Buying land in Gainesville FL area, Alachua County

[49_Retired]

Your looking at a guy that was born and raised there! All the stuff you said gets old ... It's very hot in the middle of Florida, and NO WIND! People are courteous but somewhat closed minded. Tom Petty and Rodney Mullen grew up there, and neither ever returned " Home " after they made it big time. And if you and your hubby ever divorce, you'll be stuck as a middle aged woman in need of a time machine with zero social options in a college town in the middle of nowhere!

[Dmac13]

Property taxes are pretty high in Alachua County which is where Gainesville is located. If that doesn't bother you, there are lots of properties on the outskirts of Gainesville that are still relatively close. But if you want to keep your costs down, Gilchrist county or Columbia County to the north is much cheaper to live in and you can drive to Gainesville in less than an hour. I know people who live in High Springs who work at UF, which is dead center Gainesville. They don't mind the commute.

[leelala]

Thank you. That is helpful information. Outer Gainesville is the ideal, but if that doesn't work, High Springs is attractive.

[FLMom10]

I know I'm a few days behind on this thread but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I have lived in Gainesville my entire life and, while there are ages/life stages where it's easier to live here, 49_Retired seems a bit bitter in my opinion. There are lots of folks in your demographic around here and there are lots of wonderful things to do.
Anyway, I noticed that High Springs and Gilchrist county were suggested, as well they should be. Another suggestion would be Union County - the town of Lake Butler. There's not much to it out there, but there are some spots that are just gorgeous. I wouldn't suggest it for schools, but that doesn't seem to be a factor for you.
I live west of I-75 in the county, but just barely outside the city limits. A dear friend of mine has a 15+ acre spread in Lake Butler that takes me 30 minutes to drive. We take hwy 241 straight out (through the town of Alachua) and it is a beautiful drive. Once you get through Alachua there aren't any lights - just two stop signs. When you get to the end of 241, take a right onto county road 238 and keep going until you get to Lake Butler. There are lots of houses you'll see on that drive, with lots of people who have plenty of space.
Bonus - the taxes are SO much lower than they are in Alachua county. My friend pays less in taxes on 15+ acres with a house and two outbuildings than I do on 1/5 of an acre with a small house in the county.
Good luck on your selection/move!

[leelala]

Thanks very much for the recommendation to Lake Butler. We haven't driven through that area. Next scouting trip we will. It is way rural, but has a convenient location with proximity to I75 and I10.

[Grey7beard]

I'm a little late to the game on this thread but it hit so close to home I though I'd toss in my $.02.

I'm pretty much a life long Florida resident who took an early retirement. Because of the income restraints of early termination of income we moved out of the Tampa/St. Pete area to the outer sticks. Our first two years were on the western side of Suwannee County, with Live Oak being our closest city. On the positive side I found out I could actually live in the sticks, something I was doubtful of, and we were in the sticks. Due to circumstances it became apparent a move closer to civilization was in order.

As we weren't dependent on jobs our search area was unlimited. We looked at many properties and situations from Pine Island/Cape Coral to Tallahassee. We quickly fell in love with the Gainesville area. We settled in between High Springs and Newberry. Everybody has different druthers, but from our perspective we felt like we'd died and gone to heaven. We're close enough to Gainesville to have all the services we need, but still "in the country", so to speak.

Our wants and needs sound a lot like yours. My main interest is gardening and raising fruit trees, as organically as possible. Plus, we needed to keep it very cheap, including property taxes, which seems to run counter to what Alachua Country is known for. Fortunately I'm quite skilled in the building trades so I'm able to fix most anything that doesn't have major structural damage. We found a very well built older 1,800 sq ft mobile home with a huge pole barn, fenced/cross fenced, on a paved road for a very low price. As there is a $50K homestead exemption for owner occupied properties, I think our taxes would be reasonable by any standards as we didn't pay much more than that.

The area abounds in nurseries and organic farming. You need to be aware of the ground characteristics of the property you're looking at (I'm sure you're aware of that) because the area seems to vary quickly from swampy to sandy to highly fertile. I feel quite fortunate, considering what I wanted to do, in finding nice black fertile soil. I've already planted over 40 fruit trees and a grove of 30 blackberry bushes. Right now I'm busy planting our vegetable garden.

I will grant that one previous poster that is can be hot. We moved off the coast and were accustomed to the moderating effect of the gulf. I've watched the weather closely since moving inland and have found that it does indeed get a good bit hotter during the days than it used to down "home". But, as a consolation, it also gets cooler a night than along the coast. Mornings, for most of the year, are much nicer than in our old haunts. In our old Live Oak address our property was covered with oak trees and they always gave us good protection. Here we're not so lucky. This was a horse property so there's only one large oak on the whole 5 acres. When we were initially looking at the property last July I stopped by to drop off some supplies and was amazed at how hot it was. The oaks back in Live Oak had prevented me from suffering the worst of a central Florida summer. Such is life, some good, some bad, but all in all, we love it here. Good luck in your search and stop in sometime if you're exploring the area.

[leelala]

Greybeard ~ thanks for the description of how you are creating a productive and beautiful place. We are in Gainesville right now looking at properties in the area...we are most interested in Southern Columbia County - as close to the Santa Fe River and Alachua Co line as possible. Hope to make a connection with you.

[Grey7beard]

That is a very desirable location, close to everything except the tax man. I was just out exploring just that area on Old Bellamy Road and saw an interesting mobile, five acres, repo, $60K. I don't know what your criteria is exactly, but that's my kind of place. I'm still in the very early stages of making my new place "my place", but I never stop shopping. I love shopping the most when I'm either broke, or have no intention of buying. O Leno State Park is right where you're looking and I love that park. Best of luck.