Looking for new homebase - Florida towns for a new family

[Snore]

Downtown St. Petersburg is it.

Born and raised in Da Bronx, lived in Delray Beach and sailed out of Hillsboro Inlet. Great and demanding sailing on that coast. But it has become too crowded.

I now live in downtown St Petersburg. We have one car, one boat and can walk to either the boat or a cadre of good to very good restaurants.

[tomrealest]

Hollywood has the "Blue Collar" feel. Sailing would be in the ocean and the inlet is on the north side of Hollywood. Lower east coast the public schools are spotty. I like the Melbourne area but I don't know about the schools. I live in a condo between Boca and Del Ray. I am not really knowledgeable about schools. I believe in public schools but I would definitely look at private schools on the east coast.

I am not familiar with the panhandle area but I am impressed with the testimonials on this question.

[doug45]

Panama city beach, Fl is great where I am out of , I have a charter catamaran. San souci sailing, great town good schools need to check it out and Destin is great too.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Y-Man

Thanks in advance, guys!
We are a young family (wife and I are in our early 30's and have a newborn son) looking to move to Florida in Sept-Oct. of 2018.
I'm an architect, looking to start my own business in the new location and my wife is finishing up her program (medical) and will start to look for jobs this fall. We'd appreciate suggestions on areas suitable to our needs to let my wife's recruiter know where to look/apply for placements. My wife could also work from home, but will need part time placement at a hospital/clinic.

What we are looking for:
Live near the beach in a house/condo
Live near good day-sailing and have access to cruising waters
Have a family friendly town with good schools
Have good restaurants within driving range

I've been spoiled with sailing/racing out of City Island, Bronx on LIS and quite enjoyed the blue-collar feel of the place and the people.
I'm looking to get my family into cruising and maybe racing when my boy grows up. Possibly take a few years off and do "The Loop". We don't have a boat yet and I could use more experience sailing by myself.

I've read a few forums about towns best suited for day-sailing and cruising, like the "Best town for sailors between Savannah, GA, and Georgia, FL" thread and found great suggestions.
Ponte Verde Beach, St. Augustine and Jacksonville is on the map along with Amelia Island. My wife loved the Miami area when she lived there. I'll be happy to avoid the traffic, I've had enough of it here in NY.
Have done some research on the west coast, such as St. Pete/Tampa/Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte area but haven't found anything solid yet that has good sailing and family friendly/near the beach.

Looking forward to visiting Florida this summer/fall and feeling out some neighborhoods.

Might I ask about your finances. It sounds as a young couple with no income?

[TomLewis]

I have lived near Jax for a few years and spent most of my time on the east coast. Chartered out of St. Pete, but you may want to look into Port Charlotte for affordability and they do have charter, marinas, etc.

[Y-Man]

Definitely trying to get my wife into sailing more but we've been so crazy busy lately...she's done a few short day-sailing trips with me on Eastchester Bay.
She did commit to doing "The Loop" sometime in the future and she loved checking out the sailboats at the Annapolis sailboat show a few months ago... great looking town; but I digress.
I am probably leaning towards renting a slip and being part of yacht club; I almost became a member of Stuyvesant Y.C. on City Island before it went under.
In ref. to income, we do have one; right now we are making about the same each, combined its below $160k. My wife will start earning considerably more with her new job once she is finished with residency. My goal is to earn more with starting my own gig.
Great suggestion on places in need of development vs retirement communities. Cheers!

[spence2]

Stuart Fl. A rated schools, 3 waterways, 6 hospitals within within 30 miles, great restaurants without the crazy traffic further south.

[JOHNMARDALL]

We have lived in South Florida for 19 years. The traffic on both coasts is unbearable if you have to travel in the rush hour (which I don't) The schools range from great to terrible, with an emphasis on the terrible. If you're a sailor, the best places for day sailing are the St John's River (enormous), Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. The rest is power boat country- narrow channels in the Intra Coastal and reefs and shoals along the coast. Also bear in mind that the temperature and humidity is extremely high, day and night, for eight months of the year.
Why do we live in this hell hole, you ask? My wife won't put up with the Maryland winters and our grandkids are in Apopka.
Good luck
John Mardall
Vetus Maxwell Group

PS the trees and bushes in my backyard grow at least one foot a week, so I don't really have time for sailing, I'm too busy hacking down the jungle, and then there's the pythons, eating the gators.

[Flyingriki]

Look where the building continues strongly. Sarasota looks good. The south east side is overbuilding like crazy. By the way, love City Island! Spent summer of 1974 there and had a ball.

[rmlarson1098]

Originally Posted by Y-Man

Thank you for all of your replies! Please let me know whether there are threads similar to this. Really appreciate it, cheers!

At least consider the panhandle. We spent 2 winters at Destin, and the area is quite attractive if not as warm as down south. It's also more conservative. Niceville just north of Destin seemed very family-friendly, and Appalachicola has lots of hidey-holes and is quite exotic in a swampy kind of way. The traffic and crowds down south just drive us wiggy - although we did enjoy Dunedin, on the Gulf west of Tampa. Happy hunting.

[Dave22q]

As employment is a consideration the obvious choices are Jacksonville, Tampa-Clearwater, Miami and possibly Titusville. Decent bay sailing but blue water an hour or more away. Jax is a Georgia climate, winters get cold, the others are more classic Florida, hot and hotter. Politically Jax is right wing, Titusville very mixed, the others liberal urban. Also Miami is heavily Cuban, not speaking Spanish can be limiting. Tampa area in many ways offers the best suburban lifestyle choices from Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, Port Richie and north. Traffic is awful almost everywhere except Titusville (benefit of much lower population density). Good luck with your search.

[tuffr2]

I just told my brother, knowing what I know now, years ago I moved from Pittsburgh Pa. to Columbus Ohio. I would move from Pittsburgh to Jacksonville. I driven thru and around both Tampa and Jacksonville. Tampa sucks. Too many snowbirds. Jacksonville, seems that traffic flows much better.

Jacksonville has a Mayo Clinic.

But Tampa probably has slightly better sailing. It is easy to get into the Keys. Jacksonville has the ICW down to the Bahamas.

I am now living 60 miles south of Jax. Like I said, should have moved here years and years ago.

[angelfish2]

Y-Man, I grew up in Miami and my Mom still lives down there. Boy, has it changed! I would not live there to save my life! It's too crowded and driving around there can be a bit exciting...to say the least!

When I was a kid (and knew everything there was about life), I used to poo-poo the Gulf coast. Well, many years later, I now live in Punta Gorda and love the Gulf coast. There are so many lovely places to sail around here and our little town is very safe. We walk and ride bikes all around town.

Please give the west coast of Florida a good look before you decide where to live. BTW, the summers are pretty rough around here but at least you don't have to walk on icy sidewalks and shovel snow!

[StuartSailor]

I'll second the comment about Stuart. Sailing on the St. Lucie River is usually available when the ocean's not user friendly.

[denverd0n]

In general, the school system in Florida is mediocre at best. There may be a few exceptions, but they are definitely going to be exceptions.

The state is a tourist destination, so there are good restaurants everywhere.

Personally, I favor the sailing on the west coast, or in the Keys, but that's kind of a "personal preference" sort of thing.

The closer you are to a beach, the more expensive the property, in all regards -- more expensive to buy, more expensive to insure, more expensive on taxes. Not only that, but the closer you are to a beach, the more expensive things like groceries, gas, restaurants, and entertainment all are. Never mind the traffic, and the fact that all the beach towns get crowded with snowbirds during the season. So you will find that it is a matter of balancing how close you want to be to the beach, versus how much you are willing to spend and/or tolerate for that benefit.

Good luck.