How is Ocala Fl?? (Jacksonville, Gainesville: property taxes, transplants, work)

[verobeach]

Originally Posted by bar21

Just a fair warning to anyone wanting to move to ANYPLACE in Florida.....DON'T! I was born and raised in central Fl. Moved to south Fl. and N. Fl. for a while. Spent all 42 of my years here( except for going to college out of state a couple years) Florida is the armpit of the world...and save your trite "well, why don't you move" comments. I'm moving to Iowa and the dismall statistics regarding this pathetic state can only confirm my opinion.....or you can just come find out for yourself, if you can stomach it! I know this sounds HARSH but sometimes the truth is just THAT.... HARSH. P.S. N. Fl. is better than S. Fl. ..but still bad.

Gee, can you be a little specific? Something tells me that if you spent 42 years in a state that you hate then you'll hate Iowa too. And the next state, and the next state, and..... GOOD LUCK!

[mareep]

Hello I read you comment about liking Ocala, can you please give me some feedback if you still feel the same? you posted your comment not so long ago and I was wondering if you still feel the same about Ocala?

Thank you.

[newteacher]

I moved here in July from South Jersey, and I love it here. Now that it's finally cooler it is really great. This is a good place to live.

[Weareocala]

Hello, just want to answer a few questions from previous posts. The movie theater in question is in Ocala, less than 1 mile from my home. The sinkhole is manmade, a poorly designed retention pond directly behind the theater washed out dirt in at least 2 areas, across the street at an ofice building, and under the theater building. Still up in the air what insurance will pay (who's responsible?) from what I've heard. Sinkholes are an issue in central Florida, I feel that many are caused by man pumping so much water out of the ground.
SR 200 runs diagonally southwest out of town down to Citrus county. It has the mall (And a new mall also under construction) just about every restaurant, store and car dealer you can imagine on it. Add all the retirement communities on 200 (just outside the city limits) and there is quite a bit of traffic at certain times of day, and days of the week. We live on the east side, just out of downtown. It's beautiful here! Most of our customers show up and ask if there are homes for sale around us.
The real estate market: It's a buyers market! A person I know just got a brand new 2007 home, 2380 living sq ft, never lived in, originally $305K, bought it for $249K. Buyers are getting real deals, and the investors are starting to move again. Some people are still asking high prices, but not many are getting them. Silver Springs Shores is a bedroom community of Ocala, 2-3 miles or so southeast of Ocala, 2 miles or so south of Silver Springs. Very popular, with lots of homes in many price ranges.
Well, enough already! We love Ocala, it's a great place to live and raise a family. It has growing pains and pros and cons like most other places, so if you move here, be a positive, active member of the community, together we can work to keep it a great place for our kids and grandkids.

[graymare]

I live in a small town outside of Ocala callled Hernando. It is tied in with a chain of lakes known as the Tsala Apopka Chain of lakes. It is very peaceful, rural and relaxing. I am 19 miles from Ocala and have all the perks of country living with the advantages of being near a city. There is an over 55 community called Arbor Lakes in Hernando, which is situated on the lake.

[deflinn]

There are plenty of walmarts there is at least 3 in ocala and more in surrounding towns they are building a new mall and their is so much fun things in florida we have lived here for seven years we are going to haveto move ifi could say one down size is that my son has autism and they do not have a lot of programs so we are going to have to sell our 2 houses but i have been to alot of cities in florida and ocala is one of the best areas if you want to talk some more email deflinn@yahoo.com debbie

[donnabaabs]

My family is considering moving back to florida. We once lived in the winter haven, lake wales area. We want something a little smaller than those cities. Does anyone have any suggestions. I am in the healthfield, and my husband drives truck. I also have a child going to middle school, so that is important to me. I would like a small town without alot of crime.

[mjcammo]

Renting first as you first noted is a good idea. I lived in Ocala for 5 yrs and moved back North because it just was not for me - - that does not mean it is not a great place. We can always give you tons of opinions but experiencing any location first hand always seems to be the best if you're relocating out of necessity or choice. Wish you the best!

[petticoatjct]

Originally Posted by hollikee

Hello everyone

My family and I are moving soon and we need to find a nice place. We were thinking of Ocala, but need your input. Is the housing expensive? How is the shopping (mainly is there a Walmart Supercenter nearby lol) and how about dining? Are tornadoes ever a threat there? Is the town big enough to have a hotel and theatres etc.? Thanks in advance!

Ocala is a nice place to live, except that the area seems prone to sinkholes. But everything else is great. One other thing: you can only water your lawn twice a week due to drought conditions.

[Weareocala]

I don't know of anyone who has had a sinkhole form on their property in Ocala in many years. I've shown hundreds of homes to people over the years, 1 home had a small depression in the backyard which had been filled in in the 90's. It had been inspected and certified as safe by an engineering firm. I had 1 customer call for insurance on a new home, the girl (out of state) answered "sinkhole!" after hearing the zip code. I called her back, asked her where the sinkhole was (zipcode is my neighborhood!)? She said she didn't know. I talked to her supervisor, on their computers all of central Florida shows as having possible sinkholes, and they charge extra. We got a new sinkhole surcharge last year, we can elect to drop this coverage now thanks to the legislature. A Walmart in town was built in an area with several caves I explored as a kid, there is a park next to it with the entrance to a cave. The Walmart has a seismic alarm! (This per a customer who is an assistant manager) Wonder why they built there?