Texas or Florida? Where should we go?

Youngster

Youngster

Member
My wife and I are vacillating between moving to the Florida panhandle or north of San Antonio Texas. We have relatives in both areas. We've been to both places and done our research but still can't decide so I'm asking all of you. Maybe you can give us some insight we hadn't thought of. If you had to choose between the two, which one would you pick and why?
Thanks for your input.
 

I can't give any advice about Florida as I live in Texas. If you are looking north of San Antonio that might put you up in the hill country which is beautiful. North from there is Austin. To me Austin is not a good place to retire, it is just very congested and expensive. Even the so called suburbs have been swallowed up. I am not sure about the smaller towns outside of San Antonio.

If I was looking in those areas it would be one of the smaller towns/cities. You would have easy access to both of the large metropolitan areas, the attractions, museums and good quality healthcare. You may prefer living in a large city, I do not. You might consider even south of San Antonio, still near city amenities but also a nice drive to the coast.

If I had the money, which I don't, I would choose an area close to Canyon Lake, a beautiful area.
 
We lived in Texas for 5 years but we were in the Dallas area, so I will not be able to help you there. However, after leaving Texas, we lived in the panhandle of Florida for 5 years. We loved it there! Unfortunately, we had to leave due to a job relocation to central Florida.
We lived in the Pensacola area. We loved the city, the people, and the lifestyle. The beaches, nature, landscape are beautiful. Life is very laid-back. There is always something to do. Lots of free concerts in parks, art festivals, air shows, museums. It caters to all ages. Great restaurants, great seafood. There is quite an influence from Louisiana in their cuisine.
People there like to fish. When we were looking for a house, we were surprised that most homes had a fenced back yard with space to keep their boat right next to the house!
We moved there right after Pensacola had just recuperated from being hammered by a series of storms. Be ready for that. I would advise you to get a house with natural gas and get a generator. When looking for a house, check the flood zones. (Realtor.com provides that information) Some areas are quite low and would need flood insurance. I would recommend to also check on property insurance companies before buying. We are having a big problem here in Florida. Many companies bailed out of the state or are asking enormous amount of money to insure you. These are the negative parts.
Pensacola has also a heavy military population (Navy mainly) quite a few retired Navy people live there as well.
It is very conservative and religious.
We like to walk, while there we belonged to the Florida Trail Association. We discovered the area that way by walking, kayaking, and camping in that beautiful region.
I miss that area very much! However, I am only a few hours away and can still visit often.
If you decide on the area, feel free to ask me any questions. I wish you good luck with your decisions.
 

Well, we've lived in Texas - base of the hill country and closer to the gulf coast for 40 years and have been through 2 hurricanes. Can't begin to imagine what preparing and going through the many storms that the panhandle of Florida has been through. To me it would be too much for older people to have to endure on a "might be"regular basis to say nothing of the big increasing insurance costs. So many insurance companies are pulling out of Florida entirely.

We have friends in Ft. Myer's Beach, where we used to go every winter for a few weeks...the whole island is destroyed now and that was from just one hurricane. Also have friends in other areas of Florida that have had their homeowner's insurance instantly increase by 1/3 or more so those are things that also would have to be taken into big consideration, if it were us.

It certainly is a stressful decision to make and I wish you the best of luck in finding your "happy place". We love the wooded area acreage we live on that offers so much privacy yet is close to the best medical centers and shopping/eating facilities and are less than a couple hours from the Gulf if we want to do an overnighter and walk on the beach...believe me, that's way close enough for us in hurricane season...lol.
 
Florida panhandle, or north of San Antonio Texas ... probably two of the fastest growing areas in the country
Good luck with your decision.

In Texas, the area between San Antonio and Austin used to be country living, and small size towns.
Now San Marcos, New Braunfels, and all those towns are bursting at the seams ... ... too much growth that has happened quickly.
 
Youngster said:
My wife and I are vacillating between moving to the Florida panhandle or north of San Antonio Texas.
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Of those I would choose the Florida panhandle, because its on the Gulf of Mexico. So is Texas, but north of San Antonio isn't.

I lived in the Florida panhandle for a long time, I really liked it. Never lived in Texas, but have visited many times.
 
Rossana said:
We lived in Texas for 5 years but we were in the Dallas area, so I will not be able to help you there. However, after leaving Texas, we lived in the panhandle of Florida for 5 years. We loved it there! Unfortunately, we had to leave due to a job relocation to central Florida.
We lived in the Pensacola area. We loved the city, the people, and the lifestyle. The beaches, nature, landscape are beautiful. Life is very laid-back. There is always something to do. Lots of free concerts in parks, art festivals, air shows, museums. It caters to all ages. Great restaurants, great seafood. There is quite an influence from Louisiana in their cuisine.
People there like to fish. When we were looking for a house, we were surprised that most homes had a fenced back yard with space to keep their boat right next to the house!
We moved there right after Pensacola had just recuperated from being hammered by a series of storms. Be ready for that. I would advise you to get a house with natural gas and get a generator. When looking for a house, check the flood zones. (Realtor.com provides that information) Some areas are quite low and would need flood insurance. I would recommend to also check on property insurance companies before buying. We are having a big problem here in Florida. Many companies bailed out of the state or are asking enormous amount of money to insure you. These are the negative parts.
Pensacola has also a heavy military population (Navy mainly) quite a few retired Navy people live there as well.
It is very conservative and religious.
We like to walk, while there we belonged to the Florida Trail Association. We discovered the area that way by walking, kayaking, and camping in that beautiful region.
I miss that area very much! However, I am only a few hours away and can still visit often.
If you decide on the area, feel free to ask me any questions. I wish you good luck with your decisions.
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Thanks for the reply Rossana
Great first hand information. I appreciate it. We are looking in the Pensacola area.
 
Youngster said:
My wife and I are vacillating between moving to the Florida panhandle or north of San Antonio Texas. We have relatives in both areas. We've been to both places and done our research but still can't decide so I'm asking all of you. Maybe you can give us some insight we hadn't thought of. If you had to choose between the two, which one would you pick and why?
Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
I haven't been to Florida, but was in Lampasas (121 miles north of SA) for a week. The humidity was a killer. 98/98 for a solid week, then it stopped to 90/57 and a heck of a thunderstorm.

I tip my hat to those who can survive that heat.
 
I've spent time in both Florida and Texas, but that was nearly 40 years ago. Both have changed dramatically since then.

It seems to me that Florida has much more to offer than Texas. Florida has beautiful beaches, which is it's main attraction. But there's also Sanibel Island, which is interesting, the Keys, Miami, Disneyland, the Everglades, Daytona racetrack... They have spectacular sunsets and rainstorms, but they also have a lot of hurricanes and flooding, although they're probably not much of a problem in the panhandle. They could have had a high speed rail system to get you around the state, but that was cancelled by their former governor. Too expensive.

From what I remember, the heat is more brutal in Texas, too.
 
Disgustedman said:
I haven't been to Florida, but was in Lampasas (121 miles north of SA) for a week. The humidity was a killer. 98/98 for a solid week, then it stopped to 90/57 and a heck of a thunderstorm.

I tip my hat to those who can survive that heat.
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SeniorBen said:
I've spent time in both Florida and Texas, but that was nearly 40 years ago. Both have changed dramatically since then.

It seems to me that Florida has much more to offer than Texas. Florida has beautiful beaches, which is it's main attraction. But there's also Sanibel Island, which is interesting, the Keys, Miami, Disneyland, the Everglades, Daytona racetrack... They have spectacular sunsets and rainstorms, but they also have a lot of hurricanes and flooding, although they're probably not much of a problem in the panhandle. They could have had a high speed rail system to get you around the state, but that was cancelled by their former governor. Too expensive.

From what I remember, the heat is more brutal in Texas, too.
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We need you both to be at the Texas state line with signs, to discourage all the inbound u-haul and other moving vans coming in daily !
Thank you..😁
 
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I’ve never lived in either place but have travelled to both. Pensacola area in Florida is very nice but I was only there in mid spring. Watching all the flamingos 🦩 and dolphins 🐬 is so exciting. I’ve known people who lived there for over 30 years and they never went through any major storms.

The only place in Texas I went to was Dallas and it was nice. The area I was at had no sidewalks though. I was there in February and it snowed while I swam in the indoor / outdoor pool and it was really nice.
Not cold like here. Its not much help but I’m excited for you. Blessed gives a lovely description and seems to really like it there from her posts.

Good luck
 
PeppermintPatty said:
I’ve never lived in either place but have travelled to both. Pensacola area in Florida is very nice but I was only there in mid spring. Watching all the flamingos 🦩 and dolphins 🐬 is so exciting. I’ve known people who lived there for over 30 years and they never went through any major storms.
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I like Pensacola also, however your friends must not have good memory.

In the last 30 years Pensacola has suffered from several major ones, Opal and Ivan were majors that hit Pensacola directly. Lots of damage... I have friends and relatives there and heard the stories. If you choose the right house in the right setting and prepare yourself that shouldn't keep you away, just be sure you know what you're getting into. And as @Skyking says make sure you know what you'll be paying for insurance, and be ready for a shock.

Pensacola, Florida's history with tropical systems https://hurricanecity.com/city/pensacola.htm

 
Just want to add to this thread, anyone who would love a nice road trip ... take Interstate 10 from the Florida East Coast (Jacksonville), and head West .... a scenic drive along the coast.
Have done that drive several times over the years ..... (and if you continue on west to the end of I10, you will be at the Santa Monica Pier in Ca).


iu
 
Alligatorob said:
I like Pensacola also, however your friends must not have good memory.

In the last 30 years Pensacola has suffered from several major ones, Opal and Ivan were majors that hit Pensacola directly. Lots of damage... I have friends and relatives there and heard the stories. If you choose the right house in the right setting and prepare yourself that shouldn't keep you away, just be sure you know what you're getting into. And as @Skyking says make sure you know what you'll be paying for insurance, and be ready for a shock.

Pensacola, Florida's history with tropical systems https://hurricanecity.com/city/pensacola.htm

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They were snowbirds from mid ‘80’s to 2017 so were only there from late October until mid April. If they did get hit, I knew nothing of it. We weren’t that close.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
They were snowbirds from mid ‘80’s to 2017 so were only there from late October until mid April. If they did get hit, I knew nothing of it. We weren’t that close.
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They may have missed the big ones, Opal October 4, 1995 and Ivan September 16, 2004. Dennis was another major to hit Pensacola, a category 3 at landfall, July 10, 2005. However it did less damage than Ivan or Opal. I was living about 150 miles east of Pensacola at the time of all of these storms and felt the impacts, only Dennis did us a lot of damage.
 
Alligatorob said:
They may have missed the big ones, Opal October 4, 1995 and Ivan September 16, 2004. Dennis was another major to hit Pensacola, a category 3 at landfall, July 10, 2005. However it did less damage than Ivan or Opal. I was living about 150 miles east of Pensacola at the time of all of these storms and felt the impacts, only Dennis did us a lot of damage.
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That’s a lot of hurricanes and YES they would have missed them all. I guess they were really lucky.

I’m sorry you were adversely affected by Dennis. Dennis the Menace.

My husband and I have been through 3 hurricanes but luckily weren’t affected even through Fiona.
 


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