Merritt Island (Jacksonville, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale: insurance, condos, homes)

[KlayKey]

My husband and I are retiring next year and want to move from NJ to somewhere warmer. We enjoy the beach and boating, prefer the Atlantic to the Gulf Coast, are looking at SFH's and condos with a boat dock. Possible spots are New Bern and Carolina Beach in NC, Fort Lauderdale area in FL.

Merritt Island recently emerged on our radar as there are many SFH under 400K with dock and pool. We lived in Central FL 25 years ago, visited Cocoa Beach about 10 years ago.

Anyone care to guess what the future holds for Merritt Island? There are so many properties on the market. (Yes, we are aware that NASA is scaling way back.) Are our neighbors likely to have 4 cars (only one of which runs) parked in their front yard? Will folks from Orlando swoop in and buy? Will taxes skyrocket - either due to diminished tax base or a demographic changeover putting more kids in the community?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by KlayKey

My husband and I are retiring next year and want to move from NJ to somewhere warmer. We enjoy the beach and boating, prefer the Atlantic to the Gulf Coast, are looking at SFH's and condos with a boat dock. Possible spots are New Bern and Carolina Beach in NC, Fort Lauderdale area in FL.

Merritt Island recently emerged on our radar as there are many SFH under 400K with dock and pool. We lived in Central FL 25 years ago, visited Cocoa Beach about 10 years ago.

Anyone care to guess what the future holds for Merritt Island? There are so many properties on the market. (Yes, we are aware that NASA is scaling way back.) Are our neighbors likely to have 4 cars (only one of which runs) parked in their front yard? Will folks from Orlando swoop in and buy? Will taxes skyrocket - either due to diminished tax base or a demographic changeover putting more kids in the community?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have.

Because of all of those uncertainties I would hesitate to invest in that price range there. I'd recommend checking out the Amelia Island-Jacksonville Beach-Ponte Vedra Beach-St Augustine corridor. Good luck!

[KlayKey]

Thanks. We'll take a look there as well. I was indeed surprised by the depressed R/E market in Merritt Island. I thought such a situation was confined to places like Punta Gorda.

[perryrip]

KlayKey,

I grew up at Carolina Beach and went back for the first time in 20 years last summer. I would recommned steering away from Hanover County in general given the growth explosion and the crowdedness, not to mention taxes and risk of hurricane.
We've explored the possibilities of living on S. Merritt Island for years, but don't know if that's where we'll wind up. Insurance was an issue for us in that area. We could get it with Citizens (the State subsidized company) but it would be cost prohibitive on the older home (88 not up to post Andrew hurricane standards) we were looking at. I personnally have seen some nice homes in South Merritt Island in the price range you mentioned and would think you could get something to suit your needs. I do think you might want to explore the St. Augustine area as well.

perryrip