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Old 06-11-2010, 07:56 AM
 
6 posts, read 27,885 times
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We are vacationing on Okaloosa Island at the end of June. We are taking a trip over to Pensacola and checking out the area because we would really like to move to the area in the next year. My husband and I both work for the Federal Prison and we are hoping to transfer from Indiana. I have heard good input on Pace. I have a daughter in Jr. High and a son who will be starting college. Good schools and a nice area to live are my main concern. We have vacationed in the panhandle for the last 10 years and absolutely love it!! Any input would be appreciated!! Thank you!
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Old 06-11-2010, 10:45 AM
 
2,878 posts, read 4,621,782 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey7beard View Post
Good luck in your search Mango. We've been looking for some secluded property for years now. Oddly enough we ended up with a piece of land just west of Live Oak. As I've been in the city my whole life I'm sure being 8 miles out of town, and a small town like Live Oak, will be an adjustment. Personally, I know myself and I can wonder around my acreage alone for days on end and it won't bother me. My significant other I'm not so sure about. She's been more than encouraging to make the move, but I don't see it in her.

We've had the place for about a month an a half now. It was a basket case (still is) that I was able to buy dirt cheap, even by Live Oak standards. There's only one neighbor withing normal walking distance that I'm likely to see. He's a very nice old guy that is unfortunately moving to the city to be close to medical facilities. One of the first things he did was invite me to join his church. One of my rules of survival is don't talk politics or religion, and right off the bat this guy ropes me in. Now I could manage to sit through a service or two without it bothering me, I'm a people watcher and day dreamer so I can do most anything for a little spell. But what I can't do, or won't do, is leave my dog alone. If he can't go with me, I don't go, unless it's mandatory. But I did it in a manly way, I told him my "wife" would probably love to go.

I don't let it get to me as I don't take it as a life sentence. It wouldn't bother me to put the place right back up for sale if I don't like it. I lived in the same house for 26 years and figured I die there. Adapting to change hasn't been one of my virtues. I sold out due to it's proximity to water with the inherent inability to get insurance, and the constantly rising property taxes. Now that I've pried myself out of that "never change" rut, I'm a regular rolling stone.

Good luck in your search.
Interesting post. So, what can I find around Live Oak, preferably further away from town with not that many people around - what would a 10 or 20 acre property run me?

Also, can I expect people riding ATVs all weekend, screaming drunk and raising hell, gunshots etc.? Or is it generally peaceful? Any space to ride my horse all day long without seeing a car or an ATV?

Thanks!
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Old 06-11-2010, 11:18 AM
 
39 posts, read 73,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ognend View Post
Interesting post. So, what can I find around Live Oak, preferably further away from town with not that many people around - what would a 10 or 20 acre property run me?

Also, can I expect people riding ATVs all weekend, screaming drunk and raising hell, gunshots etc.? Or is it generally peaceful? Any space to ride my horse all day long without seeing a car or an ATV?

Thanks!
We ended up with 10 acres 8 miles west of town for about $40K. It's just off a nicely paved county road, but far enough off that I don't hear much traffic. The well was there but no pump/tank/plumbing. Septic was there and appears to work. Power pole there. There's a small mobile that needs a lot of renovation but suits our purposes quite well. And, there's an old crumbling cracker house on the lot that appears to have enough life left in it to make a very nice shop for me. As the property hasn't been lived on for about 5 years it's quite overgrown with 4/5 year old oak scrub and weeds. For a lot of reasons this places suited our needs quite well, but it wouldn't be most folks cup of tea. The property in front of mine is for sale, 5 acres, fenced, underground power, nice older mobile, out building, pond, nice mix of woods, cleared, fruit trees. I think the guy is now at $75K. There seem to be a lot of semi rough mobiles with 5 acre lots available for in the 50K range.

As far as guns/atvs/drunks. In general, I haven't seen or heard any of that, with the exception of the 135 acre place next door to mine. Yep, occaisionally I'll hear them pop off a half dozen or so rounds of shot gun shells. And yes, twice I've seen them riding an atv on their property. And once they did a rip roaring tour of their property in a Dodge 4x4, engine screaming. Ordinarily I would have thought it would have bothered me, but it didn't at all. It's so quiet there so much of the time, the very brief noise and activity wasn't annoying at all. And, they actually seemed quite civilized about it all, just enjoying themselves.

I'm not a horse person and haven't seen anyone riding, but I don't know why you couldn't. There's plenty of places to ride and I do see some equestrian signs along the road. I'm sure if you were into the sport you'd know where the spots were.

So I'd rate the area as a quite, no heck raising, respectful kind of place. The older folks in the pickups generally wave as they go by. When I go into town the people have been more than nice and polite. So far, so good.
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Old 06-11-2010, 11:27 AM
 
1,468 posts, read 4,739,907 times
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Originally Posted by Grey7beard View Post
We ended up with 10 acres 8 miles west of town for about $40K. It's just off a nicely paved county road, but far enough off that I don't hear much traffic. The well was there but no pump/tank/plumbing. Septic was there and appears to work. Power pole there. There's a small mobile that needs a lot of renovation but suits our purposes quite well. And, there's an old crumbling cracker house on the lot that appears to have enough life left in it to make a very nice shop for me. As the property hasn't been lived on for about 5 years it's quite overgrown with 4/5 year old oak scrub and weeds. For a lot of reasons this places suited our needs quite well, but it wouldn't be most folks cup of tea. The property in front of mine is for sale, 5 acres, fenced, underground power, nice older mobile, out building, pond, nice mix of woods, cleared, fruit trees. I think the guy is now at $75K. There seem to be a lot of semi rough mobiles with 5 acre lots available for in the 50K range.

As far as guns/atvs/drunks. In general, I haven't seen or heard any of that, with the exception of the 135 acre place next door to mine. Yep, occaisionally I'll hear them pop off a half dozen or so rounds of shot gun shells. And yes, twice I've seen them riding an atv on their property. And once they did a rip roaring tour of their property in a Dodge 4x4, engine screaming. Ordinarily I would have thought it would have bothered me, but it didn't at all. It's so quiet there so much of the time, the very brief noise and activity wasn't annoying at all. And, they actually seemed quite civilized about it all, just enjoying themselves.

I'm not a horse person and haven't seen anyone riding, but I don't know why you couldn't. There's plenty of places to ride and I do see some equestrian signs along the road. I'm sure if you were into the sport you'd know where the spots were.

So I'd rate the area as a quite, no heck raising, respectful kind of place. The older folks in the pickups generally wave as they go by. When I go into town the people have been more than nice and polite. So far, so good.
What is the town of Live Oak like in general from your observation? also, how did you find the property? I have driven around a bit and often see for sale signs that are just there, not advertised. Also sometimes someone will tell you about something you could have never found on your own. It would seem you have to find the area first and then go there and just look.
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Old 06-11-2010, 12:12 PM
 
39 posts, read 73,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mango23 View Post
What is the town of Live Oak like in general from your observation? also, how did you find the property? I have driven around a bit and often see for sale signs that are just there, not advertised. Also sometimes someone will tell you about something you could have never found on your own. It would seem you have to find the area first and then go there and just look.
Live Oak impressions? Boring, but it has all the facilities i need. It's an old town, and I like that part. I've always liked old buildings. There seems to be a decided lack of parks and walkable neighborhoods and that is the part I find most difficult to transition from. The town I live in now has parks all over every neighborhood and I walk extensively with my dog, using the parks as destinations and as places to rest before heading home. Going to town so far seems to be drive in, get supplies, go back home. I'm sure I'll make the adjustment, but, other than being on, and enjoying, my property, there appears to be no place to go. But then, I'm not a restaurant or bar or shopping person, I'm a walker and observer, and in that respect Live Oak seems lacking.

It's a dry county, not a big deal to me, but it is dry. Lots of churches. Lot's of political bill boards. Seems clean. The outlying areas seem nicer than a lot of areas I've looked at. People are friendly and accommodating.

Finding the place. I probably looked at 2,000 places on line through Realtor.com, and regularly watched the Craigslist properties. I actually looked at maybe 10 properties through a Realtor and one by owner. The Realtors in that area have a system called Matchmaker. As would seem obvious, the Realtor puts in your criteria, then the system auto sends you any properties that match. I found this a very nice way of keep track of properties without having to deal with he Realtor on each one. I still receive these updates as I find it interesting to keep up with the market.

In spite of this, I found this property through a little sleuthing. I looked at one property by owner. When I was chatting about the history of the property, the seller mentioned the guy who used to live on the property had lived for awhile on the abandoned property "over yonder". Once the gentleman's property sold, I no longer felt obligated not to purse the other property I'd found out about from him (Odd how we all have our personal code of conduct). I looked the property up on the property appraiser's web site and sent the sellers a letter. Afterwords, I had a full price offer pending on a REO property that the bank was sitting on and not responding. Lo and behold, the seller called me, and long story short, we made a deal.

If someone were more city services needing kind of person, I'd have to take a close look at Lake City.
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Old 06-11-2010, 02:34 PM
 
1,468 posts, read 4,739,907 times
Reputation: 1087
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey7beard View Post
Live Oak impressions? Boring, but it has all the facilities i need. It's an old town, and I like that part. I've always liked old buildings. There seems to be a decided lack of parks and walkable neighborhoods and that is the part I find most difficult to transition from. The town I live in now has parks all over every neighborhood and I walk extensively with my dog, using the parks as destinations and as places to rest before heading home. Going to town so far seems to be drive in, get supplies, go back home. I'm sure I'll make the adjustment, but, other than being on, and enjoying, my property, there appears to be no place to go. But then, I'm not a restaurant or bar or shopping person, I'm a walker and observer, and in that respect Live Oak seems lacking.

It's a dry county, not a big deal to me, but it is dry. Lots of churches. Lot's of political bill boards. Seems clean. The outlying areas seem nicer than a lot of areas I've looked at. People are friendly and accommodating.

Finding the place. I probably looked at 2,000 places on line through Realtor.com, and regularly watched the Craigslist properties. I actually looked at maybe 10 properties through a Realtor and one by owner. The Realtors in that area have a system called Matchmaker. As would seem obvious, the Realtor puts in your criteria, then the system auto sends you any properties that match. I found this a very nice way of keep track of properties without having to deal with he Realtor on each one. I still receive these updates as I find it interesting to keep up with the market.

In spite of this, I found this property through a little sleuthing. I looked at one property by owner. When I was chatting about the history of the property, the seller mentioned the guy who used to live on the property had lived for awhile on the abandoned property "over yonder". Once the gentleman's property sold, I no longer felt obligated not to purse the other property I'd found out about from him (Odd how we all have our personal code of conduct). I looked the property up on the property appraiser's web site and sent the sellers a letter. Afterwords, I had a full price offer pending on a REO property that the bank was sitting on and not responding. Lo and behold, the seller called me, and long story short, we made a deal.

If someone were more city services needing kind of person, I'd have to take a close look at Lake City.
Thanks for your answer it was very informative. I should be up your way again soon. There is a property there I will be taking a look at when I hear from the Realtor, it is a foreclose. I wanted to go up last week but she told me not to come till she knew more. It's a 900 mile round trip so running back and forth is out of the question.
Thanks again
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Old 03-15-2011, 03:01 PM
 
2 posts, read 3,126 times
Reputation: 10
I live in Missouri just south of STL am looking forward to moving closer to the beaches this summer. Can't take another winter. Looking for some advice on the Port St Joe area west to PCB. have a 12 yr old boy and a husband will need a job but is certified diver so can prob land something in that line. I am an RN so work should be easy for me to find. Not much into traffic but can tolerate PCB was there last year in spring break. Just wanting some info on culture, etc. We lead a laid back lifestyle. By the way, I have lived in Live Oak and Mayo. Just 7 years a go. 1st husband and brother are buried in Mayo.
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