What about Port St. Lucie ? (Jensen Beach: mineral rights, foreclosures, rent)

[herryjohn]

What about Port St. Lucie ? Cost of living, school, employment rates ?

[TD*]

Port St. Lousy!

[robert.nun]

Its a nice place in FL. Low Crime Rates, Lots of Local Amenities, Low Cost of Living, Sunny Weather.

[New PSL Owner]

Like most people, you probably can't handle the truth, but there it is anyway. Except for an atrocious number of fundamentalist churches and drug rehab centers--(why is that all about I wonder?), PSL is (largely) a really nice-looking and quiet place for retirees. No jobs unless you are in the skilled trades, retail, an "entrepreneur," or in sales. Since a lot of the homes were built ten years ago in the newer sections of the city, trades like painting, hvac, and other home repair are doing well replacing elements that have a ten year lifespan, like water heaters for example. Otherwise, don't move here looking for a job, especially if you have children. Besides, what happens after all the ten year old water heaters get replaced, huh? There is nothing for kids to do and we don't want to have them getting into trouble in this nice quiet area, do we? There are virtually no mid-management or professional jobs working for companies. Even retail is rudimentary here. Hexx, we don't even have a Macy's, and the local Walmart has only two kinds of white (Chinese made) sneekers. The people are pretty nice though. We like it here, we really do, but we live in a nice area which is kinda-sorta semi-rural. Try to stay away from the east side of the city and also avoid living near Ft. Pierce, which is an "old Florida" depressed town, (unless you have lower standards of course.) Stay away from cheap homes you see on the internet--they are trashed or sloppily rehabilitated by "investors" who used cheap labor and materials. The streets where these homes can be found almost always have one or more undesirable neighbors. (Their houses aren't as well-maintained as they should be.) Like everything else, you get what you pay for and there is no "bargain." Sure, people brag about picking-up houses inexpensively, but they don't tell you about the foreclosed dump next door or the confederate living across the street with flames painted on the side of his pickup truck, which is parked under the confederate flag nailed to his garage. (We actually saw this with our own eyes.) If you don't have a problem with this, fine. He came here for God knows what reasons during the housing boom and now is stuck with monster mortgage payments, (which he may be avoiding.) Nevertheless, his lack of home-ownership skills will disappoint your dream to live on a nice neat and quiet middle class middle class street. Almost the whole town looks like it was rather recently built for the middle class, but it attracted a good number of people who really shouldn't have been given mortgages but were, due to lack of government regulation and tea party laissez faire capitalism. Little-by-little these people lost their homes or are slowly leaving, but many streets still have foreclosures or only semi-well-kept homes. For example, who keeps trash cans in the front of their homes? People with low standards concerning what is required to be "middle class. In summary, the city is really nice and slowly improving by attracting retirees with at least some degree of affluence--not rich but solidly middle class. There are lots of places in Florida like PSL--recovering from phoney housing prices and the debacle of the financial collapse of this country.

[LordHomunculus]

Psl = yawn!

[herryjohn]

Originally Posted by New PSL Owner

Like most people, you probably can't handle the truth, but there it is anyway. Except for an atrocious number of fundamentalist churches and drug rehab centers--(why is that all about I wonder?), PSL is (largely) a really nice-looking and quiet place for retirees. No jobs unless you are in the skilled trades, retail, an "entrepreneur," or in sales. Since a lot of the homes were built ten years ago in the newer sections of the city, trades like painting, hvac, and other home repair are doing well replacing elements that have a ten year lifespan, like water heaters for example. Otherwise, don't move here looking for a job, especially if you have children. Besides, what happens after all the ten year old water heaters get replaced, huh? There is nothing for kids to do and we don't want to have them getting into trouble in this nice quiet area, do we? There are virtually no mid-management or professional jobs working for companies. Even retail is rudimentary here. Hexx, we don't even have a Macy's, and the local Walmart has only two kinds of white (Chinese made) sneekers. The people are pretty nice though. We like it here, we really do, but we live in a nice area which is kinda-sorta semi-rural. Try to stay away from the east side of the city and also avoid living near Ft. Pierce, which is an "old Florida" depressed town, (unless you have lower standards of course.) Stay away from cheap homes you see on the internet--they are trashed or sloppily rehabilitated by "investors" who used cheap labor and materials. The streets where these homes can be found almost always have one or more undesirable neighbors. (Their houses aren't as well-maintained as they should be.) Like everything else, you get what you pay for and there is no "bargain." Sure, people brag about picking-up houses inexpensively, but they don't tell you about the foreclosed dump next door or the confederate living across the street with flames painted on the side of his pickup truck, which is parked under the confederate flag nailed to his garage. (We actually saw this with our own eyes.) If you don't have a problem with this, fine. He came here for God knows what reasons during the housing boom and now is stuck with monster mortgage payments, (which he may be avoiding.) Nevertheless, his lack of home-ownership skills will disappoint your dream to live on a nice neat and quiet middle class middle class street. Almost the whole town looks like it was rather recently built for the middle class, but it attracted a good number of people who really shouldn't have been given mortgages but were, due to lack of government regulation and tea party laissez faire capitalism. Little-by-little these people lost their homes or are slowly leaving, but many streets still have foreclosures or only semi-well-kept homes. For example, who keeps trash cans in the front of their homes? People with low standards concerning what is required to be "middle class. In summary, the city is really nice and slowly improving by attracting retirees with at least some degree of affluence--not rich but solidly middle class. There are lots of places in Florida like PSL--recovering from phoney housing prices and the debacle of the financial collapse of this country.

Thank a lot for tell me about Port St. Lucie.

[newred5]

Moved to Port Saint Lucie from Western NY area about three years ago ..Much of what New PSL owner says I agree with ... Nice area, Low crime rate ..but I wouldn't stay completely away from the East Side if PSL, My wife and I live East of US 1 in a newer development . Close to stores, mall , Jensen Beach, Restaurants and the beach and Indian River ....

[z.kurtlen]

Please, I have some questions. I found this thread informative, and thank you all for posting.

1.Can anyone tell me about hurricanes? PST seems to have less than most of FLA. What and where exactly does one go in a hurricane? Sandy was 800 miles wide. I am still not over it (now live in the NE now, and it was terrifying.)
Catastrophic climate change seems unavoidable at this point, yet I must move where it is warm.
I'm thinking of moving there for health reasons.

2. Is there overt racism? It probably would not affect me directly, but I hate all that stuff, and find intolerance intolerable.

3. Do you have many fracking wells there, and if not are is there some giant gas company pushing for wells that you know of? After viewing Gasland 1 and 2, I have no wish to be blown up and or poisoned by fracked water, air and soil.

4. Are there any small shops, health food stores, or farmer's markets? I refuse to shop at Walmart, and cannot, again for health and sanity issues, purchase what they label "food". (no insult intended to anyone here.)

5. Is most of the population from Fla., or are there many folks who have moved there to retire or relocated?

6. Are the beaches nice? I'm guessing that's pretty much all there is to do.

7. What is the average 1 bedroom rent monthly?


If anyone will answer even one question, I would be most grateful. I have to get out of this cold, or I am not going to make it through another winter.

Thanks to all, in advance. Any and all opinions are most welcome.

Take good care!

[newred5]

1. Haven't experienced one , so I can't help
2. I would say no
3. Have no idea
4. Yes, Farmers Markets on Sundays in Suart, Weds in Ft Pierce and Sat in Ft Pierce . Also Nelson Family farms ( an outdoor produce market open 7 days a week
5. From all over
6. Beaches are nice, free and every where . Yes most activities focus on water , outdoors, fishing , boating etc. Many many parks as well
7. I would say it would depend on where you live but a range of 750 and upwards

[Meezermom]

1. It's Florida, and hurricane season is from November through June. There are always warnings or watches, but usually it gets active in August/September. That being said, there haven't been any for a while (fingers crossed). We get rain in the afternoons in the summer (pretty much guaranteed), and we do get tropical storms sometimes. For the most part though, Sunny Florida isn't called Sunny Florida for nothing.

2. Port St. Lucie, where we are (Tradition) has a good mix of people.

3. I'm guessing from this question, you are either in Pennsylvania or Ohio. Nothing overt like that here. I did read about H. R. Horton giving back mineral rights to their unsuspecting Buyers - found that kind of interesting.

4. There are Farmer's Markets, Arts and Craft shows, and I'm sure if you search, health food stores.

5. Florida in general, is known as being transient. That means many people are from other states - we are from all over.

6. The beaches are beautiful, and no, that's not all there is to do. We have golf, shopping, restaurants, museums, theater, etc.

7. Can't help you there - I don't know, but there is a very helpful and knowledgeable realtor on this board who might jump in to answer that question.

Hope this helps a little.