[chicy724]

So, we were told to NOT look at homes West of Hurlburt in Navarre or Mary Esther.
There are some great looking homes just West of the gate, like 1-3 miles... is it really THAT bad going from that area to say, Miracle Strip (where it meets Beal) and to Eglin (where it meets Yacht Club Dr.)?

I am so disappointed in what our money will buy us in FWB and am considering other areas. We offered on a home in Destin then the woman took it off the market. Niceville/Val-P are not the area we'd like if we're going to commute. It is too "disconnected" and there's talk of new noise with new jets or something........

Someone told us to not rule out Destin, so we didn't.. but why rule out Mary Esther if it's close to the gate, but not Destin? The traffic to Destin I imagine can get really bad.. or is it really not AS bad as going West?

Thanks!

[beachmouse]

The problem with US 98 is that there effectively no alternate route to US 98. So between the odd school zone and Hurlburt base traffic backing up it's a perpetual bad morning traffic commute by local standards even before you count in the couple of traffic accidents every month that can easily cause additional 30-90 minute delays.

I used to commute from Bluewater Bay to downtown Ft. Walton Beach through Destin. The morning commute was actually not too bad. The afternoon ranges from hellish to annoying for about three months in the summer during peak tourist season and is surprisingly decent in the off season. If you live in Destin proper, you can avoid 98 to some degree but the locals long ago also figured out the back roads through there and it can also be surprisngly crowded at times.

Note that the west side of Destin does have some sketchy areas- not violent crime but a fair amount of property crime and apartments & townhomes where they cram 12 foreign college kids into a three bedroom apartment for a summer spent working at the water park or pizzeria as they brush up on their English skills.