Question Tell me the TRUTH.....

[Underboss]

If you are going to own an rv, avoid Palm Coast at all costs. I know I owned a lot and was going to build there. The general heart of PC has no HOAs but the city itself is a huge HOA. Insane rules that are not applied unilaterally. RVs are not welcome, even class b van based cannot be seen from the street or neighbors so they must be garaged. The city loves to send out letters if you have your rv in your driveway for a week. No rv garages allowed, in fact garages are not allowed to be more then 30' deep and the roofline cannot be higher than the rest of the house. There is actually one home in all of PC with an RV garage and after that house they made a building ordinance against it.
As for traffic and overcrowding, drive through PC midday and its as bad as NYC in commercial areas.
Some of the 'hoods have no lights at the main street so either you have to go right and make a u turn somewhere or take some convoluted route to get to an intersection with a light.
As I posted before, the northeast area has higher utilities. My friend pays $240/mo for water and sewer on a 1/4 acre lot with less than 600 sf of lawn. You can put a well in but unless you filter it the water is brown and stains everything.
If you buy a home anywhere in FL do not let the realtor pick the inspector. research and pick one yourself. The builders mesmerize folks with amenities, layout but the windows doors and finishes are not real quality.
You also want to avoid stucco covered wood frame homes here. The humidity and moisture are not a good mix with stucco covered wood frame homes.
You should look for poured in place concrete construction as the best. Concrete block is good also.
May have been a long read but as a builder I research everything. My only error was buying and planning to build in PC as a friend who was on the PC planning commission told me I could do an rv garage and as he was also a builder, I thought he knew and trusted his knowledge. Clearly he was clueless, buts thats Florida folks for you

 

[Holdmybeer]

If you are going to own an rv, avoid Palm Coast at all costs. I know I owned a lot and was going to build there. The general heart of PC has no HOAs but the city itself is a huge HOA. Insane rules that are not applied unilaterally. RVs are not welcome, even class b van based cannot be seen from the street or neighbors so they must be garaged. The city loves to send out letters if you have your rv in your driveway for a week. No rv garages allowed, in fact garages are not allowed to be more then 30' deep and the roofline cannot be higher than the rest of the house. There is actually one home in all of PC with an RV garage and after that house they made a building ordinance against it.
As for traffic and overcrowding, drive through PC midday and its as bad as NYC in commercial areas.
Some of the 'hoods have no lights at the main street so either you have to go right and make a u turn somewhere or take some convoluted route to get to an intersection with a light.
As I posted before, the northeast area has higher utilities. My friend pays $240/mo for water and sewer on a 1/4 acre lot with less than 600 sf of lawn. You can put a well in but unless you filter it the water is brown and stains everything.
If you buy a home anywhere in FL do not let the realtor pick the inspector. research and pick one yourself. The builders mesmerize folks with amenities, layout but the windows doors and finishes are not real quality.
You also want to avoid stucco covered wood frame homes here. The humidity and moisture are not a good mix with stucco covered wood frame homes.
You should look for poured in place concrete construction as the best. Concrete block is good also.
May have been a long read but as a builder I research everything. My only error was buying and planning to build in PC as a friend who was on the PC planning commission told me I could do an rv garage and as he was also a builder, I thought he knew and trusted his knowledge. Clearly he was clueless, buts thats Florida folks for you

State, county and city building codes are not closely held secrets, they're publicly available. Otherwise, you're likely confusing stucco with with EIFS Dryvit. They look the same but EIFS systems were developed so anybody with a hammer, a five gallon bucket, a trowel and 2 days training could make money faux stuccoing houses. I grew up in a 75 year old two story wood frame house 100' from East St. Andrews Bay off the Gulf of Mexico in humidity that you could cut with a knife. Every house in our town was stick built, seemed to do just fine.

 

[Underboss]

State, county and city building codes are not closely held secrets, they're publicly available. Otherwise, you're likely confusing stucco with with EIFS Dryvit. They look the same but EIFS systems were developed so anybody with a hammer, a five gallon bucket, a trowel and 2 days training could make money faux stuccoing houses. I grew up in a 75 year old two story wood frame house 100' from East St. Andrews Bay off the Gulf of Mexico in humidity that you could cut with a knife. Every house in our town was stick built, seemed to do just fine.

First point
I stated that a friend on the city planning commission told me it was not an issue (my bad) as he was clueless (typical commission member) It worked out fine as I sold the property a year later at a huge profit. Hence my studying and deeply researching each area, neighborhood, and homes that I was interested in since.
Second point
Talking 3 coat standard stucco, not foam board and mesh. Yes, you are talking a 75 year old house that was most likely not a tract house built by a mass builder and at a time when men took pride in their work. I know of three wood framed stucco homes built within the last 16 years by different builders that were not wrapped properly and the recent purchasers ended up with over 100k in costs to repair. Would I trust myself to build it right, yes but we are talking Florida tract homes built by huge corporations.
To my point, as a builder, I would never buy a stick built home in Florida, never. Are they built to the same wind codes, yes. But if anyone thinks a stick built will hold up as well as a poured in place concrete home, I have a bridge for sale.

 

[Porterhouse]

Come to the Free State of Florida. No income tax.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

HARDIE PLANK is the way to install siding that will not rot, nor deteriorate, with age, due to way its manufactuerd. Have two houses, one in St. Augustine Fl, 3 miles from the ocean, and one in Virginia, about 25 miles West of Richmond. One is 16 years old, the other is 6 years old, and both still look like new!
No stucco or parging to worry about, nor seams from the wallboard seperating after installation.

An old fashioned "cinderblock" house can withstand some very severe weather, as shown from some of the homes built many years ago in the NC "Outer Banks" and other areas along the various coastlines that have significant weather occurrences, like hurricanes, Nor'Easter's, and the like!

 

[Raydawg]

UPDATE: Well Florida is out.
Kids are getting cold feet and unsure of moving.

Wife is wanting to move still, but to South Carolina.

I changed our airline tickets from Florida to South Carolina, we will go check it out.

I do know our house is just getting to be a bit much to maintain, and my heart is just not wanting to spend its last years doing property management, etc, when traveling is so much more fun.

I sorta have a plan in the back of my mind, just selling this property and taking our trailer on the road, living in it for a few months while trying to find that last resting spot

It would give me the luxury of time, no rush, and with an empty house I could get a lot more done to tidy it up to sell for the best possible price.

In the meantime we have started digging into that stuff we kept and never needed, even this activity has provided a lift of energy and makes me wonder why in de heil do we keep so much crap to begin with.....????

 

[AuntieDodo]

That sounds like a great plan that involves no pressure at all and a wonderful fresh start to enjoy your future to the fullest

 

[Sand-dog]

My kids, grandkids, son in law and his family are all giving some serious thought of picking up and moving to Florida from their home in Southern California ( Inland Empire ).
They have already contacted people to sell their home and like the profit in their equity that would allow them to purchase a nice home and still bank a substantial amount too.
Of course they want us to go as well, but in our 70's and the very thought of moving to an area unknown to us, never been there, and I am sure a huge leap from our serenity and slow life on our island in the Pacific Northwest.
I can think of many reasons why we should, but I speak from ignorance and only see an upside peppered with lots of hope.
I would really appreciate any advice and firsthand experience from those who made a similar life change as well as those who have called it home for a spell, etc.
So much contradicting information on the internet, etc, and the deeper you dig into the more confusing it gets.
I don't think we would move until we visit, maybe land on the west coast by Tampa then cross over to the east coast, and just try and get a feel for it in a week, if possible, maybe in June.......

THANK YOU in advance!

I feel your pain. We’ve kind of been there done that hard lesson learned never ever follow your children. you’ve got your RV to visit or take a plane or a train. I would rather live in Florida then, southern California Riverside , Sacramento Valley when you say inland empire.’ it could be quite the adventure.