ShokWaveRider
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
This is aimed at folks who live in what they consider "close to the beach" perhaps we should set a limit of 30 - 45 minutes. With all the folks moving to Florida and/or looking to move to Florida, I thought those of us who live here could offer a personal view for them. OK, yes, it will be somewhat biased, but may prove of some value.
When I said "Beach Bum" I was being a little tongue in cheek, for us for example we like the beach city vibe, but do not spend every waking moment on the beach, if fact far from it. We do like to go walk on the beach, but probably only do that once a month. We like the vibe of a beach city, that is pretty much it. Most folks seem to be smiling and happy when they are out and about.
Some questions, I would want answered, but not all, it is aimed at folks that are empty nesters and retired:
Crime, what is your experience?
Things to do?
How far from the beach are you, and if you were to move, how far from the beach would you consider to be tolerable?
Insurance and Taxes
I will start:
We live on a barrier island in NW Florida, walking (30 mins.) and/or biking distance (10 - 15 mins.) from the beach. Biking is easier, especially in 90-degree heat. The furthest we would go is 15 minutes' drive, but in most of coastal Florida once you get there parking is prohibitive for the best spots. If parking is full here, we can go home easily and go back later. But whenever we have looked Temps have been 5 degrees, even up to 10 sometimes higher than us.
As mentioned above we like the beach city vibe, full of happy people, it is great to walk on the beach when one wants to.
Lots to do, we are only 5 or so miles from a biggish tourist town and the things to do are endless.
Relatively close to a major airport.
The weather, a lot milder that the South, SW or SE. We do get cooler in the winter, nothing that would kill going out or having to wear a heavy coat. No Snow. June, July & August are brutal, but we are used to it, you will get used to it too. I only wear long trousers to go to posh events, even then I wear open sandals and I do not go to many of those. Yes, we get hurricanes, so far "touch wood", being on the NE crook of Florida between Daytona and Savanna Georgia has been pretty tolerable.
We have not experienced any direct crime; we do read about it though. It has not been an issue ... for us.
45 minutes from a BIG City with everything your heart desires ...... including the crime to go with it.
One of our MAIN criteria was being close to great healthcare (Medicare accessible). We have everything within 5 miles. We rarely have to go to the city for any ailments, but we do have friends who are Mayo "Snobs" and Mayo is 45 minutes away.
When we have looked further Inland, we notice neighborhoods deteriorate fast, even 5 miles inland you notice 3 or 4 cars in the driveway, not so well-maintained homes. Agreed, we are somewhat spoilt as our development is well looked after, the HOA does a great job in general. But not all developments are created equal, just yesterday we went to look at a smaller home and would not live in that particular development. Saying that not all are like that, we just get put off when we see them. We continue to look for a smaller home we would like in a development we would like and will keep doing so. No place like home, I guess. All in all we do like NE Florida. What we did notice is that this is less prevalent on the west coast, there were more developments that we liked and would consider living in, but they were a long way from the beach and the crowds and traffic were an issue.
I look forward to hearing other folks perspectives of their Beach experiences.
When I said "Beach Bum" I was being a little tongue in cheek, for us for example we like the beach city vibe, but do not spend every waking moment on the beach, if fact far from it. We do like to go walk on the beach, but probably only do that once a month. We like the vibe of a beach city, that is pretty much it. Most folks seem to be smiling and happy when they are out and about.
Some questions, I would want answered, but not all, it is aimed at folks that are empty nesters and retired:
Crime, what is your experience?
Things to do?
How far from the beach are you, and if you were to move, how far from the beach would you consider to be tolerable?
Insurance and Taxes
I will start:
We live on a barrier island in NW Florida, walking (30 mins.) and/or biking distance (10 - 15 mins.) from the beach. Biking is easier, especially in 90-degree heat. The furthest we would go is 15 minutes' drive, but in most of coastal Florida once you get there parking is prohibitive for the best spots. If parking is full here, we can go home easily and go back later. But whenever we have looked Temps have been 5 degrees, even up to 10 sometimes higher than us.
As mentioned above we like the beach city vibe, full of happy people, it is great to walk on the beach when one wants to.
Lots to do, we are only 5 or so miles from a biggish tourist town and the things to do are endless.
Relatively close to a major airport.
The weather, a lot milder that the South, SW or SE. We do get cooler in the winter, nothing that would kill going out or having to wear a heavy coat. No Snow. June, July & August are brutal, but we are used to it, you will get used to it too. I only wear long trousers to go to posh events, even then I wear open sandals and I do not go to many of those. Yes, we get hurricanes, so far "touch wood", being on the NE crook of Florida between Daytona and Savanna Georgia has been pretty tolerable.
We have not experienced any direct crime; we do read about it though. It has not been an issue ... for us.
45 minutes from a BIG City with everything your heart desires ...... including the crime to go with it.
One of our MAIN criteria was being close to great healthcare (Medicare accessible). We have everything within 5 miles. We rarely have to go to the city for any ailments, but we do have friends who are Mayo "Snobs" and Mayo is 45 minutes away.
When we have looked further Inland, we notice neighborhoods deteriorate fast, even 5 miles inland you notice 3 or 4 cars in the driveway, not so well-maintained homes. Agreed, we are somewhat spoilt as our development is well looked after, the HOA does a great job in general. But not all developments are created equal, just yesterday we went to look at a smaller home and would not live in that particular development. Saying that not all are like that, we just get put off when we see them. We continue to look for a smaller home we would like in a development we would like and will keep doing so. No place like home, I guess. All in all we do like NE Florida. What we did notice is that this is less prevalent on the west coast, there were more developments that we liked and would consider living in, but they were a long way from the beach and the crowds and traffic were an issue.
I look forward to hearing other folks perspectives of their Beach experiences.
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