Best Neighborhoods in NW Florida

by Tim Whittemore

Best Neighborhoods in NW Florida

You're looking for the best neighborhoods in Northwest Florida? Well, you're in the right place. In this video, we're going to go over those top neighborhood so that you can choose the best place to live for you. So, stick around.

So, let's talk about those best places here to move in North West Florida. So, we're going to kind of break it down a little bit and give you different categories of why this might be important to you. Alright? So, we're going to break it down into, like, the best places to buy a house, best place for families, best for activities, affordable beachfront condos, overall cost of living, all these different categories so that you can make the best decision. So, let's get into it.

BEST PLACE TO BUY A HOUSE

First place to buy a house. Where's the best place in Northwest Florida to buy a house. Well, it's going to be in Crestview.

Why is it Crestview? Well, let's talk about the numbers. This is a real estate channel, might as well talk about real estate. Right? Alright, for the median single family home price here at the date of this video, which is in the fall of 2022. We had a median price of $313,000. Now, that was a high all the way up to $990,000 but a low of $75,000. And that was the lowest that you could find for a single family home in this Crestview area, which does expand a little bit outside the city as well as far as we calculate. But, why is this a great place to buy a house? Well, in Northwest Florida, to be close to things, in a growing city that has bigger lots, that also has newer construction, this is going to be the best place for you to go. Most people that come in, especially first time homebuyers, we get a lot of people that move in, like, to the military bases, we get army, air force, navy, all those guys that are coming in. And, this is where I tell them to go, especially as the first time homebuyer, great rental potential after the fact. Just, just a really good place to go to invest in real estate. Alright!

BEST PLACE FOR FAMILIES

So, what is the best place for families? Alright, according to the niche.com, this is where we got most of our information. Alright? And of course word-of-mouth and other research. The best place for families according to that website is, Niceville.

Alright. So, here's how they rate the area. Niceville, for the public school is rated "A". The housing is rated an "A-". Good for families, "A". Crime and safety is a "B". Diversity, got a "B+". And population of this area is about 15,619.

Now, we talk about the public schools. That's a big hit for a lot of people. The high school there is actually ranked number 49 in the entire state. Okay? 49, that's pretty amazing. I think that's actually one of the best ones that you're going to find in Northwest Florida. That's 49 out of 2,227 in the state. So, pretty awesome. Okay?

Don't forget that housing, even though it's at "A-", it can get a little expensive depending upon where you're moving. But the average in this area, according to the day of this video, is only $372,000. And, that was based off of townhomes and single family homes. So, this one's kind of that, and there's a lot of community. It's kind of separated from a lot of things. You have to drive to get there. And because of that, a lot of the traffic that goes through Niceville is usually just locals, which is pretty nice. So, this is a really good place to go check out. It's a little bit more affluent, but voted best for families just all around.

BEST FOR ACTIVITIES

Okay. Next is the best for activities. The area in Northwest Florida, the best for activities is. Can you guess it? Destin.

Yeah. That's right, it's Destin. If you guessed it, you got it. Alright? Why? Because Destin where it goes. Most of us are locals when we're on the weekend, that's where we're going. We're going to Destin. Why? This has got most of the restaurants. It's got the HarborWalk. If you want to get food, you want to get a couple of delicious libations, you want to go down the zip line, you know, rent or rent a boat, whatever it is, is right there in the Harborwalk. You want to go shopping? Got the outdoor mall, that huge outdoor mall at Destin Commons. Tons of stuff to do out there as well. Now, during the season, you also have Crab Island, which is just gorgeous out there. Alright? You still have the Emerald Water. And, the only way to get out there is by boat. And it's just a happening by if that's where you want to go. And of course, some of the best boating and fishing that you're going to find all around. It's fantastic. Destin's where it's at. If you want to be where the action is, Destin is where it's at. Okay. Next will be for the affordable beachfront condo.

AFFORDABLE BEACHFRONT CONDOS

So, where in Northwest Florida is the best and most affordable beachfront condos. Okay? Well, best is well, it's up to you. So, we're going to be looking at price. Alright. So, the best one for this is going to be Panama City Beach. The median condo price out there is $455,000 but that's high all the way up to $3.1 million and a low of a $125,000. So, big old spread right here. But the good thing about this is, there's a lot of people coming in that you can use for short term rentals. And a lot of the investors that want to come down here like where they can get investment in early and they're still breaking even or making a little bit money on that as they get into it. So, condo market? Lowest entry Point, right there in Panama City Beach.

BEST FOR OVERALL COST OF LIVING

Alright. So, what is best for overall cost of living? Well, according to our research, it was actually Mary Esther. However, there's a big old caveat to that here in 2022. For some reason, it's been very, very difficult to get insurance if you're purchasing a home there. Which can really just raise the cost-of-living way up there. So, didn't have as much information to kind of add that into that, but everything else being said, the rental prices, the home prices are actually pretty low. And they're pretty close to things without being directly in it. So, for the overall cost of living, Mary Esther might be the best choice for you. However, with those rising rates, I would also check out Crestview. Right? Because Crestview also has the best place for purchasing a home, growing infrastructure, everything's right up there.

BEST PLACE FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Alright. So, what is the best place for young adults? Well, there's a couple of different places. Most of the time for young adults, you want to be around other happening people. Right? You want to be where the actions at, maybe some places you can kind of go down, grab a drink, socialize with strangers, or your best buddies, whatever that is. Alright? So, there's two different places for you that I've got on the map here. First is Destin, mainly because you got the Harborwalk, you've got everything right there. If you want to be within a quick drive, bike ride, walk in some cases, Destin's going to be where you want to be. Especially East Destin, there's a little bit more less spread out area that you'd be able to get to. The other side, you also have Pensacola. Closer to Palafox Street is where there's kind of a walking street. There's a lot stuff going on in there. They've got a music hall. They've got, you know, same sort of thing where they've got different places, bars, restaurants, everything that's down there. It's just more stuff to do, a little bit more exciting, all sorts of great stuff. What would you would expect, you know, for a small city? Or medium sized city.

BEST PLACE FOR MILITARY AND MILITARY SUPPORT PERSONNEL

Alright. The best place in the area for military and military support personnel. This is mainly concerned because, in the area, the highest concentration is going to be Eglin Air Force Base is. You've got the army post up for seventh group, Duke Field. You also have Hurlburt Field. sO, we're just saying that big cluster was the best place to go. Obviously, Fort Walton Beach is going to be the best because you have access to everything and alternative routes to get to work. Housing isn't that bad. It's a little eclectic as far as pricing anyway. The area is a little eclectic, but everything's right there. It's kind of the happy medium. Mary Esther being right there is good as well. If you get a little bit further west in Mary Esther, you will have to deal a little bit more with the gate traffic. Coming out of there in Highway 98 in some of those kind of choke points when it comes to traffic. And then, of course, if you're more towards the Northern part, either Eglin or up at Duke Field or somewhere up there or the army post. Niceville is a great place to go as well. Really great for the kids. Really all these different areas, really great resale value, rentals as well if you're looking to do that after you leave your post or what have you. Just great areas all around.

BEST PLACE FOR LUXURY LIVING

Next is, the best place for a luxury living. You want luxury living, you want that Emerald Coast luxury living. Coming down where you have that white sand beach, there's now a whole bunch of high rises everywhere. You got the the woods kind of behind you and it's just this nice little mesh of things. Some of the most unique luxury communities that we have are Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach, out there in what we call scenic 30A. Some of these are absolutely gorgeous in their own right. Very, very detail oriented throughout a lot of these different cities. If you want some more information on those specific ones, please visit our channel where we have specifics on some of the best things and more footage on Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach and all the areas down in 30A.

BEST FOR HIGH-END GATED COMMUNITIES

Last but not least, the best place for high-end gated communities. High end gated communities. We'll have to be in Destin, and specifically in Destin, Kelly Plantation. Now you're going to find other areas like Regatta Bay and things like that, where they do have the same sort of things. But Kelly Plantation kind of stands out. And it's mainly because they have luxury bay front, which you also get to see the gulf front as well, towers for condos. They have townhomes in here, and they've got a ton of different types of either waterfront, not waterfront, single family homes throughout here. So, there are different neighborhoods, there's fountains and the different waterways throughout there. It is absolutely gorgeous. Tons of amenities, manned gate guards throughout that to let people in and out there and to make sure the community is all set for you. Just probably the best that you're going to find for high end gated community.

 

Alright. That's all I have for you for the best neighborhoods in Northwest Florida and why. So, if you have any questions about anything I mentioned here, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com

GET MORE INFORMATION

agent

Tim Whittemore

Team Lead | License ID: SL3354763

+1(850) 204-4416

Name
Phone*
Message