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Port St. Lucie - Sebastian - Vero Beach St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties (Treasure Coast)
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Old 05-20-2015, 08:43 AM
 
116 posts, read 175,105 times
Reputation: 36

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Hello,

we are a couple in our late 50's and have a daughter who lives in Delray Beach. We had started looking in Palm Beach County for work/housing ... although we found jobs, the jobs we were offered were not to our likeing.
Now an opportunity has happened that looks better... it is between Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie. We will consider a 45 to an hour comute to get the right community....

We plan on visiting the area, but to be honest I have never been there.

I am looking for some general information about the area so that I can plan a "getting to know the area" trip.

Things I am looking for help with....

Known bad areas/towns
quirks about the area that may not be known to outsiders...
WE do not want to live in a FEMA flood zone, no beach front etc... (Been there done that!)
nice areas not in flood zones would be good to know about...
additionally no 55 plus communities...
prefer single family communities....
mid range in price 400,000 to 600,000

some sort of community...what I like to call "a there, there"....a downtown, or cultural area...etc....

thanks in advance!
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Old 05-21-2015, 01:09 AM
 
2,956 posts, read 2,343,801 times
Reputation: 6475
St lucie west is very nice. Plenty of communities out there. Just do your research. Chinese drywall can be an issue and not all the communities are created equally. You'll find a great amount of disparity in what you get for your HOA dues and what you pay in taxes from community to community. Pretty crazy really when you consider some areas have nearly double the non-ad valorem tax as one just down the road and the HOA dues can be very high to quite reasonable. Buyer beware.

We built in traditions in a Toll Brother home. I'd advise against buying anything in there or anything built by them down here in SE FL. If you must have one then stick with the single floor variants and good luck.

Minto is a better builder and built an all around better home. So if Traditions is your thing then check them out.

Honestly, we didn't care for Traditions. Now the Estates there by Toll Brothers gave you next to nothing for your HOA fees and combined with the then Core Communities (no clue what its called now) it gets pretty pricey to stay there. Considering you end up driving to the events anyway it kind of doesn't matter if you come from inside Traditions or just outside. Wasn't worth it to us and we fortunately sold just before the market crashed. In addition, many of those communities (divosta excluded) have tons of renters and foreclosed homes we really didn't end up liking that area once we got past the initial "this is cool". Now i'm sure its cleaned up some as those homes got worked through the courts but don't let anyone tell you differently its still a big problem there and other communities that were built at the height of the boom (New Port Isle being another).

PGA is very nice.

Lake Charles is a nice community.

If you want something outside a community you can look in Torino which is a nice area. Some even have small HOA's but aren't gated off like Windy Pines but I'd avoid anything by KB homes in that area.

There are others as well. You can probably find something more than satisfactory under your budget range.

Areas to avoid? PSL is very safe. If you go north to fort pierce there are some very rough areas but in general so long as you're not walking down Avenue A-Z at midnight you're fine even there.

If you want an excellent local realtor send me a PM and I'll send you his info. No relation to me. Guy is just awesome and cares about his customers.
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Old 05-21-2015, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida
4,507 posts, read 9,204,029 times
Reputation: 1999
Traditions is made up of different groups of homes in different communities built by DIFFERENT BUILDERS. Not all are created equal and prices and floor plans are varied There is also NEW construction. At the moment there are not tons of renters OR foreclosures . A lot of the homes on the market are straight sales now.

Chinese drywall did NOT affect much in communities in Tradition. The condos in Tradition behind Publix - yes, but they aren't looking at those. Some places in Bedford Park, but those are pretty much gone now. Vitalia- which is 55+ , was started up by Levitt & Sons, did have chinese drywall in some of the original homes, but those have been gone for a while now. All new construction and new builder for a number of years and going strong.

Taxes on ANY house will be different according to when the prior owner purchased the house and if the owner had Homestead or any other deductions. That can all change with a new purchase.

HOA dues involve 2 HOA's. One is the main one for all of Tradition. which acts like an umbrella. Then, each community has their own. HOA fees will depend on how many homes are in that community and what additional services that community has decided to provide their homeowners. It varies from around $305 up. Some are gated, some are not. Some have manned gates, some do not. Some include lawn maintenance, some do not. Etc....

Windy Pines, by the way, is next to major power lines that come directly from the Power Plant. The Torino area in general is great. Newer individual homes built during the building boom. There are almost no HOA's in Torino. There is one small group of townhome/condos, Vizcaya Falls (which has never been completed), and a small group of homes in Winter Lakes.

ok... Im going to stop with the area tour.

I lived in Tradition for 6 years and loved it.

It depends on what you are looking for on your "wish list" and what you LIKE. You may also want to look at various nearby areas if you are looking in that price range.
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Old 05-21-2015, 01:38 PM
 
1,381 posts, read 2,306,761 times
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What's the current status of the proposed "sober home" that was approved for Torino ? I would want to know about that before I bought a home there

http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle...-a-524464.html
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Old 05-22-2015, 05:18 AM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,900,561 times
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Quote:
We built in traditions in a Toll Brother home. I'd advise against buying anything in there or anything built by them down here in SE FL. If you must have one then stick with the single floor variants and good luck.
Wow some things never change. I bought a Toll Bro house in 1987 and it was a mess. My punch list was as long as my arm and it took months to get everything done. And even then nothing was done right. Bad finish carpentry, bucked wavy drywall, nailpops all over and exposed cornerbeads, holes in walls and my garage door, formica split right in front of the sink spigot.....
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Old 05-22-2015, 07:07 AM
 
116 posts, read 175,105 times
Reputation: 36
thanks all...that was extremely helpful...
this is a delicate question...how do you feel about the social mix at "Tradition" vs PGA?
ages,families vs retired...snowbirds etc....religion mix?

thanks in advance
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Old 05-22-2015, 07:37 AM
 
Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida
4,507 posts, read 9,204,029 times
Reputation: 1999
Toll Brothers isn't building in Tradition. They pulled out of the Estates a long time ago. Anyone building in there will be completely new.

Tradition and PGA have a completely different mix of social groups. Totally different everything.
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Old 05-22-2015, 09:07 AM
 
116 posts, read 175,105 times
Reputation: 36
Thanks FlaLadyB

from what I can see on the good ol' google...lol... I think we would look at Tradition first... it seems to have a mix of homes which is a positive thing for us.... we don't want to be in an older person "gettho" even if it is a more afluent place... We are planning our get to know the area trip.... thanks again
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Old 05-24-2015, 08:18 AM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,900,561 times
Reputation: 17353
Quote:
Originally Posted by yasadora View Post
Thanks FlaLadyB

from what I can see on the good ol' google...lol... I think we would look at Tradition first... it seems to have a mix of homes which is a positive thing for us.... we don't want to be in an older person "gettho" even if it is a more afluent place... We are planning our get to know the area trip.... thanks again
On May 18th you said you were staying up North.

Interesting choice of words from someone in their late 50's.

In my experience, people who decide to move here already talking about ghettos are rarely happy once they get here.
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