Moving To East Coast Florida The Top 7 Best Cities

The retirement dreams of the West Coast of Florida is losing the battle and the data proves it. Increasingly buyers are saying they want to pick the East Coast of Florida to retire. Why is that? Well, I've been in the market for over 25 years helping people find their slice of paradise including where they want to retire and today I'm going to break it down and talk about the top destinations where folks on the East Coast are thinking of retiring so they can be on your radar. Let's dive right in. First of all, let's take a step backward.

What's going on? Most people think retirement, Naples, Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa, it's a thing and it's still super popular. However, over the past 10, 20 years, the East Coast of Florida has really started to take people away from the West Coast. Why is that? Why is the East Coast now worthy of consideration for folks that are looking to retire? Couple of things. Number one, you get more bang for your buck typically on the East Coast. Depending where you are and we'll talk about some spots. Two, the beaches are completely different vibe and the infrastructure is here and it's easier if you're from the Northeast as a lot of people are in our market to get back and forth and go see family than being on the West Coast.

So, let's talk about what parts of the East Coast are people considering when they want to retire. Number seven, Jupiter in Palm Beach Gardens. Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens are having a moment. Palm Beach has always been popular. Jupiter was kind of on everybody's back burner but with the advent of beautiful, beautiful golf clubs, preserves, and beaches, it's offering folks the best of both worlds. But, the more demand there is, the more pressure that puts upward on pricing. So, with the advent of post-COVID, the whole lifestyle has gotten more expensive.

There's no doubt about it. Bears Club National has beautiful homes that are $30 million and up. Juno Beach, you could get homes that start at 600 to a million on up to multi-million. Same thing with Palm Beach Gardens. And some of the clubs like Admirals Cove and the ones that are so well regarded have a mandatory club buy-in too that is not inexpensive. So, if you're craving that lifestyle, make sure when you're searching, you do your due diligence and say, "Okay, this is very intriguing to me. What is this all going to cost?" Because it's not just the house, it's the cost of the lifestyle.

And whether or not that's important to you and it is for a lot of people and it may be for you but it's important that you know the total cost of both the in for the house and the lifestyle. Now, let's go north. Melbourne, Satellite Beach, Palm Bay. Is there a lot going on in that part? Part of it is because of NASA, SpaceX, and a lot of industry that's going on there. It is a jobs-based economy. So, it's not just retirees. You have folks that are coming down for high-paying jobs for all the industry and the attendant businesses that are there, they're supporting the growth of the economy.

Then you've got places like Palm Bay that are west of I-95 and US1 that offer a lot of new projects for retirees. So, there's actually more land. So, what you get is kind of environment that's very, very appealing. What it means for retirees is that you've got a lot of options. There is more density and height permitted than places like Vero Beach which is going to give you more options. Got a beautiful airport that's there that can get you everywhere you want to go and in between with ease and it's quite close to the highway as well.

So, travel and logistics become easier. Prices are going to be anywhere from 500 up to 2 million and up depending on where you are, if you're on a golf course community or not, and what the lifestyle is that you want. There will always be great public golf courses as well but for sure, for sure, the north part of what we call the Space Coast is worthy of your consideration if you're looking for a place on the East Coast to retire. So, that's a community worthy of your consideration if retirement is on your radar.

Now, we're going to go south of Melbourne and Brevard County into what's known as the Treasure Coast and the southern part of the Treasure Coast is Stuart and Palm City. Much like Vero, there are some density restrictions also in Martin County in Palm City and some beautiful golf club communities. There is a river that divides Palm City and Stuart. Stuart has interesting downtown area known as Confusion Corner, some beautiful restaurants. There is a really interesting kind of old Florida barrier island in Stuart known as Sewall's Point which has some very interesting historic architecture and really gives like an old Florida vibe.

If you're a boater and that's an important part of your buy box and how you envision retiring, Stuart and Palm City should definitely be on your radar. The question becomes, what are what are my price options? Palm City is going to be a little more affordable and depending on what you buy, you can be 500 to 7 million dollars depending on where you are. Sewall's Point and Selfish Point are going to be multi-million to double-digit multi-million and in between and offer a quality of life that is sensational. So, figure Stuart is going to be 800 to multi-million and in between.

The average probably would be 1.5 to 2.5 broadly speaking. Definitely worthy of your consideration particularly if you are a boater. If you said to me, "Sally, that's great but I'm not Mr. Money Bags and even if I have it, I don't want to spend it. Give me something that's more affordable." Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach are worthy of your consideration. Go north, head towards Daytona and you will find the communities of Flagler Beach and Ormond Beach both offering options worthy of your consideration. You've got great shopping, you've got Daytona Beach there and all the activities that happen there and they permit high-rises.

So, you can be in condos there from, you know, 4 to 500 up to, you know, well over a million with lots of options in between. If you're looking for something that's more affordable then Ormond Beach and Flagler Beach should be on your radar list for retirement. Number three, might be a place you haven't heard of. It's called Palm Coast, north of Vero Beach, north of Melbourne, again headed towards Jacksonville. Palm Coast is effectively a knitted network of master-planned communities. Many of them have golf so most of them are going to have amenities and HOA rules and regs and if that's your jam, you're going to have so many options to choose from and it's more affordable.

From 600 to well over a million and in between. But again, like we talked about before, make sure you understand the cost of ownership. And each one is going to have very different fee and different different personalities. There's a Nicklaus one called Ocean Hammock Resort, very well regarded. So, what I would say is if an organized within your gates lifestyle is something that's really appealing to you particularly as you age, you can use your golf cart and it's, you know, car optional, Palm Coast is worthy of your consideration. On the other hand, if you say, "I don't know about this organized stuff.

I think I'd rather have a little bit of history and a feeling of tradition." Well, just wait. We've got two more that may surprise you and they are both viable options that you should think about. Number two, my beloved town of Vero Beach, Florida. Vero Beach is in Indian River County. It is about an hour north of Palm Beach and about 45 minutes south of Melbourne. What we loved about Vero Beach was there's a heritage here. It was an original town. There is an original town from the early 1900s, 1910s.

There's original downtown. There's a barrier island. There's three fixed bridges. The river is an estuary known as the Indian River Lagoon is brackish. And then you've got the wide waters of the Atlantic, 28 miles. Vero in 1977 instituted height restrictions on condominiums and single-family houses and also came up with a master development plan that permitted residential development only so far out and then they preserved the land for our citrus growers, grapefruit, oranges. You've probably heard of Indian River grapefruit and our ranchers. So, what you have is a feeling of a small town because of that barrier of growth and limited density, limited commercial, height restrictions, what you have is a feeling of a old small town with a very heavy emphasis on nature, golf, boating, the Indian River Estuary, downtown vibrant arts scene.

It's very, very charming. One of the nice things about it is because we are further away from Palm Beach, we are more affordable, about 40% more affordable than Palm Beach, Jupiter, Juno Beach, Stuart, much more affordable than Stuart. So, you get more bang for your buck if you are looking to retire and that means there's options for retirees and you could go into an HOA community or you can just buy a freestanding house and do your own thing and there's tons of free activities and if something is ticketed like an art show or a performance of our Actors' Equity Theater, gosh, the most expensive ticket might be 60 or 80 dollars and you're home by 10:00 in your pajamas.

So, for retirees who want options combined with affordability, Vero Beach should really be on your radar. Last but not least, number one most popular retirement community, Port Saint Lucie. What's the deal with Port Saint Lucie? Well, Port Saint Lucie and the entire Treasure Coast, as it's called. So, Port Saint Lucie is a wonderful option for folks that want variety. Within Port Saint Lucie, you have a lot of housing stock, and their philosophy is very different from Vero. They're all about building, and they said, "Okay, let's let's have options." You've got master-planned retirement communities, if you wish, where gosh, the amenities are like Disney World.

It's unbelievable. Full-time activity directors, lots of things to do. But, there are also just beautiful free-standing communities in places like Tradition, up by I-95, where young families are finding affordability. You've got a PGA golf course there, and that's fantastic. And a Village PGA West has tons of communities, cul-de-sacs out there. Lots of housing product there. So, depending on what you want, there is a lot to going on in Port Saint Lucie. What it doesn't have really is a beach. So, if you live in Port Saint Lucie, you're going to be going across the causeway to Jensen Beach, and you're going to be using public beaches there.

So, one thing that I would say to you is, if a little beach town is important to you, maybe Vero's where you should be looking. But, if not, and you want more options, large communities, smaller communities, lots of options, really good shopping, Port Saint Lucie should be on your radar. So, all of these options are viable for you to consider if retirement is in your future. What's really important is that you hitch your wagon to a trusted advisor. Call me, DM me. I can help you figure it out, and if it's not my market, I can connect you with somebody that I trust that works like I do, that can help you and drill down what's important to you, so you're using a local expert to make sure, number one, am I buying in the right community?

Number two, within that community, then it's which communities are worthy of my consideration. So, it really depends what you want and what retirement looks like for you. But, having gone through all these communities, it's easy to see why the East Coast is increasingly becoming the coast in Florida that retirees are saying, "Yes" to. I'm Sally Daley. If you have any questions, DM me or text me, reach us through our contact form, and I would be happy to help you figure out which one of these places is right for you and your dream retirement.