Hello Floridians. I grew up in the south and spent many family vacations in Destin. I always loved the area. However, my last trip was in 1987. How are things currently? Is it still friendly and safe overall? How has COVID affected the area? Is anything open? Can you do your day to day business without encountering mask patrol Karens? What is your opinion of Florida's future overall? I keep hearing talks of the state going blue due to NYers and Californians, and talk of gun bans etc.

Were I to move, I would be self-employed and working from home, so job market and traffic would be less of an issue. I'm mainly concerned with general quality of life and whether or not the local LE will go along with forced vaccinations/sterilizations, Holodomor-style terror famine, camps, that sort of thing. (Also considering a remote Northwoods homestead for those reasons.) I know that beach condo living is probably a death sentence if the powers that be have their way, but I have elderly relatives in the south and am trying to figure out how to be near them to help out if needed. Thanks for any information.

It sucks.  Don’t come here.



You’ll have to get more specific than “Destin”, there are lots of options here and they vary wildly in price.


Everything is open, we are all still alive. I’ve had one incident with a New Yawker complaining about me not wearing a mask, I ignored it.

Real estate market is ridiculous right now (again, very location specific). I’m in Walton county though, our market is always ridiculous.

As for will we go blue?  That’s up to SE Florida.  Of course, Alabama is pretty damned close to the Panhandle.

Not sure I'm following you. I could see if I had asked about Atlanta or Miami, but Destin is a pretty small place. Are the neighborhoods of Destin that different? (Honest question as I've never lived there.)

Hi -- I live in Destin and will take a stab at your questions.

How are things currently? -- Pretty much back to normal other than masks required to shop in certain stores / restaurants

Is it still friendly and safe overall? -- Yes in general safe and friendly, though there are some spots where vagrants linger, and the associated property crime that comes along with roaming shitheads, on the western 1/3 of town.  Buying in 2021 I would be looking at the Kelly Plantation area or farther East.

How has COVID affected the area? -- At this point we're back to normal for the most part.  Some retail businesses are still seeing reduced sales but tourism is about nominal for this time of year.

Is anything open? -- Yes pretty much everything you'd want to do is open

Can you do your day to day business without encountering mask patrol Karens? -- If you enter many retail storefronts, you will be asked to put on a mask.  It is what I would characterize as intermittently or loosely enforced.

What is your opinion of Florida's future overall? -- pretty good...better than average!

I keep hearing talks of the state going blue due to NYers and Californians -- Destin is not Miami, and has more of a southern feel than a NY feel.  Okaloosa County is a solid conservative county.

Whether or not the local LE will go along with forced vaccinations/sterilizations -- LE in Destin is the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Dept and is a solid no-bullshit Sheriffs Office.  They are not pushing a liberal agenda.

If you tell me your criteria (i.e. 4 bedroom house at under $600K, 2 bedroom condo near the beach for under $400K) I can make more useful recommendations.

Thanks for the info. No real criteria at this point. The place I was looking at (one bedroom in the center of town for $130K with low HOA) just sold (or was taken down) this evening. It was near a dog park, not sure what that area is called. Glad to hear Destin hasn't gone to hell in the last 30 years like many other places.

$130k is very low in Destin.  I’m guessing you were looking at Indian Lakes apartment complex.  I have a family member who lived there until recently.  Would not recommend!  Once you start to really solidify your wants and budget reach out and I’ll try to help.

Sorry.  Most people I know who talk about when they visited “Destin” as a kid refer to this entire stretch of coastline as “Destin”.

My bad.

As someone else stated, $130K in Destin is probably barley habitable.  

Traffic is horrendous in summer, especially if it rains.  I know you said you work from home but everyone has to go somewhere sometimes.

I moved from Mary Esther (30 mins east) to Destin last summer.  I would echo everything here.  We sold our house and are currently renting an apartment and really enjoy it.  Feel free to PM me for details.

Some people refer to everything from Ft. Walton Beach to Santa Rosa Beach to Niceville as "Destin".  Like people that live an hour away from Atlanta just say "I live in/near Alanta.

You'll be hard pressed to find anything other than a smallish 1/1 condo for $130, and even those might be hard to come by at that price.

Zillow shows only 2 properties under $150 in Destin right now, a 743sqft 1/1 condo at $129.9 and a 920sqft 1/1 for $139. That's it. They're in perfectly habitable areas.

Prices here have gone nuts. Our house has gone up around 30-35% in 5 years.

If you want more space, the same money can get you a small single family towards Crestview or Defuniak Springs.

The 743 sqft condo is the one I was considering. I guess they put it back up. Other folks have said that is actually a rough apartment complex? (Odd that they would mix them. Most condo associations here forbid rentals.)

I mainly just focused on Destin because that condo came up at such a cheap price and because I've actually been there. (I've been to other places in Florida too of course, but not as much.) I'm open to other areas as I'm just looking at this point. The panhandle would put me closest to family and seems to be regarded by you guys as I scanned over the Florida Hometown forum.

Thanks to everyone for the tips so far.

The Panhandle varies wildly in relatively small distances.  Your best bet is to come down for vaca and drive around a bit.  Lemme know if y’all get down, I’ll play tour guide for a day if you’d like.

We are thinking about retiring up your way. I'd love for you to show us around when the time comes. May have to plan a trip up there this spring.

AFAIK most condos here encourage rentals.  Many buyers buy the condo as as vacation home for now an a retirement home in the future, but can't afford it now.  So the condo association says: your yearly payment is $30,000, but you can rent it (weekly) when you are not here for $22,000 a year.  You can't afford to NOT buy it. If you buy today, we will throw in a bottle of premium snake oil.  But, wait there is more..........

Ah, gotcha. That makes sense that it's not as common here. No one wants to vacation in Milwaukee.

No problem, just let me know!

Do you like fishing? Because when I get up there, I'll be purchasing a couple of nice boats and doing a shit ton of offshore and inshore fishing.

Of course!  I just sold my boat last year.  We never had time to go out.

Our area is pretty cool for fishing.  We have great trout and redfish in choctawhatchee and St Andrews bay.  Offshore can be unbelievable, bottom fishing and blue water.  The “World’s luckiest fishing village” thing isn’t just a cheesy slogan.

Go a little east and there’s (shhhh.  Don’t tell anyone) world class sight fishing for tarpon.

Running the beach in the spring time for cobia is a right of passage.

You’ll be hard pressed to have more fun than hooking a Bonita or a Jack on a flyrod

I could go on for hours.