[haileybailey]

We will be moving to Brevard county in June or July of this year. We have 3 children under the age of 9 and would like to rent a 3 bedroom house or apartment. Can anyone reccomend any apartment complexes in Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, Viera, or North Melbourne? We are looking for a safe, low crime area with good schools and rent under $1000 a month. Would this be reasonable in these areas?

[INEEDSUNSHINE]

Hi,

I can't answer your question directly because I'm in the same situation you are, as my family is planning a move to brevard county. I too have asked similar questions on this board in regards to first hand information concerning apartments. It's difficult because many that read these boards are also looking to move to Fl., or are home owners that don't have the apartment insight were looking for.

I've checked the typical sites like, apartments dot com, rent dot com and brevard multiple listings. It's also been helpful to check craigs list. If anything, it gives you price range and ammenities. From what I've gathered Veira, North Melbourne and West Melbourne are desireable areas. Sounds like Rockledge is a nice community to live in. Seems that it's better to stay clear of most of Palm Bay and South Brevard.

What have you found out about renting a house in Melbourne? The last I checked the rental agencies want renters to have at least 6mos. rental history in the local area and have suggested checking with private owners.
It's crazy because we have been homeowners and now have a stable rental history since selling our home. I'm just wondering with the abundance of houses not selling if this has changed and they are more willing to rent to respectable clientel? Best of luck to you!

[haileybailey]

I too was a homeowner and now looking to rent for a while because I am not sure if we will be happy in that area or florida in general.
I have been told to look into the Suntree and Viera areas in Melbourne. I have visited Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island and they seem to be nice areas. The problem I am having is that there doesn't seem to be that many apartments on rent.com and other rental sites to choose from. This is why I posted on this site to see if anyone can reccomend something.
Good luck to you too!

[brassylass]

What is wrong with palm bay. There are some nice places there too. I rented a room in a house near malabar and it was a nice community. I would not suggest sugar mill in Melbourne. But the vinings in palm bay is nice. There are fire palces in the units too which is nice. But, I am not usre about Vierra area. Nice stuff there but Wickham is one of my least favorite roads in the world. I used to go to school in Melbourne though, so it is from that perspective. I might be moving back to the area soon, there or orlando, so I am also looking in the Vierra area (job is in Rockledge)

[floridasandy]

my brother used to live at via tuscany in viera and liked it okay. viera is a newer area so it is seems more upscale. you could look at the website apartmentratings.com for reviews in the areas that you are looking for (includes some price ranges). housing rental prices seem to have come down a lot, but some apartments are offering specials to be competitive.

[MomInNY]

We have only vacationed at Cocoa Beach. We visited MIsland, many times, but only for the WalMart- ha ha. Actually, we LOVED the area. When we first started going, it was a quiet, friendly area. After about 6 or 7 years, as kids got older, it wasn't the same, but people were still friendly!! Our last vacation there, at the Holiday Inn, someone had a gun across the way from us and shot it, police were there all night. We were really scared, but they said it was just a bunch of kids (teens on spring break). We always try to find the non tourist places, to support the locals more. We found a really great Mexican restaurant way down in the corner ... anyway, we are moving to FL in the next 2 years, we would 100% move to the MI/CB area but I really fell in love with the beauty of the west coast. I thought it was a little cleaner too on the west coast. Shopping at Publix, and getting groceries on the west coast is like night and day. The east coast seemed ALOT cheaper.. Well sorry to rant, but we just loved Cocoa Beach. It was my first experience with FL and made me fall in love with the place 14 years or so ago. The people in that area were so friendly, it's not something we're used to here in NY heh heh heh

[Denise in Fla]

Try looking on line in Florida Today newspaper for rents. They always seem to have alot of rentals, look in Sunday's edition.

[haileybailey]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I will look into these options.