[ACS228]

My husband and I are looking to relocate from NY to Palm Bay. We will be coming in to some money soon and want to buy our first home. We both love Florida so after some research, I have come across Palm Bay as a possibility. We want to be on the east coast, in a mid size town, near the beach but not too near, close to major airports, within a reasonable driving distance to Tampa where we have family and to the keys (which we love).... My husband has his teaching degree but works as an administrative assistant at a large company at the moment and would probably be happy doing either and I am hoping to just work part time at anything. Any information anyone can give me about this area would be very helpful. Thanks!

[gettheroof]

There are LOTS of folks from NY in PB. More and more seem to coming. Traffic in PB is horrible. Roads are inadequet to handle the volume. Palm Bay Road alone had 5 fatalities last year. No "downtown", all shopping is strip-malls and shopping centers. Drug houses busted on almost a daily basis. Fire Department is behind where it should be regarding manpower and station locations. PBPD is over-worked. No help in sight for public safety due to Tax-Cutting initiative coming from Tallahassee. Palm Bay still has dirt roads in places despit the high taxes. North east PB along US1 is drug-prostitute haven. Cannot eat the fish you catch in the Indian River due to pollution. North PB borders with Melbournes seedy area, University and Babcock area. You can buy a small house in a less than desireable neighborhood for little $$, but you will pay BIG bucks in taxes compared tp what it is worth. LOTS of rednecks in over-sized 4 wheel drive trucks (compensation for something??).
Schools are ok, nothing to brag about. Except Port Malabar Elementary; excellent school
You should go to WWW.Floridatoday.com on a regular basis for the news from PB, Mel., and the rest of the area. And DON'T pay attention the crime stats you read on here. PB has a SERIOUS crime problem.

[specialk115]

My sister and her husband live in Palm Bay. It wouldn't be my first choice but they seem happy there and paid about $220 k for a new, nice home. We are relocating to Viera and although it's more expensive, it's very suburban with new everything -- homes, schools, churches, hospital, shopping. We love it. www.viera.com

You might also look at GreatSchools.net to compare schools in the area. They are all on a "grading" system based on testing scores, etc., so the "A" schools are considered best.

Your husband can check out job openings in the school system here:
The Office of Human Resources Services


Good Luck!

P.S. The Suntree area of Melbourne is also nice...
P.P.S. Both of these areas are West of I-95 and about 15 minutes from the beach.

[Jareb]

Palm Bay is considered a somewhat "lower class" town by those who have been in the area for a few decades. Of course, there are exceptions, with a few nice developments and areas of the town. School system is so-so and lots of juvenile crime. Sort of a redneck trailer trash kinda place. I'd look a little north, like Melbourne area or a little south, like Sebastian/Vero Beach.

[ACS228]

Thanks for the info, you can't get stuff like that from the internet and real estate agents. I will definitely consider some of the other places mentioned as possibilities. We are of course going to be visiting any area before we decide where to buy but this helps to narrow the list.

[Floridabound09]

PM Oceandreams, she has meen there 2 months and loves it !!

Lower class to some means a good thing.

OD is more then happy to answer questions as she is perfectly happy with choosing that area.

If PB is lower class then Daytona we are ALL in deep pooooo.

[rogcol]

ACS228-
Please, don't do it. Moving to Palm Bay, FL has in a nutshell, ruined our lives.
I am 27, husband is 35. We moved her only 3 small yrs ago because of big boom in construction industry. My husband is a screen pool installer and homes/communities were being built left and right, it was a no brainer to settle here.
Well now that the housing and job market has taken a major dive we basically have to let the bank take our home and hightale it out of here by end of the year or our once fixed rate mortgage will triple to 3x what we are paying now.
We bought our home in nice, quiet palm bay, fl 2 yrs ago after a yr of renting. we paid $156k. We were so happy b/c coming from West Palm, FL you couldn't touch a decent house for that price.
Well now our house is valued under what we paid at a measly $110k. We even added a room and spruced up the place with a fenced yard and carport!We found that out b/c we got a mortgage that was fixed for only two yrs, and when two yrs was up we'd have to refinance. no bank wants to deal with us b/c our house is valued at much less than we paid for it and owe on it!
It's insane! To top that off, there are no more homes being built so no new construction. that is all my husband knows how to do. even if he went elsewhere he would be making tops $400 wk. pay outright sucks around here if you are even lucky enough to find a job.
We had a baby in January and I was fired b/c my boss decide for me that I wouldnt' be able to work and have a newborn. very nice of her, huh? 7 months later I still can't even find anything PT just to help out!
I even applied to Mc Donalds with no callbacks. I am a HS grad and some college and this is the thanks I get.
Ok so you may ask how this affects you, a homebuyer? why would it afect you right? well for one you will be stuck here, trust me.
Any home you buy you will never be able to sell and you may end up almost divorcing over the problems it will bring about to you.
There is nothing worth going through that here in Palm Bay.
It is rednecky, the people aren't particularly friendly, there is no growth whatsoever, no real job market unless you are already in a career with a trade such as a DR, nurse, lawyer, something of that nature, and even than you are really grasping straws.
I am only going to tell you personal finance information to warn you.
My husband and I were living what we thought was the american dream for a little more than a year.
he was BRINGING HOME about $1200/wk. my $300/wk paycheck was just fun money. we weren't braggy or throw away money type people, but it sure was nice to live like that.
well now I am unemployed, our once $1100/mo mortgage is now $1500/mo and due to our new adjustable rate mortgage that we are being forced to take since noone can refinance us, our mortgage will go up 2% every 6 months unless of course we can refinance which would mean pigs would have to fly and the home buying market would have to see a significant boom agian, which, lets be honest, is nowhere insight.
My hubby now gets work about 2-5 days per week and now brings home about $200-$450/wk. No lie. How are we surviving? selling stuff on ebay, help from our parents, who frankly can't do it anymore......
moving here would be the worst mistake any young couple starting out in life especially with a family, could make.
the worst part is we now have a young 7 mo old. oh and did I mention husband had to cancel our health insurance b/c it took a whopping $200/wk out of his paycheck! Not per month, per week! $200! for what???
so now me and my hubby have no health insurance and our poor 7 month old doesn't as well.
our plan is to save every penny we have for the next 2-4 months and not pay our mortgage until they come for us.
than with the money we saved we will relocate and start over.
very sad, some days I have thought of driving off a god-darn bridge. no lie. Life as we knew it was ruined by making the decision to move to this god forsaken excuse of a town/ don't do it. you were warned.

[ACS228]

So sorry to hear you are having such hard times rogcol. I have been following the markets and it's unfortunate that so many people got caught up in the whole adjustable rate mortgage thing. Luckily, we'll have about a 50% down payment if we buy a house in Florida so we won't have to deal with that specifically. In the area where we live right now, you can buy a wreck of a house that needs work for about $450,000. with taxes at about $7,000. per year so we really do need to relocate if we ever want to own a home. I will, however, reconsider exactly where we end up and I truly appreciate you giving me this information. I think all things considering, your plan of staying until you are forced out sounds like a reasonable one. I am sure you won't be the only one in that situation. A lot of really good, hardworking people are going to be hurt by the mortgage mess. But don't despair, you are still young and able to start over. People have recovered from similar situations and a lot worse and I am sure you guys will too. Thanks for sharing your story.

[carla4945]

Palm Bay is the lowest in the area, drugs, traffic, inadequate police, etc. Think Melbourne Village, Suntree, Viera but Never Palm Bay.

[Makaala4]

ACS228,
My wife and I moved here from Hawaii 2+ years ago. Like you, we wanted to purchase a bigger, 4 Bedroom house (we have 5, 3, and a 4mo. old children) , and in Hawaii that would be $550,000+ easily. While we were in Hawaii we were looking on both the internet, and my inlaws who live in Suntree, were sending us Real Estate mags. My wife and I were looking at homes in Palm Bay and Cocoa because of the great price of the homes. My in-laws warned us about the crime and we looked into Viera, which I think you should do the same. Although I am very homesick and want to move back to Hawaii or CA (where I have family), like ROGCOL, we are "stuck" in our home. We bought our 4 Bed/2Bath, 2000 sq foot, made in 2002 home, two years ago for $300,000. Our neighbor across the street has just sold their home, which was on the market for 11 mo's for $255,000. Therefore, if we sold our home now, we would lose $50,000+, because of the Real Estate commission fees. It is definitely a buyers market here, and you should be able to buy a nice house in the Viera/Suntree area in the $250,000 to $300,000 range. Also I heard the "Viera Plan" is to build a couple of new schools, which would be perfect for your husband for employment. Although I do miss Hawaii, and would like to move, I would much rather be "stuck" in Viera than Palm Bay or the Cocoa area. Sorry if this sounds disrespectful to the PB/Cocoa residents, but its just my opinion. Aloha.