[LoveBoating]

We are a married couple (male/female) of 59/60 yrs. old. We are currently living just north of Charlotte, NC. We moved here from Parker, CO last Oct, but have found the area not nearly as interesting/friendly as we thought it would be. We love boating/fishing, but the lakes here don't appeal to us that much. Researching Florida b/c of no winter and lots of areas to boat/fish (lakes/ocean). Had two surgeries while living in CO; a hip replacement and a rotor cup/shoulder surgery (shoulder one due to a fall in ice/snow). Even the winter we just had here gave me too much pain in those two areas.

Anyway, wife and I won't be retiring for a few more years, so we will be looking for a jobs as well as a nice/safe place to live (like most people do when relocating). She has a Degree in Business/Accounting and I have experience in Purchasing/Inventory Management (no Degree though). We are NOT looking for a home "in" (downtown) Jax or Orlando, only in the suburbs or a town close to those cities. Since we are 59/60, we would like to end up meeting couples in our age bracket somewhere.
Would like to hear from some locals from both Jax and Orlando....good and bad about both cities/surrounding areas. Or, please give us an idea about somewhere else to live along the Atlantic side of Florida.
Thanks

[DailyJournalist]

It sounds like you would like the Melbourne Florida area. Plenty of water activities and people your age. Jacksonville will be to cold in the winter and Orlando is far from the coast.

[LoveBoating]

Well, we are still researching both Jax and Orlando areas. We just have to live somewhere we can also have jobs in the areas of experience (Accounting, Purchasing and Inventory Management). Another thing, we would not be living "in" Jax or "in" Orlando (meaning any downtown areas). Orlando may be some miles from the coast, but Charlotte is approx 4 hours from the coast!
Anyway, we still have a few months ahead of us before we have to make a decision of "where". We will get a little bit of a "feeling" for Orlando when we fly in there in Aug. to go on a cruise.

[Marim]

Hi, I'm a new member, but I have enjoyed the topics especially since we are also researching where to move to in the next two years. My husband is a disabled veteran and going to school here in San Antonio,Tx in order to get his masters at St. Mary's University. We moved from Missouri. When he finishes school, we plan on moving to a location preferably near the ocean. We would appreciate any suggestions of places in Florida or other you feel we should look into. We don't want to be in an area with high crime and obviously, we don't want to pay an arm and a leg in property taxes. We are both in our mid-50's. Any comments would be appreciated both pro and con.

[surfer boy]

Marim, u may want to start a new thread with your questions... It will probably get more attention that way.

[compelled to reply]

I say neither one. I have to second the DailyJouranlist's suggestion, in fact, maybe even a little further south, like Vero Beach. You probably don't want to live in Orlando (too young and mediocre boating) or Jacksonville (too young). You would meet more friendly people within your age group in Melborune or Vero.

[doggiebus]

I have to third that, neither. Jacksonville does still have some sort of a winter. You need to get south of Tampa and Orlando to have an almost 10 month summer like we had in Miami last year. So look south of Tampa and Orlando. I like - compelled to reply - suggestion about Vero. I would suggest Martin County just north of Palm Beach, you would be close enough to have a large job pool options, but yet far enough to away from the rat race.

[runswithscissors]

Yes check out Vero. We have housing in all ranges, from $30,000,000 down to condos in 55+ for $30,000. And everything in between. [Realtor dot com has 30 pages listed over 1 mil lol.]

In fact there is a new mobile home section on the Intracoastal. There must be some type of law for income requirements to keep things balanced. There's a lifetime care community that looks like any upscale villa complex anywhere on major open ground. There are virtually no highrises.

If you search posts that I made I gave all the info about Vero, the mayor and his colon cancer (ha ha), the beaches and the surprising $30,000 condos being so decent and for young retirees or part retirees it's a completely stress free future. ('cept for hurricanes of course). They even have golf courses with carts lol. Think of all the vacations you could afford living so frugally with the home prices.

Vero seems to have great medical, no crime, beautiful uncrowded beaches, it's a humble unpretentious place and stable and quiet. An upscale community without the glitz. Our lights blink at night on several major roads lol. Has all the normal chain stores like Kmart Walmart Target, a nice new mall with a theater (typical burb mall) but essentially all the regular stuff for a small town of 17,000 spread out. And some calm touristy stuff on the beach. 1500 people per sq mile.

Job wise your wife should be able to find employment there are several businesses here including Piper Aircraft who just committed a project here. They are hiring but at the moment all airplane type jobs and some that are unusual like painting the planes etc...on the website. My neighbor is the HR person, I haven't discussed it with her. I believe you could find employment, too and especially if you start looking in advance.

Anyway, check it out. Port Lucie is a bit more south and I'm not familiar but it looks fine, driving past and through. More people, more families etc but more jobs, too, I'm sure. QVC is there. I think working at qvc would be a hoot

[runswithscissors]

Sebastian is our neighbor a small town with a wildlife and Pelican preserve and fishing town and some fun ICW outside bars and cafes with live music on fishing docks. (captain hirams usually great reggae) (and a Walmart <eye roll>.....But I'm not aware of lakes around here....

[LoveBoating]

Well, even though Melborune and Vero do sound nice, I looked up jobs on a popular job website and found only a few in Accounting (for my wife) and found nothing in Purchasing/Inventory Control-Management for me.
We do appreciate the help you folks are giving us, but we MUST live somewhere where we can also get a job, not retire. And, at our age (60), we don't want to be driving 30 miles to go to a job.
We know that Jax does have a winter (if you want to call it that), but not at all like Denver, Colorado or even here in the Charlotte metro area where it can/and does get snow and fairly cold (45 degrees high during the day). We were also thinking about Orlando because of the job market "in and around" there.
We are still a fairly "active" couple at 60 yrs old (went to a Water Park this past Sunday and had a ball.....didn't ride any big "thrill" water rides, but still had fun), so we really don't want to be around people in our age bracket that AREN'T that active. We plan on getting a nice Cabin Cruiser for relaxing and fishing. We aren't interested in golf at all. And, I (husband) have certain restrictions on what I can do due to my hip replacement and rotor cup/shoulder surgery.
We still want to LIVE, WORK and PLAY/PARTY yet!!!! But, only to a certain degree.

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

I say neither one. I have to second the DailyJouranlist's suggestion, in fact, maybe even a little further south, like Vero Beach. You probably don't want to live in Orlando (too young and mediocre boating) or Jacksonville (too young). You would meet more friendly people within your age group in Melborune or Vero.