Moving to the Panhandle…which area?

[grampaTom]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

I think Fairhope may be exactly what you're looking for. Check it out. It beats anything the FL panhandle has to offer.

I agree that Fairhope is a very nice area. We lived in Cantonment and shopped in that area on a regular basis.
OP, I miss Pensacola and would enjoy moving back -- good shopping, healthcare and beaches. Good fishing too.
We now live in the Maryville, Tn area and visit the panhandle every February.
Someone recommended Niceville and I agree it is nicely located and that area has tons of shopping, dining and attractions.
I would suggest taking a week or two and visit all three (Fairhope, Pensacola, and Niceville) spending at least 2 days in each locale. Check out the shopping, dining, hospitals, beaches and real estate.
If you do check out Pensacola eat at Grand Marlin once, go to Joe Patti's fish market and check out the Blue Wahoo's ball park. Maybe eat at Pegleg Pete's and check out the boardwalk shops at Pensacola beach. While you're there drive through Fort Pickens.

Good luck!

[GolfMomTN]

Thx to all responding. Such sage and informed info from qualified observers….it is so helpful to read your comments. I will keep plugging away. It sounds like Panama City is a bit rough around the edges, FWB/Destin may be too slow (or noisy) depending on the location and Pensacola may be the best bet for Florida Panhandle. We will be searching Fairhope/Daphne/Spanish Fort in Alabama
just to see what comes up, too! Many thx and feel free to continue this thread because this is a common question for those of us wanting to move to the area.

[Lizap]

We are from the Mobile area, our daughter lives in Panama City Beach, and cousin in Navarre, so are very familiar with all these areas. Honestly, not a fan of any of them. Pensacola is very military and the west side is very run down. Destin/Navarre is very touristy and the roads can’t accommodate all the traffic. Overrun with military and ex-military. Other than the beaches, no reason to live there. Panama City is the most run down of all, but Panama City Beach is very nice. Very nice retail here. Tons of traffic though. I absolutely would select none of these. Fairhope is a possibility, but it has been found. Traffic can be a problem here as well, but it would be my choice. Hurricane risk in this part of the country is a real problem, so unless you’re willing to run from hurricanes about every other year, and potentially suffer significant house damage, I’d rule out all of these places.

[GolfMomTN]

Originally Posted by Lizap

We are from the Mobile area, our daughter lives in Panama City Beach, and cousin in Navarre, so are very familiar with all these areas. Honestly, not a fan of any of them. Pensacola is very military and the west side is very run down. Destin/Navarre is very touristy and the roads can’t accommodate all the traffic. Overrun with military and ex-military. Other than the beaches, no reason to live there. Panama City is the most run down of all, but Panama City Beach is very nice. Very nice retail here. Tons of traffic though. I absolutely would select none of these. Fairhope is a possibility, but it has been found. Traffic can be a problem here as well, but it would be my choice. Hurricane risk in this part of the country is a real problem, so unless you’re willing to run from hurricanes about every other year, and potentially suffer significant house damage, I’d rule out all of these places.

Great, honest response…you might have scared us straight…straight to Tennessee!

[youngprodigy21]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

Do you have to be near the coast? Have you considered Tallahassee? It checks your boxes much better than Pensacola, FWB, or PC.

I am in the same boat as the OP, looking for a place in northern Florida that ticks off the boxes. One of the downsides I noticed about Tallahassee is that their airport seems to pale in comparison to that of Pensacola airport.

Tallahassee airport only has direct flights to seven destinations and doesn't have Southwest, my airline of choice.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by slduvall

But we do have the noise from both the AF base and the EOD training facility. Lots of bombs going off...literally.

Though I’ll note that the Air Force is generally usually pretty good at only blowing stuff up during normal business hours. (I’m serious. I’m also serious about the vibrations we get from that and how I was so glad when Cf light bulbs came along because the bombing plays havoc with more fragile incandescent light bulb filaments)

The night aircraft noise we get tends to usually be civilian commercial aircraft when they’re landing east-west at the airport instead of using the north-south runway like they usually do. (VPS is a joint use airport where the county government gets X number of runway slots a year from Eglin AFB and then has their own civilian commercial air terminal on the far west side of the runways)

The problem with a lot of Santa Rosa/Okaloosa/Walton Counties is that the vast majority of land where people most want to live south of I-10 is government land (DOD, other federal, state forest, etc.) And an increasing amount of the land in privately held hands is built out at this point even as more and more people move to that area.

So you get higher home costs because of land scarcity compared to other metro areas of similar demographics even before you get into the popularity of short term rental units and vacation homes taking more homes out of the long term residency side of things. And yeah, short term rentals have been A Thing since somewhere in the 1980s along the beach but they’re encroaching more and more inland all the time. I’m hearing about Air BnBs even popping up north of the Mid-Bay Bridge this summer.

[Lizap]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Though I’ll note that the Air Force is generally usually pretty good at only blowing stuff up during normal business hours. (I’m serious. I’m also serious about the vibrations we get from that and how I was so glad when Cf light bulbs came along because the bombing plays havoc with more fragile incandescent light bulb filaments)

The night aircraft noise we get tends to usually be civilian commercial aircraft when they’re landing east-west at the airport instead of using the north-south runway like they usually do. (VPS is a joint use airport where the county government gets X number of runway slots a year from Eglin AFB and then has their own civilian commercial air terminal on the far west side of the runways)

The problem with a lot of Santa Rosa/Okaloosa/Walton Counties is that the vast majority of land where people most want to live south of I-10 is government land (DOD, other federal, state forest, etc.) And an increasing amount of the land in privately held hands is built out at this point even as more and more people move to that area.

So you get higher home costs because of land scarcity compared to other metro areas of similar demographics even before you get into the popularity of short term rental units and vacation homes taking more homes out of the long term residency side of things. And yeah, short term rentals have been A Thing since somewhere in the 1980s along the beach but they’re encroaching more and more inland all the time. I’m hearing about Air BnBs even popping up north of the Mid-Bay Bridge this summer.

Yes, constant, loud vibrations in the Navarre area, as well. Just horrible..

[kyle19125]

OP, you might consider southern Georgia just across the state line in Valdosta. It's 90 minutes from Tallahassee but has pretty much all of the amenities you're looking for in-town with real estate prices 2/3 of those in the Panhandle minus the flood threat and most of the hurricane issues. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...22%3A%7B%7D%7D

[AnsleyPark]

Yep!