winter and we have some in-law uncles and cousins in Fort Meyers, which sounds nice enough.
Where do you find the most laid back beach communities?
We would love to live in the Keys, is that realistic these days?

Thanks for all the input, we will definitely rent and travel so we can see what we like.
Peace

[triton1]

Hmmm... Difficult. Very difficult. Certainly quite a few really cool places that have lots of cool stuff. Fort Myers has a lot of history, lots of manatees, and a boat that has daily trips to the keys, Fort Lauderdale has lots of nightlife, stronger built houses, several great beaches, and a few scattered pools/waterparks, plus a mammoth one about 50 miles north, Big Pine Key has a very laid back lifestyle, has never seen snow or frost before, and seems the least prone of all the keys to hurricane storm surge, Key West has really cool nightlife, like big pine key, has never seen snow or frost before, lots of history, and best of all, the wild and fun catamaran that has daily trips to the Dry Tortugas! Very confusing as to which one of those spots i'd like to live in if real estate prices were totally affordable everywhere and there were no taxes and HOI was all free!

[deckardc]

Originally Posted by fumbelinabumpkin

We could have the opportunity to move to Melbourne (FL, not Aus.), my husbands company has a flight school there. The space coast sounds really fun. The only thing I've heard on this forum about Melbourne is that is is run down, dumpy, and boring???? (don't see how that is possible with all the space stuff and beaches) Anyone love Melbourne?

Based on what you've said, Melbourne, Cocoa, Titusville, or the Space Coast in general, might be a good place for you. Melbourne is not a bad place. I don't think it's too "dumpy or run down". I have considered living there myself. A lot of younger people might find it boring because it is more of a family oriented place and doesn't have a hot nightlife. That's not to say that there aren't restaurants in the area with bars or live music. There is a college there so they have to keep those kids reasonably happy. Palm Bay, a town near Melbourne, is much worse as far as being run down. Melbourne is still a relatively small town but not so small that you don't have the typical grocery stores and Targets.

From Melbourne, you are only a 1 hour drive to the Disney area of Orlando, 2.5 hours to Tampa, and about 3 hours to Miami. It's a pretty laid back beach area, lots of surfer types. People there are very beach oriented. Most people run around in flip-flops and bathing suits all day. It also has a decent size high tech community due to NASA. Houses on the Space Coast are some of the most affordable in FL right now but if you buy, homeowners insurance is high all over the state due to hurricanes.

Port Canaveral has cruise ships that go to the Caribbean and usually you can do 3 day cruises for about $200ish per adult. You would only be about an hour from Orlando International Airport which is one of the busiest in the world. That means that flights from there are pretty cheap. There are several direct flights to Europe which is unusual for Florida airports.

Brevard county is not terribly diverse if that is important to you. It has a very large white majority. The schools there are pretty good and class sizes tend to be small. Brevard county is right above what is known as the Treasure Coast because several Spanish galleons are known to have gone down off that coastal area and the treasure from those ships often washes up on shore after big storms. You will see a lot of people out there with metal detectors. Florida loves to label it's coastal segments. First Coast, Space Coast, Emerald Coast, Sun Coast, etc.

Key West is probably out of the question unless you are a millionaire. I would definitely avoid living in Orlando or Miami. Nice place to visit but... You probably wouldn't like anything north of Tampa if you want the tropical feel. I like Tampa but the greater Tampa-St. Pete area is pretty big and is very congested. Pinellas County (St. Pete-Clearwater) has approx. 3500 residents per square mile. It might be a little overwhelming for someone from Montana.

[fumbelinabumpkin]

Key West is probably out of the question unless you are a millionaire. I would definitely avoid living in Orlando or Miami. Nice place to visit but... You probably wouldn't like anything north of Tampa if you want the tropical feel. I like Tampa but the greater Tampa-St. Pete area is pretty big and is very congested. Pinellas County (St. Pete-Clearwater) has approx. 3500 residents per square mile. It might be a little overwhelming for someone from Montana.

[/quote]

So everyone in the Keys is a Millionaire? We would be looking at Big Pine Key or Marathon, something like that. My heli-hubby will be making about 100k a year, is that enough in the Keys? We definitely won't buy a house in Florida, we just want to rent. We need 3 beds/2 baths (preferably -we could live with 1 bath if we had to).

And could anyone tell me if Palm Bay is nice? It's near Melbourne, which is a definite possibility for us. We want to be able to walk to the market, walk downtown, have good public transportation, nice sidwalks and parks. Is Palm Bay a good place for this? We want to save money, so is around 1000/mo rent ok in this area?

[PJBower]

My suggestion would be Sarasota...I'm from Oregon originally, but have lived in Nova Scotia (Brrrrrrrrrr) Canada for many years...my ship came in about 4years ago and I bought a house (legal duplex) on a large private lot in a quiet neighborhood...there is also a cottage (guest house) on the property and carport and storage shed...it is located in beautiful Sarasota west of the trail and is near downtown, beaches, the airport, the Ringling museum and the Ringling school of art, and a short walk to Sarasota Bay where neighbors gather most evenings for the sunset...I have really enjoyed this property and the income from one of the appartments sure helped...I kept one of the appartments for myself and used the cottage for visits from friends and family...I now have both units rented and the property is for sale...I found another wonderful property in Sarasota!!...it had to be wonderful as I was very comfortable at my original property...I'm sure there are other wonderful areas and properties in Florida, but, I'm sure Sarasota would rank right up there with them...

[fotoose]

If you want Carribean ambiance, I suggest the Lower Keys, avoiding Key West since you don't like touristy areas. I also like Vero Beach, Sabastian, Cedar Key (reminds me of a quieter Avalon NJ)(it can be chilly in winter, also). Be careful of growth policies in all counties you will consider: Martin County forbids high rises, others let them metatasize. There is incredibible growth and road and bridge-building in SW Florida, at least as far north as Cape Coral. Sanibel Island is getting a huge new causeway; entry to the Keys on Rt.1 is being blessed with a huge highway. So the ambience you see today may well be gone and soon! Florida is our 4th most populated state and may soon be number 3.

Keep in mind also, that Florida's real estate is owned by a surprising large percentage of absentee owners/investors. An appraisser I know says 25% of houses are owned for investment. Many communities empty out in summer. ( The heat and humidity is oppressive.) They haven't worked out their insurance issues yet, and you can consider premiums to be a major cost item, indeed equal to the real estate tax for a single family and calculated much the same way. New buyers have their real estate tax calculated based on the [inflated] purchase price of their home, so do not expect to pay the same tax as the people from whom you may buy a house, especially if the people have been there a while, and have been "homesteaded", e.g. had their increased capped at 3% per annum. I do not think that this will change any time soon.

I am distressed about the crime rate. A search did not find a rate nearly as low as the rate we enjoy in our Monmouth County town here in NJ.

We have been renting houses lately in the winter. Last year, we were in Big Pine Key, in the lower Fla. Keys. We will return, and will rent also in 2 other towns. As the real estate market is slow, opportunities may abound for purchase in the near future. There are some good things about Fla. that keep us coming back and back and back. The protection of the Homestead Laws and there being no state income tax, and warm winters still entice, notwithstanding all of the above. Best of Luck!!

[fumbelinabumpkin]

Thanks so much for all of the information, everyone

[rudydddd]

I have owned property and lived in several parts of FL. If you want rural, are ourtdoors people, and a little elbow room, look at Panther Woods in N. St. Lucie County. 10 mi. from beach & that's the distance you want to be.

[HIgirl]

Personally, I would live in the panhandle - Ft Walton Beach area to be specific. We lived there for a few years, loved it and plan on returning one day. We loved it becuase the people were nice, the weather was great (not too cold in the winter), beaches are beautiful and although many areas are being "refurbished", it will never be a "big city" becuase of the two Air Force bases that are there.

This is were I would go. However, if it is too far away from the carribbean for you, then I would concur with some of the other posters and say anywhere in the Keys.