Strips clubs. Tattoo shops. Whores. Everything a sailor needs while staying at Gulf Marine Repair. :o
[QUOTE=civmar;157598]Had to laugh.
“It ain’t a big city like Tampa”. I tell people Tampa’s a hick town. Got a nice airport, tho.[/QUOTE]
Strip clubs, tattoo shops, cute whores. Nothing like being stuck in Gulf Marine Repair shipyard in Tampa. 
Be prepared for Insurance shock. Anything below I-10 is in the ++++$$$$$$$ zone. Here in Alabama it used to be below Hwy 98… then it moved to below hwy 90 now it’s I-10… I imagne soon it will be the mason-dixon line.
Insurance whores hate em’. If you do have damage it will be from whatever is NOT covered by your big $$$ policy. If it’s water it will be wind, if it’s wind it will be water. Anything they can do to weasel out of paying they will do. I live 15 miles from the beach and 340 feet above sea level on a big ole’ hill and still have to have “hurricane” insurance.
Also don’t let it lapse they will not sell a policy during hurricane season so forget about getting it just for the season and letting it lapse. Have to check with my banker/wife but I think ours is $1,400 a year last I saw. I think it may be higher now. Might want to think about another “tax free” state.
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[QUOTE=bcoogan23;157583]Pensacola sucks. I grew up there and my dad was a naval officer (that’s why we moved here) and it still sucked. In Orlando right now but buying a house in the Orange Beach/ Foley, Alabama area soon. I don’t speak Spanish and am from America so Orlando isn’t for me… If you you know what I mean…[/QUOTE]
Howdy soon to be Neighbor! Bring lot’s of brown party liquor!!! 
[QUOTE=Rebel_Rider1969;157743]Be prepared for Insurance shock. Anything below I-10 is in the ++++$$$$$$$ zone. Here in Alabama it used to be below Hwy 98… then it moved to below hwy 90 now it’s I-10… I imagne soon it will be the mason-dixon line.
Insurance whores hate em’. If you do have damage it will be from whatever is NOT covered by your big $$$ policy. If it’s water it will be wind, if it’s wind it will be water. Anything they can do to weasel out of paying they will do. I live 15 miles from the beach and 340 feet above sea level on a big ole’ hill and still have to have “hurricane” insurance.
Also don’t let it lapse they will not sell a policy during hurricane season so forget about getting it just for the season and letting it lapse. Have to check with my banker/wife but I think ours is $1,400 a year last I saw. I think it may be higher now. Might want to think about another “tax free” state.
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Howdy soon to be Neighbor! Bring lot’s of brown party liquor!!! :D[/QUOTE]
Haha we actually lived there before. From March 2011 until October 2014 I was the Food & Beverage manager for a hotel company that owns 3 hotels on the beach in OB. I love that area. I told my wife that if we move to Orlando (her original hometown) that I was going back offshore (which I did) but now I talked her into moving back up there at the end of the year. I can’t wait, plus I’m buying a boat as soon as we close on our house (that was actually the selling point on getting her to move back up there) lol
You sure do pay for the insurance, but it’s either that or or pay higher property taxes in most other places. From all my research before moving here, it seems most places in Florida property tax is only about 1.5% of assessed value annually. That makes it a helluva lot cheaper than other no income tax states like Texas.
“Thanks for all the advice. I think I’ve pretty much narrowed my areas down to Destin, Navarre, Milton, Cantonment and those areas. Other than Destin, the property taxes aren’t bad and the houses are very affordable.”
I’m really not trying to discourage your move to NW FLA. Be aware of the type of people you’ll encounter there: (from www.Newsofthewierd.com)
Clueless in Florida’s Panhandle: (1) Debra Mason, 58, was arrested for theft of a pickup truck in Destin, Florida, in January – and according to police, Mason said she knew it was stolen property but “didn’t think it was ‘that’ stolen.” (2) Ten miles away in Mary Esther, Florida, in February, Robert Pursley, 54, was arrested for DUI and was asked about items in his truck. According to the police report, Pursley insisted that everything was his – “except for anything illegal.” A baggie of cocaine was in the truck’s center console. [Daily News of Northwest Florida, 1-24-2015, 2-25-2015]