Tampa - Crystal River, housing, schools, HEAT??? (Orlando, Sanford: renting, hotel)

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by OldLineStateGirl

Being a teacher, how are the schools in Florida?

I don't know Citrus County schools, but if they are like most of the rural school districts in Florida, they are grossly underfunded and laying people off.

It won't take a lot of effort to find out what the condition of the school district is. Just do so googling and you'll find out in short order.

RM

[engineman]

When we were transferred to Jacksonville some years ago, we rented an apartment for a year while we got to know our way around. Surprise, at the end of that year we were shipped to south Florida. We were glad we hadn't bought a house.

My wife wound up teaching in private and parochial schools because she had too much experience and the county schools wanted people who would start lower on the ladder.

[Sgt. Buzzcut]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I didn't say it was a certainty, but of the 100+ nuclear plants in the US, CR3 is currently the most likely to be shut down within 5 years.

Direct and indirect employment by Progress Energy is most certainly the largest employer in the County. Not everyone who serves the facilities is a Progress employee, but there are many thousands of local residents that have jobs due to the existence of the plant.

Please go back and re-read what I stated. Progress Energy is, by far, the largest contributor to the county's tax base and infrastructure support. In fact, when the nuclear plant was added to the coal plant in the 1970's, the county's property tax revenues at the time DOUBLED.

I am sure that the Citrus County School system or some other supporting infrastructure organizations (hospitals, fire departments, police, etc) have a lot of employees, too, but local goverrnment and non-profit organizations do not pay taxes.

You may not also be aware that nuclear utilities make extremely large payments to these organizations annually for the support that they require. For example, there are a huge amount of assets in the community (fire, medical, police, etc) dedicated for emergencies that may arise at Progress facilities. If the plants go away, the assets and the employees needed to operate them go away.
When a large auto plant or steel mill in a small town shutters, do you think that the locahospital, fire and police departments keep running like nothing happened? I think not.

I can't find any data on what Progress (now Duke) pays. I can say that there's a heck of a lot more development now than there was in the 70's. Communities like Citrus Springs , Terra Vista, Brentwood, Pine Ridge Estates, where pretty much cow pasture back then. We're an oddity up here in Citrus i.e. Animal control, DCF, Fire all falls under the Sheriff. The jail is actually a private jail (CCA).

I've seen plenty of small towns in Michigan lose their major employers, it didn't help but it didn't paralyze the towns either.

[OldLineStateGirl]

Wow, alot to digest and I'm so appreciative of all the comments - please KEEP THEM COMING!! These are things we need to hear - the good, the bad, the reality. Of course, when I hear Florida I'm thinking beaches and sun and fun. . when I mentioned living near the plant, I was thinking about this dream in my mind. .. of living near the beach. And I can't imagine that there are many beach communities with a nuke plant in their backyard (but I might be wrong - however, I don't know if I want a nuke plant in MY back yard).

So, to refine my thoughts . . . let me get more specific. Yes, my husband is being brought in due to construction issues with the plant. He does not work for Progress, Progress/Duke, whatever it's being called now that they've merged, but another company (which will remain nameless). He is, God bless us, paid well. We have our home here that we own and we want to keep and rent out up here. I know logically that you are correct in that renting is the best option should a "meltdown" (lol) occur and CR3 is shuttered. But I personally have a very, very hard time with the concept of renting if I can actually afford to purchase and carry something. It definitely has it's place and I've done it several times in the past. One might say "well, if you buy and the market tanks, it's money down the tubes anyway" but I have no intention of buying and then trying to sell in 3 years. I want to buy it. . .and then rent it when we leave. I'm looking at this as a long-term investment.

SOOO - that brings me to a more specific question -

should we want to buy with future intent to rent out, and my husband is working at CR3, what cities/towns are good options to consider that are within a 50 mile commuting radius (you may say that is too much but here in metro DC/MD/VA area, that is in the realm of the norm - not ideal - but certainly not an anomaly, we are used to doing this in the past if it creates better opportunities for our kids schooling, extra curricular ops, etc) of the plant were there is a good rental market (for snowbirds, students, foreigners who come over to vacation, whatever it may be).

Which brings me to another question --

of these areas you are going to recommend, what school areas are decent? My kids current attend parochial school and we probably will try to continue with that down there (how are private schools in Florida as far as accreditation?) Of course people with families with school-aged kids may be looking for rentals too and therefore I always have my eye on the public schools' performance.


And as far as the actual housing --

what rents the easiest? Condos, townhouses, SFH? Do you have basements in Florida? What are the MUST HAVES in a home down there? up here we do alot of hardwood flooring, carpet.

Thanks for all the replies in advance.

Plus - any unsolicited advice for questions I have not yet thought to ask - please feel free to share it!

[Mike1306]

Look around Beverly Hills, about a 19 mile drive and some very nice subdivisions there. Don't know what the schools are like though.
If it is less than a 5 year stay, rent don't buy and I certainly wouldn't be looking to buy with the intention to rent it out in the future.

[Sgt. Buzzcut]

OP your're not going to find as near as good a beach experience in Citrus compared to places like Clearwater or Miami. The view is nice but the water and sand quality plus the size is not as good. I took a ride out Fort Island Trail one day, it's beautiful out there, kinda small...the power plant is right over your back shoulder, it's huge. One good thing is what we lack for beach is made up for IMO by nice rivers and lakes and springs. Rainbow River head springs is a great place to visit.

Most schools are very good in Citrus. Plenty of homes for sale also. There are several waterfront homes for sale in my neighborhood of Hernando. From casual observation I believe the east side of the County is safer than Crystal River and Homassassa. Inverness, Hernando, some parts of Citrus Springs, Terra Vista are the better areas although there are pockets of bad. Citrus County Sheriff has a website with a crime-mapping link that is helpful. Citrus County Chronicle gives a daily crime report also.

[chi_tino]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Buzzcut

I've seen plenty of small towns in Michigan lose their major employers, it didn't help but it didn't paralyze the towns either.

You're joking, right? I guess you haven't been following the news in the past several years. Here's just one recent tale:

Michigan City Outsources - WSJ.com

[Sgt. Buzzcut]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

You're joking, right? I guess you haven't been following the news in the past several years. Here's just one recent tale:

Michigan City Outsources - WSJ.com

That's a Detroit suburb, there's been flight out of the city and some of it's suburbs for decades now. It's even happened in Citrus County before, a whole industry......phosphate was mined up here and before I-75, US 41 was the main interior highway...didn't kill the area.

[OldLineStateGirl]

Had to go to Nashville for a convention for a few days and now back, thanks for the additional responses. It appears now that by the end of November it will be known if CR3 will continue to be operational or shut down (the nuke side, at least, as I believe that part is also coal-fired correct?). So for now, per diem and renting/doing the hotel thing. After that, I'm not sure.

Is it easier to fly out of Tampa or Orlando, coming from Crystal River? Would love to take SWA since they have direct flights to BWI.

[powellmacaque]

I grew up in Citrus County (on the other side of the county in Inverness) and my parents both work for Citrus County Schools.

I'm not sure what your denomination is, but the biggest Christian school in the county is, by far, Seven Rivers Academy in Lecanto. They're more of a traditional school whereas many of the other faith-based schools are quite small and tend to be a bit less educationally rigorous. I went to Citrus High, and many of the kids who transferred into the High School after their K-8 at many of the Christian Academies did poorly in class, at least from what I observed. I don't have any numbers, just anecdotal evidence to back that up. Seven Rivers, however, is more "traditional" in the sense that they have interscholastic sports, a larger campus, etc. If you're Catholic, Trinity Catholic in Ocala may be an option at about 40 min away from Crystal River.

One thing to keep in mind - there are no major highways in Citrus County. Zero. The very northern part of the Suncoast Expressway (a toll road) dumps out into Citrus County, but thats it. To get to any major interstate/toll road, it's at least a 20 minute drive out of the county. So it's pretty unreasonable to commute into Crystal River. Orlando Metro is a good two hours from the plant, Tampa Metro is a decent 50+ minutes on the Suncoast. Just remember, this isn't DC, so there aren't very many options when going into or out of a particular area in Florida. There's normally only one or two ways in, and one or two ways out, so commuting can be problematic when there's an accident. It's not as easy as "well route A is congested, route B has an accident, so I'll take either route C or D to work today." When I-275 is backed up, you're screwed.

That being said, I love Citrus County. Coming from DC, it WILL be a slower pace. I'm talking almost to a complete stop. Before my teen years my family lived in the NY metro region and there is a complete culture shock when coming down here. You may want to reconsider your parochial school plans if you're not an evangelical-type Christian, as many of those schools cater to that demographic (and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense).

Citrus County is not the place to be if you want the Miami-beach style beaches. It has some of the best saltwater fishing in the country. One of the few places you can go scalloping and swim with manatees. The lakes over in Inverness provide some of the best freshwater fishing around. It's apart of the nature coast, so you're not going to find a very fast-paced, ultra chic lifestyle like you would in the major metros. The bar scene has been looking up too, with the recent opening of the Grove (martini/wine bar), Dillons (craft beer/irish pub), and Joyce's (New England-style pub) in downtown Inverness and Burkes (Irish), High Octane (classy Biker), and others in Crystal River.

The public schools were great to me. I am going to a state university now, and I cannot believe that some of the kids got into the universities. I was surrounded by what seemed like a very educated and tolerant student body, and was shocked to find that was not always the case in other schools in Florida. I think that since most of the county is within the "middle-class" range, the kids tend to not fight over financial tensions and instead embrace each other.

Also remember that Citrus County is Florida epitomized. We've got TONS of Southerners. We've got TONS of retired Yankees. And we're starting to see an influx of Latinos, although we're not quite up with the rest of the state. This is truly where the border of the South is. That's not a bad thing, just be prepared.

If you're looking for a great community to raise kids in for a year and kind of slow down a bit, Citrus might be right for you. If you're looking for a more cosmopolitan and urban lifestyle, Citrus might be worth reconsidering.