[brocktonmom]

Hi!

We are considering a move to Florida in about a year and a half. We are currently living in the northeast. Obviously, we have a lot of homework to do before!

I am looking for information from people who have made the move, what to look for, what to watch out for...pro's - con's...etc.

The area that we are looking is possibly Port St. Lucie.

I would really appreciate any and all info.

Thanks so much!!:

[Floridian]

We did our homework 7 years ago when we moved to Jacksonville from Canada. It was 1997 when I searched money.com to find which best places in US to live. Jacksonville came among the top 10. We then visited Jacksonville for vacation. We loved the place. Beaches are just 30 minutes drive. We then sold our house in Canada and start to rent an apartment first. Since my career is in IT, job was easy to find. We have been patient in finding the best/safest communities to target for buying our house and to consider the best schools for our children. We bought our house a year after. We made the best decision. My commute to work in downtown takes me only 15 min (Interstate 95). We live 5 min to mall. Even when our home equity rose to over $150,000 by now, we have never thought of selling & moving again. House prices have really risen since then. We have seen how Jacksonville grew.. and it still growing. We love it here.

[pammi6]

Hello! I'm originally from the Northeast myself and I had relocated to Port St. Lucie over five years ago. Port St. Lucie has grown tremendously, I moved there just weeks before the big boom to where it was (prior to the hurricanes) the fastest growing city in America. As a matter of fact I was able to purchase land (corner lot and an additional lot) back then for only $10,000. What I liked about Port St. Lucie is even during all those hurricanes, this city did not play when it came to organizing everyone and making sure all residents abided the curfews that were necessary to keep peace. There were damages but mostly to the older homes. The newer homes had no damage. However, whenever a hurricane hits don't expect to have power for anywhere from 24 hours to a couple of weeks.
Port St. Lucie is still a small town, it does need more entertainment venues. I found that the only places to go were restaurants, unfortunately. The school system apparently isn't as good as its neighbors in Martin County. So if you have young children, you'd be better off in Martin County but their homes are more expensive. Port St. Lucie's taxes also increased significantly, which is killing the market now. That is one of the reasons why I moved. However for someone like yourself this is good because you can get a good deal on a house. I would still recommend Port St. Lucie, but I would also check out other areas of Florida that are just as good if not better.

[suzmyers]

I am currently doing lot mortgages for future home owners in Port St Lucie. As I am sure these must be elite home sites, they seem a bit outrageous. They are going to have homes with about 2200 to 2700 square feet on zero lot lines. No pool. Some have access to man made canals for a small dock, however, because the canals were not built correctly they can only have a 4 ft dock and boats are being run aground. The lots are selling for $600K to over a million. Not to mention the $40K golf membership you must purchase to buy the lots which has a nice $6K annual fee as well. The people who are buying these are very wealthy and have money to throw away. I hope the rest of Port St Lucie is not this crazy for your sake.

[Romeo]

Originally Posted by brocktonmom

Hi!

We are considering a move to Florida in about a year and a half. We are currently living in the northeast. Obviously, we have a lot of homework to do before!

I am looking for information from people who have made the move, what to look for, what to watch out for...pro's - con's...etc.

The area that we are looking is possibly Port St. Lucie.

I would really appreciate any and all info.

Thanks so much!!:

I would look into Port St. Lucie past as far as the weather. I moved to Georgia from Pembroke Pines and miss it dearly. Miramar and Weston is very nice also. Approx 40 minutes from Miami. [moderator CUT] good luck...Roma

[judy124]

Originally Posted by brocktonmom

Hi!

We are considering a move to Florida in about a year and a half. We are currently living in the northeast. Obviously, we have a lot of homework to do before!

I am looking for information from people who have made the move, what to look for, what to watch out for...pro's - con's...etc.

The area that we are looking is possibly Port St. Lucie.

I would really appreciate any and all info.

Thanks so much!!:

If you plan to buy a house there check out how much the homeowners insurance costs .cause my sister lost her house cause after they had a hurracane there, her homeowners insurance went from 600.00 a year to 2,800.00 a year and she could no longer afford her mortgage.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by brocktonmom

Hi!

We are considering a move to Florida in about a year and a half. We are currently living in the northeast. Obviously, we have a lot of homework to do before!

I am looking for information from people who have made the move, what to look for, what to watch out for...pro's - con's...etc.

The area that we are looking is possibly Port St. Lucie.

I would really appreciate any and all info.

Thanks so much!!:

Many are attracted to the low housing prices in Port St Lucie, though be warned they're low for a reason....there isn't much there. It's kind of like a giant suburb without any cohesive city identity, including a downtown. Jobs are sparse and most make the commute southbound into Palm Beach County. As others pointed out, due to a few varying factors, homeowners insurance is quite high.

If you're looking for homes with similar prices, you might want to check out Pasco County (Lutz, Land O Lakes or Trinity) which is just to the north of Tampa or St. Johns County (Ponte Vedre Beach, World Golf Village and North St Augustine) just south of Jacksonville. You'll be close to major cities with plenty of entertainment, recreation and job offerings as well as good schools and nice residential areas.