[kath2210]

I have lived in Sebring for 22 years. This town has grown a lot since then. If you're looking for the small town atmosphere especially to raise a family, then Sebring's for you. You are only 1-1/2 from either coast, Tampa and/or Orlando. Lakeland is approximately 45 minutes. There is a holistic practitioner here as well as several health food stores who will try and get anything you need (our daughter has allergies and they've always been helpful in ordering things not in the store for us).
As far as interracial familes, there are many here. No one looks down on you. My niece is of mixed race and I have several friends who are in mixed families. Yes, there is a poverty section of town, as in every town and city. It is located pretty much downtown. There are many subdivisions built around Sebring. And yes there is crime but mostly related to drugs. Not that that's an excuse. We've enjoyed living here but are in the process of selling our house and relocating back North due to my husband's health which doesn't seem too soon due to the massive amount of houses for sale here.

[MrTudo]

Hi all,

I had a well in a house I owned in Wellington which is a suburb of west palm. I had a house in a section named Paddock Park I. It was a custom built home on a little more than a acre and all houses there were on septic and on well. That house however had a very deep well and no smell whatsoever. Regardless I had a rainsoft purification system as well as a softener . I would not have a softener now since learing about how it contributes to hardening of the arteries, which also means blocking up the heart. I would do a purifier on well water but definitely not use it for drinking. No way.

As an asides by the way, when I owned that house in welllington, I had gas installed and also 2 new hot water heaters ( it was a BIG house and I was a show off idiot for buying it in the first place, fyi ) After having new hot water heaters installed, I noticed that the hot water smelled like rotten eggs. Rainsoft came out a few times but there was NOTHING they could do! Now this house according to the experts at zillow is a 7 figure house these days so imagine having rotten egg smelling water!

I searched and searched and searched the net for answers and found that removing the "anode tube" in these heaters would eliminate the problem. So that's what I paid a plumber to do. We emptied the heaters afterwards, started the system back up and, voila'! Smell all gone.

Hence if you have those problems , look into the anode tube removal.

The average HOUSEHOLD income in that area is less than 25K a year. Jeez Louise. That's almost half of what it is in Port Charlotte and lettme tell ya, it's not wall street here in Port Charlotte. So how can little houses that were sold for 100K OR LESS in 2002-2005 be listed at 300K and 225K now? Incomes didn't go up and in fact jobs for average people there are being CUT!

I guess the market is falling and the fact there have only been 3 solds in 8 months in one area we are looking at that has 750 homes in it, and 3 solds in another area tells us that we would be taking a shot in buying one of these houses.

There's still a lot more to research but I have a feeling that we will be making an offer on one of them "within" the upcoming week and we will be nosing around the area again on thursday.

[Jammie]

Oh my!!! Where have they been cutting jobs in Sebring? It seems there arent that many to start with. Actually, there are a lot of jobs there, but the openings are mainly part time at very low wages.

And Kath, we got to drive through the slums one time. Aren't they something? But the fact is, if we hadn't gone through them, we would've never known that such a place existed there because there are a lot of nice areas there.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Oh my!!! Where have they been cutting jobs in Sebring? It seems there arent that many to start with. Actually, there are a lot of jobs there, but the openings are mainly part time at very low wages.

And Kath, we got to drive through the slums one time. Aren't they something? But the fact is, if we hadn't gone through them, we would've never known that such a place existed there because there are a lot of nice areas there.

Hey Jammie, there's a plant that apparently has been in existence for over 40 years and according to the local paper, they have called it quits and will be permanently shut down in August. They are for all intents and purposes closed now but are leaving some employees on to shut the place down. They are in packaging materials.

Far as slums, we drove past what looked like crack town off of Rte 27. I asked the realtor is that was what it looked like and she said yes.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Mr. Tudo, we didn't really notice any rolling hills in the Sebring/Lake Placid area. Maybe our definition of hills is different, but to me, it wasn't hilly.

Hey Jammie, no, I didn't see any hills either although the driveway into one of the houses that interests us has a slight incline

Macguy, I lived in Ft Lauderdale when Palmetto Bugs would attack you if you made a phone call at a payphone at night ( lights went on? ) Then there were no Palmetto bugs. Then no green lizards. Then Hurricane Andrew . I was living in Imperial Point then. I loved Ft Lauderdale. Seriously. But I go back to the late 70's in that town. Town? Ha, it really is a city now eh?

I could never live there now. It's just too crowded and too expensive for what you get in return. It IS nice not having the insects but you know, and sometimes I miss the "real" Chinese restaurants there as well as markets, and shows at Broward Performing arts ( went to see Cats 25th anniversary there last year! ).

Love Skyline Chili when I'm there and had a few 3 ways in fact last week when I saw my dentist on 26th in wilton manors.

Did I say I could never live there again?

[Jammie]

OK. If I remember correctly, that cardboard plant is in Avon Park. Wonder why it's shutting down cause just a few months ago they were looking for employees. It's kind of a shame because they really don't have much in that area for factories or anything.

[MrTudo]

No, not Avon park. This plant is almost at the corner of Rte 70 and 27. It was in the newssun newspaper last week but I can't find it in the archives now.

Hey Jammie, or anyone, have you been to Highlands Hammock State Park? What's the opinion on it?

We'll be back there again tomorrow hopefully to meet a contractor who does additions. IF what we'd like to do can be done at a fair price, then the joust will be that much closer to getting started

[Jammie]

No, unfortunately we haven't been there. We had been going to different places and were going to take an afternoon and go out there. It's only 3 miles from where we stay. But instead we opted to just sit by the pool and relax because it was our last day there. My family loves to go out there though. I understand it's like the "Old Florida" and they also have entertainment there. There's a family friend who plays in a band and the band plays out there quite frequently. It's supposed to be a neat place to go.

[MrTudo]

Hey Jammie, I just found the local paper offline and read the story. It seems to be a pretty big deal. It's the Georgia-Pacific plant that's been there since 1968. Employees have already been given the news and the plant will close August 1st.

It will then be broken up and sold.

100 People are losing their jobs. While that may not seem like a lot, look at the stats from Census.gov or a similar website and it looks like the equivilent of 1 in 7 or 1 in 8 people are out of a job as of Aug 1. That's significant yes?

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Hey Jammie, I just found the local paper offline and read the story. It seems to be a pretty big deal. It's the Georgia-Pacific plant that's been there since 1968. Employees have already been given the news and the plant will close August 1st.

It will then be broken up and sold.

100 People are losing their jobs. While that may not seem like a lot, look at the stats from Census.gov or a similar website and it looks like the equivilent of 1 in 7 or 1 in 8 people are out of a job as of Aug 1. That's significant yes?

YES, that's a very significant number and it's awful! In the past, we've seen a lot of "Help Wanted" signs, but they're generally for part time employment. This will make it even worse unless they bring something new to town.

I was also shocked that within the past few months Ocala was losing jobs. It seems like just one factory was going to be laying 500 people off. Of course the population there is quite a bit more then in Sebring, but I'm just perplexed as to how some people are surviving there. Wonder if those people who are being laid off will end up having to leave town. There seem to be a lot of retired or semi-retired people who live there, but there are also many people who are still working age. Can't imagine how they'll be able to pay the high insurance rates and mortgages.

So when will you be starting to deal on the house that you like in Lake Placid? I think I read in another thread that you were planning on making something like the 25% offer. Is that right? What made you decide to leave Port Charlotte?