[pbrzuchalski]

Hey everyone

Looks like my husband and I will be relocating from Arizona to FL by the end of the year. He'll be stationed at the Eglin AFB so we're looking for places close to it. I've been told to look into Fort Walton or Destin, but I'm not having any luck. Initially we were looking into renting an apartment, but finding "nice" apartments to live in that are pet-friendly seem nearly impossible.. and the only ones I found were the Legacy on the Bay Apartments in Destin.. but for the price I can pay there ($860-960 for a one bedroom plus a $350 non refundable and $250 refundable deposit --we have two yorkies-- per pet i believe) we would probably be better off renting a two-three bedroom house somewhere else..
I just don't have any idea how to go about finding a "nice" rental home in a "nice" neighborhood since I don't know which areas to look into and which to avoid.. any help?

[deckardc]

First, please don't type in pink, it is very hard to read.

Second, this question has been asked before so I will paste a previous response.
I live in FWB so I can give you more specific info about areas in Shalimar and Fort Walton. The ok areas would probably be Mary Esther, Northgate, Ferry Park, Elliot's Point, Cinco Bayou, Oakland Heights, most of Shalimar, Lake Lorraine, Kenwood, Garnier Beach, Poquito Bayou, the area between Beal Pkwy and Hollywood Blvd., and Bayou Woods.
The areas I would personally avoid would be Sylvania Heights, Ocean City south of Racetrack Rd. and north of Mayflower Ave., Greenacres, Willow Bend, Wright, the area south of Hollywood Blvd between Eglin Pkwy and Memorial Pkwy., and many of the areas east of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Just my opinion.

Some decent apartment complexes in FWB are Chez Elan, Cayo Grande, and Heather Glenn. Heather Glenn is income restricted meaning you can't have a household income over a certain limit but you may qualify. It is a nice complex, not section 8. There are very few apartments in the area and most of the ones here are not very nice. The ones I listed are the nicest in the town.

As for single family houses, look for property management companies in the area. Most of the local real estate agencies do property management. Some I've seen on rental properties in my area are Century 21 Coastal Realty, Carriage Hills Realty, ERA American Realty, and Southern Coastal Management. I would also look on craigslist.com or nwfdailynews.com. With the real estate market as sluggish as it is, there is no shortage of rental properties in the area.

Fort Walton Beach, Shalimar, Valparaiso, and Niceville are the towns closest to the base.

Crestview is about 20 miles north of Eglin. It is a very nice town and I've never really noticed any bad areas when I've been there. It will take you about 30 min. or so to get to the beach from Crestview. That area is a bit country and is a small town America type of place. One drawback to Crestview is that you have to drive to FWB or Destin to do any real shopping other than grocery shopping. There is a Wal-mart in Crestview.

Niceville is nice as well. Again, I've never really noticed any bad areas there either. The more affluent areas are definitely on the east end of town, especially Bluewater Bay. It will take about 15 minutes to get to the beach from Niceville and you are close to the more upscale shopping areas of Destin.

Valparaiso is not a bad area and technically, the base address is Valparaiso. The only real negative about Valparaiso is that it is next to Eglin's flightline so the jets will be taking off right over your house. They are incredibly loud and will shake the house. It would be enough to keep me from living there.

A lot of people who work on base live in Navarre. I used to live there but I got tired of the drive. It was 2 hours a day that I could be spending with my kids. It will take about 45 minutes during the rush hour on Hwy 98. If there is an accident, you might have to double that time. The biggest clog is the area around the gate at Hurlburt Field. We loved Navarre. There really are no bad areas there. There are a few roads with trailers but they are taking them out as they are planning to build a town center where most of the trailers are. One negative about Navarre is that you have to drive to either Pensacola or FWB to do any real shopping other than grocery shopping. That will be changing over the next 5-10 years but right now, Wal-Mart is as good as it gets. The nearest Target is 15 miles away. Other than that, it is a great area.

Destin is the most upscale and therefore the priciest area on the panhandle. Some people live there and commute to Eglin but it is an out of the way drive involving a toll bridge.

[pbrzuchalski]

thanks for the response, and while i HAD read your response to a previous post, my question is a bit different considering I'm looking for pet-friendly environments, and i don't believe any of the apartments you had listed are pet friendly.

Also, since I don't live in the State, it's a bit hard to know where a house is located in reference to the streets you're saying I should stay in/out of, so if there's any way i could find out that information it'd be greatly appreciated =)

[EMERALDGIRL]

Originally Posted by pbrzuchalski

thanks for the response, and while i HAD read your response to a previous post, my question is a bit different considering I'm looking for pet-friendly environments, and i don't believe any of the apartments you had listed are pet friendly.

Also, since I don't live in the State, it's a bit hard to know where a house is located in reference to the streets you're saying I should stay in/out of, so if there's any way i could find out that information it'd be greatly appreciated =)

You can "google earth" the locations. You just have to download it and it is free. You just type in the address and it takes you right to the location. I have thumbtacks on the bad areas that the previous poster had provided me with a while back so I could get a good idea of the area. I am also moving out of state and it helped me out a lot. You can also zoom in to see the surrounding neighboorhoods! Good luck!

[pbrzuchalski]

Originally Posted by EMERALDGIRL

You can "google earth" the locations. You just have to download it and it is free. You just type in the address and it takes you right to the location. I have thumbtacks on the bad areas that the previous poster had provided me with a while back so I could get a good idea of the area. I am also moving out of state and it helped me out a lot. You can also zoom in to see the surrounding neighboorhoods! Good luck!

thank you so much for the help =)