Hey Florida boating peeps......

[HotRod82]

My wife and I are starting to look at getting a place in Florida and are looking for suggestions on where to start. Obviously, we need a place with a dock or slip as this will be our jump off point for boating in and around the keys. Condo or SFR is fine, in a decent area, and we'd like to keep it under 500K if that's even possible. We're headed to Key Largo next week and would like to be able to check out some places. A RE agent referral would be great too. Thanks for the input and feel free to PM me.

 

[DrunkenSailor]

Following

 

[Hoodoo]

My suggestion would be to not be hung up on the keys. A lot of people think they want to live there but get a little claustrophobic after awhile. You can always run down there pretty quick by car, boat or plane for a trip.
Although you might actually find less expensive waterfront or water access down there relative to other parts of FL.
I’m partial to they SW gulf coast from Sarasota to Ft Meyers. Also don’t let anyone tell you the keys is the only nice water. Check out this pic in Sarasota from last Saturday.

 

[HotRod82]

My suggestion would be to not be hung up on the keys. A lot of people think they want to live there but get a little claustrophobic after awhile. You can always run down there pretty quick by car, boat or plane for a trip.
Although you might actually find less expensive waterfront or water access down there relative to other parts of FL.
I’m partial to they SW gulf coast from Sarasota to Ft Meyers. Also don’t let anyone tell you the keys is the only nice water. Check out this pic in Sarasota from last Saturday.

Thanks for the input, I had another person suggest we look at the SW gulf coast.

 

[Tank]

Anywhere at Pete’s, punts gorda, fort Myers, Sarasota, Bonita springs Naples etc all s/w Florida are nice and you can get a waterfront channel home for 500 still. Older abs back further in the channel but doable.

West coast is cleaner, newer, nicer than east coast I find. Not as crowded, not as ghetto, not as busy. East coast Florida is like California - “along the coast you’re good, 1 mile in you’re hood!”

there are very nice spots on the east coast north of Miami and south of Orlando like port at Lucie,boca, Jupiter, Stuart but shits spendy. And gets crowded fast.

Florida is the place to be right now with the governor running his state with common sense and won’t bow down to the woke. Fuckin awesome. Prices are gonna sky rocket over there is my guess.
July and august suck balls 100us degrees and 100% humid. Lots of bugs and I mean BIG bugs! Some counties in Florida also have adjustable property tax too unlike ca. But not all counties - you’re paying taxes on 500k next thing you know both neighbors build 2million dollar water front mansions guess what? Your value just doubled “yay” except now you pay taxes on that value “boooo”.
We love Florida. Good luck.

 

[Hoodoo]

^^^^^
Very good description of FL especially east coast vs West coast.

 

[River Runnin]

^^^^^
Very good description of FL especially east coast vs West coast.

West coast you need three axles trailers to be someone! .... East coast you need 6 - 450R engines! -- 3 for each side!

 

[LHCBOY]

My advice would be the Sarasota/Bradenton area. I currently live in Sarasota and I love the area. Boating is awesome not to busy. Several sandbars (Big Pass, Jew Fish, Beer can island, Anna Maria and several pull up restaurants and bars. My condo I just sold for under 500k had a slip and was an 1/8 of a mile from the ICW. As for the heat I lived in Havasu for 20 years I would rather have the heat here with humidity vs the convection oven that Havasu offers in the summer...Please feel free to DM me and I will try to answer any questions for you....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CarolynandBob]

Sarasota is great. We winter here, but it is getting built up fast. I would try a little south of here. Venice is where I would look.

 

[LuckyStrike]

You Can contact me if you would want a Real Estate agent in SW Fla

 

[Hoodoo]

The gulf is usually calmer than the east coast also.

 

[C-Ya]

My wife and I are starting to look at getting a place in Florida and are looking for suggestions on where to start. Obviously, we need a place with a dock or slip as this will be our jump off point for boating in and around the keys. Condo or SFR is fine, in a decent area, and we'd like to keep it under 500K if that's even possible. We're headed to Key Largo next week and would like to be able to check out some places. A RE agent referral would be great too. Thanks for the input and feel free to PM me.

My wife and I moved to Pompano Beach, Florida. We live in a high rise condo right on the intracoastal and own our own boat slip in our condo complex marina. If you are interested in the Fort Lauderdale area, I am happy to answer any questions. I also have an active real estate license, but I am not a realtor...... I occasionally flip houses.

The real estate market is on fire right now, with no end in sight. It will be hard to even shop for a house right now, since offers are being made within minutes of active listings.

Tank did a good job of summarizing Florida. We too love the west coast, but once you boat over to the Bahamas, you will probably end up trying To get into boating range of The Bahamas...... with the Keys being a back-up, for exploring.

Heres the bottom line...... There is no better State for boating, than Florida. That’s a fact!

 

[Tank]

My wife and I moved to Pompano Beach, Florida. We live in a high rise condo right on the intracoastal and own our own boat slip in our condo complex marina. If you are interested in the Fort Lauderdale area, I am happy to answer any questions. I also have an active real estate license, but I am not a realtor...... I occasionally flip houses.

The real estate market is on fire right now, with no end in sight. It will be hard to even shop for a house right now, since offers are being made within minutes of active listings.

Tank did a good job of summarizing Florida. We too love the west coast, but once you boat over to the Bahamas, you will probably end up trying To get into boating range of The Bahamas...... with the Keys being a back-up, for exploring.

Heres the bottom line...... There is no better State for boating, than Florida. That’s a fact!

true story. Mecca for boating. Straight up. No better place on the planet for boating.

 

[beaverretriever]

Well we are not really "Florida boating peeps" but hope to be in the future. We have looked for some time and even put in a bid on a beautiful place in Key West about two or so years ago but were outbid quickly. We have also been looking at Islamorada and small keys above and below it. Islamorada is amazing and definitely mellow compared to Key West. Also safer as you are not buried at the end of the Keys if there is a hurricane or what not.

We rented this pile of shit boat and spent the day on the famous Islamorada Sand Bar. I'll tell you this, I need lot of work learning how to navigate all the shallow water. I was pretty stressed quite a few times.

 

[C-Ya]

Well we are not really "Florida boating peeps" but hope to be in the future. We have looked for some time and even put in a bid on a beautiful place in Key West about two or so years ago but were outbid quickly. We have also been looking at Islamorada and small keys above and below it. Islamorada is amazing and definitely mellow compared to Key West. Also safer as you are not buried at the end of the Keys if there is a hurricane or what not.

We rented this pile of shit boat and spent the day on the famous Islamorada Sand Bar. I'll tell you this, I need lot of work learning how to navigate all the shallow water. I was pretty stressed quite a few times.

Here is advice I give to others about navigating the Keys or Bahamas. It will be 100 times easier to see if you are wearing polarized sunglasses. However, it is still a puckering experience.

For those of you that are unaware of this type of boating...... picture yourself boating over a reef that is so clear, it looks like you are in inches of water....... but then you look at the depth meter, and it says 8 feet. There have been times when I have prepared for my lower unit to be suddenly ripped off, only to discover that I am still in 4’ of water.

If you see the color white...... that’s not good news, but light baby blue can look close enough to white at times, and still be deep enough. Brown is worse than white...... because you just found a shallow reef! It generally takes me 2 days to acclimate to reef boating. If you want to put a boat out in front of Nippers Bar on Great Guana Cay...... You are going to have to visually navigate a fairly significant reef field. But I like that spot! Lol

 

[Tank]

Well we are not really "Florida boating peeps" but hope to be in the future. We have looked for some time and even put in a bid on a beautiful place in Key West about two or so years ago but were outbid quickly. We have also been looking at Islamorada and small keys above and below it. Islamorada is amazing and definitely mellow compared to Key West. Also safer as you are not buried at the end of the Keys if there is a hurricane or what not.

We rented this pile of shit boat and spent the day on the famous Islamorada Sand Bar. I'll tell you this, I need lot of work learning how to navigate all the shallow water. I was pretty stressed quite a few times.



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We go to key west at least once a year and have been doing so for about 20 years.

we like to rent the bungalow houses instead of staying at a hotel, (although we’re staying at la concha hotel in November, first time in a hotel In probably 10 years) I remember around 06 I was kinda thinking about buying a place and got to BS’n with the property manager of our place and asked him what a place like the one we were staying in goes for (2 bed one bath one car garage tiny!) guy goes, it sold A couple months ago to
New owner for 875!

this was a mile up duval on a side street. Not on the water or anything. I was kinda shocked.

so time roll on 2007 crash comes along and around 2011 I ask the dude again “how much” he said same place is under 400 now!

I read an article the keys of Florida took one of the biggest hits in the 07-09 crash because most homes down there are second homes.We should’ve bought right then and there. Prices are back up even higher now that pre crash and they’re not gonna come down with the way the state is run, everyone rushing to Florida and the fact the same style crash isn’t gonna come.

 

[HotRod82]

Thanks for all the input guys! I don't see us relocating completely to Florida, at least not for some time. As of right now we are looking for a small place that serves as a jump off point for getting on the water. The Miami to Bahamas boating does look inviting but I also enjoy smaller crowds and I know how hectic the Miami boating scene can be. Again thanks for the input and I will be reaching out to those who offered.

 

[H20 Toie]

I was down at Cape Coral couple weeks ago and think that might be the hot ticket. awesome boating there and not the far to haul a boat over to Miami and run it there. houses seem pretty reasonable

 

[LuckyStrike]

I was down at Cape Coral couple weeks ago and think that might be the hot ticket. awesome boating there and not the far to haul a boat over to Miami and run it there. houses seem pretty reasonable

Dan You should have called me....Where did you stay..??

 

[Kenny D]

We are down by Marco Island....we purchased a lot in 2012 and finish building our home on the water in 2014...We could not be happier with our decision.......I lived in So Cal. all of my life and we had a place at the Islander in Havasu for 20 years......Key west and Marathon are about 95 miles by water from where we live, and there many beaches just minutes away.....take a week and just drive from Sarasota to Marco Island stay in a different area every night...if you get down by Marco Island PM me and we will show what we have learned.

 

[941Punk]

I'm South of Sarasota in South Venice. In my neighborhood you can still get a house for 250k (or less but not for long) and be half mile or less to a private boat ramp AND beach access. From there we have 2 access points to open water, Venice Inlet or Stump Pass. Stump is my favorite. The way I see it, is fuck the condo fees, Airbnb/VRBO it when your not here. Ching ching.

Stump Pass.

 

[Nordie]

We are down by Marco Island....we purchased a lot in 2012 and finish building our home on the water in 2014...We could not be happier with our decision.......I lived in So Cal. all of my life and we had a place at the Islander in Havasu for 20 years......Key west and Marathon are about 95 miles by water from where we live, and there many beaches just minutes away.....take a week and just drive from Sarasota to Marco Island stay in a different area every night...if you get down by Marco Island PM me and we will show what we have learned.

Damn I miss Keewaydin Island, and eating at the Snook Inn. I lived in Naples for a year and damn I miss it. My grandma lives off of 41 and really close to 951. She loves going to Marco Island to bum around. Eventually I want to end up back there.

 

[Kenny D]

Damn I miss Keewaydin Island, and eating at the Snook Inn. I lived in Naples for a year and damn I miss it. My grandma lives off of 41 and really close to 951. She loves going to Marco Island to bum around. Eventually I want to end up back there.

Keewaydin is a very fun place....it has been very busy lately, we live on Isles of Capri which is about a 10 min boat ride from Keewaydin.

 

[Cdog]

Ft. Lauderdale & Miami last week. My sister lives in Ft. L. My first trip to FL & the keys was back when I was 15. I’ve always loved it. Been 6 times now. Depressing coming back to Az.

 

[Cdog]

More pics

 

[H20 Toie]

Dan You should have called me....Where did you stay..??

i landed at 11pm in ft myers got a hotel, in the morning i went and looked at a Cig. then drove over to Boca Raton. had dinner at Nonna's got a little lit and then had a 7am flight out, back at work at 11:30am. If i had stayed for more than a few hours i would have called

 

[Spudsbud]

Sarasota is great. We winter here, but it is getting built up fast. I would try a little south of here. Venice is where I would look.

C&B,
My IL's live in Vence. 20+ yrs now. My wife just got back from 10 days there. They had to stay home. Venice Ave. packed all hours. Beaches were like Siesta Key on 4th of July. Just ridiculous. No Fun she said.

 

[beerrun]

We will be in Miami April 20th through 25th for our birthdays

 

[941Punk]

C&B,
My IL's live in Vence. 20+ yrs now. My wife just got back from 10 days there. They had to stay home. Venice Ave. packed all hours. Beaches were like Siesta Key on 4th of July. Just ridiculous. No Fun she said.

South Venice has private beach access. At it's busiest, maybe 120 people over 1200 feet of sand. We're next to a state park that is two miles long to the north and the general public would have to walk that far to get to us. In addition, we're next to 2 miles of beach of private homes to the south recessed back from the water. So really, we're talking 4 miles and room for 120 people and a few beach walkers. Sorry your wife didn't have fun, it's the season and with the china virus, people are coming here vs anywhere else.

 

[Hoodoo]

Just one small request if I may.

 

[rivermobster]

Anywhere at Pete’s, punts gorda, fort Myers, Sarasota, Bonita springs Naples etc all s/w Florida are nice and you can get a waterfront channel home for 500 still. Older abs back further in the channel but doable.

West coast is cleaner, newer, nicer than east coast I find. Not as crowded, not as ghetto, not as busy. East coast Florida is like California - “along the coast you’re good, 1 mile in you’re hood!”

there are very nice spots on the east coast north of Miami and south of Orlando like port at Lucie,boca, Jupiter, Stuart but shits spendy. And gets crowded fast.

Florida is the place to be right now with the governor running his state with common sense and won’t bow down to the woke. Fuckin awesome. Prices are gonna sky rocket over there is my guess.
July and august suck balls 100us degrees and 100% humid. Lots of bugs and I mean BIG bugs! Some counties in Florida also have adjustable property tax too unlike ca. But not all counties - you’re paying taxes on 500k next thing you know both neighbors build 2million dollar water front mansions guess what? Your value just doubled “yay” except now you pay taxes on that value “boooo”.
We love Florida. Good luck.

I'm gonna disagree with you here...

Miami seemed like one BLOCK in and you were ghetto!!! lol It felt like Compton. Nasty stuff.

Florida is a great place to visit. In the winter. On a boat.

 

[CarolynandBob]

C&B,
My IL's live in Vence. 20+ yrs now. My wife just got back from 10 days there. They had to stay home. Venice Ave. packed all hours. Beaches were like Siesta Key on 4th of July. Just ridiculous. No Fun she said.

Sorry she didn't have fun. I have never seen it like you describe. We do tend to go to Nokomis beach more often. My wife likes to paddle board there and she usually will see dolphins.

 

[CarolynandBob]

I'm gonna disagree with you here...

Miami seemed like one BLOCK in and you were ghetto!!! lol It felt like Compton. Nasty stuff.

Florida is a great place to visit. In the winter. On a boat.

Miami is like any other big city as far as ghetto. Some nice and some not, but he did say North of Miami. Jacksonville on the east coast is not very nice once you get away from the beach. My parents live in Palm Coast just north of Daytona and it is really nice there.

West coast Florida doesn't seam to have those problems yet.

 

[rivermobster]

Miami is like any other big city as far as ghetto. Some nice and some not, but he did say North of Miami. Jacksonville on the east coast is not very nice once you get away from the beach. My parents live in Palm Coast just north of Daytona and it is really nice there.

West coast Florida doesn't seam to have those problems yet.

I don't get how they can deal with the humidity...

I was there for a week for training, when I was working for Bentley. I walked out of the hotel one morning, and my glasses fogged up instantly from the humidity!

I asked the instructor...

Dude, do you actually live here full time?

-Yeah, why?

How do you deal with this humidity? It's worse than smog, you can hardly breathe!

- Well, we just don't go outside.

Dude, I'm from SoCal, we only go inside to sleep and eat!

- You get used to it.





No freaking way. And I think this was in May? I can't begin to imagine the summers...

 

[CarolynandBob]

I don't get how they can deal with the humidity...

I was there for a week for training, when I was working for Bentley. I walked out of the hotel one morning, and my glasses fogged up instantly from the humidity!

I asked the instructor...

Dude, do you actually live here full time?

-Yeah, why?

How do you deal with this humidity? It's worse than smog, you can hardly breathe!

- Well, we just don't go outside.

Dude, I'm from SoCal, we only go inside to sleep and eat!

- You get used to it.





No freaking way. And I think this was in May? I can't begin to imagine the summers...

Yes the humidity can suck. We are here only in the summer. TN in the summer has a lot of humidity as well, but then we just hit the water. Not really different than when we use to go to Havasu. Was 110 - 115 out. Just get in the lake. Just a different heat. We just don't need chap stik here. LOL

Every part of the country has their issues. CA has droughts, wildfires and an occasional earthquake. PNW has rain all a lot more than I want to deal with. North is Snow. North east is a lot of fucking snow. Southwest is desert and dry heat. Texas is windy as fuck and cold in the winter. Southeast is humidity and hurricanes. You just have to figure out what is best for you.

 

[941Punk]

I don't get how they can deal with the humidity...

I was there for a week for training, when I was working for Bentley. I walked out of the hotel one morning, and my glasses fogged up instantly from the humidity!

I asked the instructor...

Dude, do you actually live here full time?

-Yeah, why?

How do you deal with this humidity? It's worse than smog, you can hardly breathe!

- Well, we just don't go outside.

Dude, I'm from SoCal, we only go inside to sleep and eat!

- You get used to it.





No freaking way. And I think this was in May? I can't begin to imagine the summers...

After growing up in Cali, living in AZ for a decade and now FL for almost another, I have a saying when people ask me about AZ vs FL
"I rather live in a sauna then an oven."

 

[Taboma]

After growing up in Cali, living in AZ for a decade and now FL for almost another, I have a saying when people ask me about AZ vs FL
"I rather live in a sauna then an oven."

I recall it was more of a "Steamer" than a sauna and I felt like I needed gills to breath. I don't care for AZ summers anymore either, it's an age thing.

 

[TomD]

I don't get how they can deal with the humidity...

I was there for a week for training, when I was working for Bentley. I walked out of the hotel one morning, and my glasses fogged up instantly from the humidity!

I asked the instructor...

Dude, do you actually live here full time?

-Yeah, why?

How do you deal with this humidity? It's worse than smog, you can hardly breathe!

- Well, we just don't go outside.

Dude, I'm from SoCal, we only go inside to sleep and eat!

- You get used to it.





No freaking way. And I think this was in May? I can't begin to imagine the summers...

Come on Joe, its just "Wet Heat". LOL!!!

 

[941Punk]

I recall it was more of a "Steamer" than a sauna and I felt like I needed gills to breath. I don't care for AZ summers anymore either, it's an age thing.

Oh, and all the GREEEEEN, everywhere vs that depressing brown barren landscape. I do miss the mountains and the color red (Sedona)

 

[Taboma]

Oh, and all the GREEEEEN, everywhere vs that depressing brown barren landscape. I do miss the mountains and the color red (Sedona)

In general I really like Florida, especially the boating and water. Couldn't believe how flat it was. Loved canoeing in the swamps with a 6 pack and eventually reaching a state of bravery where I'd be pushing those damn gators out of the way with my paddle. Spent some wonderful times on both coasts with friends, vacations and acting as an escort for my wife when she was performing government contracts on a few military bases.
I'm pretty sure of two things. If I'd made my riches ( Relatively speaking of course) at a younger age, those years when I could easily manage heat and being lathered in sweat, we'd own a place like I always dreamed of, right on the water. AND, had enough $$ to afford a place there AND wayyyyyy up north of there, with another place right on the water, for the summers.
I'm still looking, still have the dream, but as I'm finding we're not even driving to our place at Havasu nearly as often, do I really have the energy and enough desire to relocate to the opposite coast ??
PS: I recall a few trips to Florida when I could barely see driving as a result of the dense smoke from numerous wildfires.

 

[Cdog]

Oh, and all the GREEEEEN, everywhere vs that depressing brown barren landscape. I do miss the mountains and the color red (Sedona)

My 13 year old is ready to move and hates AZ. LOL! Every day since our trip she's bitching about how she hates it here in AZ and how she's moving as soon as she's on her own. My wife keeps playing tic Tok videos of the savages in Miami as justification on my FL sucks. HAHA!

I'd go in a heartbeat if I could get my wife to agree.

 

[941Punk]

My 13 year old is ready to move and hates AZ. LOL! Every day since our trip she's bitching about how she hates it here in AZ and how she's moving as soon as she's on her own. My wife keeps playing tic Tok videos of the savages in Miami as justification on my FL sucks. HAHA!

I'd go in a heartbeat if I could get my wife to agree.

Yeahhh, we don't have those issues on the Gulf side.

 

[DaveC]

One of these days I wanna do a VRBO on a waterway in FL and rent a boat.

Not sure where to look.

I was going to go on a trip to the FT Lauderdale boat show as a surveillance trip as well. Check things out a bit around the south end of the state.

 

[fmo24]

Ft Lauderdale is fun to visit but west coast from St Petersburg south reminds me more of old Southern California beach towns.

 

[Hoodoo]

It’s hard to put it into words but there is a difference in the “feel” of SW FL vs East coast FL. I guess more laid back or backcountry is how I would put it.

 

[C-Ya]

After growing up in Cali, living in AZ for a decade and now FL for almost another, I have a saying when people ask me about AZ vs FL
"I rather live in a sauna then an oven."

941Punk........ I too grew up SoCal, lived in Phx, and now Florida.

When I lived in Phoenix, people who were not from there would ask...... How do you handle the heat? I could never live there! But what they did not and do not understand is that everyplace has its bad season. I’ve never heard someone ask...... How do you handle that Great Arizona weather......... the other 9 months of the year? Florida falls under this same theory. The weather is the best in the nation right now....... week after week...... all winter. Everyday is boating weather!

I have forgotten what snow looks and feels like....... and I don’t care!

 

[941Punk]

941Punk........ I too grew up SoCal, lived in Phx, and now Florida.

When I lived in Phoenix, people who were not from there would ask...... How do you handle the heat? I could never live there! But what they did not and do not understand is that everyplace has its bad season. I’ve never heard someone ask...... How do you handle that Great Arizona weather......... the other 9 months of the year? Florida falls under this same theory. The weather is the best in the nation right now....... week after week...... all winter. Everyday is boating weather!

I have forgotten what snow looks and feels like....... and I don’t care!

Ice Storm? Only in our glasses! lol

 

[Taboma]

Ice Storm? Only in our glasses! lol

Just wondering, when several million people try to evacuate to escape the killer Hurricane, which motel does everybody prefer ?

Yeah I know, every where has something. But for some reason I can't shake this vision of getting caught up in a total gridlock while trying to flee. Of course, the news loves to air those shots and my claustrophobia alarms all go off.

 

[mash on it]

Just wondering, when several million people try to evacuate to escape the killer Hurricane, which motel does everybody prefer ?

Yeah I know, every where has something. But for some reason I can't shake this vision of getting caught up in a total gridlock while trying to flee. Of course, the news loves to air those shots and my claustrophobia alarms all go off.

By boat, of course.

Dan'l

 

[Taboma]

By boat, of course.

Dan'l

Hopefully a fast one and you pick the right direction the first time. Unless of course, you just leave for the entire season like the US boats used to do at Cabo.