Moving to Destin FL May Not Be A Good Idea, Watch This Before You Move

Do you plan on moving to Destin Florida and you feel like it's the best decision that you can make as far as relocating? Well, you might want to watch this video first, because I may bring a couple things to your attention that might make you realize that moving to Destin may not be such a great idea.

Alright. Some of the Reasons Why Moving to Destin Might not be a Good Idea.

COST OF LIVING

So first, let me talk about the cost of living. Cost of living is a little bit higher than the national average, but more specifically, I want to talk about the Housing. Of course, the homes are a little bit higher in price, but Destin is located right on the beach. So, of course, moving to the area, you're going to come with a higher price to be able to enjoy that beauty or the easy access to the beach. Now, if you're looking for a larger lot, let's just say you have children that are young and needs to run around or relieve a lot of the energy that they have. Maybe even have two or three, four kids that are under the age of ten and they just love to run around. Maybe have your little playground in the backyard. Or, if you have animals, two or three big dogs that need the space to run around too. You might not find a lot that fits your needs, but you'll be able to accommodate what you need in a backyard space. There's going to be, even if you find a home that's like over one million dollars or even up to one point six. A lot of those homes sit on less than quarter acre of a lot. So, if you are looking for a bigger size lot, Destin might not be the place for you. Even if, again, if you're spending a lot of money on trying to find something that meets every item on your checklist as far as the type of home that you're looking for, you might find everything that you could possibly want at home except for the size of a lot in Destin. So, make sure you keep your eye on that when you are searching for a home. But then again, if you prefer to have a smaller lot, you don't like to keep up with a yard or you just don't even like to be outside too often. You don't care about sitting outside and soaking up the sun or you don't care to have a swimming pool, then you wouldn't even have to worry about it because there's a lot of smaller lots available that would fit your needs and what you're looking for in the Destin area.

CONGESTED WITH RESIDENTS $ TOURISTS

Now second, let's talk about the congestion and what I mean by that is the amount of local residents and tourists all in the same area. Of course, as you may already know, Destin is a very popular place to visit for a lot of our tourists. And then again, a lot of those tourists end up wanting to relocate here to the area, and why not? So, just be prepared if you're not used to it already to join a lot of traffic to get from point A to point B to point C. If you're coming from a small town where maybe you have one or two traffic lights or maybe even no traffic lights at all, there's maybe one four way intersection with stop signs or blinking red lights. If that's what you're used to, then be prepared for the amount of traffic that you're going to be in traveling throughout Destin. Whether you're looking for a place to eat during rush hour because everyone else is trying to eat at the same time, or if you're trying to get to the beach on the weekends or during spring and summertime. Of course, everyone's trying to enjoy the beach too, so they're trying to get to the same destinations that you're trying to get to. So, just be prepared for a time just right if you need to be somewhere at a specific time. There's going to be a lot of traffic. We did have a lot of road construction out in Destin, but that seemed to have calmed down a little bit over this past year. But in the off season, it's really not as bad. Still a lot of people come down here during the off season to enjoy still warmer weather compared to what they're used to where they live at up north. So, either time of the year, just be prepared for more of the traffic flow. If you're not used to it and you're coming from a really small, quiet town that doesn't really have a lot of a whole new environment here in Destin.

IF YOU'RE ACTIVE DUTY, YOU WILL HAVE A LONGER COMMUTE

Now third, what I want to bring up is that, if your active duty military, yes, there are a couple military bases closed by. There's Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. It's a little bit further away from Destin. So, if you feel like you want to purchase a home and live right on the beach, or specifically in the Destin area, you will have a longer commute to get to work. If you do have to travel on base and that you do have the option to get these from property on Okaloosa Island. As far as the home that you're looking for, there's not too many homes I really see come available on Okaloosa Island as far as single family homes. But, if you're looking for a condo, maybe you have a small family that can maintain a two or three bedroom condo, then definitely Okaloosa Island will be a great fit or anywhere along Miracle Strip Parkway, there's some condos available out there as well. And you're in close proximity to Hurlburt field air force base, you can get there right off the Highway 98 or even to Eglin Air Force Base. So, you'll have a shorter commute maybe fifteen to thirty minutes depending where you're located in Fort Walton Beach, and which base that you're working on. Now, if you're living in Destin and you need to commute to Hurlburt field, you can just shoot on down Highway 98, maybe give it twenty minutes or so, but, of course, in the spring or summertime, be prepared for a longer drive could take maybe even up to an hour depending on the time of day that you have to get to work and return home. If you're working in Eglin air force base and you live in Destin. Of course, there's going to be longer commute times, a little further away from Destin. But again, just plan out your timing and you shouldn't have any issues.

STILL GET'S CHILLY IN THE WINTER

Number four, for those of you that aren't aware, it still does get a little chilly here in Destin during the off season. So, our wintertime, we might not get all the snow that the people up north may get, but we do get a little cold down here. When I say cold, I mean, maybe for us floridians, sixty degrees, maybe a little chilly for us. But, it depends on what you're able to tolerate. There's a lot of people that feel like they want to move to Florida so they can enjoy this sweet summer sun all year long. Well, that's sort of the case. We do have lots of sunshine throughout the year. But, however, in the wintertime, we still have like that summer heat or humidity, a little bit of humidity. But, let's just say, even if it drops down under sixty, you'll still see people out in the beach, not me, you won't see me out there. I think the temperature has to be eighty to eighty five degrees in order for me to get in the water. But in early months or the early weeks of December, I've shown some condos on the beach and I can see people still enjoying the water. Of course, the people that I was with, they are from Missouri. So, they're used to cold, so they enjoy the water as well. But again, not me. It's not for me, but it's whatever you're willing to tolerate. So if you're okay with the colder weather and you're still willing to enjoy your time out on the beach during the off season and, yeah, come on down it's still be the the right area for you all year long and not just the spring and summertime. So, yes, there are times where it will drop down to the thirties. I don't think we saw that yet this year in 2021. I don't even think it happened in 2020, not that I recall, but there has been times where we did experience some thirty degree weather even down to the upper twenties. Us Floridians, don't like that too much, not used to that. We have to kind of put away our flip flops and throw some sneakers on, but it is what it is. Just be prepared for some chillier weather here in the the Destin area during the winter months. Fortunately, it's we don't have that summer heat all year long like you might think so.

LIMITED COLLEGE OPPORTUNITIES

And, the last thing I want to bring up is that, there are limited college opportunities in the Destin area. So, if you're looking for a major university, you won't find that in close proximity to the Destin residential area. There is Northwest Florida State College. We do have campus in Fort Walton Beach and Niceville, and a small campus in Santa Rosa Beach as well. They do offer accredited programs such as dental assisting, nursing, welding, elementary education and much more. They also offer dual enrollment programs, so you can earn college credits while you're still in high school. So, you're pretty much getting ahead of the game. But other colleges available, it's in Pensacola. There's University of Florida, I'm sorry, University of West Florida and Pensacola State College. But if you're living in Destin, then, to get to Pensacola, it's going to be about an hour, fifteen, hour and a half commute. But if, you know, your education is really, really important to you but you also still want to live in Destin, then that commute probably wouldn't be too much of a issue for you. But if you are looking for major universities in the northwest the northern part of Florida, I'd say you'd in Tallahassee, you'll see Florida State University, Gainesville, there's the University of Florida, but that's probably four and a half, five hours from the Destin area, so that may be a little bit out to range. But just know that as far as if you're really really looking to your college education, then you do have that limited opportunities here in the Destin area. But there's also online opportunities, in Northwest Florida State College, they do offer associates and bachelor opportunities. So, just make sure you check out online what they have to offer and if it meets what you're looking for and the type of education that you're trying to achieve.

Alright. Well, that's all I have for you. I hope none of those things that I mentioned really just kind of steered you away from relocating to the Destin area. But if it did, hopefully you'll be able to find another location close by that will match what you're looking for. If you have any questions or want to know more, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com