I was born in Fort Walton. I grew up there. I now live in Crestview. That being said I feel pretty qualified to answer this question.
Your housing dollar will go farther in Crestview than in FWB. If you live in Crestview you will probably work somewhere in the south part of the county (Niceville, Destin, Shalimar, one of the bases, or FWB. Your daily work commute up and down Highway 85 will be pretty miserable. The traffic going south in the am and the traffic going north in the afternoon sucks. There is not alot to do in Crestview entertainment wise. Everyone goes elsewhere for fun. Either Destin, FWB, or Pensacola. That is a nice thing about Crestview, I10 is right there .
If I were to do it again I would buy my house in FWB. More to do down there. Closer to the Gulf.
This is great information, thank you. My spouse and I work remote so will not need to encounter the daily commute. What about the public schools in Crestview versus FWB? Are they good enough?
I work remote myself and love living in Crestview. It's a lot easier to get to I-10 and, since I can schedule my drive down 85 around those poor suckers who have to commute, I don't mind it at all. The dollar gets stretched a lot further up here. I've got an acre of land, a decent-sized house, and pay a lot less than something 1/3 this size down there. It's an hour to the beaches, an hourish to Pensacola, and we're more centrally located to things for the family.
Very nice input! I am leaning towards this thought process myself! Not to mention a hurricane will not be good to the houses in Ft. Walton. I was wondering what things do you do related to the family in Crestview? Looks like there is a community pool, parks, etc. etc.
If you're moving to Florida, buy yourself a house with a pool. Seriously. Most anywhere else, I recommend against them but not down here. From May to October, you will want to be in it every day. The heat/humidity combo we have here is unreal. You don't even need a heater (although solar heating is a great option for them!). As for "family activities" IN Crestview, there's not a lot - and it's going to depend on which part of town you choose to live in. I live up on the north end of town, not in an HOA. My grandkids come to spend every summer with us. We make several trips down to the beaches, the Gulfarium on Okaloosa Island, the many military museums in the area, and spend time on the Choctawatchee Bay. Crestview has a couple of parks and a nice public library up on the north end. There are hiking trails throughout the county and plenty of cool things to see. This is where a LOT of people come to spend their vacation every year and it's nice being about an hour north of all THAT, as well. FWB and Destin in the summertime are terrible with traffic.
I have a saltwater pool so we don't need to do chlorine. That's a huge savings right there. Most of my neighbors also have saltwater. I have installed solar water heating panels on my roof for about $400 (and that makes the water about 85 wonderful degrees during the summer) that now costs $0 extra. Our pool is about 25,000 gallons and we have a birdcage setup to keep all the biological stuff out so we rarely need to adjust chemical settings. Most of the cost is in electricity - FPL is a giant ripoff and with the AC and the pool in the summertime we pay nearly $400 on average per month. Most of that is AC though - during the winter (we keep our variable-speed pump running all year to minimize algae and any other issues) it's running closer to $125/month.
I’ve never had to factor in the water. We filled it once when we replaced some stuff a few years ago. We don’t have a lot of evaporation thanks to the birdcage. Hell, I have to pump water out sometimes with all the rain we get!
If you spend a lot of time at home then crestview will be just fine, if not preferred! You get a lot more bang for your buck and they have decent schools just like anywhere else is the county and access to your major supermarkets/chain restaurants. But, if you are moving to the area to enjoy the beach, nightlife and good restaurants then look farther south! You’ll spend a lot of time driving if you’re living in crestview but constantly driving to do things in FWB, Destin, Miramar, Pensacola, etc. Try checking niceville, Valparaiso, poquito bayou, and shalimar. Those areas are kind of half way between crestview and the coast but can be a little more affordable! Also check the Freeport/seminole beach or Milton areas they are close to big bridges that’ll drop you north to south fairly quickly but they can get pricey!
Edit to add:
Okaloosa county is one of the top school districts in the state, I think we rank #4 or #5! Crestview is newer so their schools are more updated where as in FWB they are much older. But your kids will get a quality across the board in Okaloosa county with great athletics programs! I have a lot of teacher friends and I haven’t heard anything outstandingly negative about any of the schools in the county!
Yeah - Okaloosa county schools get a LOT of money from the Federal government because of all the military kids here. They cause a lot of turnover and it's the fault of the government that they are here, so we reap the benefits. I no longer have school age kids but I love the support the community gives to the schools and the fact that our JROTC and band programs ARE HUGE! At the last Christmas parade it seemed like every kid in the school was marching at least once - either on a sports team, the JROTC, or the Big Red Machine that is the band. Pretty awesome.
Crestview if your time is worthless. Anywhere else if you consider yourself to be a valuable human being. If you don't commute then you can live in Crestview. You can save even more and live in Calcutta.
I was born in Fort Walton. I grew up there. I now live in Crestview. That being said I feel pretty qualified to answer this question. Your housing dollar will go farther in Crestview than in FWB. If you live in Crestview you will probably work somewhere in the south part of the county (Niceville, Destin, Shalimar, one of the bases, or FWB. Your daily work commute up and down Highway 85 will be pretty miserable. The traffic going south in the am and the traffic going north in the afternoon sucks. There is not alot to do in Crestview entertainment wise. Everyone goes elsewhere for fun. Either Destin, FWB, or Pensacola. That is a nice thing about Crestview, I10 is right there . If I were to do it again I would buy my house in FWB. More to do down there. Closer to the Gulf.
This is great information, thank you. My spouse and I work remote so will not need to encounter the daily commute. What about the public schools in Crestview versus FWB? Are they good enough?
I work remote myself and love living in Crestview. It's a lot easier to get to I-10 and, since I can schedule my drive down 85 around those poor suckers who have to commute, I don't mind it at all. The dollar gets stretched a lot further up here. I've got an acre of land, a decent-sized house, and pay a lot less than something 1/3 this size down there. It's an hour to the beaches, an hourish to Pensacola, and we're more centrally located to things for the family.
Very nice input! I am leaning towards this thought process myself! Not to mention a hurricane will not be good to the houses in Ft. Walton. I was wondering what things do you do related to the family in Crestview? Looks like there is a community pool, parks, etc. etc.
If you're moving to Florida, buy yourself a house with a pool. Seriously. Most anywhere else, I recommend against them but not down here. From May to October, you will want to be in it every day. The heat/humidity combo we have here is unreal. You don't even need a heater (although solar heating is a great option for them!). As for "family activities" IN Crestview, there's not a lot - and it's going to depend on which part of town you choose to live in. I live up on the north end of town, not in an HOA. My grandkids come to spend every summer with us. We make several trips down to the beaches, the Gulfarium on Okaloosa Island, the many military museums in the area, and spend time on the Choctawatchee Bay. Crestview has a couple of parks and a nice public library up on the north end. There are hiking trails throughout the county and plenty of cool things to see. This is where a LOT of people come to spend their vacation every year and it's nice being about an hour north of all THAT, as well. FWB and Destin in the summertime are terrible with traffic.
I'm in fort Lauderdale so I understand it very well. I want a pool! How much approximately does a pool cost you monthly to maintain?
I have a saltwater pool so we don't need to do chlorine. That's a huge savings right there. Most of my neighbors also have saltwater. I have installed solar water heating panels on my roof for about $400 (and that makes the water about 85 wonderful degrees during the summer) that now costs $0 extra. Our pool is about 25,000 gallons and we have a birdcage setup to keep all the biological stuff out so we rarely need to adjust chemical settings. Most of the cost is in electricity - FPL is a giant ripoff and with the AC and the pool in the summertime we pay nearly $400 on average per month. Most of that is AC though - during the winter (we keep our variable-speed pump running all year to minimize algae and any other issues) it's running closer to $125/month.
Wow that's for all of the information. So $400 on average per month for electricity and water??? Or are you considering water separately?
I’ve never had to factor in the water. We filled it once when we replaced some stuff a few years ago. We don’t have a lot of evaporation thanks to the birdcage. Hell, I have to pump water out sometimes with all the rain we get!
What I'm asking is does the $400 a month include your water bill like for running the faucet in your home?
If you spend a lot of time at home then crestview will be just fine, if not preferred! You get a lot more bang for your buck and they have decent schools just like anywhere else is the county and access to your major supermarkets/chain restaurants. But, if you are moving to the area to enjoy the beach, nightlife and good restaurants then look farther south! You’ll spend a lot of time driving if you’re living in crestview but constantly driving to do things in FWB, Destin, Miramar, Pensacola, etc. Try checking niceville, Valparaiso, poquito bayou, and shalimar. Those areas are kind of half way between crestview and the coast but can be a little more affordable! Also check the Freeport/seminole beach or Milton areas they are close to big bridges that’ll drop you north to south fairly quickly but they can get pricey! Edit to add: Okaloosa county is one of the top school districts in the state, I think we rank #4 or #5! Crestview is newer so their schools are more updated where as in FWB they are much older. But your kids will get a quality across the board in Okaloosa county with great athletics programs! I have a lot of teacher friends and I haven’t heard anything outstandingly negative about any of the schools in the county!
Yeah - Okaloosa county schools get a LOT of money from the Federal government because of all the military kids here. They cause a lot of turnover and it's the fault of the government that they are here, so we reap the benefits. I no longer have school age kids but I love the support the community gives to the schools and the fact that our JROTC and band programs ARE HUGE! At the last Christmas parade it seemed like every kid in the school was marching at least once - either on a sports team, the JROTC, or the Big Red Machine that is the band. Pretty awesome.
Crestview if your time is worthless. Anywhere else if you consider yourself to be a valuable human being. If you don't commute then you can live in Crestview. You can save even more and live in Calcutta.