Port St. Lucie (Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce: environment, credit, real estate)

[julz]

Thank you for that info.We drove up to check out where that new exit is going in and I really like the Becker Rd. area.It's very quiet but I'm sure they'll be building there too.We've been trying to find a nice area with the easiest commute and the areas you mention, especially Gatlin/Becker, seem to be very nice.We're looking forward to getting out of S.Fla.Thanks again!

[TriMT7]

Just remember that there are a slew of houses on the market, due to speculator glut. Find a few good houses built by speculators and lowball the offer well below the asking price. They just might be desperate enough to sell to you for a bargain!

[tao]

Just wanted to share some beautiful pics of Port St. Lucie I recently took:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerli...7594425886477/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerli...7594409228154/

[bogeyplus]

After the holidays I am heading to the Port St. Lucie area for a job interview and am interested at looking at housing. Is there any areas I should avoid? Or can you recommend any areas? I do have a high school aged daughter so would like an area with a decent high school.

Thanks

[tao]

St. Lucie West is really nice. Or maybe the Lake Lucie community, near the upcoming downtown. We live there and it's really a great community.

[missesworld]

The area is one big strip mall. PSL is one big strip mall. Move to Jensen or Fort Pierce. Of course you will want to avoid certain areas in Fort Pierce...it is in St Lucie County. You want to avoid Avenues A thru O...and anyone that says any different is a liar. There is plenty of crime, gang violence and crack in certain areas of Fort Pierce...Port Saint Lucie is overcrowed...if you are a glutton for traffic...come on down. Anyone that says US 1 is not a driving nightmare is a liar.

[Richard Charles Antolinez]

Change the interchange design to reduce cost, residential impact, increase safety and traffic flow by using the half clover leaf design but stagger it so that the Southbound I-95 on and off ramps are in the Northwest corner and the Northbound I-95 on and off ramps are in the Southeast corner.

REDUCE COST:

1. Save the cost of a bridge:
Widening the I-95 southbound bridge over the SFWMD C-24 Canal will not be needed, because of extra merge room created when the southbound ramp will start on the North side of Crosstown.

2. Save the cost of an extra I-95 lane that might be included now or later because of current design:

It has been proposed that because of the shuffle between the I-95 Northbound on ramp from Crosstown and the Northbound Saint Lucie West exit ramp that an extra lane would be created for safety, this would not be needed because of the extra merge room when the North bound I-95 ramp enters from the South of Crosstown.
Increase safety:

1. Improve safety and stop collisions:
The distance between the Crosstown Northbound on ramp and the Southbound Saint Lucie west exit ramp will be increased because the Crosstown North bound I-95 on ramps will start on the south side of Crosstown and the shuffle of cars between these ramps will be reduced.

2. Reducing the number of traffic lights that cars have to deal with when using the Crosstown I-95 interchange will reduce injuries and fatalities, this is a no-brainer.
IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW, REDUCE POLLUTION, NOISE AND SAVE FUEL RESOURCES:

1. Improve traffic flow and reduce the total possible traffic light stops by one and sometimes two:
When traveling West on Crosstown in the morning rush, cars that will be going Southbound I-95 will merge to the right and will not have to stop at a traffic light because the outer lanes of the interchange approach would be protected by a separator so even when the cars are turning coming from I-95 this flow wouldn’t be interrupted. This cuts out two traffic lights now proposed under the current tight diamond design.

2. When traveling East on Crosstown in the morning rush, cars that will be going Northbound I-95 will merge to the right and will not have to stop at a traffic light because the outer lanes of the interchange approach would be protected by a separator so even when the cars are turning coming from I-95 this flow wouldn’t be interrupted. This cuts out two traffic lights now proposed under the current tight diamond design.

3. Cars traveling over I-95 on Crosstown will only have one traffic light, instead of two with this proposal because the outer lanes of the interchange approach would be protected by a separator so even when the cars are turning coming from I-95 this flow wouldn’t be interrupted until they travel over I-95 where they would approach the only light, but could turn onto I-95 without stopping. THIS CUTS OUT A TAFFIC LIGHT STOP.

SHIELD ADJACENT RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES FROM NOISE, LIGHT, AND VIEWS OF TRAFFIC:

1. Use decorative noise walls or berms with a minimum height of 14 feet for three quarters of a mile on the residential sides of the interchange or the Northeast, Southeast and Northwest, sides of the interchange for three quarters of a mile including on ramps and off ramps.

2. Use hooded street lights that are no taller than 16 feet from the road surface to reduce daylight effect on residential neighborhoods. Use lights in noise walls and other designs to limit light in residential neighborhoods.

The current proposal just doesn't make sense if traffic flow is the goal, or if cost is a factor. I wish I had one penny for every pound of concrete this proposal could save or one cent for each dollar of the millions in fuel this design would save. The bridge over I-95 could be two lanes smaller, from what I can tell it will be ten lanes wide because of double turn lanes on each side needed for the backup the current design will make. This proposal lets cars traveling Westbound on Crosstown enter Southbound I-95 without any stops and lets Eastbound cars on Crosstown enter Northbound I-95 without any stops.
This is a huge waste of money and peoples time, please reconsider this.

MY YOUR COMMENTS KNOWN TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

Richard Charles Antolinez
EMAIL:NATIVEGATOR@MSN.COM

[MB2]

Hi there
I am not a realtor or such, but just live in psl.
Moved here in 2003, bought a home brandnew for $190.00. We now listed our home on the market.
Well, everyone here knows the situation first hand "tooo much supply for the demand".
Granted, there are still people moving to this area. (Good for us, because we can't wait to sell our home!)
There are several reasons the prices droped sharply, and the real estate market became sluggish (base my info on what realtors, newspaper and developers had to say about it).
1. The increased homeowners insurance (you are lucky, if you have or can get one!!!)
2. Property taxes increased as well.
I had realtors tell me, that when people seen on paper on how much they would have to pay on taxes, they stood up from the table at closings, and left.
There are 4 sources swapping the house market here right now. People like me, which barely can affort the house they are in anymore. Two, builders still sitting on inventory, and still have permits to build and develop land they purchased. So, they are trying to get rid of excisting ones incredibly cheap, including upgrades, pools or cruises (anything for the extra sale). Then third comes the forclosure homes saturating the market, and last but not least, the snow birds giving up the winter residence, because they are sick and tired of paying so much taxes and home owners insurance.
Bad for us..... we had to lower our price, for our home, down to $249.900. We have it on the market now for nearly 6 months, now with a new realtor.
I can clearly say, the supply is by far greater then the demand!!!

[pslOldTimer]

Originally Posted by MovingBack2PA

...
Moved here in 2003, bought a home brandnew for $190,000. ... we had to ,lower our price, for our home, down to $249,900.

And you're complaining? Even after commissions, that would be $45,000 profit in just 3 years! How much cash did you put into the house? Even if it was close to $50,000, that would DOUBLE your money in just three years. That's an incredible investment, and might well have been the smartest thing you ever did!

Now, if you really want to sell, Subtract the amount you would have paid for rent over the last 3 years, add back in the commission you have to pay, and sell the property for about $175,000. That's approximately break-even.

I have lived in Port St. Lucie for almost 35 years. I lived in one house for 21 of those years. I paid about $64,000 for it, and sold it for $75,000, and was darned glad that the "profit" covered the commission and closing costs. That was the typical Port St. Lucie real estate market until 2 or 3 years ago, when things started to go nuts.

OF COURSE the market has slowed down; the prices got too high, and the sellers got too greedy -- and still are! Price it back to the way things were in 2003, and be glad to get out with your lives intact, since you apparently made such a drastic mistake to move here in the first place.

And, don't forget, it was YOUR mistake, not the fault of Port St. Lucie or Florida.

[LingLing]

Hi all, I don't know whether you are still continuing on discussion of PSL housing market. I am very happy to find this discussion group. We were moving into PSL. My husband's future employer requires us to live within 25 miles of his working place in Fort Pierce. We really like Tradition development. The price has reduce a lot recently. But without knowing the overall market, we don't know whether the housing market is still overvalued. We are kind of afraid to buy and don't know whether we should trust realtors' opinion. Should we buy now or rent? I'll appreciate your input.