Looking in Florida

[Divecoz]

I am in Florida ( Lakeland) visiting my Mom and am looking for inland lakes to Live and Sail on. I desire to be, if I am to move down here, within an hour or two of Lakeland. . .
Anyone familiar with the area lakes, that are surrounding Lakeland??
Gulf and Ocean access/homes are out of the question as it appears Realty taxes and home insurance is $$$$$ on either coast.
Thanks for any direction. I will be home 6 more days.
BTW Central Florida seems to have a Trailer Sailor Club of some size and I will as well, contact them for some direction.

[DaveB]

Lake Harris is a good start, it's in Leesberg with ajoining lakes.
Dave

[Idle Time]

Lake Eustis....nice town....part of the Harris Chain of Lakes....has a sailing club...nice lakeside boardwalk...Lake Harris is part of that chain.....

[TAW02]

I live in Saint Cloud. Small town atmosphere yet handy to Orlando, Kissimmee and about an hour and a half from Lakeland. I moor my MAC at the Saint Cloud City Marina on East Lake Tohopakaliga (means sleeping tiger in the indian tongue of the Seminole Indian). Reason being is that this lake is circular and 5 miles across in all directions. Good Sailiing lake, but treacherous in storms. Orlando International borders the north shore as well as a quaint little fish camp, complete with picnic and restaurant facilites as well as bait shop and fuel dock. Also at the marina where I am slipped (South Shore), is a restaurant called Crabby Bill's. A beautiful County Park borders the eastern shore and a golf course community on the western shore. Also there is another lake linked to this lake to the north eastern side. Fells Cove. This is a rather nice lake. About a mile across in either direction. Has an island with beach access. However the island is pretty well populated by Billy Goats, so it is unlikely you will want to beach there, but then everyone makes mistakes once

Billy goats will quickly board your boat. You don't wanna know how to swing that kind of action, so just avoid it.

If you are a resident of the city of Saint Cloud, slip fees are 90 dollars a month including water and electricity. Nice deal in the summer when you run your air conditioner 24/7. You will find your boat dry and mold free with all fabrics fresh and smelling nice. That is why I installed a 10k BTU air conditioner in my MAC.

The marina is very new and only a few years old right now. Efforts are in the works to get the sailboaters together to put programs and events together in the future. We'll see how that goes. Right now, early spring brings about some rather nice events for the marina and lakeshore. What is called 'Spring Fling' brings a lot of folksy atmosphere on the lakefront. Concessions, tractor and steam engine collectors, bluegrass bands et cetra. Off-Shore Racing Boats set up racing events on the lake. Man this is sweet, what a show!

And of course, there is the March Battle of Narcossee Mill event at Chisolm Park on the eastern shore. This is a weekend long event cameo of a Civil War event including a cannon brigade! Yeah ... big baddda Booom! The entire park and all pavillions are set aside for a gigantic North vs. South Camp exhibits. See how mollasses candy was made and how jerked beef is really done just to name a few of a million handy historical ways and means displays during this special event.

Now 4th of July is a gigantic happening here at the lakefront and marina. Carnival and circus activities abound. Lots of eats, live music and shows border a mile and ahalf of lakeshore. Plenty of Lakeshore bathing beach, volley ball activities, park jungle gym and splash-pad fun for the kids. Barbeque grills and covered pavillions add to the atmosphere until City fireworks fill the sky from the point jutting out into the lake. Being a member of the marina gives you reserve seating aboard your own boat and gets you out of the maddening crowd so that you can 'people watch' in comfort. You then, have the luxury of trolling out to the middle of the Lake (2 and a half miles out) and watching the fireworks from your own private vantage point, or hanging out in the marina basin in your own slip.

Come down ... check it out.

Big T

[PatrickS]

I live in Saint Cloud. Small town atmosphere yet handy to Orlando, Kissimmee and about an hour and a half from Lakeland. I moor my MAC at the Saint Cloud City Marina on East Lake Tohopakaliga ...

I can affirm that East Lake Toho is a very nice lake, and the marina
is top shelf.

We spent the holidays in Central Florida, with some sailing on the Atlantic
near Cocoa Beach, a bit of motoring on the St. Johns, and a lovely day
sailing on East Lake Toho, giving all the relatives a ride.

I got *alot* of practice raising and dropping the sails and docking. Took
out seven groups of relatives in all, and didn't pull the boat out of the
water until late in the evening.

Pity I didn't have any time to stroll about the marina. I would have loved
seeing another Mac.

BTW, does the marina allow liveaboards? For $90 a month, I'd be tempted
to move

[puffect]

Concur with Dave B Lake Harris is a good start...wide lake so you can sail off in almost any direction given the wind condtions. Just took my boat out of Leesburg City Marina there.

But just one other thought...the beauty of central Florida is that you can live in the middle (say Lakeland), dock your boat on either oast and get to it under an hours' drive. Slip fees are less than coastal taxes.

Send a pm with way to contact you and I'll give you a couple of $300/mo slip recommendations.

[TAW02]

BTW, does the marina allow liveaboards? For $90 a month, I'd be tempted
to move

Unfortunately Patrick that's the catch. They do not allow permanent liveaboards in the Marina. I have spent a night aboard (quietly) just to 'get away' for awhile. But I never make a habit of that.

Big T

[Catigale]

Billy goats will quickly board your boat.

They taste like chicken shortly thereafter...

[TAW02]

Billy goats will quickly board your boat.

They taste like chicken shortly thereafter...

Be more specific ... the wee bonnie one tast like chicken. The Billy Goat Gruffs taste like Trolls.

Big T

[Divecoz]

Thank You gentlemen I am still here and looking south as well at Istokpoga and Kissimmee lakes. Leesburg and the surrounding area looks very good. I have yet to contact the Tax accessor for a realistic ball park for home taxes/ what % of sale price will reflect my taxes.

[fdeoreo]

Hello,

I apologize in advance for my ranting, but here goes. I wish you luck on your search here in Florida. But I want to let you know that taxes are not actually that bad, depending on what you are used to. Of course they are based on the value of your property, so bigger costs more, smaller costs less, near the coast or anywhere. Taxes are a known cost up front, unlike homeowner's insurance which can be very hard to get.

It doesn't matter if you are in the middle of the state or the coast as we found out a few years ago. The hurricane season can be problematic anywhere. Insurance is the real concern here. If you can get a policy there is also the real likelihood that you will be canceled even if you have never made a claim. Many residents of Florida have seen their insurance double, triple, and more!! Or as I said, just plain had it canceled, which left them with the state insurer, Citizens. Some of those people end up with the policy cost quadrupling and more!! Many have left the state because they can no longer afford it.

I don't know anything about you and your finances but just wanted to let you know about this. I would be talking to an insurance company before making a contracted offer on any property. I believe my fellow Floridians on this board will agree.

Just so you know, I love Florida!! Depending on your circumstances you may find it cheaper here then elsewhere. Again, good luck on your search and don't be afraid of looking near the coasts. The prices and taxes may not be as bad as you think, and gulf sailing is just beautiful!

sincerely,
Francis Joshua

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

For some more ranting...I think these insurance companies are run by crooks, now I see that the State has canceled Allstate's license to sell auto insurance...hit em where it hurts...auto, usually their cash cow I think.

Talking about raising rates, Nationwide, who I had for like 12 years was feeding me 30-40 percent increases a year for the last few years, and then out of nowhere cancelled me. I found another company, cost more of course. So yes, if you come down from a place like Chicago, you can figure that what you save in taxes, you will spend on insurance.

What's even slimier, is that Nationwide has been writing letters to my mother in law in Virginia saying that they have to raise her rates because of all the revenue they have lost in Florida. What a total crock of shiite when they are the ones who took the action. Like I said...crooks. (apologies to any of you sailing buddies who happen to work for insurance companies, but you still work for a bunch of crooks )

I'm with Francis though, life is still great in Florida...even with the insurance crap. Just got back from a biz trip to NY yesterday, always wonderful to fly in to Tampa Bay, seeing all the water and the lighted bridges, getting a nice dose of humidity as soon as they open the door..no dried out sinuses down here.

[Sloop John B]

Yeah, even USAA will only insure a homeowner's principal residence who is on active duty and come into the state on orders.

They cut me a break for having been with them over 40 years, but I couldn't move away and then come back.

I take it that the Commissioner gives the Companies a lot of static about raising rates and the Companies don't want to be down here. Took too big a beating 04, 05. Last couple years have been relatively quiet.

[NiceAft]

You should be able to get a good price for whatever you are purchasing. I am posting an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ray

Migration to sunny Florida enters a cooling-off period
By Peter Whoriskey

Washington Post

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The vast flow of people into Florida from elsewhere in the United States was the defining feature of the Sunshine State's 20th-century history, draining swamps and spurring development, swelling the economy and shaping politics.
Now the migration has stalled, according to new census figures. With hurricane fears and the soaring costs of housing and storm insurance, many here have begun to fret that Florida, long a mecca for tourists and snowbirds, has lost its allure.

"The word has gotten out about Florida. It is not the paradise that many people once thought it was," the lead editorial in the Miami Herald warned the other day.

Whether the decline in people moving from other, usually chillier, U.S. locales is temporary or a sign of long-term decline is a matter of debate. But its outlines and economic effects are increasingly clear.

According to the Census Bureau, the number of people moving from other states to Florida declined from 268,000 in 2005 to 35,000 last year, by far the most precipitous drop since such records started being kept in 1990.

Those numbers followed the news that enrollment in the state's public schools had declined for the third consecutive year.

And recently released figures from the moving company United Van Lines suggest that in stark contrast to years past, as many people are moving out of Florida as are moving in. Four years ago, for example, the company's statistics showed about 60 percent of its Florida shipments were inbound and 40 percent outbound; in the last two years, the number of inbound and outbound shipments has been almost evenly split.

"People come in here and tell me all the time, 'We're moving to Tennessee' or 'We're moving to Georgia,' " said John York, 59, a barbershop owner. "It's just too crowded and it costs too much to live" in the area.

Signs that the flow of people has slowed markedly are apparent throughout Port St. Lucie, on the Atlantic Coast a few hours' drive north of Miami.

A few years ago, Port St. Lucie ranked as one of the nation's fastest-growing cities. Now, new-home developments are marked by empty houses. Builders are pulling out, prices are dropping, and unemployment is rising. The unemployment rate in St. Lucie County has risen to 6.3 percent, the second-highest among Florida's counties, from 4.4 percent last year.

Patty Duncan, 44, one of the stylists in York's shop, worked as a real estate agent during Florida's frothy boom. Then the market went bust. "It turns out I like this better," she said. "You'll always need haircuts."

Home prices have fallen 20 percent in the last year, according to city officials.

Yet there are some who see the benefit of a slowdown.

Port St. Lucie Mayor Patricia Christensen said the recent decline has allowed the city to "catch its breath" after explosive growth created demand for new schools and roads.

Likewise, environmentalists and others who believe Florida has grown too fast or with too little planning view the drop in new arrivals as positive.

Faced with urgent appeals from longtime residents and newcomers alike, Gov. Charlie Crist and members of the Florida Legislature last year sought measures that would rein in property taxes and hurricane-insurance premiums.

But a legislative remedy for hurricane insurance has thus far yielded only meager savings for homeowners. And a new tax package under consideration would save a typical homeowner only $240 annually, according to estimates.

[Divecoz]

"It's just too crowded and it costs too much to live" in the area.
tax breaks saveing a typical homeowner only $240 annually, according to estimates.

If Values have dropped 20% they Must Have Been Killers a couple years ago even for modest homes.
Looking at Modest cinderblock homes on canals leading to small lakes ...
$200,000 bigger lakes add $50K again and again as the lakes get bigger.
Taxes??? seem to run no less than 2% of home value most often more .
Home owners Insurance seems to run about the same IF you can get insurance.
This house has yet to sell so every location is on a back burner so to speak.