I've Lived in Vero Beach FL for 23 Years... My Honest Thoughts

Vero Beach draws in a lot of people who come here and then they make a move, they make a decision and they say, "I wish I had known X before I made the move here." And I've had a lot of years to think about what people need to understand about Vero Beach and why it may and may not work for you. Today, we're going to take advantage of my 23 years experience and I'm going to offer you pros and cons and things you need to think about in terms of coming to Vero Beach.

Let's dive in. So, let's start with the good stuff. What do I love about Vero Beach? Well, number one is the small town vibe and charm. It doesn't feel congested, there aren't six-lane highways that scare the heck out of you the minute you try to get out of your neighborhood, you can get to the beach with ease. It's a good thing. Then the actual physicality, 28 miles of a beach, 28 miles of the Indian River, spectacular. Two different waterways to play on. No matter what you're interested in, there's something to do here.

It's just it's conducive to being outside and being active, which is a great way to stay healthy mentally, physically, and have a long, wonderful quality of life. This is going to sound very fiscal and it is important, but it's, you know, it's a reason to love Florida in general, no state income tax, no estate tax. That makes a difference in terms of your portfolio, your retirement savings, your legacy, and your day-to-day savings if you're still living and working here. So, it's a real reason and as I think I've said before, a lot of our folks that are coming down here that are still working are doing so at the urging of their tax advisor, so you could work the same and keep more.

How good is that? So, let's talk about one that you may not think of. The fact that we have low density and it doesn't feel congested, yet you really are 10 to 15 minutes to everything and you're not fighting six lanes of traffic is really cool. You know, no matter where you live, sometimes clients will say, "Well, Sally, I don't necessarily have to be on the island as long as I'm within a 15-minute drive to the beach." And I say, "Well, you just drew a circle around all of Indian River County because no matter where you are, you're going to be able to get to a free, yes, I said free public beach or access to the river no matter where you want to spend your time and have your adventures." So, that's a very cool thing.

an everyday thing that you will appreciate. Now, what's a little more arcane one that you might not think about? This happens to be one of my favorites. We have flowers in bloom all year long. The fun part is getting to learn what does well and what does not and learning that flowers in the tropics, what needs water, what needs sun. Bougainvilleas don't need a lot of water. They are huge payback. So, as long as you pull out your Audubon reference manual or go to someplace like Rock City Gardens, shout out to them, we love them, and you learn what does well here, you will, yes indeed, have flowers all year round.

And that's just a very happy way to start your day. You wake up and you're looking at flowers. So, let's talk about the kind of cultural landscape and ambiance here. Vero has a lot of sophisticated people that live here and they demand and support arts offerings that enhance the quality of life here for everybody. We've got a professional Actors' Equity theater, Riverside Theatre, shout out to them. The kids have their own theater right next door to the adult theater. We've got beautiful art museum. We've got all kinds of artist colonies that are here, the written word, the spoken word.

And a lot of these offerings, if they're not free, are very, very modestly charged for tickets. No matter what it is, there is a group here. So, if you come down here and you say, "I don't know how I'm ever going to meet anybody. I don't know if I even want a club. You don't have to. Figure out what your passion is and I can connect you with a group that is like-minded and you're going to feel at home immediately. And the cultural scene will surprise you. So, if you're thinking about exploring a move to Vero Beach, we need to talk about heat and humidity in the summer, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I've helped hundreds of families, couples, individuals, businesses come down here and fashion a life in their slice of paradise aka Vero Beach, Florida. So, if you're considering that kind of exploration, DM me or call me. My information's on the screen below and we can figure it out together to see if Vero Beach might be the right fit for you. But for now, we're going to keep it real and we're going to talk about some things that I don't like as well about Vero Beach. First would have to be, of course, heat and humidity.

It's just a thing. In Vero Beach, starts earlier, lasts longer. What do I mean by it starts earlier? This time of year starts to be our dry season and it's heavenly. The heat starts to crank up, I'm going to say towards the end of April and it lasts pretty much through the end of September. Our building codes are meant to keep heat out, air conditioning in. And then hydration is a thing, as it is anywhere. But just know that our construction is designed to help minimize it, but there's no doubt about it.

Come September, you're going to feel tired of the heat and humidity. So, let's talk about number two. What I wish we didn't have, but we do, is risk of hurricanes. If you understand what is a weak spot of your house, windows, doors, roof, water and wind wants to affect the weakest spot of your house. So, what have we done since then? Well, we put on a new roof, built to stronger codes, more resistant. We also invested in storm shutters, which means we have protection over our glass, even our garage door has strapping to make it storm-proof.

As anything in life, it's all about understanding the risk and what is a risk that's tolerable to you. So, let's talk about cost of ownership. Insurance is a thing and our utilities are a little bit more expensive nationally, too. And of course, with air conditioning, you know, your electric bill, our electric bill ends up around, I think, 250, 280, 287. In the summer, that electric bill though can get 400, 450. The And again, this is where age of your house, age of your AC, maintain it, it'll be more efficient, all starts to make a difference.

So, and the cost of insurance is a direct function of the age of your roof and it's not inexpensive. Insurance is a thing nationwide, it's not just Vero Beach or Florida, it's everywhere. Those are not small things, so it's something for you to think about. Cost of ownership is something you should consider no matter where you're looking, anywhere across the globe. So, let's talk about who I really think is a good candidate for Vero Beach. Obviously, somebody that has the ability to work from home or work remotely because you we're not a job space economy broadly.

We've got Piper as a wonderful employer, shout out to them. We have Cleveland Clinic, they're a tremendous employer, our school district. But in general, a lot of our economy is based on the hospitality industry. So, it depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for big time nightlife club scene, West Palm is certainly up and coming. There's some great places like Mary Lou's, shout out to those guys. Miami, of course. Just depends what is important to you. Let's talk about if you're in the fourth quarter of your game of life.

Vero Beach could also be a very good choice for you. We've got the Cleveland Clinic, Orlando Health just bought out the Sebastian Hospital. We've got many, many institutions and physicians that are both affiliated with the hospital as well as concierge to make sure you are in very good hands as you age and go through your life journey. So, if that is important to you, Vero should be on your radar because we've got top shelf and I'm happy to connect you with all kinds of recommendations. Culture, there's activities to participate in as well as volunteer.

The docent program at the museum is extremely well regarded. It's a great way to meet like-minded people. There's pottery studios studios and artist galleries. So, don't let your age prevent you from striking out and trying new things because everybody's game to try new things here in Vero Beach and it's a great way to make sure you stay physically and intellectually stimulated. So, that's Vero Beach today, but I want you and you want you to make a decision that's going to be good now and in the future. What's on the future horizon for Vero that you really should be aware of?

Some very exciting things. First is the fabled Three Corners project and the city owns the site. It's about 9 acres and they're in the middle of doing RFPs for developers and the top two fellows are now maybe talking about joining together and developing what's probably going to end up being a mixed-use site of maybe a marina, a park, some outside restaurants, a wonderful asset for everybody to enjoy. That's the first The airport is changing. Now, while there's been a bunch of construction to offer more spots for private aircraft, but the most material change for folks like you and me that fly commercial, a bevy of airlines now servicing our little municipal airport.

So, what's happened in the interim? Well, research showed that people from Vero will travel out of Vero and guess who's here now and just started. Shout out to JetBlue. JetBlue just started in early November traveling from Vero Beach to Boston and JFK. So increasingly airport options are available in Vero Beach, which is super exciting. The last exciting expansion over by the hospital, Quail Valley Club, a privately run club, beautiful beautiful facility. Shout out to Kevin Given and his crew. They do such a fantastic job. They have realized that there is demand for more sticks and balls kinds of activity.

Yet their campus is their golf course over by 69th on the mainland and their riverfront campus is limited physically. And then they've got the point over at the end of Vero Palm Point as well. None of those campuses had land for expansion of increasingly popular activities like padel, pickleball, all kinds of new sports that everybody's really into. So they smartly did a deal and they're doing a campus just by the hospital, which will be easy for everybody get to. And that campus is going to be an expansion of Quail's facilities to make membership even more terrific, as well as a community that GHO is going to be developing, I think in the back.

There's also a redevelopment on the barrier island of a former wine restaurant that's going to be turned into a social supper club called The Pelican Club. So shout out to those guys that are doing that. So there's all kinds of interesting projects happening there to go and enhance the quality of life for everybody here in Vero Beach. And of course, no talk about expansion in Vero Beach would be complete without our beloved Vero Beach Museum of Art. Holy cow, long since regard, well regarded, beautiful outdoor sculpture garden, beautiful docent program, kids programs, film studies.

What a gem on our Riverside Park campus on the barrier island. Side bar of note, two other comments regarding growth, redevelopment. There is a group here in Vero Beach that's talking about our mall and would love to talk about a mixed use, whether it was senior living, whether it was apartments, different use of the space to make sure that it's serving the needs of the community. So, there's really no decision yet, but the discussion is ongoing and it's worthy of keeping on your radar. And it just shows that Vero is a place that is trying to be forward-looking to say, "How can we best serve the community?" Then, in terms of development, there's a handful of spots on the barrier island that are just finishing up their projects.

Some GHO projects, The Strand and Sea Glass, 8050 Condominiums, Indigo Condominiums are just kind of finishing out and then there's some exciting new projects on the mainland that are coming. One of them is called Providence. Shoutout to those guys. So, those are things to keep on your radar as well. So, if you're a person that's thinking about making a move and you value a small-town environment, incredibly strong sense of community, jaw-droppingly beautiful waterways, dolphins, manatees, you name it, flowers all year round, Vero Beach really should be on your radar at least to consider.

If you're curious, let's explore it together. DM me or text me or write to me through our contact form and we can figure out together whether Vero Beach is right for you. And if not, I've got a wonderful network of trusted advisors there's literally all over the globe that I can connect you to that operate like I do and you can make sure you're working with a trusted advisor wherever the right spot is for you.