Sebastian / Vero Beach ? Relocation (Miami, Melbourne: transplants, gated, budget)

[Morefunthings]

I was wondering how the areas of Sebastian and Vero Beach are for possible relocation? We (my wife and I age 40) like things to be relatively quiet, with nature scenery, low crime is a must and access to stores maybe even a mall within 20 minutes drive is a plus and a community with some appreciation for art/culture. We especially want an area that you can walk around, roller blade and bicycle safely. On paper the area looks great. Are there any locals or transplants with any advice? Not that I am prompting solely negative responses but that is what is more difficult to see on an internet search. So consider telling both positives and negatives please. Is there any nearby towns to avoid in that same area? Is a gated community a must?

[nerdsports]

I dont live there, but I've stopped in the area before (for an hour at most though). The area I visited had a large lake and it looked pretty busy (boats, waverunners, and such). The area looked pretty quiet, but also looked somewhat rural (but I'm comparing it to Miami).

I was actually impressed with the area and would consider moving there myself (after some more research).

[Denise in Fla]

You might want to do a search of these areas, there have been a few threads here regarding Vero Beach and Sebastian.

[rbayle]

I'm a VB native. We are leaving now, becuase of job relocation, and have our house for sale. I like the area out west of town where we are for close proximity to everything. You can be five minutes from the mall, Walmart, I95, home depot, etc.. and still have a somewhat rural feel to your home. We are in a gated communtiy,but still have acreage and privacy, so I think it is a little different than towns where there is no room to roam. It is very safe, very beautiful and I would say somewhat cultural. A clean town that cares about staying that way is how I would describe it.

[hurricane]

I've researched from Melbourne/cocoa beach down to Ft Lauderdale. Miami fun to visit but to live sounds like another story. Sebastian, Vero Beach, Stuart, Hobe Sound, Martin County all look great quiet relatively crime free,
I am 37 and my fiance is 32. We dont need crazy nightlife but would need some sort of good restaurant/bar to watch a game grab a bite etc, a good golf course, beaches, and quality schools as we would like to start a family soon. We are from Mass. Pardon my code name. I was watching sports news about the U of M.
Thanks for any input. This forum really helps.

[tbayle]

Not sure about stuart and Hobe sound-they might be a little more hectic than vero and sebastian. Vero is not a big nightlife town, but we have plenty to do. Sports bars, restaurants, beach, memorial island park, movies, mall, riverside theater shows, I cant' think of much we dont' have. Crime is low and living is easy.

[runswithscissors]

I just relo'd to Vero. I originally thought Sebastian but no. The wildlife advocacy that attracted me about Sebastian is really over on the barrier island far away from the real Sebastian and over there it's all multi million dollar properties and you cannot even SEE the beach driving down the main drag or the River either.

Sebastian is not my cup of tea there is absolutely nothing there except for Captain Hirams outside bar and restaurant lol, the beautiful river views, and the city park-ette. I mean it's only like a little square not really a park but they call it a park.

But there is a big deteriorating housing development off Schumann that has always been bad and not getting any better even though they keep saying it's revitalized, no it's BAD. Houses a mess, and registered sex offenders in there including an actual RAPIST (versus your every day lewd and lacivious). (and another offender on the same street from what I recall)

In Florida you need to run you proposed address through the sex offender site to chose the lesser of offenders and I'm not even kidding lol.

Anyway, I've driven through all the housing in Sebastian and aside from a couple of condos on the water and some random expensive housing there is nothing I'd move to. Expensive to me as defined 500,000 and over near water.

You can see 2 blocks that look ok, then a bunch of bad. Like houses with a bunch of pickup trucks overflowing into the street with messy yards or broken down stuff outside etc.

So Vero is lovely but I have to tell you VERY LAID BACK. It is a SAFE affluent and unpretentious town but the "culture" is one theater which right now has some children's plays that you couldn't pay me to sit through.

It's very nice but I'm not really "sold" as a permanent spot. If you click on my name here and chose "see all posts by" you can read my previous reviews.

Depends on your budget too. If you are spending over say, 350,000 maybe 300,00 soon, to live on the beach and can entertain each other then go for it.

The city park on the barrier island is HUGE I think about 60 acres and great with trails for blading and jogging and the beach is great too.

The town is very very safe and our sex offender rate is slightly high and the density low at 17000 residents, but no rapists. I'm not kidding about that crap either because I love to walk and a 4 mile walk has to be either on the beach/beach streets or a carefully mapped out areas so I'm not grossed out and on the alert as much LOL.

One of them actually had the nerve to give me his business card in the freaking Home Depot parking lot !! LOL The reason that's relevant is there are laws about where they live so you have to know your neighborhoods or you get multiples in the same area. I met another one when I was cruising through a neighborhood (house evaluating for moving) and a guy asked me was I lost or something and later on I look on the site and sure enough, REGISTERED. It was so funny but creepy too. And the area was a nice section spotless, beautiful landscaping etc.

People say the offender site is a bunch of kids who were with underage kids this is not TRUE these guys are old and serial offenders and nothing like kids who were with someone 2 years younger or whatever. In a busy city with a big density it's not an issue but a small city or town, imo it's an issue.

The barrier island has cute shops and restaurants all along the beach but NOTHING like you'd see in your imagination so you have to have laid back expectations. Across from the barrier island is ok, too and the mall is 6 miles any direction from anywhere and fine. But say, Macy's is 1/4 the size of most Macy's up North.

It's really a personal thing and matter of personal choice and you can not really even think about any Florida town till you get here and actually "live it" for at least a week or so. I flew down weekly for 6 months and still not very sure of where I'm going to end up. I think Vero for me, is not quite right but could be perfect for you and much better for couples I've noticed. It's a beautiful calm town especially over by the beach with a cute mayor who really is a good advocate for the city and no drama or crime to speak of. The lights flash at night on major highways it's so laid back lol. I might feel differently if I was living right on the beach or ICW with a 24/7 view....maybe next year, we'll see (I'm renting now)

[CrowGirl]

I'm not as familair with Sebastian and Vero alothough I visit up there several times a year....very pretty. I'd love to be able to live in Vero with the beautiful oak trees but there aren't many jobs up that way. I work in Pt St. Lucie and live in Martin Country....Vero is too long of a drive. Martin has good schools; don't know if that's important to you or not. I can honestly say I would never describe it as "hectic". Perhaps compared to Vero, but compred to even West Palm, no way.

[NativeCutie]

Hurricane: Actually, I think Martin County is hectic, at least compared to what it used to be. They are experiencing a growth explosion right now, and Starbucks is always a good indicator of that. Up until a couple years ago, there was one Starbucks -- inside the Barnes & Noble in Jensen Beach. Now you can find one in pretty much every area of town. They also gained a third high school within the past 5 or 6 years, I believe. It is not so much the quiet sleepy little place it was less than 10 years ago. That said, my husband & I are in our early 30s and would like to move back. Schools are great, crime is fairly low, but jobs are hard to find and pay is generally low, and the cost of living in Martin is definitely higher than, say St. Lucie (the price you pay for better schools). Good luck finding something nice & safe that's not gated (and saddled w/association fees for those pretty pools & tennis courts) -- if you can afford it, Palm City is a nice area though. Even w/all the hurricane damage, I still think local fave Bathtub Beach is the best.

As for Sebastian/Vero Beach, I haven't lived there but what I do know of the area I would say it is still more quiet and sleepy. You'd probably get everything you want in your relocation, with the exception of community arts/culture -- in my experience you just don't get that in the smaller towns here, unless you're willing to lower your expectations a bit & drive 30 to 45 min for something interesting. (Hard to do now w/gas prices, but 10 years ago I thought nothing of driving the 45 min to Vero just to see a movie in their beautiful new theater.) However, if you really appreciate the beautiful weather here, there is almost always something to do if you just step outside. That's my favorite thing about Florida: you're never more than 45 minutes from a postcard picture of the coast.

I personally wouldn't worry too much about the sex offenders -- its kind of funny that a new transplant would of course run into several, but I've lived on the Treasure Coast pretty much my whole life and not once had that kind of experience!

[Nomadicus]

I lived in Vero for several years during the last decade. It was laid back and uneventful. Great place to raise a family. I lived a few blocks off US 1 where we were close to anything we needed including a fantastic beach. I would like to winter there and summer in the Ozarks. There's no law against this FL boy becoming a snowbird.