OT Snow sucks. Cold sucks. I am SO over this.

Gee, Tink....tell us how you REALLY feel...Don't be shy.

LOL

Warm, snuggly hugs on their way to you. Wish i could send you a quilt, but there's no time for that.

I said that. I move to Florida. Don't move to Florida. No services to speak of, rampant destruction of vegetation in order to build wall to wall housing, heat, humidity, BUGS! [i love living here, i really do. My job is to discourage everyone else from moving here so the housing industry will stop building new towns overnight.] I am not kidding, however, on the poor services. Anyone who wants to move to Florida or anywhere else should always check out the services which you need or anticipate needing before you actually go. You may change your mind based on what you find.

With that said - I hope you get a good Jan. thaw really soon. That always helps.

-Aula

Poor services like what?

I've been in love with Indialantic/Melbourne since my first visit a decade ago. Yeah, there's heat. But you don't have to shovel heat off the sidewalk. LOL!

Tink Yummy Things!:

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 12:33:55 GMT, "just me" > off to take my puppy out. I hate wearing layers. I hate slush. >>

Do you like sweltering humid summers? If you do then FL is definitely for you, honey!

Every time I think I hate this cold weather and rotten snow and ice, I think of the bugs, snakes and intolerable hot and miserable weather in Florida from April to October. Been there done that, will never retire to Florida. It is wonderful in the winter but other than that they could give the whole state to the alligators. Roxan who is glad to live in Pennsylvania.

Indialantic and the Brevard County area are just beautiful. I live in that general area, too. Services for children stink. Services for those with mental illness stink. Services for those with many Developmental Disabilities are worse [huge class action lawsuit against the state on those]. Services for the elderly are somewhat better, but not necessarily fantastic.

But, if you don't need the public schools and the services I mentioned above, it is a lovely area. Brevard County is the fastest growing county [population] in the State, just behind the greater Orlando area. New housing construction is everywhere in large numbers [except on the beach side as that area is built up mainly]. Cost of living is about the same as Orlando but much lower than many other areas of the country. The average 3 or 4 bedroom 2 bath home costs just about $90,000, although beachside [including Indialantic] will run significantly higher to purchase. Insurance is more on beachside, too, due to hurricane related issues. Food costs appear to be similar to areas of the northeast where my family lives. And no oil burner [just a/c, which may be electric or natural gas]. I've been here since 1991 and love the area, just am not happy to see so many woodlands just being bulldozed down and destroyed to build wall to wall ticky tacky houses [remember the song?] that are so close together you can nearly touch two at once. Since I also work in children's mental health, I am more aware than many of the deficits in Florida in general about services.

So, move on down. If you really do get serious about moving to the area email me and I may be able to provide you with helpful information. I do know a marvelous real estate agent.......

-Aula, in Florida

I lived there for a while back in 1974/1975. I was homeless, and pretty much just lived in burned out beach houses. Showered at KOAs. LOL! Stayed in a trailer for about a week (it was $25 for the whole week, so you can imagine how nice it was!) and was VERY impressed by the size of the cockroaches. Here in Ohio, bugs that size would be mounted and displayed. Ha!

When it's icy and snowy like it is here now, I don't leave the house unless I have to. And with Prairieson around, I don't really have to at all. He takes care of the grocery shopping and everything. The cold wreaks havoc with my lungs. I worry about falling on the ice. One trip out with the puppy, and I am so cold I can't do anything for over an hour.

I hate it here. Always have. Always will. I am particularly cranky right now.

T>Every time I think I hate this cold weather and rotten snow and ice, I think

"just me"

Sounds a lot like why I left New England. I never could handle the cold. The heat and humidity here don't phase me much, except for sleeping [thanks a/c for helping on that]. I can mow the lawn in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer and not find that a problem. My third generation Florida native husband wilts from May through mid-October. Poor guy ;-)

So, come on down! Oh, one word of advice, there was a huge developer in Palm Bay who put up really shoddy houses in the 60's and into the early 80's then went bankrupt. So, if you buy or rent in the area, make sure you know that it is *not* a GDC [General Development Corp.] home. You do not want the hassle nor the worries during hurricane season.

-Aula

I will miss my large house, but I got used to it when I downsized before. Went from 3800 square feet to about 1700. I think our house seems larger because of the huge, useful attic and the great basement (which isn't figured in the square footage number).

I've traveled all over the world, and Indialantic has always felt like home to me for some reason. It's kind of weird, actually.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:06:14 GMT, "just me"

That is really good info!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going to be looking from Satellite Beach down past Sebastian Inlet. And probably over in/near Melbourne proper.

I would KILL for a slice of white pizza from Bizzaro's today.

*sigh*

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:13:05 GMT, "just me"

Then you would do well there. I'm the opposite, hate heat and humidity worse than the bitter cold. blah

If it feels like home, it probably is. Just remember this about 99% of Florida homes: no attic [many low pitch roofs], no cellar [water table], and definitely not enough closets! Everything ends up in the garage, except the car.

-Aula

Alot of new house construction south of Melbourne Beach is nice, pricey but nice. That area is still seeing many houses on decent sized lots with

*trees* still in place. The big draw back is distance to a causeway, particularly if considering hurricane evacuation. You either go south to Sebastian or north to SR192/Melbourne Causeway. Either way, very congested. We lived in Cocoa Beach during a hurricane in 1995 [and I was 8 months preggers]. There was a 'mandatory' evac. that we ignored as it was a Cat. 1 'cane. It came through Palm Bay [south of us about 20 miles as the crow flies] so we did have hurricane force winds. We actually made out better than those on the mainland: kept our power, no tornados. But, it could easily have been the other way around in a worse hurricane. I live on the mainland now [bought a house, couldn't afford something on the beachside], and we've been through a couple more cat 1 and 2 'canes and counted our blessings that Floyd turned north when it did.

Anyway, I digress. Sat. Beach is a great area, as is Indialantic and Melb. Beach. Sat. Beach has a lot of condo's, however, blocking the beach view and breezes, so that is something to consider. Melb. Beach is still closer to "old Florida". Melb. Village, btw, is a lovely area and a very nice community inland from Melbourne. It is somewhat near Erna Nixon Park and The Melbourne Mall, if that helps. W. Melbourne is a boom town right now for new home construction. Parts of NE Palm Bay are nice, too, if you are careful and check things out before buying. Do not buy in NW Palm Bay as there is one major rd in/out and that is not likely to change soon. This creates real problems during commute time as that is a bedroom community. Viera is the up and coming new town on the north end of Melbourne border with Rockledge. Overpriced and ritzy. Suntree, just to the south of it is as well. Rockledge is a better area for new home starts that are affordable for the average person. But, if you want a lovely old victorian look along the river in Rockledge and Cocoa. You could find yourself a 100 year old two story ginger bread or other victorian home, but it will cost you. And, it will almost definitely be overlooking the river. Very lovely.

-Aula, trying not to get going too badly and bore everyone!

What about construction? Not being hurricane savvy, I am just guessing that block construction is the most sound? I have NO idea. I've been amazed at the prices for housing down there. My guess is that we will be able to pay for our home outright upon the sale of the house we have now.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:27:35 GMT, "just me"

It *does* pay to learn the building codes and the information which they are based on. Cement block construction is definitely the best for withstanding hurricanes. More so, if the garage is attached, the roof should be particularly well tied down and the garage door [the main weakness in the structure] should have certain features which I don't recall atm, that help it withstand being blown in and compromising the roof. Most Fl garages in this area are attached. The main thing to be aware of is how well the roof is tied down. If the building was built between the early 70's and 1992 [Hurricane Andrew] it won't have been meeting as strict codes as before and after, particularly after. The roof needs to be tied down to the trusses and the trusses need to be tied down to the body of the house in order to prevent ripping the roof off during a wind. Also, depending on where one lives, hurricane shutters are helpful. Once the envelope of the house/condo is compromised the wind gets in and the roof goes and one has a huge mess. Therefore, windows need to be either built of the new shatter proof glasses that sandwich the plastic sheeting like auto windshields sometimes are or they need to be protected from flying debris. Then, just prepare for a hurricane just like you would for being snowed in for five days: water, alternative cooking method, canned food and loads of tp and your prescription meds.

Hurricane [wind storm] insurance is bought separately from the other housing insurance and is costly. If you are remotely in a flood plain you may well want to consider purchase of flood insurance as well. One of the biggest cause of damage in hurricanes is rising water.

Which brings up the other point: when looking at a Fl. home to buy make sure that it is *higher* than the road and is not particularly down hill from anything immediately adjacent unless there is *more* land further downhill on the other side. Florida floods easily and rapidly and hurricanes kind of carry a lot of water. Our lovely afternoon summer thunderstorms can drop up to 4 or 6 inches in an hour sometimes. You want to be living on the high ground. Yes, Florida does have high ground, sort of! Oh, and living directly on the dune line on the beachside is not high ground because of hurricane storm surges. A storm surge is the water pushed ahead of the hurricane winds. If it happens at high tide it is particularly bad. Even not at high tide, however, it may push several more feet of water ahead of it such that the surf is pushed up over the dunes and runs into homes near the ocean. Storm surge is what did in Galveston TX in the early

1900's, not the winds and tornados. So, it is wise to consider the storm surge if purchasing/building near the beach. And, be advised that the closer to the beach the home the harder it is to even find hazard insurance, hurricane insurance, flood insurance, so enquire about that with insurance co.'s before bidding on a house within 500-1000 feet of the beach.

-Aula

-Aula

This is what I've got in mind...

*sigh*

That would be a good buy, depending on the condition of the house when you looked at it. That is in an area that is just starting to be developed more strenuously, a large mall is planned for relatively nearby within the next

1-2 years and it has easy access to many amenities. We have good friends in that area: goodneighborhood.

-Aula