10 Places in NW Florida You Should Never Move To

Are you getting ready to relocate to Northwest Florida but you're trying to figure out which area might not work for you and your family and which one that might work out perfectly? Well, in this video, I am going to talk about the 10 places in Northwest Florida that you should never move to. So, stay tuned.

Alright. 10 Places in North West Florida you should never move to. In no particular order:

1. DESTIN

Yes, Destin. Now, if you are looking for an area to live in where it's just nice and quiet, peaceful, no traffic, more of that country feel, a little country vibe, then Destin would not be for you. Of course, Destin is a well-known area. It used to be somewhat of a little hidden gem until word got out and everybody is familiar with how fantastic the Destin area is. So, a lot more people each year are coming to visit us. So, there's a lot of tourists that come during the peak season, which is from the spring break time around March through September after Labor Day and sometimes even going into October. There's lots of people that are going to the same places that you try to enjoy as a local. Of course, the beaches, restaurants, shopping, you name it, whatever Destin has to offer everybody wants to come and enjoy it just like the locals do. So, if that is not your scene, if you don't like to be around a ton of people, you don't like to get caught up in traffic or people that are not familiar with this area, then Destin will not be for you. You might want to look at a more calm, quite, peaceful area.

2. NICEVILLE

Now, you don't want to live in Niceville if you're scared of airplanes or if you are just sensitive to just loud noises. Period. Because, Niceville is located right next to Eglin Air Force Base and the airport, the Destin Fort Walton Beach Airport. So, you are pretty much on a daily basis going to hear the airplanes if you're living in Niceville or the Valparaiso area. And, they're going to, depending where you live, they might fly right over your house or you can see it off from a distance, but it's still just going to be as loud as ever. So, if you're sensitive to that type of noise or just, you know, maybe you're a light sleeper, taking a nap during the day. Or, if you have children that can't sleep through those type of noises, then Niceville definitely wouldn't be the place for you. It is a nice place to live, however, it's very family friendly. But again, it just gets pretty noisy because it is located next to the airport and the airforce base.

3. 30A

You never want to move to 30A because that is a very more of a higher-class area, meaning the prices are much higher. So, if you're looking to purchase a home and maybe your budget is maybe $400,000-$450,000, then you don't want to move to the 30A area because prices are going to be much higher than that. Actually, I looked it up in our MLS, and within the last six months, the lowest price single family home sold for $461,000 again, that's the lowest price. And the lowest condo, you're more so interested in the numbers or the sale for condos. The last three months, it was a $305,000 and that was for a studio condo. So, no full bedroom. It's just like a little condo with no bedroom, but it does have, you know, your bedroom area, seating area, a full bathroom. And again, that's for $305,000 that is sold in the last three months. So, again, if you're looking for a single-family home, you might need to make sure that, again, you are preapproved by a lender. We always mention that in a lot of our videos when it comes to purchasing. Make sure that you are preapproved by lenders so you know what your budget is, and make sure that you are able to afford purchasing property in 30A area.

4. PANAMA CITY BEACH

You don't want to live here if you like to go to the beach and just try and enjoy a nice peaceful day out and hear the waves, maybe hear some birds. You won't be able to hear those quite peaceful sounds so well during the tourist season in Panama City Beach because the beaches are so crowded. Of course, everyone knows how Great Panama City Beach is when it comes to entertaining. I do hear that it does have a bit of bad reputation of being a bit of a party town. But again, there's still a lot of people that come of all ages. There's elderly, there's teenagers’ college kids and, you know, families with toddlers that like to visit the area. You name it, they are all coming into the Panama City beach area, and it can overcrowd the beaches. So, if you are a local in Panama City Beach and you don't like to feel like you're just crammed in and don't have your own personal space out there on the beach, then you definitely don't want to live in Panama City. If you like to go to the beach regularly, there's several months of the year between March and September. Again, that you will not be able to have your peaceful time out there for you and your family. You're just going to have to share your space. So, if that's what you prefer, then you don't want to live in Panama City Beach.

5. CRESTVIEW

Crestview is a place that you definitely don't want to move to if you feel like you need to be, must be 10-15 minutes from the beach or just anywhere that's walking distance or hop into your golf cart and ride up to the beach. You will have a much longer commute time if you are living in Crestview. On average, it may take you 30-45 minutes to get to the beach depending on if you're going to the Destin beaches or Okaloosa Island Fort Walton Beach or Santa Rosa Beach. But during tourist season, that's going to add on more drive time. So, it would take you 45 minutes to an hour or more to get to the beach from Crestview. So, if living within 10-15 minutes is a must have for you, then do not move to Crestview because it's going to take you a lot longer than that to get the beach.

6. FORT WALTON BEACH

Now, you don't want to move to Fort Walton Beach. If you like to have a lot of space, a lot of land, bigger lots. The problem with Fort Walton Beach that a lot of people have is that, even if you have a newer home, it's still kind of crammed with your neighbors on the street. You might be, you know, you have a newer home, but you still have a lot of the older homes. Maybe even mobile homes right within your, you know, the view of your own home. A lot of people don't favor that. They like to have their space, a lot to have a bigger lot, maybe half acre or more. You're not really going to find much of that in the Fort Walton Beach area. There seems to be a lot of older places, older buildings that are being torn down, and they're just building a whole new, like, maybe even a set of town homes squeezed in between other buildings. Or, again, nice three to four bedroom at single family homes. But again, you're just so crammed in and you're just within arm’s reach of your next-door neighbor. So, if you are looking for more land, bigger homes, then you may want to avoid the Fort Walton Beach area because you're going to feel like you're a little bit too close to where you might be able to even hear your neighbors talking even though you're in a single-family home.

7. NAVARRE

Now, if you feel like you don't want to be in a family friendly residential type of area and you want a little bit more action, more activities as far as going downtown, lots of shopping, lots of dining, then you may want to avoid Navarre. Navarre, it's definitely growing. I remember moving back here in the early 90's. And, didn't see all that's going on with Navarre, but it's a lot different these days. There's lots of new homes, townhomes, apartment buildings, grocery stores, lots of restaurants that are being built as we speak. So, it's definitely growing. However, if you feel like, you want more of a city life, then Navarre is definitely not for you. It's a little more a residential area. Lots of homes being built for families, especially military families. With us being here near the military bases. It's great to see a lot of these houses and townhomes and apartments being built to accommodate all the military families that are coming and going. However, if that's not the type for you, then you may want to avoid the Navarre area.

8. GULF BREEZE

You want to avoid Gulf Breeze if you don't like a school crowd. And then what I mean by that is that, Gulf Breeze, a little bit of a smaller area, but there is a section of Gulf Breeze where you have the Elementary School, the Middle School and the High School all right next to each other or across from each other. So, with all that being a bit of a jumble right there and the section of Gulf Breeze, just free head into Pensacola. Of course, traffic can be a bit crazy, especially during the school, school days and business hours. Everyone's trying to get to work and school at the same time, and everyone's getting off work or getting out school close to the same time. Maybe not the exact time, but it's still, the traffic is going to build up, especially when people are trying to get to Pensacola or people from Pensacola are trying to get to Gulf Breeze or Navarre. It gets very, very congested in the Gulf Breeze area. So, if you don't like being crowded where it kind of feels like there's one way in, one way out, you definitely want to avoid Gulf Breeze Florida.

9. MILTON and PACE Areas

Now, I would say, you would want to avoid this area and not move to this area if you like the nightlife and entertainment. You don't really see much of that out in the Milton area. However, it is a short drive to Pensacola, Florida. They do have a bit of a nightlife out there, downtown Pensacola, where you have bars to go to, live entertainment. Not to say that Milton and PACE might not have little areas or restaurants that have that. But if you like more activities, more action going on, then you may not be happy in the Milton and PACE area. It's a little more quiet and calm. But again, if you like the nightlife, you may want to go ahead and avoid Milton and PACE.

10. PENSACOLA

You don't want to move to Pensacola, especially if you work in the Gulf Breeze or Navarre area, traffic can be insane. There was a period of time were the bridge was closed down to get to Pensacola or from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze. So, that caused a bit of a chaos to where everyone had to take the toll bridge or Highway 87 and around just to get to Pensacola. So, if that were to ever happen again or something happened with the bridge, which it is that they are doing construction on that bridge right now. But, if anything happens to where that bridge shut down, it's just insane. And it just causes a great inconvenience for people that really need that bridge to cut down on an hour drive time. So, if you want to avoid the hassle of possibly not being able to take that bridge, then you may want to avoid living in Pensacola if you do work in the Gulf Breeze or Navarre area.

Well, that's all I have for you today. There's a lot more of that probably say about each area, but I just want to kind of give you at least one good point for each of those areas that you may want to avoid should you choose to North West Florida. If you haven't done so already, please make sure you like and share this video with anyone you know that may be looking to move into the area. If you have any questions, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com