[cateyes741]

My husband and I are being transferred to Eglin AFB and are looking for property management companies. Also, what area is near Eglin? Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

[beachmouse]

Welcome to greater Fort Walton Beach! Base housing office can probably give you a nice big list of what are a lot of mid-sized players in the area. It's quite common for people passing through Eglin to buy and hold here with the idea of retiring here down the line, so there tend to be a lot of single family and townhouse rentals of those properties to help pay the mortgage when owners get orders for Germany or South Dakota or something. The apartment scene on the other hand, is decidedly mediocre.

My usual advice for base folks is to look at the north side of Fort Walton Beach (Shalimar, Poquito Bayou/Longwood, Kenwood) for really easy access to West Gate and also the east side of Niceville (including Rocky Bayou and Bluewater Bay) which is a 20ish minute commute to the East Gate but gets you away from the runway noise issue you can have in west Niceville/Valparaiso.

We're in Bluewater Bay- pedestrian-friendly, just across the toll bridge from all the fun stuff in Destin, and in the attendance area for one of the best elementary schools in the state. One of the houses next to us is a rental- 1600sf, 3/2/2 and goes for something in the $1100-$1300/month range. It's a big master-planned coummunity that was designed with the idea of nice homes for people with different incomes and at different points in their lives, and while the 1600-2400 sf single family is most common, you can find anything from a 600sf condo to the million dollar house on the bay out here.

Crestview is cheaper and has some newer housing stock, but puts you further away from what makes the area unique.

[cateyes741]

Thanks for the reply. We are looking for at least 3000 sq feet and from what I have read Fort Walton is the best area. It seems Crestview and Niceville don't have much to offer. We are coming from Augusta, Ga where there is an abundance of large homes to rent and I am not having much luck finding anything near Eglin.

[beachmouse]

3000 square feet is large for the area unless you start venturing into some of the newer parts of Niceville, Destin and the beach resort areas or direct waterfront. You may be able to find cheapish 3000sf in Crestview, but it would probably be an indifferent 90s tract home.

A large non-waterfront home in Ft. Walton proper can actually be hard to find as you're discovering- Eglin owns 95% of the land south of I-10 where peope here want to live, and that land in private land is effectively 95% built out at this point. Most of Fort Walton Beach proper is 50s-70s construction, and 2500sf was huge for that era.

For that size, Destin north of US 98 (ie. the non-touristy areas of town) would probably be where you had the most luck. There are a fair number of 80s-00s golf course homes and it would seem like some of them would have drifted into the rental pool.

The condo option:

EmeraldCoastHomesOnline.com

Single family in Destin:

EmeraldCoastHomesOnline.com

EmeraldCoastHomesOnline.com

You might find more options further out in the Sandestin resort area if you're okay with a summer commute that both sucks and blows and are willing to pay a premium for being in Sandestin.