Northern Florida

stillhere · #1 10/23/14, 01:30 PM

Going on a vacation and a real estate search.
DH has retired and we are moving south.
I have horses , chickens, and garden. Husband wants to be near the St. Johns River . He is an avid bass fisherman. Please tell me about life in this area .

RichNC · #2 10/23/14, 02:58 PM

I have a cousin that lives outside of St. Augustine, all I can tell ya is it ain't cheap to live down there!! Beautiful but not cheap.

CraterCove · #3 10/23/14, 03:05 PM

We are a little south and west of Gainesville FL and the growing season here is outrageous--- there is only a very short period of time every year where you can't really grow anything outside. Our pastures grow nearly all year. I love it--- except when its so hot I can't move in August.

DEKE01 · #4 10/23/14, 05:15 PM

There is lots of very affordable land and homes in the central and northeastern area. Get on the west side of the St John's river and prices go way down. Putnam county, (city of Palatka) in general, has the best crop land and big Ag infrastructure in the area so prices there are a bit higher for big cleared, tractor ready cropland.

Union, Baker, Bradford, and the west side of Clay counties and near the GA line are very affordable. There are lots of tree farms so it is heavily forested. However, there are many 20 - 200 acre farmsteads with enough already cleared land that can be homesteaded quite easily. Just don't get to close to the St John's river, or prices rise rapidly.

Here is the best site I've found for finding land. http://www.landwatch.com/Florida_land_for_sale

stillhere · #5 10/24/14, 02:26 PM

Thank you all so much. This will get me started. Gardening my own crops all year has me psyched . Horses will have to put up with more heat but better then the blizzard conditions we have come to have and hate here in the northern tip of NJ.

We will look at East Texas again but the green pastures and huge oaks look dreamy.
I like the idea of having a beach nearby too.

fordy · #6 10/24/14, 03:39 PM

.............Don't forget about the Reticulated Pythons , Bermese(sp) Pythons , Anaconda's ! Tx doesn't have these critters , yet , but we've got lots of Wild hogs . , fordy

CraterCove · #7 10/24/14, 03:56 PM

Got wild hogs, 'painters', bears, coyotes and gators down here in Florida too!

DEKE01 · #8 10/24/14, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordy

.............Don't forget about the Reticulated Pythons , Bermese(sp) Pythons , Anaconda's ! Tx doesn't have these critters , yet , but we've got lots of Wild hogs . , fordy

The pythons are in the glades, AFAIK none are in northern FL. But lots of other critters, bob cats, bears, hogs, coyotes, etc.

COWS · #9 10/24/14, 06:42 PM

Today's Dear Abby: Someone in FL wrote in complaining that a friend invited them to a party but a requirement was that the guests on the deck had to agree to shoot high powered water guns at the wild peacocks that came in the yard. The writer said that offended her sensitive feelings and she didn't want to abuse the birds. Abby said to decline the invitation. Anyway, I didn't realize FL had added peacocks to their exotic wildlife. Is there an open season on them? How do they taste? How is their egg protection?

COWS

CraterCove · #10 10/24/14, 07:10 PM

I think there is a mistake in terminology happening here. I think they mean 'feral' not 'wild'. As far as I know peacocks are from India where they don't bother eating them. And all I see them contribute, personally, is poop on the car top and screams in the middle of the night that sound like a woman being murdered.

Before moving to Florida one should definitely look up 'Florida Man'.

http://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan

https://twitter.com/_FloridaMan

sprucie · #11 10/24/14, 08:23 PM

I moved to FL from the northeast in 2007, and it has been interesting. If you do end up in the northern part of FL, keep in mind we do get freezing weather in the winter. That can be a good thing, it keeps the python population limited to southern FL

I am located in Marion county, and I did get snow here in 2009. It wasn't much, and it did melt off by the next day. I am glad that I kept my warm clothes, etc, when I moved here. I definitely need them.

Keep in mind that FL's state bird is the cockroach, they are huge and they fly

. I seem to have a healthy scorpion population, as well as black widow spiders, and plenty of snakes too. Bugs, etc, are a huge problem here because we don't get that much cold weather. Termites are a major problem, so definitely get a termite inspection done.

Some people here are decent, but this was the last state with the pill mills, so lots of pills/heroin, and the associated theft involved to support the habit (kinda like everywhere else i guess). I suppose I notice the crime more because I live alone, but I didn't have anything stolen when I lived up north either.

Overall, it's not a bad place to live, and there really isn't a need to own an ice scraper which is a huge plus. Real estate taxes are much lower ($5000+ up north vs $500+ here), and housing is much cheaper. Homeowner's insurance may be higher if you get a mobile home.

stillhere · #12 10/25/14, 08:17 AM

My family has a house in Marathon so I have been going down for 20 years. We did actually have Peacocks that went feral owners moved and left the birds off course I enjoyed them missing my farm when I am down there. Lots of feral roaming Iguanas now that were not there years ago.
I am still keeping Texas in the running my husband is obsessed with Lake Fork. He is not on board with N. Florida but I need to look. Keep comments ideas coming Thanks

mnn2501 · #13 10/25/14, 09:39 AM

One thing to keep in mind, you'll have to learn how to garden all over again. Its a whole different thing in the south than it is in the north.