Living in Mary Esther - relaxing town outside of Eglin AFB

It's Mary Esther, Florida. A lot of people have heard of Mary Esther, and so people have not gone even know where the heck it is. So today, I'm going to talk a little bit about living in Mary Esther, give you a general idea of what it's like, what it looks like, and how it compares to living in Fort Walton Beach or maybe even Navarre. So, let's talk about that in a little more detail.

So, moving in Mary Esther, let's talk about that a little a bit. Excuse my little seat covers back there, I have a German Shepherd pup who sheds and drools because of motion sickness in the vehicle. So, that's what that is in the back. Have my whole back seat air covered and protected, I don't play no games with that.

Commute and Traffic

So, yes, Mary Esther, how does exactly does it compare to living in Fort Walton Beach or Navarre. In my personal opinion, it's not too much, too different from one another. Mary Esther is located south Fort Walton Beach. It expands west past Hurlburt Field going to Navarre. So, it's a great location, especially if you work on base direct duty, contractor, civilian, whatever. Great location because of commute, the short commute to get to Hurlburt Field. It's not even that bad if you work on Eglin Airforce Base. And Eglin's a little further north, maybe about 15-20 minutes depending on where Mary Esther or the time of day that you're commuting. So, the main road that does go through Mary Esther, would be Highway 98. That is the road that is currently known for lots of traffic, bumper to bumper, especially during the peak hours in the morning and in the evening. Especially those that are getting off work on the base at the same time. So, heading west if you're in the Mary Esther area, it would be anytime after 3:30, 4 o'clock ish, up until 6 o'clock. Traffic is going to get pretty rough. I mean, it's going to, you know, if you have somewhere to be, you might want to plan accordingly to get there on time. But, you just definitely be careful because there's so many accidents and you just think, you know, I don't think we'll just pay attention more to prevent accidents, and we can't control other people too. So unfortunately, there are a lot of accidents on Highway 98. There are Facebook groups that you can join that talk about our general area around Fort Walton Beach, even Navarre, just to kind of give you an idea if someone's like, you know, sitting in traffic and they see that this is an accident. We want to give the fellow residents a heads up. Just join that, and it really does help a lot so you know what you're in for when you need to hit the road. What kind of traffic you're looking at, especially if it's during a time where you're not expecting to hit traffic.

Housing

But Mary Esther, as far as the housing, there's a variety. There's new construction, but there's a lot of, you know, older homes in the 80's, the 90's. They're a combination of both in certain areas, which has turn some people away. Weren't a huge fan of purchasing a brand new home, but it's still in the same area or neighborhood or same street as the old mobile homes. Just wasn't very appealing to them. And there's a lot of areas where the homes are kind of tight together, kind of packed in. So, if you're looking for more space or bigger lots, Mary Esther might not quite do it for you. However, on the South Florida Highway 98, if you're looking for bigger lots and nicer communities, water front, maybe a vacant lot to build your own home on. Mary Esther would be a good option to look at. If there are good lots left, I actually, honestly, haven't even looked to see what lots are available in Mary Esther right now. But I have seen a couple in the recent months or over the past 6-8 months. I have seen some big ones out there very, very nice. But then you'll see that people are not comfortable with getting access to the water. But, the water there would be the Santa Rosa sound. So, it's not beachfront, just waterfront. And, of course, the price ranges, I know the last time that I've seen, it was over two hundred, like between 200,000-250,000 for vacant lot, vacant waterfront lot in Mary Esther area. Also the east part of Mary Esther, that is closer to Fort Walton Beach, like, right at the city limits where you do have easier access to more restaurants and shopping within Fort Walton Beach area.

Proximity to Amenities

Another great thing about Mary Esther is that, with you being close to Highway 98 for the most part, easy access to wherever you need to go. You want to shoot down to Navarre beach, Navarre or you have to go to Gulf Breeze, Pensacola. That's just the straight shot hitting west. Or, if you need to get to Okaloosa Island and enjoy the beach out there or head out to Destin or want to do some hard core shopping out at the Commons or the Silver Sand Outlet. It's easy access. You just hop on Highway 98 and go for a ride, depending on what time of year it is. It could take you almost double the time than would in the summer months. So, really between maybe the end of March and probably going into October, maybe end of September. Those are the months where there's more people here, lots of visitors coming to and enjoy our beautiful area here. So, the traffic is a little more heavier during that time. But if you are traveling during the slower months, the fall and winter, it can take you 10-15 minutes to hit up Destin and really just a few minutes to get to Navarre Beach. So, that's the great part about living in Mary Esther. Again, there's not that many shopping options. So, you would have to go to Destin or head out to Pensacola. Again, that's west heading west to Mary Esther.

Noise

But, there's also, you know, some people wonder about the noise. With Mary Esther's close to Hurlburt Field, so, yes, there's some air traffic that you're going to listen to. As locals, we're very used to it because, I mean, it's a military town. We're surrounded by two Airforce bases and an airport. So, we hear airplanes without even realizing the hearing and hear them. They can get pretty close to the house. Yeah, It seems like, anyway, enough to, you know, cast a shadow over your driveway. And some people that may freak out to see airplane flying lower than what they're used to. But other people really think it's cool. I think it's cool to sound freedom when you hear the planes going in your home. But, in Mary Esther, again, it's close to Hurlburt Field Airforce Base. And you can see the birdies, I love driving past the base just the time to see one flying right over Highway 98 and right over the land. I'm prepared for the first place. That's pretty cool. I haven't quite caught it on camera yet, but I'm going to catch it one day. I just got to remember to have my camera record once I'm passing Hurlburt Field so I can catch it. But yeah. As far as the noise, Mary Esther, Yes. It can get pretty noisy with the air traffic and road traffic as well. Again, Highway 98 is the main road through the area. So, you're going to hear all types of loud vehicles. You're going to hear ambulance, Police cars, people playing loud music. Which I believe, recently there was a new law and you'll probably get pulled over if they can hear your mucsic within 20 feet or something like that. Don't quote me on that because that's just I know there's something new about if you have your music too loud, you could pretty much should get in mind for that. But, yes, living in Mary Esther is very comparable to living in Fort Walton Beach and in Navarre. Again, you're still close to everything. It's just a little smaller, little, like, little city. And again, lots of older homes and newer homes.

Schools

The school zones, again, if you're in Mary Esther, for high school, your children would go to Fort Walton Beach high school. The elementary school, there's Florosa and then middle school I believe, there's Bruner. But again, don't quote me on that. I got to, I'm almost drawing a blank here, so I don't want to tell you the wrong information. But, it is close to schools. You do have school buses if you do have children that need to get to school. So, again, that shouldn't be a problem.

Amenities and Parks

There is a nice park nearby. I believe it's in Fort Walton Beach city limits, but it's still really close to Mary Esther, it's Liza Jackson Park. They have a dog beach out there that I think is it's pretty cool. It wasn't there when I was growing up, but little section for dogs to run around, enjoy the the water, which is another reason why I have this nice little seat cover back here in case I end up with a wet dog in my back seat. That really helps me a lot from having a mess to clean up or having sort of smells seating into my seats. But yeah. That's Liza Jackson, great park, you know, kids play at the playground. There's a boat launch, we've got and there's a picnic area, pavillions, gazebos for you to have gatherings. I do see that out there almost every weekend. So, family having nice little gathering out at the park. There is a library also in Mary Esther. There's Oaktree nature park, if you wanna take a little nature walk. It's nothing big, nothing fancy, but it is a nice and good area where you can just walk a little trail. You can bring your dog and just kind of enjoy being out outdoors.

And then, as far as the neighborhoods. Again, it varies, it really does vary. There are some nicely established neighborhoods. Got the sidewalks. And there's ones that's a little more rundown. Again, you're going to have your mobile homes and, you know, there's on the sidewalks that might be junk on sitting on the side of the road, waiting for pickup for people, you know. Of course, they're going to move, they're  moving out in front a different things and they need to step out. It's going to seem really messy because the streets can be really small and narrow, and it just doesn't get even a really good look out in that neighborhood. But, I feel like, it is growing. It changed a lot over the years from when I moved into the area back in 1994. Not just Mary Esther, but Fort Walton Beach, in Destin, Okaloosa Island too, has improved a lot over the years. So, I'm very happy with what's been going on. I didn't appreciate the area as much when I was an elementary school, middle school, high school. But, when I definitely been in 2001, came back in 2014. And I appreciate the Fort Walton Beach and surrounding areas a whole lot more than what I did as a kid. So, this place is definitely growing, you know. For the better, there's a lot of improvements that they're still working on, especially you're getting to Okaloosa Island, and they're about to move to the bridge as of the end of 2022. So, I know if you are living in the Mary Esther area and you want to get to the beach during that time, the construction, it might not be as as easy to get to the beaches of Okaloosa Island or even get to Destin. But then again, you still have the easy access to Navarre Beach as well.

But yeah, that's all I can pretty much think of for now. As far as, you know, it's like living in Mary Esther. Great location, especially if you're military, or if you just want to be close to the beach, but not right on the beach. I don't want to, you know, be too close to where all the tourists are hanging out. So, it's still you're really in a great location regardless whether you want to be in the Fort Walton Beach area or Navarre area. Really, just you can't go wrong.

Well, if you have any questions or want to know more, if there's something I left out that you're curious about, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com

Click here to see all available homes for sale in Mary Esther, FL area.