Top 10 Reasons NOT to move to Vero Beach?

Things to know before making the move to Florida's East Coast

After reading this blog you might not want to move to Vero Beach anymore, because today I'm going to go over the top 10 cons of living in Vero Beach some of them are very important so make sure to read all the way through if you’re thinking about moving here to Vero Beach 

Hey everyone, my name is Spencer bailey and I’m a local Real Estate Agent here in Vero Beach and the surrounding areas. If you are thinking about moving down here or have a question about moving to Florida’s east coast, go ahead and give me a call, text, or email, I’d love to help you out, and maybe answer a few of your questions when you’re making your move here to Florida’s east coast. 

1. BUSIER 

OK so getting right into it, the first reason you might not want to move to Vero Beach is because It's getting busier. Even though it’s a small town, if you’re from here, you know that it seems like Vero Beach is constantly expanding and developing. More of the empty lots are now being filled with new homes and traffic from our last snowbird season has been bad for a small town like Vero. I see tons of comments about traffic on Vero Beach Facebook groups and locals are not happy about it. also, roads are not designed very well and are very complicated so I'm not sure what the engineers were thinking but Vero Beach roads are not that well designed in my opinion.  

During the offseason during the hotter months, when the snowbirds go back to their home state, it definitely gets a lot less crowded, and you see a lot fewer cars on the road. However, as soon as it starts getting colder and they start coming down here, you start to expect a little bit more traffic and overall, more people everywhere you go. Now if you're from a place like Miami or Tampa or any other big city like that the traffic will pale in comparison. But for Locals like me, it can get annoying when a trip that normally takes 10 minutes turns into a 30-minute trip.   

As a local resident, I can tell you that it has lost a little of its undiscovered, quaint small-town feeling.   Also, it seems more celebrities are coming to check out Vero for themselves as we have had quite a few celebrities visit the small town. Gloria Estefan has her resort and spa Costa de Este here and other celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Jay Leno, Jennifer Lopez, and Taylor Swift have all come to experience the town first-hand. This has garnished Vero Beach a reputation and we have even seen it mentioned on an episode of The Office. 

All of this has culminated in more and more people wanting to check out the charm that Vero Beach has to offer so overall we're just getting busier and that's something you should consider before moving down. 

2 Seasonal Influx 

The 2nd con that I have for living in Vero Beach has to be the seasonal influx. Vero Beach significantly changes when the snowbirds are here compared to when they're not and it can take some getting used to. During the summer months, it can feel like there are not many things to do because a lot of the residents are simply not living there at the time. That combined with the sweltering heat can make for a lackluster experience with not as much going on. Then in the colder months, it's the complete opposite. You constantly have events going on, people are outside enjoying the lovely weather, and overall, there are just a lot more things happening around the town. The colder months are when the traffic can get fairly bad like I stated earlier so there are some pros and cons for the colder months.  

2.2. The Housing market may limit you. Lots of states it's cheaper!

OK, so the next con of living in Vero Beach would have to be the housing market. A quick search on my MLS shows that currently there are only 19 single-family detached homes for sale under 300,000 in Vero Beach.  

I know in a lot of states for that price you can buy nearly a mansion and here you just really can't unfortunately.  

3 Hurricanes  

So this next con is an obvious one, and that is hurricanes. Hurricanes, we did have 2 roll through last hurricane season, and for the most part, we got lucky and there was very little damage. A house I was selling at the time did have some shingles fly off the roof, and I know the Sebastian Inlet also had the grates damaged on the jetty but besides that, the damage was very minimal.  Hurricanes are something you should account for when planning to move. It can be a pain in the butt to get your house ready for a hurricane. You must put up hurricane shutters, make sure you are stocked up with food and supplies, and be ready to lose power for a couple of days to even a week. We haven’t had a devastating hurricane yet, but that doesn’t mean we won’t experience one soon. 

4 Insurance  

 Going hand in hand with hurricanes, our number 4 con of living in Vero Beach is the insurance. Insurance is terrible down here in the state of Florida, especially along the coast like Vero is.  

One big problem down here for buyers and sellers is the insurance for your roof. You could have a 30-year roof, and after 15 years or so your insurance will kick you off the plan and you may be stuck. Citizens Property Insurance Is a company I know that does consider older roofs; however, your premiums are going to be very high. 

 The age of the roof is a very big deal down here in Florida and with an older roof, it can be extremely hard to sell. The buyer may not be able to find an insurance company to insure the roof. If that happens you either need to put a roof on before the sale of the property or sell it for all cash since you can't get a mortgage without the roof being insured. 

 One solution I found for my clients in real estate is by partnering with local roofing companies here in Vero that get paid at closing. So, the seller can pay with the net proceeds of the home, have no money out of pocket, and the buyer can walk away from the deal with a brand-new roof and no worries.  

I just got done structuring a deal where my buyers were in this exact situation. They were having trouble getting insurance for the roof and even citizens were denying them. Since the house appraised for well over the asking price we went ahead and offered $15,000 more than the asking price, and had the seller put on a new roof that rolled into my buyer's mortgage. Both the seller and buyer had no money out of pocket, so it worked out great for both parties. 

5 Limited Jobs  

The number 5 con of living in Vero Beach would be the job market. Vero Beach is closer to a retiree community than it is to a hustling bustling city with tons of jobs of all kinds. I would highly make sure that you have your employment figured out before you start thinking of buying in Vero Beach. A few clients of mine in the past wanted to live in Vero, however, with the limited job market they were pushed to the bigger cities such as Port Saint Lucie and Melbourne. 

 Some common jobs here would be healthcare and work that has to do with roofing, AC, or pools. Everyone in Florida desperately needs AC, and the roofing and insurance situation in Florida is a nightmare, also many Florida residents have pools. So needless to say, these jobs will never go out of business here.  Other than that, there are not a big number of companies here that employ thousands of people so make sure you have a job lined up here before you make the move down. 

6 Small town lacks amenities, places to eat, nightlife, and stores. 

Moving on to the 6th con of living here in Vero Beach, and that is that it's just a small town. I know I've said this in other videos and blogs, but in Vero the shopping is limited, the nightlife is limited, and it may not have every store that you may be accustomed to. Rather than having every store option available, Vero tends to have more local boutique-style shops. If you love going to malls, don’t hold your breath for the Indian River Mall. It is super quiet, there are very few stores left in the mall, and it is not a very hustling bustling place anymore. There was a Casa Amigos Mexican restaurant that had just opened a few months back in the mall, but besides that, there was just not a whole lot going on at the mall anymore. As I said previously the nightlife here is also limited, and after being in the town for a little bit of time you’re going to find yourself going to the same places.  I will however say that Vero Beach does have some great spots to eat so I don’t really mind frequenting those places often. One of my favorite places to stop and grab a bit to eat is Casey’s place. They have the best burgers and I love their Cajun fries as well.  

7 Heat 

onto the #7 con of living in Vero Beach and that is the heat. During the summer like it is now it is scorching out and a lot of the time forces you to be inside. During the summer months, you can expect it to be around 90 degrees out and very humid. During the winter months, we get absolutely beautiful weather, and the temperature gets closer to 70-75 degrees. I think a lot of people overlook just how humid Florida is.  If it's 90 degrees in a dry climate like it is in states out West like California and Nevada, it doesn't feel nearly as hot as 90 degrees in Florida and humid. The real feel in Florida can be well over 100 some days and you'll sweat just by stepping outside. In the mornings when I take my dogs out to use the bathroom, normally it will only take 5 minutes but by that time I will already be sweating and wanting to go inside. At least we don’t have snow and In my opinion, I would rather have to put up with the heat than the snow. I was originally from Minnesota and I'm sure a lot of you watching are from colder states. And I will say living here in Florida with the heat definitely beats out the bitter cold days of Minnesota. 

8 Bugs 

The number 8 con on the list is all the bugs Florida has, in particularly one nasty bug called the no-see-um. Florida is filled with bugs, so much so that Indian River County has its own mosquito control district. Now there's a lot that you can do to protect against mosquitoes however when it comes to noseeums, it seems like there's no way to stop them. These bugs like to come out at dawn and dusk and true to their name they are very hard to see. Sometimes you can't see them, but you have the feeling that you're getting munched on by a swarm of bugs and if that's the case it is probably the noseeums. Even if you have a screened-in porch or lanai, no seams are much smaller than the holes in the netting and can easily get past. I have seen some screens specifically built to keep noseeums out, and I know that using regular bug spray with DEET does work, but besides that, there are not many other solutions. 

9  Cost of living 

On to the number 9 con about living in Vero Beach and that is the cost of living. When I say cost of living, I'm not talking about the price of a gallon of gas or a carton of eggs, in fact, Vero Beach is fairly reasonable when it comes to those costs. However, when you factor in homeowners’ insurance being four times more expensive than the national average, car insurance being around 70% more expensive than the national average, higher power bills, and roofs that constantly need to be replaced it can start to add up. These are all the nuances that by themselves don't seem like a big deal but when you combine all the extra costs of living in Florida it can get overwhelming.  

Conclusion 

So, everyone those were my top 10 cons and things that you need to consider before you move down here to Vero Beach. I will say in my opinion it's a great place but if you just cannot handle the 10 things, I mentioned then you may want to look elsewhere, and I can help with that as well. If you can handle those cons, however, and you're thinking about moving down here definitely give me a call text, or e-mail and I will help answer any questions you might have and tell you all about our town. I relocated down here around eight years ago, and I would love to help you as well.  

Spencer.Bailey507@gmail.com
507-951-2934