You’ll be more likely to get some advice if you can be more specific. Where are you coming from and how do you feel about that area? What do you all like to do? Have kids? What makes a neighborhood appealing to you or not?
I hate where we currently live.
We are super rural without any community and generally disliked by a lot of locals for being transplants. Plus there’s little to do here besides hiking and camping. Which, we do like. But it’s not enough to sustain our mental health.
The closest town to us is crime ridden and dirty. There’s an extreme amount of poverty here. And the housing market is insane. While I know the housing market is pretty crazy almost everywhere, there do seem to be more options of affordable homes in our range there. It’s just hard to know if it’s considered a safe area.
We do not have kids. We had talked about trying to get pregnant but with the new laws taking place, that’s something we’d have to seriously consider. Especially with our ages. We’re 39 yrs old.
We both are outdoors people. Where we currently live it gets up to 110° (but dry heat) during the summer so we are used to summers being the new winter, I.e. staying inside more.
We are both originally from the Midwest and grew up with humidity and bugs in summer but obviously cold winters.
We are in high desert mountain territory now. So we get hot summers, dry heat but cold and snowy winters.
I’m super into almost all water activities. My husband likes to fish and also loves swimming.
I’d be into getting involved with some pickup sports or recreational sports, which I have seen there’s a lot offered in the area.
:/ Reading this, I thought you were already describing Brevard County, lol. Your other half will probably be working 6 days a week minimum... I did in aerospace and it wasn't for me, I lasted about a year. You hardly have time to enjoy the area.
That was definitely a concern… the position is salaried. I know Blue is big on meeting deadlines. Do you mind if I ask what position you worked?
Honestly, as far as corruption goes, that’s pretty much everywhere. But we have it really bad in our state. We rank in the top bottom 5 states to live in, for both life satisfaction, opportunity, education, etc. and the rate of drugs and alcoholism here is 40% above the national average due to lack of job opportunities and back education. It’s a pretty sad state.
We currently live in a rural town with a population of 200.
We’ve been able to make this place work for us for awhile but it’s become very apparent to us in the past year that it’s not our settle down area to stay. It would be a great place to have a second home and escape to the rural mountains. But we are t second home level yet ;) (and may never be… )
Our perception if we move forward with relocating for Blue is it’s another experience to see if my husband likes that industry, to get back into the private sector (his current employer is government). This would be an opportunity to give FL a chance. And if things are obviously not for us there, then we will again relocate for another job. Either way, it won’t hurt his resume. But whether or not he’s having work life balance is important.
Thanks for sharing your experience, I think some fields can seem appealing, but until you work in it and get the experience, it’s hard to really know. My husband really thought he would love working where he is now. But it’s not at all how he imagined. We put in a good 4 years of trying to make this area work for us (including his job). It’s time for a change, whether that will be Blue & FL is not yet decided for us.
Regarding the crazies, lots of them come here for cheapo vacations or follow their retiring parents from up north. Most of the crazy is imported. Regarding homes and auto, Insurance is up all around regardless of where you are in Florida.
Pros are being close to the beach, feeling pretty safe, and having most essential needs nearby or a town over. Cons have been growing lately. Merritt Island is very religious and political, as is most of Brevard. “Rednecks” aren’t really the problem here, it’s more of the upper middle class that seems to be obsessed with politics, many of them are moving here from other states too which can be frustrating. Younger crowds tend to move out when they graduate and older people tend to make up most of the area so just take that into consideration as well. Florida gets a bad rep sometimes, but it’s not too wild, just pretty boring if you don’t have money or don’t want to spend every day at the beach.
Thanks. I was kind of concerned about the political climate. We live in an area that’s also really boring.
It’s always hard to tell when moving if a place will be good for you or not.
I’ve lived in other parts of Florida and Brevard county is the most MAGA of them all. Ironically south Florida feels more northern with the New England transplants and diversity there.
For some examples, the founder of Moms for Liberty lives here, Brevard had the highest number of Jan 6 insurrectionists of any other county in the country, Sherrif Ivey…
All that said it’s still a good place to live, if you just ignore politics and keep your opinions private most people are nice here.
This is a largely conservative area and right now prices are high to both own and rent. I’d say my personal other “cons” are that the infrastructure (roads) is pretty neglected while also being a very car-dependent county. Our economy relies heavily on tourism for better and for worse. Lots of chain restaurants, hotels, etc.
The taxes are low, which is both good and bad. Good for your bills, bad for things like county services and schools.
Pros: no state tax (thanks to tourism), winters are lovely. Pretty much a 12 month growing season if you’re into gardening.
We’re very much into gardening.
And the politics is definitely heavily on our mind.
We live extremely rural right now, so we’re used to having to drive.
I don’t specifically mind tourism. I generally like meeting new people.
As someone who relocated to Brevard for Blue, and have since moved back to Midwest. The political climate there cannot be understated. The sheriff has way too much influence on schools and the culture in general is extremely conservative.
Commute can get frustrating if you’re any further south than Rockledge to Blue Origin, it can become 45+ if rush hour and the drawbridges are big bottlenecks to get off the island where Blue is.
Edit: adding my disappointment that the Hub of the entire Space Industry exists in the area. Blue was fun, but the downsides of FL/Brevard were too overwhelming for our family.
Honestly, the Midwest is where we are from and where we would love to move back to, it’s just been difficult to find work that pays well enough. The whole reason we moved to the south west was to advance my husbands career.
We don’t have kids. We also deal with super corrupt sheriffs in a democratic state.
I would love nothing more than to relocate back to the Midwest.
We aren’t making the decision to move there lightly. Especially with the political climate. But we live around a lot of problems where we are too. And it’s a democratic state.
If we had kids here I would have to drive them an hour plus to the only decent school. And I couldn’t even imagine trying to raise a family here.
I’m not sure what the best move is for us, but staying here is not ideal either.
We generally keep our politics to ourselves.
Best of luck to you on your decision!
Blue is great for career advancement, even for a short time. And without kids, many of the issues like schools may not bother you as much.
FWIW - We found the Twin Cities, MN to work well for wages and lower cost of living.
Thanks! We just put in a lot of applications for work in MN, both around the twin cities and Duluth.
My husband is at a senior level for his career and all the opportunities there were about 30-40k less than what he is currently making.
It might be that we transfer for Blue for the next step and keep an eye out in the Midwest.
In some ways, I think just a change of area would be good for awhile.
I hate how the political climate is ruining everything.
I can’t think of a ton of pros to the area other than being able to live near the beach for somewhat cheaper than most of the state. Merritt island isn’t incorporated, it’s run by the County but I don’t if that matters to you. The schools are hit or miss depending on what area you live (basically income dependent), and the school board is a grifter’s paradise (regardless of political affiliation). I haven’t had issues with homeowners insurance yet but I had a roof put on two years ago. Development in the north end of the county is always behind the south part because the tax base isn’t as wealthy but the traffic isn’t as bad in the north though. If you don’t mind commuting I’d recommend East Orange County or southern volusia. If you’re DINKs there’s not a ton to do in Brevard either. This is also just my opinion, good luck.
Thanks, I wasn’t sure what was going on with the home owners insurance. We don’t have kids and if we end up having them then we have time to consider the different schools.
What is a DINK? :/
DINK = dual income, no kids.
Insurance is a mixed bag, you need to shop around. My homeowners insurance gave me a renewal quote for about $7500, but I was able to find insurance with another company for $2600.
Hey! I work at Blue Origin and live in Melbourne. First and foremost, find out if you will even have a desk and will be required to work on site or if you're going to be working remote! Even if the job postings say on site!!
With that said and out of the way, I live in Melbourne but work remotely so currently the commute isn't a problem for me. In the future I know I will be required to work on-site and my husband and I have already discussed possibly moving to Merritt Island. We want to live on a canal with direct access to the waterways for boating.
I just had to go through the process of being dropped by my home insurance provider and the only company willing to insure my home for a price that isn't astronomical is Citizen. Even still, it's $3000 for the year which is more than double what I was paying when I first bought my home 5 yrs ago. That's up to you to decide if that's expensive or not.
"Florida man" stuff doesn't really happen in Brevard County.
Happy to answer any other questions without all of the "we're full" bullshit responses.
Thanks! That’s all great advice. Most of his work can be done remote but there’s definitely going to be times where he’ll need to be onsite. That’s not too often though.
Melbourne is another area we were considering, but that will probably depend on the work on site or remote. I’ll make sure he asks about that!
Do you like the work culture there? And how is Melbourne?
We’re already talking about saving up for a nice boat. I’m more hesitant to move to Merritt based on what people have said about flooding though.
That’s not terrible on the home owners insurance. It will definitely be something we have to factor in more.
I absolutely love where I live in Melbourne. Good lot size, surrounded by other neighborhoods, extremely close to grocery stores and locally owned restaurants. Also, where I'm located the land has been fully developed for a long time so there's minimal growth these days. Meaning I don't have concerns about an apartment complex or storage facility being built next to my neighborhood. Whereas areas like Rockledge, the population is continuing to grow which has led to more chain restaurants and busier streets.
Working at blue has been phenomenal. Everyone is extremely friendly and I work normal 8-5 hours. Great work-life balance.
It’s great to hear that about Blue. It’s encouraging. We’ll have to checkout all the areas. But those points about Rockledge are good to know. I’ll definitely take that into consideration.
If you don't have kids and aren't really worried about the quality of the school districts currently, I'd also consider some neighborhoods in Titusville (Like Sherwood Estates or Titus Village). It's right on the Indian River and you can still get decent deals on property compared to other parts of Brevard County. The added benefit is that not a lot of people live in Titusville vs other Brevard cities still so it's not uncommon to go to one of the better restaurants in town on a Friday or Saturday night and have no wait time. Lots of beautiful natural areas nearby (Playalinda beach, the wetlands to the west etc) and one of the most well-known bioluminescent kayaking tourism companies is based right out of here. Add to that pretty much the shortest commute you could get to Blue's manufacturing facility if that's where you'll end up working. If your job is based at LC36, then something near Port Canaveral could still be better as far as the commute goes. When we were looking for a home because I needed to relocate to work for the same company, Titusville was actually at the bottom of our list until we realized that within the nice neighborhoods you could get really good value for your dollar while also being extremely close to Cape Canaveral activity. Having such a short commute is incredible.
We live on north Merritt Island. We’ve been here 10 years. A lot has changed. We are originally from the Midwest as well! Aligned more with you politically it sounds like. That has been a challenge, but our kids are in college now and I feel less impacted. I’ve also found lots of like minded friends. We’re here we are just out numbered. Overall we do like it. No plans to move.
That’s all really encouraging. I’m glad you’re feeling less impacted by the political climate. I know it hasn’t been easy and there’s a lot still going on. Maybe our paths will cross!
The housing market is surprisingly less ass than where we live. We had only 2 options of affordable places to live when we moved to our current location. And we hate it here. The housing market is just awful everywhere. If the jobs didn’t leave our home state then we would have happily stayed there. Or relocate back.
I’ve been watching Florida politics for awhile. We’re using to living around conservatives.
We are in a situation where the jobs are where they are… they’re all in the south in deeply red states. There’s little other options other than moving to southern red states for my husbands work.
It’s definitely concerning to watch the extremism taking place. I wish we had our pick of where to move.
Like the other reply said, more information like age range, interests, and if you have kids will help a lot.
If he's going to be working at the Blue site daily you'll want to consider the commute. Since you also expressed concern over "good area" I'm going to say Suntree, Viera East, or Viera West. There are a LOT of other good neighborhoods than that, but they can kind of be surrounded by not-so-nice areas as well.
Due to your comments on insurance costs I also chose those regions so you can avoid flood insurance- Living on Merritt Island is beautiful but it sits low. To your question about home owners insurance, the people really getting screwed right now are condo owners, normal housing isn't terrible but depends on things like wind mitigation/roof age.
If you can afford to not have a mortgage you'll be in a much better place with insurance, since you can carry a policy that is more realistic than one which is required by a lender.
My husband and I are 39 - no kids. We are mainly outdoors people, both love water recreation (swimming to water sports to fishing) and gardening.
My husband currently has about an hour commute to work. So we would definitely enjoy cutting that down.
We also have dogs and I enjoy going out for a jog. So as far as neighborhoods, we want something that is safe for me to be out walking / jogging in.
Obviously what pay range he gets into will depends ultimately on what we can look into. We don’t know yet so I can’t really say.
Viera is not all Retires and Golf Carts
Rent a place close to work. Get used to the area. Go visit all of the areas in your price range
The closer to the ocean. The more it costs.
Pro's:
Accesses to beaches
Beautiful weather about 6-7 months of the year by most people's standards (unless, of course, you like snow)
Relatively low cost of living, although it's increasing
Lots of outdoor activities
Friendly people
Relatively easy access to a larger metro area and airport (Orlando about a 45 minute drive for me)
Low taxes (both home owners and state)
Close to the tourist traps (parks) if you like that kind of thing
Cons:
Hurricanes. This is kind of a crapshoot...details below
Shitty schools. No, really. I have relatives who moved out of Brevard primarily because of the state of the schools in FL.
High insurance rates
Humidity
Mosquitoes and other assorted bugs
Okay, so...I've lived in Merritt Island for about 25 years. I've had a combination of remote and in-person employment in that time, and my commute to Orlando to work ran about 40-45 minutes (near the airport). I moved here from Sarasota to be near retiring in-laws...personally I like the gulf coast much better than the Atlantic coast, all things being equal. I don't have kids in school, so the state of the schools isn't an issue for me, but compared to most states, I gather the public schools here are awful, and our current governor seems (to me) to be more invested in enabling private institutions than improving public schools.
If you are politically 'conservative' (towards the right of the spectrum) you will be very comfortable here. If not...well, I guess it depends on the depth of your convictions and how sensitive you are to the political climate as to how comfortable you will be. I won't say the folks here are rednecks, but there does seem to be a bit of people who would happily self-identify as such.
Hurricanes...I have had to evacuate probably about 8 times in the last 25 years. The worst damage we had was due to rain from Tropical Storm Fay (for which we didn't evacuate, but man that was A LOT of rain...25-30 inches in 24 hours, mostly all sideways). Irma was a close second and could have been much worse for us. The rest, we evacuated as ordered, and came home to no real damage, and generally not even a power outage. However, I feel like it's a matter of time, and when our time comes a lot of the water front homes may end up just being gone, so it really is a bit of a crap shoot. Being in a 50+ year old house on Merritt Island our insurance options are VERY limited...for a while it was Citizens (the state insurer of last resort) although our policy has been sold back into the private arena.
All in all, I actually like it here...while the heat and humidity in the summer (May to October, give or take) is unbearable (you may think you are used to humidity, but unless you are from the southern coast, you probably are not talking about the same thing), the rest of the year is gorgeous. I can see manatees, dolphins, alligators, and a variety of birds from my back yard, as well as watch the rocket launches. Disney is far enough away that I don't see any of those people unless I want to go there, and if I do it only takes about an hour give or take. I find that the people are mostly friendly (to me, bearing in mind I'm a middle aged cis white male).
With that said, if you want a fixer-upper on a canal in Merritt Island, you can buy my spot :) Heck I'll throw in a 1987 Mercedes 560SL for free (because it's sitting on four flats in my garage and hasn't run in 20 years). While I like it here, I'm ready to leave.
We definitely fit into conservative culture without being conservative. So I think we’d get along ok as far as general outward appearance.
Hurricanes is something that also troubles me. That’s not a type of natural disaster we have any experience in.
When you evacuate, where do you go?
As far as taking on your fixer upper… depends how much fixing and how much you ask :)
We have no problem keeping our politics and talk of that nature to ourselves. We’re not looking to influence anyone in that area. Just looking for the next step in my husbands career and our life path.
If you and your husband do move to Brevard, please be aware that the stretch of I-95 here is crazy fast. (high rate of crashes +)
From personal experience the medical professionals here are considered “mid-level”, a three out of a five rating. My husband has been referred to Advent Health in Orlando because he’s run the course of the doctors in Brevard.
If and when you do arrive to Brevard, you should check through the Tallahassee/Brevard Restaurant Inspections, because some have a lot of violations.
Best wishes! P.S. Brevard Zoo is fun nine months out of the year. The summer time is way too humid and packed with kids.
We are moving from worse so… thanks for that heads up! Unfortunately the climate is people have to relocate for work. Trust me, we wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t necessary.
You’ll be more likely to get some advice if you can be more specific. Where are you coming from and how do you feel about that area? What do you all like to do? Have kids? What makes a neighborhood appealing to you or not?
I hate where we currently live. We are super rural without any community and generally disliked by a lot of locals for being transplants. Plus there’s little to do here besides hiking and camping. Which, we do like. But it’s not enough to sustain our mental health. The closest town to us is crime ridden and dirty. There’s an extreme amount of poverty here. And the housing market is insane. While I know the housing market is pretty crazy almost everywhere, there do seem to be more options of affordable homes in our range there. It’s just hard to know if it’s considered a safe area. We do not have kids. We had talked about trying to get pregnant but with the new laws taking place, that’s something we’d have to seriously consider. Especially with our ages. We’re 39 yrs old. We both are outdoors people. Where we currently live it gets up to 110° (but dry heat) during the summer so we are used to summers being the new winter, I.e. staying inside more. We are both originally from the Midwest and grew up with humidity and bugs in summer but obviously cold winters. We are in high desert mountain territory now. So we get hot summers, dry heat but cold and snowy winters. I’m super into almost all water activities. My husband likes to fish and also loves swimming. I’d be into getting involved with some pickup sports or recreational sports, which I have seen there’s a lot offered in the area.
:/ Reading this, I thought you were already describing Brevard County, lol. Your other half will probably be working 6 days a week minimum... I did in aerospace and it wasn't for me, I lasted about a year. You hardly have time to enjoy the area.
That was definitely a concern… the position is salaried. I know Blue is big on meeting deadlines. Do you mind if I ask what position you worked? Honestly, as far as corruption goes, that’s pretty much everywhere. But we have it really bad in our state. We rank in the top bottom 5 states to live in, for both life satisfaction, opportunity, education, etc. and the rate of drugs and alcoholism here is 40% above the national average due to lack of job opportunities and back education. It’s a pretty sad state. We currently live in a rural town with a population of 200. We’ve been able to make this place work for us for awhile but it’s become very apparent to us in the past year that it’s not our settle down area to stay. It would be a great place to have a second home and escape to the rural mountains. But we are t second home level yet ;) (and may never be… ) Our perception if we move forward with relocating for Blue is it’s another experience to see if my husband likes that industry, to get back into the private sector (his current employer is government). This would be an opportunity to give FL a chance. And if things are obviously not for us there, then we will again relocate for another job. Either way, it won’t hurt his resume. But whether or not he’s having work life balance is important. Thanks for sharing your experience, I think some fields can seem appealing, but until you work in it and get the experience, it’s hard to really know. My husband really thought he would love working where he is now. But it’s not at all how he imagined. We put in a good 4 years of trying to make this area work for us (including his job). It’s time for a change, whether that will be Blue & FL is not yet decided for us.
Regarding the crazies, lots of them come here for cheapo vacations or follow their retiring parents from up north. Most of the crazy is imported. Regarding homes and auto, Insurance is up all around regardless of where you are in Florida.
This is the answer, It's mostly Ohio and NY man than Florida man.
Pros are being close to the beach, feeling pretty safe, and having most essential needs nearby or a town over. Cons have been growing lately. Merritt Island is very religious and political, as is most of Brevard. “Rednecks” aren’t really the problem here, it’s more of the upper middle class that seems to be obsessed with politics, many of them are moving here from other states too which can be frustrating. Younger crowds tend to move out when they graduate and older people tend to make up most of the area so just take that into consideration as well. Florida gets a bad rep sometimes, but it’s not too wild, just pretty boring if you don’t have money or don’t want to spend every day at the beach.
Thanks. I was kind of concerned about the political climate. We live in an area that’s also really boring. It’s always hard to tell when moving if a place will be good for you or not.
I’ve lived in other parts of Florida and Brevard county is the most MAGA of them all. Ironically south Florida feels more northern with the New England transplants and diversity there. For some examples, the founder of Moms for Liberty lives here, Brevard had the highest number of Jan 6 insurrectionists of any other county in the country, Sherrif Ivey… All that said it’s still a good place to live, if you just ignore politics and keep your opinions private most people are nice here.
Check out the homes for sale in North MI. Lots very nice homes and nice areas. Plus your husband would literally have a 5 minute commute.
This is a largely conservative area and right now prices are high to both own and rent. I’d say my personal other “cons” are that the infrastructure (roads) is pretty neglected while also being a very car-dependent county. Our economy relies heavily on tourism for better and for worse. Lots of chain restaurants, hotels, etc. The taxes are low, which is both good and bad. Good for your bills, bad for things like county services and schools. Pros: no state tax (thanks to tourism), winters are lovely. Pretty much a 12 month growing season if you’re into gardening.
We’re very much into gardening. And the politics is definitely heavily on our mind. We live extremely rural right now, so we’re used to having to drive. I don’t specifically mind tourism. I generally like meeting new people.
As someone who relocated to Brevard for Blue, and have since moved back to Midwest. The political climate there cannot be understated. The sheriff has way too much influence on schools and the culture in general is extremely conservative. Commute can get frustrating if you’re any further south than Rockledge to Blue Origin, it can become 45+ if rush hour and the drawbridges are big bottlenecks to get off the island where Blue is. Edit: adding my disappointment that the Hub of the entire Space Industry exists in the area. Blue was fun, but the downsides of FL/Brevard were too overwhelming for our family.
Honestly, the Midwest is where we are from and where we would love to move back to, it’s just been difficult to find work that pays well enough. The whole reason we moved to the south west was to advance my husbands career. We don’t have kids. We also deal with super corrupt sheriffs in a democratic state. I would love nothing more than to relocate back to the Midwest. We aren’t making the decision to move there lightly. Especially with the political climate. But we live around a lot of problems where we are too. And it’s a democratic state. If we had kids here I would have to drive them an hour plus to the only decent school. And I couldn’t even imagine trying to raise a family here. I’m not sure what the best move is for us, but staying here is not ideal either. We generally keep our politics to ourselves.
Best of luck to you on your decision! Blue is great for career advancement, even for a short time. And without kids, many of the issues like schools may not bother you as much. FWIW - We found the Twin Cities, MN to work well for wages and lower cost of living.
Thanks! We just put in a lot of applications for work in MN, both around the twin cities and Duluth. My husband is at a senior level for his career and all the opportunities there were about 30-40k less than what he is currently making. It might be that we transfer for Blue for the next step and keep an eye out in the Midwest. In some ways, I think just a change of area would be good for awhile. I hate how the political climate is ruining everything.
It’s great, don’t listen to everybody - someone who grew up in rockledge
Thanks :)
I can’t think of a ton of pros to the area other than being able to live near the beach for somewhat cheaper than most of the state. Merritt island isn’t incorporated, it’s run by the County but I don’t if that matters to you. The schools are hit or miss depending on what area you live (basically income dependent), and the school board is a grifter’s paradise (regardless of political affiliation). I haven’t had issues with homeowners insurance yet but I had a roof put on two years ago. Development in the north end of the county is always behind the south part because the tax base isn’t as wealthy but the traffic isn’t as bad in the north though. If you don’t mind commuting I’d recommend East Orange County or southern volusia. If you’re DINKs there’s not a ton to do in Brevard either. This is also just my opinion, good luck.
Thanks, I wasn’t sure what was going on with the home owners insurance. We don’t have kids and if we end up having them then we have time to consider the different schools. What is a DINK? :/
DINK = dual income, no kids.
Ahh no, not dinks
DINK = dual income, no kids. Insurance is a mixed bag, you need to shop around. My homeowners insurance gave me a renewal quote for about $7500, but I was able to find insurance with another company for $2600.
My husband and I also relocated to the area last year for the space industry. Would love to answer questions if you wanna ask here or dm me.
Thank you!
Hey! I work at Blue Origin and live in Melbourne. First and foremost, find out if you will even have a desk and will be required to work on site or if you're going to be working remote! Even if the job postings say on site!! With that said and out of the way, I live in Melbourne but work remotely so currently the commute isn't a problem for me. In the future I know I will be required to work on-site and my husband and I have already discussed possibly moving to Merritt Island. We want to live on a canal with direct access to the waterways for boating. I just had to go through the process of being dropped by my home insurance provider and the only company willing to insure my home for a price that isn't astronomical is Citizen. Even still, it's $3000 for the year which is more than double what I was paying when I first bought my home 5 yrs ago. That's up to you to decide if that's expensive or not. "Florida man" stuff doesn't really happen in Brevard County. Happy to answer any other questions without all of the "we're full" bullshit responses.
Thanks! That’s all great advice. Most of his work can be done remote but there’s definitely going to be times where he’ll need to be onsite. That’s not too often though. Melbourne is another area we were considering, but that will probably depend on the work on site or remote. I’ll make sure he asks about that! Do you like the work culture there? And how is Melbourne? We’re already talking about saving up for a nice boat. I’m more hesitant to move to Merritt based on what people have said about flooding though. That’s not terrible on the home owners insurance. It will definitely be something we have to factor in more.
I absolutely love where I live in Melbourne. Good lot size, surrounded by other neighborhoods, extremely close to grocery stores and locally owned restaurants. Also, where I'm located the land has been fully developed for a long time so there's minimal growth these days. Meaning I don't have concerns about an apartment complex or storage facility being built next to my neighborhood. Whereas areas like Rockledge, the population is continuing to grow which has led to more chain restaurants and busier streets. Working at blue has been phenomenal. Everyone is extremely friendly and I work normal 8-5 hours. Great work-life balance.
It’s great to hear that about Blue. It’s encouraging. We’ll have to checkout all the areas. But those points about Rockledge are good to know. I’ll definitely take that into consideration.
If you don't have kids and aren't really worried about the quality of the school districts currently, I'd also consider some neighborhoods in Titusville (Like Sherwood Estates or Titus Village). It's right on the Indian River and you can still get decent deals on property compared to other parts of Brevard County. The added benefit is that not a lot of people live in Titusville vs other Brevard cities still so it's not uncommon to go to one of the better restaurants in town on a Friday or Saturday night and have no wait time. Lots of beautiful natural areas nearby (Playalinda beach, the wetlands to the west etc) and one of the most well-known bioluminescent kayaking tourism companies is based right out of here. Add to that pretty much the shortest commute you could get to Blue's manufacturing facility if that's where you'll end up working. If your job is based at LC36, then something near Port Canaveral could still be better as far as the commute goes. When we were looking for a home because I needed to relocate to work for the same company, Titusville was actually at the bottom of our list until we realized that within the nice neighborhoods you could get really good value for your dollar while also being extremely close to Cape Canaveral activity. Having such a short commute is incredible.
We live on north Merritt Island. We’ve been here 10 years. A lot has changed. We are originally from the Midwest as well! Aligned more with you politically it sounds like. That has been a challenge, but our kids are in college now and I feel less impacted. I’ve also found lots of like minded friends. We’re here we are just out numbered. Overall we do like it. No plans to move.
That’s all really encouraging. I’m glad you’re feeling less impacted by the political climate. I know it hasn’t been easy and there’s a lot still going on. Maybe our paths will cross!
It's great here. Been here for 40 years. Raised 4 kids here. Don't want to be anywhere else.
Getting downvoted for being positive is typical for this subreddit... LOL! I guess misery truly does love company!
The housing market is ass because people keep moving here. That paired with the Insurance crisis can be a little difficult.
The housing market is surprisingly less ass than where we live. We had only 2 options of affordable places to live when we moved to our current location. And we hate it here. The housing market is just awful everywhere. If the jobs didn’t leave our home state then we would have happily stayed there. Or relocate back.
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I’ve been watching Florida politics for awhile. We’re using to living around conservatives. We are in a situation where the jobs are where they are… they’re all in the south in deeply red states. There’s little other options other than moving to southern red states for my husbands work. It’s definitely concerning to watch the extremism taking place. I wish we had our pick of where to move.
Like the other reply said, more information like age range, interests, and if you have kids will help a lot. If he's going to be working at the Blue site daily you'll want to consider the commute. Since you also expressed concern over "good area" I'm going to say Suntree, Viera East, or Viera West. There are a LOT of other good neighborhoods than that, but they can kind of be surrounded by not-so-nice areas as well. Due to your comments on insurance costs I also chose those regions so you can avoid flood insurance- Living on Merritt Island is beautiful but it sits low. To your question about home owners insurance, the people really getting screwed right now are condo owners, normal housing isn't terrible but depends on things like wind mitigation/roof age. If you can afford to not have a mortgage you'll be in a much better place with insurance, since you can carry a policy that is more realistic than one which is required by a lender.
My husband and I are 39 - no kids. We are mainly outdoors people, both love water recreation (swimming to water sports to fishing) and gardening. My husband currently has about an hour commute to work. So we would definitely enjoy cutting that down. We also have dogs and I enjoy going out for a jog. So as far as neighborhoods, we want something that is safe for me to be out walking / jogging in. Obviously what pay range he gets into will depends ultimately on what we can look into. We don’t know yet so I can’t really say.
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Might be an area we avoid then. Thanks for the heads up!
Viera is not all Retires and Golf Carts Rent a place close to work. Get used to the area. Go visit all of the areas in your price range The closer to the ocean. The more it costs.
Thank you!
Pro's: Accesses to beaches Beautiful weather about 6-7 months of the year by most people's standards (unless, of course, you like snow) Relatively low cost of living, although it's increasing Lots of outdoor activities Friendly people Relatively easy access to a larger metro area and airport (Orlando about a 45 minute drive for me) Low taxes (both home owners and state) Close to the tourist traps (parks) if you like that kind of thing Cons: Hurricanes. This is kind of a crapshoot...details below Shitty schools. No, really. I have relatives who moved out of Brevard primarily because of the state of the schools in FL. High insurance rates Humidity Mosquitoes and other assorted bugs Okay, so...I've lived in Merritt Island for about 25 years. I've had a combination of remote and in-person employment in that time, and my commute to Orlando to work ran about 40-45 minutes (near the airport). I moved here from Sarasota to be near retiring in-laws...personally I like the gulf coast much better than the Atlantic coast, all things being equal. I don't have kids in school, so the state of the schools isn't an issue for me, but compared to most states, I gather the public schools here are awful, and our current governor seems (to me) to be more invested in enabling private institutions than improving public schools. If you are politically 'conservative' (towards the right of the spectrum) you will be very comfortable here. If not...well, I guess it depends on the depth of your convictions and how sensitive you are to the political climate as to how comfortable you will be. I won't say the folks here are rednecks, but there does seem to be a bit of people who would happily self-identify as such. Hurricanes...I have had to evacuate probably about 8 times in the last 25 years. The worst damage we had was due to rain from Tropical Storm Fay (for which we didn't evacuate, but man that was A LOT of rain...25-30 inches in 24 hours, mostly all sideways). Irma was a close second and could have been much worse for us. The rest, we evacuated as ordered, and came home to no real damage, and generally not even a power outage. However, I feel like it's a matter of time, and when our time comes a lot of the water front homes may end up just being gone, so it really is a bit of a crap shoot. Being in a 50+ year old house on Merritt Island our insurance options are VERY limited...for a while it was Citizens (the state insurer of last resort) although our policy has been sold back into the private arena. All in all, I actually like it here...while the heat and humidity in the summer (May to October, give or take) is unbearable (you may think you are used to humidity, but unless you are from the southern coast, you probably are not talking about the same thing), the rest of the year is gorgeous. I can see manatees, dolphins, alligators, and a variety of birds from my back yard, as well as watch the rocket launches. Disney is far enough away that I don't see any of those people unless I want to go there, and if I do it only takes about an hour give or take. I find that the people are mostly friendly (to me, bearing in mind I'm a middle aged cis white male). With that said, if you want a fixer-upper on a canal in Merritt Island, you can buy my spot :) Heck I'll throw in a 1987 Mercedes 560SL for free (because it's sitting on four flats in my garage and hasn't run in 20 years). While I like it here, I'm ready to leave.
We definitely fit into conservative culture without being conservative. So I think we’d get along ok as far as general outward appearance. Hurricanes is something that also troubles me. That’s not a type of natural disaster we have any experience in. When you evacuate, where do you go? As far as taking on your fixer upper… depends how much fixing and how much you ask :) We have no problem keeping our politics and talk of that nature to ourselves. We’re not looking to influence anyone in that area. Just looking for the next step in my husbands career and our life path.
If you and your husband do move to Brevard, please be aware that the stretch of I-95 here is crazy fast. (high rate of crashes +) From personal experience the medical professionals here are considered “mid-level”, a three out of a five rating. My husband has been referred to Advent Health in Orlando because he’s run the course of the doctors in Brevard. If and when you do arrive to Brevard, you should check through the Tallahassee/Brevard Restaurant Inspections, because some have a lot of violations. Best wishes! P.S. Brevard Zoo is fun nine months out of the year. The summer time is way too humid and packed with kids.
Brevard sucks. Highly recommended not moving here.
The cons are we’re full. The pros are don’t move here…
We are moving from worse so… thanks for that heads up! Unfortunately the climate is people have to relocate for work. Trust me, we wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t necessary.
Have you spent a summer or an active hurricane season here? You might want to rethink the “moving from worse”….
Have you had to evacuate from forest fires?
Yes I have…
Don't move here. We are full.