Villages of Lake Lucie? (Stuart, St. Lucie: short sales, foreclosures, condos)

[mama rose]

Our family is moving to PSL in a few months and we are considering this neighborhood. It's a small neighborhood, just south of Spanish Lakes, and is also near Savannah Golf Club. Is this a safe, family-oriented neighborhood? I know Spanish Lakes has a lot of mobile homes. Is it a 55+ neighborhood, or is it open to all?

What is this area of Rt. 1 like, what types of businesses are along there? Does the greater area lean more toward "nice and family-friendly" or "seedy"?

We have previously been looking at the area South of Walton, near the Savannah Preserve, but this isn't too much further from the Preserve.

We are looking in the under $170K range.

Thank you!!

[jvm47]

I live in Savanna Club. It is a 55+ community of 1900 homes. It is very well maintained. Spanish Lakes is also 55+. It is not as well maintained as SC but is still nice.
This is not a seedy area. We are north of most of the businesses on US1. There are many restaurants and stores in the area. If you travel 8 to 10 miles west, you can find more upscale places.
Lake Lucie looks like a nice community. Come take a look for yourself.

[mama rose]

Originally Posted by jvm47

I live in Savanna Club. It is a 55+ community of 1900 homes. It is very well maintained. Spanish Lakes is also 55+. It is not as well maintained as SC but is still nice.
This is not a seedy area. We are north of most of the businesses on US1. There are many restaurants and stores in the area. If you travel 8 to 10 miles west, you can find more upscale places.
Lake Lucie looks like a nice community. Come take a look for yourself.

Thank you for your response. We were in PSL at the end of April and were able to get a general feel for the city, and narrowed our search down to a couple of areas, but we hadn't seen this particular area. We plan to come again in the next few weeks. We can't afford, and aren't looking for, upscale areas. Just a family-friendly area where I will feel safe walking alone.

Thanks again!

[FlaLadyB]

For up to $170 there are a lot of areas you can buy in, just depends on what you are looking for.

Have you looked at what homes are available?

[mama rose]

Originally Posted by FlaLadyB

For up to $170 there are a lot of areas you can buy in, just depends on what you are looking for.

Have you looked at what homes are available?

Yes, we've been looking. We've bid, and been out-bid, on three different foreclosures. (We weren't limiting ourselves to FCs, but they were houses in areas we liked, and in our range.)

I feel like I've learned so much about PSL from reading all of your informative posts on various threads, would you mind if I ask you a few questions about specific areas? We are out of state, and have been down to PSL once, and will be down again next week. We do have a realtor who was recommended to us, and with whom we're very happy, but she's based out of Stuart and isn't as familiar with all of the PSL neighborhoods.

Questions re areas:
-We liked the area south of Walton, east of Lennard. We love having the Parkway and Savannah so close. Does the neighborhood drastically change south of Melaleuca? The crime stats from neighborhoodscout.com for north (71) vs. south (51) are very different.

How are the following areas...
-between Rt 1 and the river, north of Prima Vista (by the "elbow" of Rt 1)? We are considering a house in this area which has everything we want, but is old enough (1970) that we are a bit concerned about maintenance.

-between the river and Airoso?

-north vs. south of Prima Vista?

We are looking for...
-safe, family-friendly area, where I can feel comfortable walking alone
-no, or low, HOA
-4BR, or 3BR + office, or 3BR + family room that can be closed off (my husband will be working from home so he needs a separate space; we'd prefer not to have the "office" in our bedroom)
-under $170; under $160 even better
-pool
-doesn't need to have "latest and greatest" upgrades, but no fixer-uppers
-within 20 minute drive (10 would be better) to Vista St. Lucie condos (my mil will live there, and we need to be reasonably close)
-within 20 minute drive of the beach
-ideally, CBS and hipped roof
-no foreclosures (we need to move by end of summer or early fall and don't have any more time to deal with banks)

Thank you again for all of the information you've put on the forum. I've learned a lot from you.

[FlaLadyB]

there is a crime map from the Port St Lucie Police Dept that I would trust instead.

https://www.crimereports.com/agency/pslpd

It's an interactive map you can move around to the areas you are asking about. I see there is also an app that I haven't seen before that you can download.

There are areas you are looking at that I personally don't care for, but that's up to you. If I were you I would wait till I got here and drive the neighborhood around the houses you like. I would also knock on the neighbors door and say Hi, and ask questions. Pay attention to the cars and lawns of homes and how well they are kept.

Don't stick to just foreclosures since short sales are getting done much faster now. There are also homes on the market that are just straight sales.

Make sure that COMPS are done on the price for any house you choose to purchase. Some of the reasons for losing out on foreclosures is multiple bids and low offers. In the price range you are looking at, low offers go nowhere. On multiple bids cash is king and FHA loses big time. Be sure you get the offer in correctly and on time if there is a "highest and best" deadline.