Florida living

Dtail said:
Yes you let out a little known fact.
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Andre1969 said:
Here's a bit of info about the most hurricane-prone parts of Florida:
https://universalproperty.com/most-and-least-hurricane-prone-areas-in-florida

Oddly, the Panhandle takes the win!
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JoeWras said:
Mexico Beach 2018.
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Go 850!!

I'm about halfway between Mexico Beach and Pensacola. Been able to avoid the hurricane strikes in both places. Some strong winds, but no damage for me. I was very fortunate.

Friends on Choctawhatchee Bay didn't fare so well - the CCW winds from Michael (landfall to the east of them) didn't do so well. Rotating storm had strong winds from the north in this area, blowing across the Bay. A lot of erosion and boat dock damage on their north facing bay front properties.
 
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Scuba said:
If anyone has suggestions of good towns/neighborhoods to check out on the E Coast south of Melbourne or the W Coast south of Sarasota, please let me know. We are going over to the W Coast in a couple of weeks to explore SW FL.
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Generalizations are dangerous, but these are my impressions based on day tripping SWF for a decade.

Gasparilla is old money (ie Tucker Carlson)
From there to Cape Coral is economy land.
Arcadia is an historic cattle town with a lot of antique shops, monthly flee market.
Babcock Ranch is a new family oriented designed inland city, with utopian ideals.
Cape Coral is canal homes with docks, and 70s style bungalows.
North Fort Myers looks like rougher authentic Florida.
Fort Myers restored urban core is nice, with some century home enclaves, but close to challenged areas.
Fort Myers beach, before getting wiped, was middle class beach town.
Sanibel Island is old moderate money, genteel
Captiva is hedge fund big money.
Most of Lee County near water is dated. Note that Caloosahatchie drains lake Okechobee, whereas Peace River (Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte) is a clean river.
Daniels Blvd communities are less dated, and have a Whole Foods.
Treeline Blvd is just filling up.
Note how close Lee County areas are to the airport.
Newest stuff is up Corkscrew.
Estero has some charming old Florida spots
Bonita has great access to beach.
It gets progressively more expensive as you approach Naples, which skews big tasteful money
Marco Island is special but dated. I think Hannity is there. Try Stilts cafe.
Ave Maria is conceived as a Catholic Town. Check out the unusual cathedral.
 
Kroeran said:
Generalizations are dangerous, but these are my impressions based on day tripping SWF for a decade.



Gasparilla is old money (ie Tucker Carlson)

From there to Cape Coral is economy land.

Arcadia is an historic cattle town with a lot of antique shops, monthly flee market.

Babcock Ranch is a new family oriented designed inland city, with utopian ideals.

Cape Coral is canal homes with docks, and 70s style bungalows.

North Fort Myers looks like rougher authentic Florida.

Fort Myers restored urban core is nice, with some century home enclaves, but close to challenged areas.

Fort Myers beach, before getting wiped, was middle class beach town.

Sanibel Island is old moderate money, genteel

Captiva is hedge fund big money.

Most of Lee County near water is dated. Note that Caloosahatchie drains lake Okechobee, whereas Peace River (Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte) is a clean river.

Daniels Blvd communities are less dated, and have a Whole Foods.

Treeline Blvd is just filling up.

Note how close Lee County areas are to the airport.

Newest stuff is up Corkscrew.

Estero has some charming old Florida spots

Bonita has great access to beach.

It gets progressively more expensive as you approach Naples, which skews big tasteful money

Marco Island is special but dated. I think Hannity is there. Try Stilts cafe.

Ave Maria is conceived as a Catholic Town. Check out the unusual cathedral.
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Interesting list.

I'm a bicycle rider. Our friends bought in the Sarasota/Venice area, and they have some very nice bicycle trails in that area.
 
EarlyandLate said:
Many of the houses, especially older ones, have "Florida rooms" added to the back. Here's what confuses me. Many of them are furnished such that the seating faces back at the house, not out to the view of the back yard. Why??
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Could be lack of space on the wall of the original house. Between windows to light the interior room and a door to enter the porch, there may be little place for seating, especially if the room isn't deep.

For example, the family room behind our screen porch addition could really use a window (it has only a sliding door), but it would take up the only reasonable spot for the TV inside that room.
 
JP.mpls said:
I'm a bicycle rider. Our friends bought in the Sarasota/Venice area, and they have some very nice bicycle trails in that area.
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Easy bicycling would be the the biggest attraction of Florida or another coastal region for me, though I wouldn't want to be out of day-trip distance of mountains.

I have lived within 1-1/2 hours of mountains all my life. The only place east of the Mississippi I can think of with flat coastal terrain that close to mountains is New Jersey.
 
FiveDriver said:
Scuba --

I'm curious about your impressions of the Stuart/Saint Lucie area. Did that area seem to be getting too crowded or over-built??



Our Dear Daughter has settled in Coral Springs down by Ft Lauderdale, but that area is way too busy for our liking. We'd like to be a little north of that area, and wondering just how far up the FL Turnpike you have to go to get a little elbow room. Ocean Beaches are not important to us at this stage of life.



We've been looking at the Active 55 communities in PSL or even Melbourne. There are some nice homes in our price point.



I will say that on our last drive thru FLA, we were impressed by how CLEAN it is. We drove the length of the state.....300 miles and not a scrap of litter anywhere !! These people in CHS will throw everything out of their cars.....the junkiest vehicles will toss fast food wrappers out the window.
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Of everywhere we looked on the E Coast, Stuart was one of our favorite towns. It has a nice quiet beach, a quaint walkable downtown, and a nice feel to it. Real estate there is pretty expensive, not as costly as Jupiter or Delray Beach, but much higher than Port St. Lucie.

If you’re interested in a 55+ community, Valencia Riverland is amazing. We took advantage of their “Stay and Play” package and really enjoyed the amenities. Their amenities were the best we’ve seen of all the communities we’ve visited, and their homes are also nice. Just be aware that you’ll likely add 15-20% to the “base price” for options, plus if you want a nicer lot there are some hefty lot premiums, and if you want a pool/spa of your own, that’s another huge chunk. Still, if we wanted to be on the E Coast, we would likely buy there. We were surprised that Port St Lucie communities were substantially cheaper than Melbourne. The explanation we got was Melbourne’s proximity to Orlando drives prices up.

I know you said South FL is too busy for you, but Parkland is very quiet and nice and also close to Coral Springs. We liked the new 55+ community there too.
 
JP.mpls said:
Scuba,
I have mixed feelings about HOAs. I looked at a community of side by side twin homes in Minnesota yesterday. No HOA.
It was a nice community, in a desirable area, but 2-3 of the units weren't being maintained on the exterior, including the one next to the place for sale.
One was nicely painted with new roof and driveway. The other one needed paint and driveway replacement, and was very run down looking. The guy also had a huge boat trailer next to his garage, so I'm assuming the boat will sit there all winter.
I passed on buying that place. I feel bad for the owners.
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Yes, from what we’ve seen in Palm Springs as well as FL, we don’t want to take the risk of not having an HOA to enforce a consistent standard of property appearance.
 
Kroeran said:
Generalizations are dangerous, but these are my impressions based on day tripping SWF for a decade.



Gasparilla is old money (ie Tucker Carlson)

From there to Cape Coral is economy land.

Arcadia is an historic cattle town with a lot of antique shops, monthly flee market.

Babcock Ranch is a new family oriented designed inland city, with utopian ideals.

Cape Coral is canal homes with docks, and 70s style bungalows.

North Fort Myers looks like rougher authentic Florida.

Fort Myers restored urban core is nice, with some century home enclaves, but close to challenged areas.

Fort Myers beach, before getting wiped, was middle class beach town.

Sanibel Island is old moderate money, genteel

Captiva is hedge fund big money.

Most of Lee County near water is dated. Note that Caloosahatchie drains lake Okechobee, whereas Peace River (Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte) is a clean river.

Daniels Blvd communities are less dated, and have a Whole Foods.

Treeline Blvd is just filling up.

Note how close Lee County areas are to the airport.

Newest stuff is up Corkscrew.

Estero has some charming old Florida spots

Bonita has great access to beach.

It gets progressively more expensive as you approach Naples, which skews big tasteful money

Marco Island is special but dated. I think Hannity is there. Try Stilts cafe.

Ave Maria is conceived as a Catholic Town. Check out the unusual cathedral.
Click to expand...



Thank you! Awesome list!!
 
Scuba said:
If you’re interested in a 55+ community, Valencia Riverland is amazing. We took advantage of their “Stay and Play” package and really enjoyed the amenities. Their amenities were the best we’ve seen of all the communities we’ve visited, and their homes are also nice. Just be aware that you’ll likely add 15-20% to the “base price” for options, plus if you want a nicer lot there are some hefty lot premiums, and if you want a pool/spa of your own, that’s another huge chunk. Still, if we wanted to be on the E Coast, we would likely buy there.
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Do you have an actual address for this development? I cannot seem to find an exact location and all the address' are Port St. Lucy, not Stuart. How close to the beach is it?

It has been raining cats and dogs here in NW. Fla. for the last few days.
 
Andre1969 said:
Here's a bit of info about the most hurricane-prone parts of Florida:
https://universalproperty.com/most-and-least-hurricane-prone-areas-in-florida

Oddly, the Panhandle takes the win!
Click to expand...

Great article, thanks. I would love to see each Cat 3 - 5 location. The article doesn't even mention West Central Florida where we live. My wife is one major hurricane from packing our bags. Irma missed us in 2017, and Ian in 2022. Even though we weren't directly hit by either one, we were always in the cone of uncertainty and both were Cat 5's 2 or 3 days out squarely headed for us as the target until they drifted south. That added a tremendous amount of stress.
 
48Fire said:
Great article, thanks. I would love to see each Cat 3 - 5 location. The article doesn't even mention West Central Florida where we live. My wife is one major hurricane from packing our bags. Irma missed us in 2017, and Ian in 2022. Even though we weren't directly hit by either one, we were always in the cone of uncertainty and both were Cat 5's 2 or 3 days out squarely headed for us as the target until they drifted south. That added a tremendous amount of stress.
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West Central Florida including Tampa has only been hit by one CAT 1 hurricane in the 1920's, but yes there have been some close ones which have changed course just a few days out.
 
Dtail said:
West Central Florida including Tampa has only been hit by one CAT 1 hurricane in the 1920's, but yes there have been some close ones which have changed course just a few days out.
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Some locals believe it has to do with the Native American Burial Mounds, but my wife's not convinced :LOL:
 
48Fire said:
Some locals believe it has to do with the Native American Burial Mounds, but my wife's not convinced :LOL:
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Yep, just heard that explanation again the other day. Keep working on her. :cool:
 
Dtail said:
Yep, just heard that explanation again the other day. Keep working on her. :cool:
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Hmmm, maybe, we'll see. I like to move, so I could have my arm twisted to find a new locale.
 
Hurricanes that have made landfall as a hurricane in Connecticut over the past 100 years.

1938 Great New England Hurricane - Cat 3
1954 Hurricane Carol - Cat 3
1960 Hurricane Donna - Cat 1
1985 Hurricane Gloria - Cat 1

Just sayin'
 
Gumby said:
Hurricanes that have made landfall as a hurricane in Connecticut over the past 100 years.



1938 Great New England Hurricane - Cat 3

1954 Hurricane Carol - Cat 3

1960 Hurricane Donna - Cat 1

1985 Hurricane Gloria - Cat 1



Just sayin'
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Well, I guess you are saying they hit even up north?

But no landfalling hurricanes here in Virginia, at least since the Civil War.
 
Scuba: I am surprised you liked Valencia Riverside, not from an Amenities perspective, but from a location to the beach perspective. Seem like a long way on the map, on the wrong side of 95 and very close to it.
 
Scuba said:
Of everywhere we looked on the E Coast, Stuart was one of our favorite towns. It has a nice quiet beach, a quaint walkable downtown, and a nice feel to it. Real estate there is pretty expensive, not as costly as Jupiter or Delray Beach, but much higher than Port St. Lucie.

If you’re interested in a 55+ community, Valencia Riverland is amazing. We took advantage of their “Stay and Play” package and really enjoyed the amenities. Their amenities were the best we’ve seen of all the communities we’ve visited, and their homes are also nice. Just be aware that you’ll likely add 15-20% to the “base price” for options, plus if you want a nicer lot there are some hefty lot premiums, and if you want a pool/spa of your own, that’s another huge chunk. Still, if we wanted to be on the E Coast, we would likely buy there. We were surprised that Port St Lucie communities were substantially cheaper than Melbourne. The explanation we got was Melbourne’s proximity to Orlando drives prices up.

I know you said South FL is too busy for you, but Parkland is very quiet and nice and also close to Coral Springs. We liked the new 55+ community there too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response. Yes, Stuart has appeal, as far as what we're looking for.

In my early research, I've found that Real Estate Taxes vary by county. Port St Lucie is essentially cut into two counties -- PSL county and Martin county. Martin's millage rate is appreciably less than PSL....it makes a substantial difference, even with the Homestead Exclusion. Stuart is the Martin county seat, and they've done a better job of controlling the sprawl that seems to affect PSL county.

You mentioned Parkland, and DD's future In-Laws live there. Very nice indeed.

My wife's friend lives on the Gulf Coast, where she was a big wheel in the Clearwater town government. But I'm a little concerned about the way the Gulf of Mexico spins up these storms with increasing intensity.
 
We will probably go and look at Valencia Riverland for their stay and look deal, but upon further investigation, I am not sure it is for us.

The RE taxes in St. Lucy county are very high for what one gets. We currently have a 3300sqft home and for the same in St. Lucy county. would be almost another $5k a year. We do not think that is worth it, as St. Johns' county is one of the richest and well managed counties in Florida and taxes are 50% less.

But $99 for 3 days looking is a good value.
 
Scuba said:
Of everywhere we looked on the E Coast, Stuart was one of our favorite towns. It has a nice quiet beach, a quaint walkable downtown, and a nice feel to it. Real estate there is pretty expensive, not as costly as Jupiter or Delray Beach, but much higher than Port St. Lucie.

If you’re interested in a 55+ community, Valencia Riverland is amazing. We took advantage of their “Stay and Play” package and really enjoyed the amenities. Their amenities were the best we’ve seen of all the communities we’ve visited, and their homes are also nice. .
Click to expand...


Would like to know more about the "Stay and Play" package at $99.

Are you limited to the Valencia subdivision only ? Or can you explore the whole area?

Do they force you to sit thru a "Sales Pitch" at some point ??
 
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