Is Anywhere Safe In Florida?? (Tampa, Tallahassee: house, rent, motel)

[FLRes]

redsynner --- You definitely want to look at Indian Harbour Beach --- a very small city --- quiet, proactive Police Dept, friendly community, volunteer fire dept, great sports program for children, plenty of nearby city-owned parks, walk to the beach, low taxes, nearby shopping, library, A rated schools. Most children are raised there, leave and come back to raise their families. Review the city profile.
The neighboring communities are similar and very nice --- Satellite Beach, Indialantic, and Melbourne Beach.

[proud to be American]

Originally Posted by tylerdurden

Ok this is for sure a sensitive subject with a lot of Floridians so bear with me. I know you said you want to rent and not buy, but it is just as expensive.

I have lived in NW Florida all my life. I used to love FL. I grew up surfing Pensacola beach, graduated from a local university and had a great time and felt very safe. I never saw myself leaving. I have lived in Pace, Pensacola, Navarre and Tallahassee.

Unfortunately I am looking to leave this state due to the increasing cost of living. It seems that investors have purchased most of the housing market here and there is no way that on a modest salary you can live and work here. I have seen what appears to be an exodus of people leaving the area too. If you go on any other near by states forums you will see lots of people saying they are looking to get out of FL because they can't afford it. Pretty soon the middle class will be driven out of FL and there will only be rich and poor.

I refuse to pay $250k for some junk house built in the 70's in the bad part of town here when you can go to many of the surrounding states and get something brand new for a lot less, in a nice community that actually has a yard.

My wife and I are both college graduates, we have no children and earn a pretty decent income, but the housing market is way too expensive for us to afford a decent 3bdrm house in a decent part of town. I am not about to spend 75% of my income on a home. Where as when my parents were starting out they were half the age I am now, had two kids, no college degrees and they could afford to buy a 3bdrm house in a decent neighborhood. For sure the cost of living has risen since they were young and the hurricanes over the last few years have driven up the housing market also, but this big of a gap is ridiculous.

I am willing to bet that 90% of the people here that currently own a home couldn't afford to buy that house now if they had to purchase it again today. With the real estate boom here since about 2000 and the huge amount of people investing in real estate here, it is no longer a cheap place to live. If you bought a house before that you are set, but if you are looking to start out now, you are pretty screwed.

And as for the loud neighbors blasting bass and stuff you will get that anywhere you go. There are inconsiderate people everywhere and will always be kids that age and people like that, you will never escape that. You just need to check out the place you are looking to live first and check out the neighbors. Drive through there during different times of the day and on the weekends to make sure you are not living beside the party house of the neighborhood. Try to find some place where you actually have a yard and have a little privacy from the people next door. Most new neighborhoods seem to be these cookie cutter homes crammed in together where you hear everything that your neighbor is doing.

This is exactly why i left.

[hammontree]

Originally Posted by SoFlaGuy

Coral Springs in Top 10 survey of safe U.S. cities
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15889494.htm

your so Right,people dont wash news from florida

[Bert]

My Friends a realtor in Palm Bay FL. and he told me that the Prices of homes are droping ( way down) 'cause of all the people leaving . I also heard the the Gov was going to step in and make them Drop the insurance rates by 40 %, as for the Tax's Well that one I am not sure about. I am Moving back to Fl in June from IN. Tell ya another thing Prices in other states are going up because of the influx of people from FL. Its just a matter of time before GA,TN,AL,NC & SC catch up with FL. Dont know about anything up North & dont care. I cant stand the COLD any longer and I miss fresh Saltwater fish, and boating year round, and the beach. I was born and raised in Indian river county and cant wait to get back HOME.

[LeavingFlorida05]

The Governor can't just waltz in and force insurance companies to lower their rates by 40%. Besides the fact that would be too close to socialism for my comfort, it would only cause more insurers to leave the state. There is a cost to provide insurance. That is why rates are high. The only way to have real hurricane relief is to distribute the risk nationwide, like flood insurance. The governor does not have the power to do that. Only the federal government can do that.

[INeedAChange]

One thing that concerned me was some people were posting about carjackings and car theft on another thread. They were claiming that people will come into apartment complexes at night and steal residents' cars (I think in Ft. Myers). Also, how prevalent are carjackings?

[triton1]

I strolled through Fort Lauderdale once until about 10 pm before returning to my hotel and I did not encounter anything crimewise.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by INeedAChange

One thing that concerned me was some people were posting about carjackings and car theft on another thread. They were claiming that people will come into apartment complexes at night and steal residents' cars (I think in Ft. Myers). Also, how prevalent are carjackings?

Google Geico and check the statistics. Plug in the zip code youu are researching. Any auto insurer will have the theft statistics if you are interested in the stats.

lol at the post- I strolled on the beach and nothing happened. -

[FLANATIVE1]

Originally Posted by INeedAChange

One thing that concerned me was some people were posting about carjackings and car theft on another thread. They were claiming that people will come into apartment complexes at night and steal residents' cars (I think in Ft. Myers). Also, how prevalent are carjackings?

Lived in Ft. Myers for 20+ years, never had my car touched. Also, I don't live in a great area. It just depends on circumstance. I know people who have had stuff stolen and people who haven't.

[backtofla]

my car insurance stayed the same when i moved from nc back to fla. the only time my car ever got broken into was in nc.

also, i have family and friends that have lived in fla for many yrs and never got their car broken into.