Ft. Pierce, a bad neighborhood? (Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce: real estate, appraiser, houses)

[pslOldTimer]

Originally Posted by moving again and again

I am thinking about moving to Fort Pierce, FL. I have lived in California and Oregon more recently and will be graduating college this year. I'm thinking of buying my grandparents house off of Oleander (Street or Ave. not sure, if anyone knows this area). Can anyone tell me about this neighborhood? Safe, friendly, etc.? IRCC is not far, so that's a plus, including the beaches, which is why I'm thinking of moving there.

Most of the streets off of Oleander are solid, working class streets. My kids had several friends and fellow members of the high school band who lived on streets like Ixoria, Azalea, Wisteria and Maple. Most of their parents were steady members of the band boosters. None of them were wealthy, which is a good thing, because we weren't, either. The houses are older, and most of the streets run between US 1 and Oleander, which means that there are commercial ventures at the East end of most of the streets, such as restaurants, car dealers, rental places, gas stations, etc., but none of those businesses penetrate the side streets more than a lot or two. The folks I knew had jobs like UPS drivers, school cafeteria officials, teachers, postal workers, etc. Good, decent people who worked hard and were involved with their kids. None of their homes were ever going to be in Better Homes and Gardens...but they were all clean and well kept.

[dougie_fresh]

Originally Posted by dynamic8

If you really, and i mean really, want to stay in ft. pierce, go towards the coast. I'm kind of talking about Hutchinson Island, just across the causeway. The other areas are struggling with crime. I'll just leave it at that.

That's not true. There's plenty of areas in mainland ft. pierce that are safe. The Sunrise Blvd. area is nice as are areas of 13th street generally south of Delaware. Also ,there are plenty of great single family neighborhoods south of 25th street. Most of the apartment complexes along US 1 are nice too.

Fort Pierce has lower class areas, stable middle class neighborhoods, and even wealthy areas. It is an incredible diverse city in terms of socio-economic status.

[lavander blu]

psloldtimer, i would not say psl has a wonderful mix. we do have people from everywhere, but this isn't new york or la. it is more than 80% white american and everyone else falls in the 20 % (give or take 5 - 10%). in comparison to fort pierce (which i realize that's what you were doing) yes we have a "better" mix in psl.

[lavander blu]

6 minutes, 6 minutes, 6 minutes dougie fresh you're on

[lavander blu]

Originally Posted by gatorblueyes

Hmmm Ave G is too close to Ave D for my liking LOL.

me, too gator blue. me, too. or, as i like to call it ave d: the devil's avenue

[lavander blu]

to be fair, there are some very charming things about fort pierce, but not very many. there are too few to name in my opinion to make up for the fact that crime is rampant is fort pierce. this is information is received from listening to the stories of family members and friends who work in law enforcement and education in the area. not to mention, why would you want the stigma of the address? no one is going to care how big and gorgeous your house is if it has a fort pierce address.

[dougie_fresh]

Originally Posted by lavander blu

to be fair, there are some very charming things about fort pierce, but not very many. there are too few to name in my opinion to make up for the fact that crime is rampant is fort pierce.

No, crime is rampant only a particular section of Fort Pierce.

[pslOldTimer]

Originally Posted by lavander blu

psloldtimer, i would not say psl has a wonderful mix. we do have people from everywhere, but this isn't new york or la. it is more than 80% white american and everyone else falls in the 20 % (give or take 5 - 10%). in comparison to fort pierce (which i realize that's what you were doing) yes we have a "better" mix in psl.

Depends on what you call a "mix". My reference was to the fact that regardless of your racial, ethnic, religious or color background, you will be mixed into the general population of Port St. Lucie and will NOT live in a special "section". Almost every traditional city has a "Black" district -- Ave D in Fort Pierce, Roxbury in Boston, East Stuart in Stuart, the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Gifford in Vero Beach, Riviera Beach near West Palm Beach and on and on and on. Port St. Lucie has no such Black section -- or Hispanic section or Haitian section or Jewish section or Italian section or Martian section. Port St. Lucie is completely integrated -- there is no segregation of any sort.

This is primarily for two reasons -- General Development Corp sold vacant lots all over the world without regard to segregation, and the city is new enough that it's development took place since the advent of equal housing laws. And, the local real estate industry strictly abided by those laws, to their credit.

While the Census or others may have some idea of the racial and ethnic makeup of Port St. Lucie, the important thing is that no one cares.

Port St. Lucie is not a friendly place for traditional bigots.

[TriMT7]

Just move to the forgotten "inbetween" place of White City if PSL isn't doing it for ya!!

[LingLing]

Originally Posted by lavander blu

to be fair, there are some very charming things about fort pierce, but not very many. there are too few to name in my opinion to make up for the fact that crime is rampant is fort pierce. this is information is received from listening to the stories of family members and friends who work in law enforcement and education in the area. not to mention, why would you want the stigma of the address? no one is going to care how big and gorgeous your house is if it has a fort pierce address.

Just a comment. As soon as you are happy about where you live, you shouldn't care about others' opinion. I think you should check out the neighborhood yourself and just in case, check with local police department. I will also encourage you to check out the development plan for the city. I was just at downtown Fort Pierce yesterday and stopped at a new building project "Renaissance on the river". The price ranged from $425K/1458sf to 1.2 million/3300sf. Most of them are sold. Only eight units are available now. Among the commercial condos, only three are available. They are all priced very high. If it has such a bad zip code, why others are buying?