Major Life Move & Really Nervous About the Move but Excited (Miramar: rental, vacation home)

[roblynlav]

My family is moving to the Panhandle from a small town in Missouri. Need an awesome safe place with great Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Good value on houses and would love a mother-in-law suite (I know, thats a lot) but all things are possible Mary Esther? Niceville? From east of Pensacola to west of PCB. Thx

[m1a1mg]

What do you plan on doing for work? Niceville has the best schools.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by roblynlav

My family is moving to the Panhandle from a small town in Missouri. Need an awesome safe place with great Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Good value on houses and would love a mother-in-law suite (I know, thats a lot) but all things are possible Mary Esther? Niceville? From east of Pensacola to west of PCB. Thx

Not Mary Esther, that feeds into Fort Walton Beach High, which of all the HS in Okaloosa Cty is usually ranked the lowest.

The homes in Mary Esther will tend to be older, and the newer or remodeled ones will be south of 98, and waterfrontish. There is no way I would want to be south of 98, getting anywhere would be a pain, as that is a major thoroughfare to Hurlburt and Destin. You would literally have to drive everywhere. Even a playground, as those neighborhoods are very small. My brother has a rental in Mary Esther, near the HS, and he says for every well maintained home, there are 5 that are junk yards. Of course not every neighborhood is like that, but with older home stock, that is just what happens.

As you will see in many threads on here, Niceville has the best schools, and has newer construction. That of course doesn't translate to Good Value on a home.

What is your budget. Do you need to work, already have a job? And what small town in MO, my husbands family is from a small town in MO.

As for West of PCB, unless you are referring to Niceville, then that puts you in Santa Rosa Beach and Miramar Beach area, which puts you in Walton County schools. South Walton county is made up considerably of 2nd and vacation homes, but is growing every day. They are building a new middle school, but there really isn't much out there. Destin feeds into Fort Walton Beach High school, but the number of kids who try to get waivers into Niceville is high, and it is very competitive and the policy is very restrictive starting this year. So it isn't something you can bank on anymore. Unless you are looking for that 700K plus golf course access house, I would skip Destin.

[Bayouliving]

I think there are some great areas in Mary Esther, Shalimar, Ft. Walton or Niceville. The schools in Okaloosa County consistently rate high. Both my kids were educated here and I loved Ft. Walton Beach HS for my kids. There's also a great Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College. Lots of options around. Niceville will be a tad more expensive along with Destin. Navarre is also something to think about -- I have friends that have kids at that high school and seem very happy with it.