Retiring to the panhandle - looking at Niceville/Bluewater Bay? (Plantation: best neighborhoods, real estate)

[trendi3]

Hello all. My DH and I are planning to retire soon and are planning to move from Memphis to the panhandle area. As we are both leaving long careers in law enforcement, low crime and good neighborhoods are a must. We both love the ocean and enjoy fishing and boating but, at the same time, would rather live somewhat inland in order to escape the high flood insurance prices. My research has led me to the Bluewater Bay area with our intention being to keep a boat at the Bluewater Bay Marina.
As I said, we are both retiring and really don't want to HAVE to work, so finding a home within our budget is a must. Can anyone recommend the best neighborhoods to look in with homes under 300k that would still be close enough to provide us easy access to our boat at the marina? The traffic is awful here in Memphis so, an area with lighter traffic would be wonderful (one reason why I didn't spend more time looking in Destin). Overall we are looking for a laid back, yet active, lifestyle. Our last child is about to go off to college but, as we are still relatively young (in late 40's), we're not quite ready for a "retirement" community - just want somewhere that we can relax and enjoy life for a change. Any suggestions and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[beachmouse]

Elevations in the North Bay area can run from pretty much sea level to 40-50 feet above sea level. Your real estate agent should be able to direct you to maps that show flood zones (you want Flood Zone X for lower risks, IIRC) In broad terms, the east side of Niceville to Bluewater Bay was developed later than the west side, and you find bigger, post-1975 housing stock there. There is generally a decent amount of inventory in the $200-$300K range, which will broadly get you a 1400-2000 square foot home with hit-or-miss upgrades from original specifications. Lots of military families in the area and, while they're going to fix something that genuinely breaks, they usually don't want to put a ton of extra money into a house they're going to sell three years from now when they PCS again.

[trendi3]

Thank you so much for the information. I have been reading the other threads and have found a lot of useful information there as well. My main concern was having to drive longer distances in order to get to the marina. My husband doesn't like condominiums at all so, it looks like Marina Cove Villages would be out but, a community close to there would be ideal. I sincerely wish that I could find a community/subdivision map of the Bluewater Bay area but, it apparently doesn't exist or I'm just not looking in the right place. It's difficult to tell which subdivisions to focus on for this reason.

[beachmouse]

With one or two exceptions (ie, the small pool in the Sunset Beach neighborhood) the amenities in Bluewater are available to anyone willing to pay for them whether they live inside the legal boundaries of the area or not. The rough boundaries are anything off of Bluewater Blvd or Bay Drive or the Magnolia Plantation neighborhood south of FL-20 and west of White Point Road, the Woodlands area east of White Point Road, and anything with 'Parkwood' in the name north of Fl-20. The other subdivisions off Lancaster and White Point road aren't part of Bluewater proper, but often get grouped in with them.

There is kind of a map here if you go down to 'Street Light documentation'

http://www.bluewaterbay.org/?page_id=180