[HernandoLuxuryHomes]

Spring Hill & Hernando County are great places to be (especially in that price range). You can find absolutely beautiful homes in nice deed-restricted neighborhoods that are family friendly with social events and whatnot specifically geared towards families. You can also find A rated schools (top rating by the state of Florida). In that price range, there's an awful lot you can do in Spring Hill (it's not nearly as expensive as areas further south).

-Josh

[Dooder]

MaxElla, I Lived in Florida 41.7 years. All except the last 7 years on the East coast (Titusville), moved here to Punta Gorda day after retirement. Live in a nice area however, homes are not cheap and cost of living is constantly rising at an alarming rate, insurance is off the scale when you can find it without going to insurance pool. Food is higher here than up north. I am not familiar with the people in NY other than what the "snow birds" display here but expect things and people will be hard to get used to if you ever do. Even after my 41 plus years I still have a hard time with it. Businesses just keep any kind of time table and make appointments they have no intention of keeping at all. The good side is the weather is pretty good most of the time and it's less expensive to cool (A/C) than heat like up North. Can't help you with the school system but our local area keeps scoring high in national tests. Crime is much better in our area and we do feel safer than other places we have lived. Not much activity for your soon to be teenagers but plenty of small parks for them now. Your employment should do well here with the fields you mentioned. East or West coast of Florida pretty much balanced maybe people and businesses a little slower here, weather about the same. Hope this helps and good luck as you have a lot of things to consider. If you have specific questions that you think I can answer, just ask.

[Dooder]

MaxElla, I Lived in Florida 41+ years. All except the last 7 years on the East coast (Titusville), moved here to Punta Gorda day after retirement. Live in a nice area however, homes are not cheap and cost of living is constantly rising at an alarming rate, insurance is off the scale when you can find it without going to insurance pool. Food is higher here than up north. I am not familiar with the people in NY other than what the "snow birds" display here but expect things and people will be hard to get used to if you ever do. Even after my 41 plus years I still have a hard time with it. Businesses just keep any kind of time table and make appointments they have no intention of keeping at all. The good side is the weather is pretty good most of the time and it's less expensive to cool (A/C) than heat like up North. Can't help you with the school system but our local area keeps scoring high in national tests. Crime is much better in our area and we do feel safer than other places we have lived. Not much activity for your soon to be teenagers but plenty of small parks for them now. Your employment should do well here with the fields you mentioned. East or West coast of Florida pretty much balanced maybe people and businesses a little slower here, weather about the same. Hope this helps and good luck as you have a lot of things to consider. If you have specific questions that you think I can answer, just ask.

[bamboosmom]

From Naples to North Port I bet you could find a really nice home for that price range. Check out the MLS for Collier, Lee and Charlotte Counties.
There are tons of homes for the picking!

[kaya6]

Originally Posted by MaxElla

Hello. We are a family of four. Two girls ages 7 and 4 and we are in our late twenties. We are thinking of moving from NY to Fl. I'm a Paramedic my wife is also in a medical field. We can't decide between west coast and east coast. Also we are planning to buy our first home probably a new build in a family oriented neighborhood. To us safety, jobs, and schools are very important. Any info would help a lot. Thanx every one in advance.

good morning MaxElla...

i too moved here from new york 12 years ago, where in ny are you coming from? if you are currently living in and around the city, i don't recommend the west coast, it would be to drastic of a lifestyle change. the southern east coast of florida would be an easier adjustment for you guys.

as far as where to buy...in order to get into new construction, yes west coast, central florida, and the gulf coast areas would be the cheapest. if you wanted new construction in south florida on the east coast (miami/ft lauderdale) you can find some really nice townhouses under 300k (3 bed/2bath) but no houses in that range. you can find houses under 300k but they will be in the older neighborhoods, but can still be nice and in good school districts.

as for weston...although it is a new neighborhood and a very nice place to live, it is on the higher end in price...medium price range in that area is about 400-450k and that's for the smaller modest homes

davie is an older neighborhood with a mix of good and bad areas, you can get estate style homes w/ acreage, middle class, then trailer parks in between

sunrise is an older neighborhood as well but is a more affordable market to get a single family home but not in new construction.

if you are serious and you have the right realtor that is willing to listen, they can find you something...the market is in your favor now. to many homes for sale but not enough buyers so the prices are slowing being reduced.

there is always port st lucie (upper palm beach area...pass boca raton and the more popular areas) it is a growing area and surprisingly still affordable housing, not sure about new construction...but you will see the newer homes (less than 5 yrs) being resold at good prices 250k-350k (this is about 1-1.5 hours from ft lauderdale)

as far as the schools...rule of thumb down here is that the further away from the more tourist/heavier congested areas the better (go west of I95, more residential). even though settling into a more senior populated area may be good for your business...the family style neighborhood would not be there and i don't think the kids would be happy...more focus will be on the senior community rather than the schools and families...you can always open up in that area but live somewhere else for your kids. by the way...you will find senior housing everywhere here in florida. the medical field is in high demand down here in florida and has been for a long time...you won't have any problem finding work.

i live in broward county so i am not familiar with the miami area but i hope this helped, you can always PM me if you more questions, hopefully this helps

[DJP]

Panama City, FL is located in the Panhandle & is a great place to live. I am not referencing the neighboring tourist city of Panama City Beach. In PC, there is an Air Force Base & Navy Base which brings great medical options - on base & in the city. There are also great opportunities for the small businessman & entrepreneur. According to the Census, PC has about 4% more people over 65 (16% of the city population) than the rest of the nation. The cost of living here is less than many other cities; however, the wage rate is less here, too. You should be able to purchase a relatively new single family home of about 1600-1800 SF for $330K-350. The pace here is slower than in some major cities - depends on if you like that or not, but in the right social environment, it's a great place to raise kids.

[rkumar3]

Being a realtor in South FL, I agree with Kaya6's analysis of the market... Tough to find a nice house below 300K house in newer neighbourhoods. Best bet is to go for something slightly older in an established neighbourhood with good schools. In Fort Lauderdale i personally favour West Davie and West Sunrise (for families with kids)... If you want to go northern part of Broward (closer to Palm Beach) i would suggest Deerfield.

[bamboosmom]

Deerfield is nice but crowded. We have friends in Deerfield and the homes in her neighborhood are tiny and expensive!!! [CUT]

[Turtle]

If you're coming from NY, I would definitely recommend east coast! It seems the east coast of Florida is mainly NY/east coast folks and west coast are midwesterners and it's really like two different worlds (no offense to NY or midwesterners, just an observation). I currently live in a gated community in Port St. Lucie (about 45 min north of West Palm Beach) [moderator CUT] There is a lot for sale around here right now and it's definitely a buyers market, so I think you should be able to find something nice within your range. I think $250,000 might be tough, but definitely under $350,000. Our whole community is only a few years old and has beautiful houses and pools and other ammenities and you could get in for less than your max price. We are a bit north of palm beach which some people think is too far, but the traffic, driving, and congestion gets way worse down there (anything south of PGA Blvd if you're at all familiar and it's totally crazy).

Trust me, I am not trying to sell you my house (I realize it kind of sounds like a sales pitch) I just want to give you some insight on your price range etc. Pretty much the further south you get, the more expensive houses are. I don't have kids, so I don't know much about our Port St. Lucie schools, so I can't be of any help there.

Good luck.

[aprilflower]

I agree with Turtle

Look for the thread in this forum (down a few pages) titled "Still low prices?".

I have a really great answer I typed out to the OP there (lol) and I don't want to be cheesy and cut-and-paste it here, but I think Port St Lucie bears looking into.

Along with the reasons listed in the thread, it has a very large retiree population, the need for healthcare workers/providers is huge! There are 2 hospitals in St Lucie County (one of them having first-class open heart center) one in neighboring Martin County (though they own a good portion of the private practices in Port St Lucie and are in the process right now of opening their own open heart center) and every year it seems someone tries to get a CON for a new hospital in St Lucie as well. Check it out, and feel free to PM me if you have any other questions, I happen to be a nurse working for one of those hospitals and can give you links to their websites if you'd like to research them.

Whatever/Wherever you decide, I wish the best of luck to you and your family!