For Florida Beach Bums Only - How do you like where you live and why?

[rodi]

Do you have to pay for parking at said beach? I live 1/2 mile from the ocean in San Clemente and I love it - but I'm renting and it would pretty much be multi-millions to buy.

Nope. Although the free parking lot fills up by 8am on weekends during the summer. No issue for me since I get there most mornings at 6:30am. After that you can look for a spot on the street... I know where to look and can get a spot about 3 blocks away. Or you can hang in the parking lot waiting for a spot. If I've dawdled on weekends I sometimes have people waiting for my spot when I'm leaving around 8:30am on a weekend. There's a steady turnover since most of the regular surfers, leave but around 9amish.

Some other beaches have smaller parking lots. My son's favorite surf beach only has about 20 spots, so he parks in the neighborhood. But it's all free, and no beach tags.

 

[FiveDriver]

Perhaps we should have a poll or separate thread for this? How much do the folks here that live in Florida pay for Home & Flood insurance?

Criteria and info., otherwise results would be meaningless .. should be:

Florida full or part time resident.
Home Size.
Construction, Block or Stick.
Roof material concrete tile, shingle or Metal.
General Location
Distance from the beach

And anything else that would make the responses meaningful to those who are already here and those who wish to be.

A poll like that would be of interest to us.

As a point of comparison, our home is a 2-story 2800 sq ft stick-built. I pay $1400 per year with Allstate. Includes Wind and Hail coverage. Flood Insurance is a separate policy. We were carrying coverage at around $600 per year, but it keeps going up every year. We suffered no water damage during the last 3 'canes and the 1000 year rain event back in 2015. I hesitate to drop the Flood Insurance, but if it increases much more I may not renew (maybe).

 

[Koolau]

My other MINOR concerns involve rising tides and temperatures, and the noise coming from the Gov's Mansion in Tallahassee. I can put up with a little extra heat, but 'hot air' is quite another matter.

Turn off your TV. Ignore it. That's what I do in my beach state.

 

[FiveDriver]

Turn off your TV. Ignore it. That's what I do in my beach state.

The 'news' is all around us Koolau......kinda hard to ignore some of these changes.

 

[FiveDriver]

Turn off your TV. Ignore it. That's what I do in my beach state.

But I can appreciate the idea ;-)

 

[Koolau]

The 'news' is all around us Koolau......kinda hard to ignore some of these changes.

I was stunned and elated that my last trip through 3 airports, I never CNN once! It's true that "news" is all around, but I guess you just gotta tune it out, mentally.

 

[Aerides]

Mod Note: Let's not drag another thread into a discussion on News/Media...We all know how that goes.

 

[Montecfo]

In SE. Fla about 3 miles inland, but any drive to the beach is about 6 miles, 15 mins., 20 if the bridge is up. That's primarily due to the intracoastal breaking up some of the main roads, and access to local beachfront parks or parking. While there are plenty of beaches, finding good available public parking is key. Beaches aren't private, but if they are lined with condos they might as well be! Fortunately there is either a state/county/city park about every 10 minutes. They are all pretty nice near me with bathrooms and cooking areas. Red Reef and Spanish River are favorites.



I don't go to the beach very often, and I have my own pool. No driving or parking involved, no jellyfish or seaweed or sand to rinse off. I'm more prone to visit the beach in the winter, take a run along A1A, then walk back along the beach.



The "beach vibe" here pretty much ends once you get about a half mile west of the intracoastal.



I don't give a thought to crime. Insurance keeps going up, but we're not in an evacuation zone. I do like being close to PBI and FLL, and MIA is just over an hour. I can fly anywhere very easily with these choices.

The airport situation is sweet down there.

 

[iloveyoga]

I've lived in Iowa all my life and that probably won't change. But I love to visit the beach and have been to many places discussed in this thread. So thanks for sharing the beach stories and info!

 

[maestro]

FL has changed dramatically in the last few years...more expensive and crowded...We are probably leaving.

Florida is big. Can you share what area you are near and dissatisfied with, please?

 

[Sangaris]

Annapolis to VeroBeach

Lived in a great condo on the water in downtown Annapolis for 18yrs but started sailing to Bahamas in yr14..tired of winters & taxes. Over 4yrs sailing through FL on the way south we looked at various waterfront properties everywhere from StAugustine to DelRay...found many we loved, many couldn't afford and lots we couldn't really get a sailboat to..fell in love with Orchid Island, the barrier island between Indian River & Atlantic. There is a wide array of neighborhoods with pricing from reasonable to insane, but great reasonable homes can be found on the river side with a 2-4 block walk to great clean and uncrowded beaches. One of the beauties of VeroBeach is shortly after two 8-story condo towers were built, they changed the law to restrict building height to 4 Stories..a great casual non-crowded area was the result with more single family homes than condos. Another very special feature is almost 11 miles of Indian River frontage that is in irrevocable LandTrusts funded through private donations over many years, along with 2 very good bikelanes and numerous small oceanside parks along A1A the full length of the island. YES, we have to carry Hurricane/Wind Ins and Flood Ins but both are reasonable if you have a newer roof, shutters/window coverings, etc. Funny thing is we had water much closer to entering our home twice in Annapolis from hurricanes coming up the Bay than we've had after going through 4 hurricanes here so far. Anyway, our 2 cents worth...and oh yes, along the Treasure Coast we have the largest number of Loggerhead/Green/Leatherback Turtle Nests in FL (1,700+ in 2023) each year along with light restriction laws to help protect the hatchling which yield some great beaches...but not so much for surfers with our long reef 1mile offshore.

 

[Global Wizzo]

Beach Bum

We are in the Daytona area.
Water access from our subdivision for river/ wetlands fishing or boating.

Distance from the house to the beach few miles, but to get there means driving to a bridge and crossing the river. We load the bikes, walk or ride the beach and grab a burger.

Crime, some but most of the problems are around Orlando.

Schools, these are going down hill. Funding is being diverted into vouchers and teachers are leaving due to pay and other factors. (My opinion). It is only going to get worse without major political changes.

Taxes and Ins.
Ins is high for car and house. Lots of issues getting or keeping home owners insurance. It depends a lot in location. Be prepared for 2% or higher deductible for hurricane. If you buy in a mandatory evacuation area, plan to leave.when told. Car tags are reasonable

Lots of variety for food where we live. COSTCO is Orlando or Melbourne. Supposed to have one locally next year. Sam’s and BJs are local.

We get nice sea breezes. Really helps. Thunderstorms happen and are a fact of life.

Actually living on the beach means lots of higher wind. AC and other outside metal has a reduced life. Many AC units only last 3-5 years.

Upkeep in the salt spray areas is significantly higher.

Daytona Beach airport has DL, American and the occasional seasonal carrier. Great airport! If you really like punishment, the Orlando Airport is not too far.

Housing costs are relative. Sell a 2M condo in NY and here is cheap. That said one of the houses on the river is up for 14M. Apartments are skyrocketing. $2K per month seems to be the start point.

Florida is going to have drinking water issues. Over development is changing the aquifers and natural drainage. Desalination is very expensive and in a large scale needs to be teamed with a power plant. Neither Florida or the US is ready for this.

We will likely stay here for a few more years. Medical care is good and we travel a good bit. Going to see an upscale assisted living facility in Thailand this weekend.

We go to the beach but not to lay in the sun as another poster mentioned.

I lived in Hawaii and we don’t have the snatch and grab car break ins here. As that poster said. Leave the car empty and open there.

 

[Scuba]

Following this thread, interested in all responses.

Our Daughter has settled in Coral Springs, to the west of Boca Raton. We're looking to re-locate a bit closer to her, but that part of SE FLA is just way too busy for me. A little farther to the north around St Lucie or Melbourne area was interesting last time we passed thru there. I think as you get too far north in Florida, you lose that 'Florida Feel' and anything north of Jacksonville seems like South Georgia to me.

The questions I have are centered around Insurance, Hurricane and otherwise. How much does it actually cost ?? The network news the other night had a headline about rising Insurance rates nationwide. But Tornado Alley in the mid-west had the biggest increase. Florida was ranked somewhere in the middle at around $2500 per year average.
How much do the CBS/red tile roof homes cost to fully insure ??

The other big question is -- what happens to these 'beachy' towns during Spring Break ?? I've been to Ft Lauderdale Beach a few times in my mis-spent youth....I wouldn't want to see that crowd descend on us as a home-owner.

My other MINOR concerns involve rising tides and temperatures, and the noise coming from the Gov's Mansion in Tallahassee. I can put up with a little extra heat, but 'hot air' is quite another matter.

We don't need to live 'On The Beach' and we're certainly not going to pay a premium to do so. We live a half hour from the beach here in SC, but we only go dip our toes maybe four times a year. A Community Pool, with a well-managed HOA is sufficient at this stage of life.

Assuming you buy a CBS home with a tile or metal roof (not asphalt shingles), quotes we’ve been getting for homes in the 2-3K sq ft range are around $3K. These are for homes in Flood Zone X (ie, not in a flood zone). We would likely buy flood insurance anyway and it’s about $600-800/year. Apparently one of the biggest factors affecting insurability and cost is age of the home. We’ve been advised to stick with homes built in or after 2012.

If you want to be on the eastern side of FL, Port St. Lucie has some amazing 55+ communities. We loved Valencia Riverland and also PGA Verano. Great amenities, beautiful grounds all maintained by the HOA. To us, the biggest disadvantage of PSL is the distance to the beach, but it sounds like 45-60 minutes would be ok with you. We also loved Stuart and it’s much closer to the coast. I doubt either of these towns gets much spring break activity.

 

[Global Wizzo]

Assuming you buy a CBS home with a tile or metal roof (not asphalt shingles), quotes we’ve been getting for homes in the 2-3K sq ft range are around $3K. These are for homes in Flood Zone X (ie, not in a flood zone). We would likely buy flood insurance anyway and it’s about $600-800/year. Apparently one of the biggest factors affecting insurability and cost is age of the home. We’ve been advised to stick with homes built in or after 2012.

If you want to be on the eastern side of FL, Port St. Lucie has some amazing 55+ communities. We loved Valencia Riverland and also PGA Verano. Great amenities, beautiful grounds all maintained by the HOA. To us, the biggest disadvantage of PSL is the distance to the beach, but it sounds like 45-60 minutes would be ok with you. We also loved Stuart and it’s much closer to the coast. I doubt either of these towns gets much spring break activity.

I’ll add a little more. I just reroofed. Shingles and install rated to 150mph wind load. 2200 SqFT house and $27k cost. Cheap uncertified install was 15K.

State Farm considers 15 years life span of metal or shingle roof here. So we stayed with shingles. Complex roof pattern would have made metal iffy.

The insurance wind mitigation reductions are based on structural (trusses strapped to block). Hip roof is a big help, and type of construction. All our doors and windows are 150 mph impact rated.

Hope this helps.

 

[carty1]

Florida Beach Bums

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

We live a little North of you. In St. Augustine. Crime is not that bad - mostly hear about the crime in Jacksonville.

We are about 3.5 miles from the beach as the crow flies. But since I'm not a crow, it's about 12 miles. I guess I would not mind living closer to the beach but NEVER right on the beach (ie. beach front). We are happy with the distance that we live from the beach.

As far as insurance and taxes: $3500 yearly for property taxes.$1750 yearly for home owners insurance.

 

[FloridaJim57]

I live in St. Pete. Retired here four years ago. Like it very much except for the ever increasing TRAFFIC. I lived here 22 years ago for about one year and there was no wheres near as many cars (or people). Other than that, I like it and will probably kick off here.

 

[Shanky]

We live away from the beach, Probably 15 miles as the crow flies to the actual Gulf of Mexico. Our neighborhood is on the Manatee River, and we can take our boat from the neighborhood to the Gulf of Mexico in about 25 Minutes. Driving actually takes a little bit longer, about 35 minutes to Ana Maria, Siesta Key or Pass-a-Grill Beach. In peak season it takes longer. We also have a golf course in the neighborhood.

Our home was built in 2014. It a bit over 3100 SF and has a pool and Barrel Tile roof. It is on a half acre as are most of the houses in our neighborhood. Homeowners insurance is about $1400 a year. Insurance is much less than the previous house we owned in the same neighborhood because post 2010 homes are built to an more stringent code. We pay less than half in insurance compared to neighbors who built prior to 20120. We are 32 feet above sea level. We do boat / fish / Golf quite a bit, but visiting the beach proper is probably only a half dozen times a year.

We are happy with our choice, but July-Sept get pretty hot / sticky. Without a pool and a few weeks mountain vacations, it would get intolerable. I did grow up in Florida, but moved away in the late ‘70s for Uncle Sam and then Career. Moved back for retirement.