Good town for second home in Florida?

Question

I live in Massachusetts but the cold weather is too long here. I have been thinking of buying a second home in Florida. It's just me and my wife so we will be fine with a one bedroom place that does not require us to maintain a yard. In other words an apartment/condo will be awesome. Here is my dream: walking distance to water and a town with some nice places to eat. It should also be reasonably safe since we won't live there often but visit once a month or so. We are looking for something under $100,000.

I will really appreciate if people from Florida will be kind enough to give us some tips to get started. I am looking for suggestions on towns, new communities, condos, etc.

Answer 1

Venice might suit your needs, other than your price. Florida is very expensive, and after you find a place insurance will kill you. So will property taxes. For folks who are non-residents insurance can be hard to get and without the homestead exemption taxes will be very high.

Make sure to do a lot of research before you buy something here.

Answer 2

Have you considered the Emerald Coast of Florida ??
More specifically the Scenic Highway 30A and the Beaches of South Walton ? It's absolutely beautiful here. It's not the Florida you think of ... if you haven't ever been here or heard about it, we highly recommend you consider it.

It's quiet and safe. On the Beaches of South Walton, Florida beach vacation you'll find 26-miles of beaches, powdery-white dunes, vast stands of pine forests, rare coastal dune lakes, cool underground springs, marshlands, bays, backwater bayous and crystalline Northwest Florida gulf waters. The water is sparkling Emerald green with water temps in the 80s in summer -- if you didn't know better, you might think you were in the Caribbean or Fiji or some place tropical.

Our weather is not typical Florida either. We do get seasons. Very hot summers and pretty cold winters but not as cold as New England. Spring & Fall are definitely the prime seasons.

If you enjoy cycling & kayaking, you can find plenty of it here. We have a bike path that stretches 18 miles along the Scenic 30A. There are also trails that go through many of the parks such as the Longleaf Pine Greenway Trail, Eastern Lake Biking / Walking Trail, Deer Lake .... etch. We also have these rare coastal dune lakes that are dotted along the coast, perfect for canoeing, Emerald Green gulf waves for Kayaking, we also have a giant bay called the Choctawhatchee Bay with endless water recreation --- fishing, boating, etc. If you like nature, you will find a lot of it preserved here.

Additionally, since you mentioned that you are from New England, you may find that the dunes along our beaches, say Deer Lake State Park, may remind you of the Cape. And the community of Watersound Beach & another community under development called Prominence are very reminiscent of New England type architecture.

One other thing we should share is that the ground has just been broken on a new international airport in Panama City Beach just east of us. This new airport will hopefully allow non-stop flights to & from New England making travel much easier. There are currently 2 airports within 30-45 minutes from us.

We checked into available condos that are on the beach or within walking distance and are under $175,000. We realize you said $100,000 but sellers are extremely motivated, if not desperate in this current real estate market so we upped the price range for the search. If you click this link, you can view currently available properties:
http://ecarmls.com/EmeraldReports/listings.asp?ID=8211959231

Please check out our website for a beach video tour and some photo galleries.

http://www.buythegulf.com

Feel free to contact us with any other questions.
email to: [e-mail]

Answer 3

At that price you're not going to be within walking distance of the water (at least on the east coast). One bedroom condo's within several miles of the ocean are more like 140K and much more the futher east you go. Most cities have home pages- I live in Broward County (Deerfield Bch), which is north of Ft Lauderdale and south of West Palm Beach. The west coast (Gulf of Mexico) tends to be somewhat cheaper than the east coast of the state, and the housing slump is bringing home prices down. It will pay to sit tight, especially now that the "season" is officially here.

Answer 4

The Space Coast area of Florida is nice; it's a booming area with lots of restaurants and shopping, and of course the beaches! Check out this link;http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS01 it will lead to you to many of our local newspapers with real estate interests, along with other things about the communities.