[Gino]

Hey all,

Been living in Florida since 1976 and I've about had it - but I've got 16 years in state retirement so far and don't want to move out. I've lived mostly in West Palm Beach and Okeechobee. Now live in Clermont. Too damn crowded and housing prices have gotten too high. Can anyone give me some suggestions on a nice small town to settle down in? I'm a teacher so I'll prob have a couple/few choices. So far I'm thinking about Umatilla, but I'm very open to suggestions. The problem seems to be that most northern Florida small towns are very poor.

Any ideas?

[Usingmyrights]

How small do you want to go? In NE FL there's places like Keystone Heights, Waldo or Melborne. West of Tallahassee there's Sopchoppy and Crawfordville. There's also plenty inbetween.

[G30Love]

Around Gainesville there are alot of nice little town to live in... Just in Alachua county there is Alachua and High Springs both which are only about 20 minutes away... There is also Hawthorne which is east of Gainesville on US 301... I really like Alachua its up and growing... and its close to Gainesville, 10 minutes from I75, which is only 30 minutes from Lake city, I 10, 40 minutes from Ocala and only like one hour from Valdosta, GA...

[GlocknSpiehl]

Ocala & Leesburg have always been nice. My parents have lived in that area for a while...

[Norman]

Newberry, just west of Gainesville. Even on the outskirts of Gainesville, and heck, even within Gainesville, there's some really nice, cozy, very quiet neighborhoods. Now would be a good time to invest in a well-priced Gainesville property somewhere. Values will be getting very high, very soon.

[CaneGlock]

I always liked all the small towns around Gainesville, from Palatka on SR100 to 26 East going into Gainseville, towns like Melrose and Keystone still have old Florida charm. Invest now, ten years ago a quarter acre lot in Palm Coast was 5 or 6000 dollars, now the same lot is about 50,000.

[big88foot]

I understand what you're saying about being locked into the state retirement system; I didn't take a job in another state because my wife is a teacher here and needed a few more years to retire. Anyway, there is a surplus of teachers in the Pensacola area, so unless you teach special ed., this probably wouldn't be a good choice. It's not a bad place to live, however, but it does have its downside: pay is generally poor here, the city of Pensacola is dirty and rundown, there's a very strong "good ol' boy network, local politics is somewhat in the hands of influential people, and housing prices have risen drmatically in recent years.
BF

[isis07734]

I like Newberry alot, and it is def gonna go up up up. I know some ppl from Starke and Keystone, they like it...

[yashua-p]

If you will consider NWest Florida look at Okaloosa County. Ft Walton Beach, Eglin AFB, Niceville, Destin and many other great communities. I live in Escambia County(Pensacola) and I like it here. Okaloosa does have an excellent school system.

yashua

[Floodster]

Milton, Pace, Chumukla, Jay, Yulee, Callahan to name a few... TONS of small towns all across northern FL.

[rmc85]

I've always liked perry

nice little town and not from for a few major cities

[JungleJim]

Anyone familar with the Tallahassee area?
Nice towns/ areas around there?
Work may take me there within the next 8-9 months

[Sundog]

Okaloosa County has an excellent school system, and IIRC it pays pretty good (by NW FL standards anyway). Same for Santa Rosa County. Housing prices near the coast are pretty high, so I might look at Crestview. Also look at the Walton County-Defuniak Springs area.

When I moved back up here from Miami about 15 years ago, this part of the state was a best-kept secret. Unfortunately, our real estate costs and tax burden has caught up with the rest of the state in the past five or so years.

[Adams454]

I live in the perfect small town in NE FL. Its a town called Macclenny. We are right on I-10, about 20 minutes from Jacksonville and about 30 minutes from lake city.