The Real Estate - Home Sites
Why Palm Coast?
By Gene Allen
Apr 17, 2006, 11:23

Why Palm Coast? 

I’ve only been a Palm Coaster since July of 2005, a real newbie! We have always been frequent visitors to Disney World, and had become enchanted with Florida. After years of soul searching, we decided to sell the house and head for the sun. People always ask me why I chose Palm Coast for our new home. The answer is easy, but has several factors.

Most importantly, Palm Coast is affordable. We had originally thought about Orlando and I had been following the real estate market there for a while. As we moved closer to making a decision, I was startled to see how quickly the cost of homes had increased. We had planned to buy a condo, move into it, and then look for a house or home site to build upon. Then we would rent the condo to casual Disney visitors such as ourselves. The very condo complex we had rented from and were thinking of buying in almost doubled in price over the course of 10 months! We had seldom ventured beyond Disney or the other theme parks, so we decided an investigation was needed. We were shocked! After making an exploratory trip to check the market in person, we decided Orlando was no longer affordable, and in fact had become far less desirable in terms of affordability, traffic, crowds, and other quality of life factors.

My cousin is an eye doctor in St. Augustine and had lived in several Central Florida cities such as Orlando and Tampa as he built his practice. When I asked him why they finally settled on East Central Florida, he listed almost verbatim the things we wanted in our community. Cities were smaller and less crowded. Traffic hadn’t become the nightmare it is in Orlando and other major Florida cities. He pointed me to Palm Coast and said he was eager to buy commercial property there. After a 2 day visit, I saw why he was in love with Palm Coast.

It was originally a planned retirement community, and the city was laid out in a logical and comfortable fashion. Once you learn the 3 or 4 major streets, navigation is a cinch. The distinct neighborhoods have street names that all begin in the same first letter. I know it sounds a bit hokey, but it really makes finding your way around a simple task. The streets are comfortably sized, and have buffer space built in for expanding as the city grows. There is limited access from the neighborhood streets to the main thoroughfares, creating less chance for collisions. Palm Coast has a small town feel, yet it is convenient to secondary cities like St. Augustine and Daytona, with maybe 45 minutes to an hour to get to Jacksonville and Orlando.

We have several fast food restaurants, shopping areas, and our own Home Depot. Current growth plans include the Town Center at Palm Coast. To quote their press release: “This will be a return to the pedestrian-oriented downtown where people live, work, play, shop and dine in a well-planned area that respects and enhances the area's natural surroundings. It will be similar to the Main Streets of old--a place where people can connect with their friends and neighbors, a place that gives a community its heart and character.”

Also in planning stages are new supermarkets, a multi-screen cinema, and a Target store. Even with this growth, Palm Coast is expected to top out at around 150,000 residents, much nicer and more intimate than Orlando.

A major focus of our research included the quality of schools in Florida. We were happy to find that Flagler has one of the top school districts in the state. Our son is 13 and always scored in the top 1% of his class. So far his education has proven to be as effective as we had hoped. From the Flagler School District web site: In the State of Florida, students in grades 3-10 participate in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Flagler has consistently scored above the state average in all areas. In grades 1 and 2, students are tested with the Stanford 9 Achievement Test in reading and mathematics. For the past two years, students in both grade levels have scored well above the national average.

Getting back to Palm Coast being affordable, it’s worth noting that Flagler is the fastest growing county in the nation-for the second year in a row. 2005 proved to be the high point of the housing boom in Flagler as well as the nation. I was still able to buy a similar sized home as we had in the cold Midwest, yet for about $75,000 less. With housing prices leveling off, home sites that were selling for $85,000 are dropping to around $70,000, making Palm Coast even more affordable. If your even thinking about a move to Palm Coast, I strongly suggest you purchase a lot now, before prices rise again.

Like the old saying goes, “They ain’t making any more beach!” Few spots in Palm Coast are more than 6 or 7 miles from the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Guess what? When you drive to the beach, you can actually SEE the ocean since much of A1A meanders closely along the shores, with few buildings to block you view.

Another Palm Coast feature?     ETAs are low.

ETA to Disney                          1 hour    

ETA to Universal                      1 hour

ETA to Sea World                   1 hour

ETA Daytona Beach                 20 minutes

ETA to Tampa                         2.5 hours

ETA to Jupiter for baseball       3 hours

ETA to Hilton Head                  4 hours

ETA to Miami                          4 hours

ETA to Key West                    7 hours

ETA to the beach                     10 minutes!

When the Orlando TV stations post the high temperatures for the day, Palm Coast is always 2 to 4 degrees cooler. Not a big thing you might suggest, but it sure feels nicer during the warm summer months, and the ocean breezes help too. During the TV stations broadcast of the traffic reports, I always crack a guilty smile, since I’m not parked on the highway in heavy gridlock. I of course encourage you to do your own research, but for me and my family, Palm Coast has proven to be the perfect Florida city.

PS. We just returned form a quick 3 day trip to Disney while my son was on Spring Break. My wife's sister and daughter flew down for a visit and we ate and drank our way around the world at EPCOT. Yet another marvelous perk of life in Florida.