[Jewels36]

After reading through another poster's thread who is trying to sell their house in the Punta Gorda area , I decided to check out the housing market for that area. That area is really quite affordable compared to the Tampa area where we are moving. You truly do get much more for your money there.

This made me wonder what other areas in Florida are also still affordable.

If anyone knows of other areas that have affordable housing markets in Florida, please post about it here. Tell us what you know about the area; such as schools, crime, traffic, etc.

This would be helpful to people relocating to Florida who don't necessarily have to live in a particular area.

[bamboosmom]

Just to add something about Punta Gorda and Charlotte County...
People are great, the schools got all A's, the crime rate is low,
The beaches are beautiful, the fishing is great, you are 2 hours from Disney,
2 hours from Miami, 1 1/2 hours from Tampa. We have a brand new airport terminal at SW Florida International with lots of flights to Boston, NY, NJ...etc.
You can't beat the prices. The homes are large and so are many of the properties. I am in a deed restricted golf community. All the homes are kept beautifully. Our home is priced right at $299,900. My home is over 1940 sq. ft. with a half acre property. You can get a waterfront home up in the $500,000's compared to over $1,000,000. in Naples.
Our area is safe and has an old town feel. We even have a block party every April. People from all over Florida come to it.
There are several things to do here also. Punta Gorda was listed one of the best kept secrets back in 1999 and 2000 in the real estate magazines.
I just read in our local paper yesterday a column by a realtor and he states that our home prices are only going to rise in the next 1 to 5 years because we are priced below all the other areas around us.
Just check it out!

[KathiT]

I know that Palm Coast Florida (Flagler County) is very affordable compared to other areas. North of Daytona, South of St. Augustine and minutes away from the beach, too.

[mich2fla]

Punta Gorda is beautiful...my wife's grand parents live there...they live on the intercoastal waterways. They have lived there for years before it was 'discovered'.

Sadly, there are no mechanical engineering jobs in the area.

[bamboosmom]

The area is not far from Ft. Myers or Sarasota where there are more jobs. I don't know about mechanical engineering though. We are growing here and the jobs are plenty. The pay is not as high as up north though. This was a retirement town but now there are alot of younger couples with children moving down..because of the great schools and low crime rate, etc.

[pattiv]

This was great information.
My husband just mentioned we should check this area as well as Palm Harbor and Dunedin.
Was there any hurricane damage?

On a side note, I emailed various realtors for info on some homes I saw on the internet.[Palm Harbor]
I am already getting emails with price reductions of 5-10k off asking price.

[bamboosmom]

Hey pattiv,
the town did have damage but everything is being redone! you can check out the internet on the area.

[pattiv]

BBMOM!
That is great news.
I recall and still have an article saying that Punta Gorda was one of the best places to retire to.
This was 3- or 4 years ago.
We are just trying to get the best bang for the buck.
I will check out the internet.

[bamboosmom]

pattiv
check your private messages! I sent you some info.

You will definetly get a great home at a fantastic price in Charlotte County.
Lots of retiree's are here as well as younger couples. There are plenty of jobs too!

[Jammie]

Although we've never been there, it appears that the Ocala/Leesburg area may be affordable. We've been to Fla. several times, but never to that area, but I understand that Ocala has a beautiful forest, is right by Silver Springs where the glass-bottomed boats are and you can ride in them and see every creature that's in the springs. From what we can tell, there are several jobs in Ocala. The homes are a lot higher then in the midwest, but they're higher all over then they are here. The apartments look fairly affordable as do the mobile homes. The area is horse country and supposedly has beautiful rolling hills. It's only about an hour from Orlando and can't be too much of a drive to the ocean. We just can't wait to be down there again and stay in that area for a bit.