fishenwishen

I am currently searching for a piece of waterfront property and was wandering if any forum members had any input on east bay blvd. Its about as far as you can go to the East, North side of Gulf Breeze. There are a couple of inexpensive homes on the bay in that area and I was wandering why so inexpensive. I imagine boat access may be an issue as I hear it can get shallow over there. I plan to take a trip by boat soon but figured Id check with the forum first. Thanks for any reply



joe

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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime as long as it is caught in season, and is of the correct variety, and isn't too small, or too big....uhhh other restrictions may apply.

kahala boy

Seems that any place that is west of Robedal Estates is on low ground. When the hurricanes come, the water is over 399 in that area. Make sure you check the flood zone maps. Good Luck wth your hunt.

angus_cow_doctor

I suspect you and I have been looking at some of the same houses.

Basically, I refuse to consider any house that has less than 15 feet of elevation at the base of the house. That knocks a bunch of houses out of the running.

Basically, anything past the 5000 block of East Bay Blvd (as I recall), as it gets flatter and flatter in that corner of the bay.

Also, you got to consider how much the insurance is going to cost you. And if you even CAN get insurance on those waterfront homes....

FELIS-ITY

I live on the water on East Bay- approx 1 mile west of Edgewood- We all got right at 9-10 ft of water with Ivan our house is elevated 9 foot and we gotwater up to the top of the baseboards- everybody lower was devastated

Why some houses seem cheap- well at least one that sold cheap close to us was never repaired after Ivan (was condemed by Santa Rosa county as > 50% damaged), some others I know are old folks who have paid off houses and spooked/moved out of the area. I wouldbe real careful to make sure that the house was actually repaired after ivan (if elevated under 9 foot)

Boating/water depth- yes it is shallow, but if you watch the tides, you can actually get a pretty good size boat in there- We have a catamaran, so we never had a problem except at low, low tides, but some neighbors up the way keep deep v boats and like us, watch the tides.

Our next door neighbor rebuilt after Ivan and had to build at 10 ft, so finding a 15 elevation when the county only requires 10 will be next to impossible. Not saying that isn't smart, but the only way to acheive it may bewith new construction. If I were to do over, I would build it that high for just piece of mind, but realistically if you just avoid those old houses built at 5-6 ft of elevation, you will escape most normal storms.

angus_cow_doctor

I think Bing maps (or was it google earth... I forget which one!) will show you the elevation (approximate) when you hover your cursor over the property.

The houses I am looking at are on bluffs and little hills that increase the elevation by a few feet.

My ideal house would be in Gulf Breeze Proper, up on a cliff. Those are a little pricey, though! LOL

fishenwishen

I figured most of the houses flooded in that area after talking to some home owners in Polynesian Island sub. I was looking for a house on pilings. I did not realize the flooding/wave action was as high as 10 ft. WoW!!! I checked with my insurance agent and insurance on a 1800 sqft home on East Bay was about $5000.00 a year. Yes I would like to have a house on the bluff too but way out of my price range. You may be right, building may be the way to go.

__________________
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime as long as it is caught in season, and is of the correct variety, and isn't too small, or too big....uhhh other restrictions may apply.

Rich Lacour

In full disclosure I am a real estate agent and have a house listed on the bay at 5810 East Bay Blvd. My client built it right and added agood amountof fill dirt. He did not have ANY water during Ivan and sits high and dry. The water is fairly shallow, but still navigable for most center consoles.