[Larry7]

My wife and I are planning to relocate to Florida from Maine. The current prices of Condo's is very inviting. I retired from the USAF in 1968 and would like to hear from others that have retired in Florida. Are there any communities that are convient to Military bases that you would recommend? We do want to be able to use the base facilities or least within a half hour drive or so. We have around $100,000 to purchase a place and do plan on staying year round. Maine winters are just too cold for us now. Could anyone recommend a retired USAF real estate agent that we could contact? I do like to play golf occationally too. Thanks.
Larry & Elaine

[seeriously]

Maybe time to assimilate into the real world. We have all kinds of people here in Florida, retired from every walk of life.

[Larry7]

Thanks, we've been in the real world for awhile now. A base will help on our retirement $. The warmer weather will help keep the marriage together, -18 this AM and she wants to move to a warmer climate before next Winter. Thanks for your response. Can you recommend any area's in Florida?
Larry

[seeriously]

Larry, as a loosely followed rule, the Atlantic side generally attracts folks from the Northeast. You'll see familiar restaurant chains and banks and occasionally a New England seafood restaurant. People will root for the Red Sox or the Yankees and if these things are important to you then I'd suggest the east side. People on the gulf are generally from the Midwest. You'll see more Chicago-familiar foods over there and they'll root for the Chicago teams and the Packers.

Have you considered Pensacola? I've never been there but it has a strong retired military population.

I live in Vero Beach, hence my name. If we had it to do all over again, we'd probably still settle in Vero Beach because it's a pretty area. What we miss is proximity to a large city. If the economy were better, we might be checking out Jacksonville, maybe the Ponte Vedra area but we're not unhappy here.

Just ask yourself what it is you're looking for then ask yourself what it is you'd miss. There's no right answers. We all got to Florida one way or another and some of us are happy and some are not. I hope you'll be happy here. Florida has so much to offer.

[Keeper]

Check out Tampa Bay area. MacDill AFB is there. There are lots of smaller towns if you don't want to live right in Tampa or St. Pete. There are a lot of mil retirees too.

Tampa has a lot of activities for all ages. There is the Tampa Bay Performing Arts where you can catch Broadway Shows and concerts, art festivals during the spring, Yankee spring training and all types of water sports from fishing, sailing to kayaking. There is a pro football, baseball and hockey teams. There are 55+ communitites if you are looking for that lifestyle.

[RetGI]

Originally Posted by Larry7

My wife and I are planning to relocate to Florida from Maine. The current prices of Condo's is very inviting. I retired from the USAF in 1968 and would like to hear from others that have retired in Florida. Are there any communities that are convient to Military bases that you would recommend? We do want to be able to use the base facilities or least within a half hour drive or so. We have around $100,000 to purchase a place and do plan on staying year round. Maine winters are just too cold for us now. Could anyone recommend a retired USAF real estate agent that we could contact? I do like to play golf occationally too. Thanks.
Larry & Elaine

Larry,
You retired in 1968? Is that a typo? I retired USAF in 1987 and retiring from FAA in a couple months to Homosassa on the west coast. It's about an hour from McDill AFB in Tampa. Anyway, I'm surprised you aren't familiar with the military installations throughout the state but primarily on the east coast is Patrick AFB at Cocoa Bch and the Naval Base at Jacksonville. Also in the panhandle is EglinAFB /Hurlburt Field at Ft. Walton Bch, Pensacola Naval Air Station, Pensacola and Tyndall AFB in Panama City. Those are the major installations.

[FLBob]

I'm from an AF family, so I understand the value of having base services available. I think Keeper makes a good suggestion with Tampa. Jacksonville may be another place to checkout

Here's a link to a list of military bases in FL

[2bohemians]

We are thinking you might want to check into the Destin / Fort Walton Beach area. Eglin Air Force Base is located in FWB and it is a very military friendly community. We have some other folks who are looking for the same type thing and have decided that now is the time for them to purchase. We just recently saw a condo for $40,000 Had to do a double take to make sure we were seeing it correctly. Yes, it was small. Yes, it was an older building and nothing fancy but it had a gulf view and it was $40,000 !!!! Needless to say, before our people could jump on it, the sale had gone pending. So, if you are ready to take the plunge, you will find a world of choices await you!

[MarylouD]

Larry,
You must check out Viera, a planned community near Melbourne. Patrick Air Force base is only a few miles away, there is a new Veterans hospital, lots of golf courses and a community that is for retired military. Here's the link...[url]www.viera.com[/url]
The housing is reasonable and the weather is perfect. It is near the beach on the Atlantic side. We watch shuttle launches from our lanai.

[Larry7]

Thanks for all the suggestions on differant area's in Florida. I did make a typo mistake on the year I retired and it was in 1988. I never was lucky enough to be stationed in Florida, so I'm not familer with the bases or area's around them. The Tampa area and being able to use facilities at McDill AFB sounds good. We are also concidering the area around Orlano and being able to travel to either McDill or Patrick AFB. I do believe we will be a couple from Maine that will "love" Florida, even after reading all the threads from writers that just hated it and moved back up North. The housing market just seems like it may be the right time to make the move. Thanks again.
Larry