want to move to gulf breeze FL. help!!!! (Pensacola: fit in, homeowners insurance)

[yardshot]

hello everyone! I have a lot of things I want to ask you guys!

so I guess I will start by saying that me and my family live in Oregon, and we would like a warmer state. Let me say that I HATE Oregon with such a deep passion, everyone here is always in a bad mood because of the rain, and constant cloud cover! There is always a gloom over this state.

So we are looking to start our lives somewhere different. After about 6 months of doing a lot of research of the entire Untied States, Florida really sounds like the best spot for us, more specifically Gulf Breeze FL.

All I have heard about this place is great things. Everything from the schools, to how nice the people are, and how great the weather is.

Ok so what is the bad? The one thing i REALLY worry about is the hurricanes . Coming from Oregon where there is never any kind of natural disasters, you could see why this would freak me out.

Before anyone says "well if you worry about the hurricanes then do not move here" I have heard it before so please just help me relax a little about them rather than just flatout tell me not to move there .

I just want to know how bad they get there, how often, ect. Oh also do you get tornadoes there??


I was also curious what kind of homeowners insurance would you want to carry living in Gulf Breeze? And what would be a general cost of the insurance?


Also coming from Oregon what would be a huge shock for us?

I have read that the people are very nice in Gulf breeze, what is considered nice? Are we talking nice as in they are always in your business, or just very polite.

Oregon people are horrible! Let me just say, i have lived in Oregon my whole life (i am 21) and now have NO friends. All the friends turned to hard drugs, and no one here is very friendly so it makes it very hard to get friends here.


I also just want to add that, yes i am only 21, but i am way mature for my age. My wife is also 21, and we have a 2 year old daughter ( just figured i would gave you some more background on us to better be able to help us with are questions)


Ok well that is all i will throw in for now. I do apologize for all the questions at once.

Oh one quick thing, we are looking to buy a single family home not rent.

i look forward to hearing back from you guys

[willow wind]

So you want to move to a spit of land, at the end of a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides and you want to know abut hurricanes ?

First of, Gulf Breeze is definitely subject to evacuation orders in case of a hurricane. So being ready to move out and having somewhere to go, possibly for an extended period, is a must. Evacuation routes, etc. are all on the internet.

Why would you have to evacuate?- storm surge. Hurricanes bring not only rain, but possible flooding.

How often would you see a hurricane- impossible to know- the chance resets every year. You can go several years with nothing or have a year with a few or more. That said, the Pensacola /Gulf Breeze area has been hit several times in the past 20 years.

Not only would you need hurricane insurance but possibly also flood insurance. Can't give you idea on what it costs- it depends on the size, age, quality of your home, what mitigation factors are in place and the exact location of the house, etc. Too many variables to come up with an accurate idea. Also some parts of Gulf Breeze are much higher in elevation and much safer from flooding than others.

As for tornadoes- well that can happen anywhere. I don't think Gulf Breeze is any more more at risk than the rest of FL.

[The Raven]

Gulf Breeze is a nice area. You might be a little perplexed driving around, but you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Hwy 98, which is the "main drag" through town, can get very busy. Morning traffic can be very busy. And there is not "interstate" through or even very near Gulf Breeze.

You're close to Pensacola, so the shopping/dining opportunities are pretty good. It's a very nice location.

As for hurricanes, I've been through about a half-dozen hurricanes (in the area) and I wouldn't let it bother you much. You typically have a few days of warning before a hurricane hits...more than enough time to prepare and evacuate if you fell that's necessary. The people who get in trouble during hurricanes are usually people who make foolish decisions, but they make those decisions with days of time to think about it.

Hurricanes become much more of a threat to life and property the closer to sea-level and the coast you are. In Gulf Breeze all the property is "low-lying." So when you shop for a place to live, think "above the water."


Coming from Oregon I think the biggest "shock" you'll experience is the culture. This is a very conservative, family-oriented, Christian-focused area. Democrats are scarce, and liberalism is not thought of very highly by most of the residents in this area. There are A LOT of active duty and retired military families living there. This is a "God, Country, & Family" area.

Tornadoes aren't much of a problem along the Gulf coast, because most our storms tend to not be as well developed as you'll find in places like the midwest US. We see a lot of storms containing a smattering of small, unorganized small cells. As they move forward...usually northward...they become much more powerful and dangerous.

The Gulf coast is a place where the storms are typically "spawned," not a place where you often see large squal-lines with massive wall clouds rolling in over you. But what you need to understand about the weather here is the danger of being struck by lightning. Florida gets more cloud-to-ground lightning strikes than any other area on earth.

[yardshot]

That is very interesting about the lightning, but that doesn't bother me as I love to watch a good lightning storm every now and then. We would love to live in a very family oriented community, also we are currently trying to find our spiritual connection and would love to find a good church to fit into, so that's also very appealing that its a very christian oriented place as well. We don't know any conservative people and we currently don't have any political views, and yes we know that's bad,but we are more focused on treating others kindly and trying our best not to judge others, which can be hard with all the smear campaigns going on. But we really want to find a place were we are accepted into the community. So with that said, are they very accepting to new comers?