[Boricua80]

Hello,

I was born and raised in Fort Walton Beach, although now I live in Los Angeles.

If you would like to consider beachfront property, the island has some beautiful properties, but you will pay a premium for those. All you do if take Hwy 98, go east over Brooks bridge, then make your first right onto Santa Rosa Blvd. Go all through there and check it out. You will find lots of beautiful beachfront properties, and is, of course, very close to FWB and Destin.

I agree with the previous post about areas north of I-10, they are like LA (lower Alabama!) and you may as well live there.

Fort Walton Beach has changed immensely from when I was born, and has a strong influence in economy from Eglin Air Force Base. Most people there are not originally from there and you should have no problem making new friends.

It is generally conservative, but really not a bad place to live. Enjoy!

[Memphis1979]

Niceville, Valparaiso, Shalimar, Destin, are all decent areas. FWB is fine, I know a few people that live on the north west side of town, and their neighborhood is fine. I think she pays 700 a month for a 3 bedroom place.

What exactly are you looking for? How old are your kids? The best schools are in Niceville.

I moved here a year ago, so ask away.

[TP123]

No Kids. Just two middle agers looking for a place in the sun near the water....
Seems like everyone else has children and the whole area, in addition to the military, revolves
around 'family'.

Some other questions...

What do/did you like best and least about the area?

If there was one thing you'd do differently for your move what would it be?

Are the homes on the Intercoastal waterway with open ocean access a viable option?

Any idea how easy it is to start a new business?

Most of all THANK YOU for all the great info. After the run ins with (you fill it in but you know of whom I speak...) I was beginning to think there were no nice people here.... I can see this is not the case. Just goes to show that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! Same folks who take over HOA's so they can play little Hitler. Go figure.

Thanks for all the great advice and info!

[beachmouse]

I think my biggest complaint is how isolated the area feels sometimes. I get 95-98% of what I want out of daily life here, but if you're looking for something only found in the Big City, it's about 3.75 hours of one way driving to New Orleans and about 6 to Tampa, Orlando, or Atlanta.

Of course, it's not as bad as the isolation you get in Hawaii.

The intracoastal homes are an option, but you need to be a bit patient becaue it's a bit of a hike to Destin Pass from a lot of them. I would seriously avoid the Holiday Isle section of Destin, even though it's close to the Pass. The whole area is roughly 18 inches above sea level and they have a lot of issues with hurricanes.

Florida in general is supposed to be pretty small business friendly.

My do things differently for the move story involves trying to find an open gas station that sold diesel in Andalusia, Alabama at 12:30am, but that's probably not relevant to your move.

One pleasant surprise about the area- the food. The local restaurant scene is a lot more varied than you'd expect for an area its size- the New Orleans burnouts, military war brides who open up a little Thai/Korean/Japanese place, and BBQ folks trying to make a go of it at the beach all bring something interesting to the table.

[TP123]

I LOOOOOOVE BBQ! And my wife loves asian cooking. Sounds great.

And I did not realize that Nola was so close. And don't P'cola and Mobile count as big cities? How long to Talahasee or Jax?

I was stationed in Pensacola for 4 years and fell in love with the place. I hope it hasn't changed much since the mid-80's (roll eyes). I lived on Perdido Key (sp) for awhile and use to watch the dolphins swin by. And I'm also re-learning how to fish and play golf... both of which the area seems perfect for.

Your advice is right on about the Insurance for water front homes and the storms.

The only 'Hurricane' I want is one at Rosie's in Pensacola or Pat's in New Orleans!

You mentioned live music... do they ever have music/concerts on the beach or at the parks?

ALSO: does the U of Fla. or equiv. have a campus near FWB?

[TP123]

ALSO:

Its called the Emerald Coast cause of da water.... see how qqqquick I is?

But I did not know the sands' whiteness is due to crushed up Quartz from the Mountains in GA.?

[beachmouse]

There's enough going on in FWB that there isn't much that Mobile, Pensacola, or Tallahasse would have that greater FWB doesn't, save for minor league hockey in Pensacola, or FSU-related things, a cool museum/zoo and a Costco in Tallahassee. Jax is fiveish hours, which is at the point where you might as well just go to Tampa unless you're looking to surf Atlantic beaches.

There are a couple different outdoor live music series, some geared to locals, others in more touristy areas, and a ool first time event this year that will hopefully be back is:

30A Songwriters Festival

edt: higher education in these parts is one comprehensive community college, and assorted smaller 'workforce education' programs run by different larger schools at the bachelor's level and higher, which works out to the expected business/accounting, education, and nursing programs and about eight different engineering and technology programs associated with what they do on base. (I've seen job postings for the University of Oklahoma and University of Arkansas Eglin programs in recent years, and many more of those kinds of schools are local players)

[Boricua80]

Here are some answers to a previous post...

"What do/did you like best and least about the area? I liked the beaches there the best. Least, probably the hurricanes, sometimes jobs can be hard to find.

If there was one thing you'd do differently for your move what would it be? I was born there haha, so can't answer that one too well.

Are the homes on the Intercoastal waterway with open ocean access a viable option? Yes there are, plenty of options.

Any idea how easy it is to start a new business? It can be tough but depends on what you want to do.

[TP123]

Surf Atlantic Beaches ?!? ROFLOL

THIS I gotta see

Thanks so much for the great info between this and sites like Craigs, 30A, etc. I feel
we're getting some great info.

First drink's on me!
(Do 'you all' drink Mai Tie's down there?)

[2bohemians]

Ok, we feel like we've got really behind in this discussion. Seems like everyone is giving great honest advice so far. So we're not sure what we can add other than photos! Here are a few photos from the Scenic 30A Beaches, enjoy:

Watersound Beach with Camp Creek Outflow




Grayton Beach State Park




Western Lake -- one of many rare coastal dune lakes




Topsail Hill State Park -- another one of many state parks along the beach




The painting one us did for the 30A Songwriters Festival
L to R: Emily Saliers from Indigo Girls, Rodney Crowell,
Jennifer Saunders, Chely Wright behind and Gary Louris



Sunset at Blue Mountain Beach