An opportunity came up within my company in Tallahassee at the beginning of 2019, I would be coming up from the Miami area with wife and 2 yr old. From my quick research it looks like the NE side of town has the better schools and nicer homes, what areas should I stay away from and how are the local ranges if any?

The popular area these days are Killearn, Summerbrooke, Oxbottom, Golden Eagle areas (if you like sub-divisions) but the Mid-town area is also gaining popularity again with bars and places to eat.

For ranges I prefer Talon but there is also an indoor range and a public outdoor range in the national forest (the national forest range IMO is iffy for safety).

Talon

Indoor

National Forest

When I was going to join a friemd going to FSU, I was told by two seperate LEO not to go to the range in the national forest alone. This was the late 90’s.

Tallahassee is going to be culture shock for folks moving up from Miami.  Be sure to stay the hell away from Frenchtown.

Op,  this is spot on.  You want to live in NE. Avoid the south side around FAMU and the NW from Capital circle NW to Monroe st.  Coming from south Florida you'll love the lack of traffic and general laid back southern attitude.  We moved here 3 years ago and love it.

I’ve been warned about Frenchtown (don’t think the residents there are French ) going to go up end of June to do some home shopping and get a feel for the area.

Any input on the midway and Havana area?

Do you have kids and would you be willing to put them in private school?

Doesn’t sound promising, my son won’t start school for a few years and we were considering charter school, not sure if there are any up there. I noticed there is no assigned schools in those areas.

According to the residents on this forum I would make sure my generator game is strong.

It sounds like they lose power A LOT.

Maybe if you provide some details of what your family are interested in we may can provide input.

subdivision, acreage, house or townhouse etc, what general area of town would be closest to your new office or can you work from home, concerned about the "best" schools or not, general price range you would be interested in, requires high speed internet for job, how far would you be willing to live outside Tallahassee (since you already mentioned Midway and Havana also Quincy, Monticello, Crawfordville etc)

Looking for a single family home with no HOA and preferably not in a subdivision. I would be working around the old Bain bridge road / US27 area and looking to commute 30-40 min or less. Main requirement would be a decent school and keeping home budget below 240k

North/Northeast beyond I-10 is your best bet. In general for Tallahassee, you may want to homeschool, or find something private. Shopping and "things to do" has gotten better over the years. The population is 1/3 college students, 1/3 government worker drones, 1/3 ghetto/redneck trash. There is more crime in Tallahassee than in Miami. TPD are useless turds, Leon County Sheriff's are okay. There are 8? Law enforcement agencies in the city and county. College, University(s), and Capitol police are all real, sworn in, officers of the law.

Do not go to Apalachicola shooting range unless you have 3+ people with you. There are redneck bandits that wait for people to go cold and run down, steal your stuff, and take off in 4wheelers. Ambush robberies have happened on the roads leading there, too. The place looks like you dropped a Marine division in and told them to shoot their way out. Talon is great - go there.

Unless this is a stepping stone to something better, or this is some dream of a cream job, I don't like Tallahassee.
Tallahassee has greatly changed in the last 5 years, and it looks very different from 10 years ago. They've gotten a better grasp on street litter and trash. Power still sucks, the water is great.
FSU is trying to make Doak-Campbell Stadium the center of the University, and completely changed out whole blocks of homes for condo/student villa type places.
Sorry if this seems harsh, but you asked and I want to give fair warning. Just like South Florida/Miami, it's not for everyone.

You can always move to San Bonita... it means literally Saint Beautiful...

Will be up there for work from june 18-22 and will also be visiting Fort Walton as there may be an another opportunity coming up there, any one recommend a good realtor up there?

Little bit late to this. Sorry.

Gadsden County (Midway, Havana) is not terrible if you can put your kids in private school. The Gadsden County school system is comparable to the educational systems of sub-Saharan Africa.

I can tell you more about the area if you're interested. Shoot me an IM if so.

Will post about tally later today

Thanks for the input gentlemen, I’ll be in town next week from the 17-22 for work and to check out the area.

@japsw20

Tallahassee is an odd place. It thinks it is a large city when it is in fact a small town.

Nightlife:
Unless you're a college student. The night life is pretty much non-existent. Dining options are fairly limited. There are a few good places to eat. But they are small in number. It is not like down south where there is a five star place to eat on every corner. There are three movie theaters in town. AMC Tallahassee is the best but it is at a dead mall. You have the Regal at Governor Square Mall. It is okay. Then you have the ghetto theater by Pockets. They are building a new one out by the Basspro Shops.

Housing:
The city charges an assload in property taxes. I live in the county by Lake Jackson in the North West end. Older homes, affordable, and good neighborhoods. Killarn is the high end neighborhood due to better school zones. Southwood is expensive and horrible. If you want to have some freedom. Live in the county and not the city. Stay away from the South East anything near FSU, TCC, and FAMU. Actually, stay away from anything South of I-10 unless you want to live in Wakulla County. I paid $112,00 for my house. 3 bed, two bath  1/4 are, corner lot. There are good deals to be found.

Shooting:
Avoid the public range in the National Forest. Just become a member at Talon. Best Range and beats anything back in Miami. Love it and since I live on the North West end, I'm five minutes from it. There is a indoor range but I've never been to it.

Other:
Crime is actually pretty high in town. Since you have three major campuses, the town serves the students. When they're gone. This place is dead. Traffic is nothing like the 826 or Turnpike. The City and County government are leftist. We're near some hunting lands.

Come to the North West end. No HOAs, good size lots, affordable housing, etc...

The schools period suck in Tallahassee for your kid.

Thanks for the tips, all my home searching has been north of I-10.

Vanillagorilla I will shoot you a PM if I have any questions after I go up there.

This is a beautiful area, and great hunting/fishing. The schools are not great according to my friends that have kids in that school district. Diversity. The thing of it is that a lot of these northern counties in Florida are great small towns, but there is nothing for the next generation to do there. Go up to the local gas station or dollar general and see what is hanging out there. I think they have put dollar generals in every town now. Greensboro, is where I am talking about.

edit: Sorry OP you said north of I-10

Narrowing my home search to the Bradfordville / Killearn area. I’ve been up here since Sunday and haven’t been stuck in traffic since I crossed Orlando and boy is this place dead after 9pm, I went around looking to find trouble and couldn’t find anything

@japsw20

When you get settled... or if you just want. Give me a call.

Check your IM

Forgot you were in town. You should have come out to Talon Range while I was working this evening.

+1

Talon is truly a fantastic range.

Drove right by it earlier today too

Those are both good areas and Bradfordville has been undergoing significant commercial growth.   Easy shopping at a couple Publix etc and some decent restaurants around.

I live a little closer in town but my parents live out Centerville Rd about 6 minutes from Bradfordville and have been out there since the 70s.