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My wife and I are doing a summer road trip in July to explore potential retirement locations. We will be coming to the Corpus Christi/Rockport area after having visited the southern Houston and Galveston area. The Corpus Christi/Rockport area intrigues me because the water seems to be much cleaner, although it looks to me that without a boardwalk and the other things that the Galveston area offers, the Corpus Christi/Rockport area does not have much in the way of amenities. It’s hard to get a read on the Corpus Christi area because lots of people say the area is dead, while others say it’s not so we’re looking forward to seeing it in person.
All that being said what amenities does Rockport have? How often does one need to leave Rockport and go to Corpus Christi, and if so, for what? I know there’s not a Costco, and even discovered that Corpus Christi doesn’t have one of those, which really surprised me.
And medical care: I’m curious as to what sort of medical care, as far as hospitals go, that the area offers. I’m not expecting world-class medical like in Houston, but is it good?
Lastly, I was poking around at realtor.com and noticed that while the homes near the water have a high risk of flooding, which is to be expected, the homes toward the center do not have a flood risk. That doesn’t seem possible to me because the area is so small and I can’t imagine that a few blocks would make that much of a difference. I’m assuming that realtor.com is incorrect In their assessments. Any insights would be much appreciated. And speaking of flooding and storms, how much would one expect to pay, do you think, for wind insurance on a home in the $300,000-400,000 range?
Thanks in advance for any help, and we are looking forward to visiting! We know it’s not the best time of the year to come but that’s part of the plan because we figure if it’s tolerable in the worst time of the summer the rest of the year might be a cakewalk
I live about 600 feet from the bay and my house is at 35 feet of elevation. The reason Corpus exists as the largest coastal city in the Western Gulf is because it has a clay cliff that the bay runs up against. So other than Downtown, North Beach, and Padre and Mustang Islands it's pretty high by most standards. Basically we are a giant port because we along with everyone else got a devastating hurricane in the early 20th century but it didn't wipe us off the map like it did to Galveston, Indianola etc. The Islands have the most rigorous dune protection setbacks on the gulf coast as well and generally have 18 foot dunes protecting them. Downtown has a seawall much like Galveston(ours is nicer in my opinion). I think we have better restaurants as well.
So Congress gave us the money to dig the ship channel because the city survived the onslaught. We got a Navy Airfield in the 30's also because of that and the fact our Congressman became Vice President(Garner).
That's a long explanation of why people say it's "dead" because well we have a real economy so the town isn't a tourist trap. We have the third largest tonnage port in the country, the largest helicopter repair facility in the world, and naval air training command. Does that industry mix make us a bit blue collar? Yes, but it's highly trained and middle income blue collar not everyone renting jet skis and cleaning hotel rooms blue collar. Corpus has a higher per capita income than San Antonio and is one of a handful of places in the country where income inequality has actually been decreasing the last twenty years. We fund education, not tourism to a large extent.
The tourism we do have is focused on birding, fishing, sailing, going to the beach, the Lexington, Aquarium, with a decent live music and art scene. Because of birding we have lots of near water land closed off from tourist development. We lean towards people with young kids Spring Break rather than South Padre Spring Break.
Costco has us targeted for a store, the issue last time around was the land owner wanted the city to pay for a bunch of infrastructure that is their responsibility to pay for in order to sell the land to Costco so I imagine we will get one sooner or later.
Rockport is a wealthy retiree bedroom community for the most part. It's best know for it's art scene and has a couple good restaurants. For healthcare you are going to Corpus or Houston. Corpus healthcare is ok for regular stuff but being down the road for a daytrip to Houston means the specialists are just going to be flat out better in Houston. We have two good ortho practices, Houston has a guy who just does knee replacements all day every day so he's really good at that. So generalist or emergency care it's pretty good. There is a cadre of doctors who live here because of lifestyle; we have some of the best sailing and kiteboarding in the world and very good hunting. The folks who want to be the best in the world in their medical field live in Houston.
In that price range on houses I'd say wind will be a few hundred a month. Mine plus homeowners for 700k house plus contents runs about $500. You do want to buy flood as there are fights by wind carriers about whether certain damage is flood or wind so if you have both it's them fighting with each other rather than fighting with you.
Water clarity isn't a clean issue so much as a Mississippi and other rivers mud issue. Our rivers are not heavily dammed so fresh water comes in and has dirt in it. I wouldn't swim after a rain storm(storm sewer crud) but it's not "dirty" as in heavily polluted on the level of New York harbor or Los Angeles. It get's better going down the coast because it's further from New Orleans(look at a satellite image of the water on the Louisiana coast and you can see how much dirt the river ejects into the Gulf).
If there are particular amenities you are interested in I can elaborate if you say what they are.
My wife and I are doing a summer road trip in July to explore potential retirement locations. We will be coming to the Corpus Christi/Rockport area after having visited the southern Houston and Galveston area.
Its good you are visiting in July. You are very likely to run into some very hot humid weather. If that does not scare you off this might be an area for you.
My first wife and I visited Galveston in December one year. We took a walk one evening about 10PM and it was still 75 with a strong breeze off the gulf. That sold us. Unfortunately not every December evening is like that and summer is brutal. But closer to the coast the weather moderates year round. I lived 5 minutes from the Gulf for years. Better than being inland. Corpus is really nice. I like the bay and the surrounding towns. Warmer in the winter than Houston / Galveston and a wash in the summer.
How well is Rockport and Portland recovering after Harvey, 3.5 years later? I remember the videos showing the brunt of the winds and the area completely flattened in the aftermath. It got overshadowed by the subsequent flooding in Houston and Beaumont as the storm made its way up the coast.
I live about 600 feet from the bay and my house is at 35 feet of elevation. The reason Corpus exists as the largest coastal city in the Western Gulf is because it has a clay cliff that the bay runs up against. So other than Downtown, North Beach, and Padre and Mustang Islands it's pretty high by most standards. Basically we are a giant port because we along with everyone else got a devastating hurricane in the early 20th century but it didn't wipe us off the map like it did to Galveston, Indianola etc. The Islands have the most rigorous dune protection setbacks on the gulf coast as well and generally have 18 foot dunes protecting them. Downtown has a seawall much like Galveston(ours is nicer in my opinion). I think we have better restaurants as well.
So Congress gave us the money to dig the ship channel because the city survived the onslaught. We got a Navy Airfield in the 30's also because of that and the fact our Congressman became Vice President(Garner).
That's a long explanation of why people say it's "dead" because well we have a real economy so the town isn't a tourist trap. We have the third largest tonnage port in the country, the largest helicopter repair facility in the world, and naval air training command. Does that industry mix make us a bit blue collar? Yes, but it's highly trained and middle income blue collar not everyone renting jet skis and cleaning hotel rooms blue collar. Corpus has a higher per capita income than San Antonio and is one of a handful of places in the country where income inequality has actually been decreasing the last twenty years. We fund education, not tourism to a large extent.
The tourism we do have is focused on birding, fishing, sailing, going to the beach, the Lexington, Aquarium, with a decent live music and art scene. Because of birding we have lots of near water land closed off from tourist development. We lean towards people with young kids Spring Break rather than South Padre Spring Break.
Costco has us targeted for a store, the issue last time around was the land owner wanted the city to pay for a bunch of infrastructure that is their responsibility to pay for in order to sell the land to Costco so I imagine we will get one sooner or later.
Rockport is a wealthy retiree bedroom community for the most part. It's best know for it's art scene and has a couple good restaurants. For healthcare you are going to Corpus or Houston. Corpus healthcare is ok for regular stuff but being down the road for a daytrip to Houston means the specialists are just going to be flat out better in Houston. We have two good ortho practices, Houston has a guy who just does knee replacements all day every day so he's really good at that. So generalist or emergency care it's pretty good. There is a cadre of doctors who live here because of lifestyle; we have some of the best sailing and kiteboarding in the world and very good hunting. The folks who want to be the best in the world in their medical field live in Houston.
In that price range on houses I'd say wind will be a few hundred a month. Mine plus homeowners for 700k house plus contents runs about $500. You do want to buy flood as there are fights by wind carriers about whether certain damage is flood or wind so if you have both it's them fighting with each other rather than fighting with you.
Water clarity isn't a clean issue so much as a Mississippi and other rivers mud issue. Our rivers are not heavily dammed so fresh water comes in and has dirt in it. I wouldn't swim after a rain storm(storm sewer crud) but it's not "dirty" as in heavily polluted on the level of New York harbor or Los Angeles. It get's better going down the coast because it's further from New Orleans(look at a satellite image of the water on the Louisiana coast and you can see how much dirt the river ejects into the Gulf).
If there are particular amenities you are interested in I can elaborate if you say what they are.
Thanks so much for your informative reply! I love the idea of being West, nearer to the kids (at least until a job transfer) AND near the ocean. We lived in Tucson for 7 years and loved that the MX beach was only three hours away. Living in CC and having the ocean even closer is a real plus for us. That, and we can always head somewhere cooler for the most brutal parts of summer.
How well is Rockport and Portland recovering after Harvey, 3.5 years later? I remember the videos showing the brunt of the winds and the area completely flattened in the aftermath. It got overshadowed by the subsequent flooding in Houston and Beaumont as the storm made its way up the coast.
Portland wasn't really hit you are probably thinking of Port Aransas and Aransas Pass. Port A and Rockport are both doing well, Aransas Pass isn't as wealthy and so hasn't bounced back. All of them lost population but it looks like most of that loss was to Corpus. Imagine it was due to low income uninsured housing getting wrecked and not getting rebuilt.
Thanks so much for your informative reply! I love the idea of being West, nearer to the kids (at least until a job transfer) AND near the ocean. We lived in Tucson for 7 years and loved that the MX beach was only three hours away. Living in CC and having the ocean even closer is a real plus for us. That, and we can always head somewhere cooler for the most brutal parts of summer.
I've been trying to figure out how I can work remotely from Montana for a month a year lol. But winters here are fabulous(I went to college in New York so I know!). Usually a day of wet rain in the 50s then a week of clear 60's and 70's in December, January, and February.
I've lived in Houston and the Summers are worse, more humid, a few degrees warmer, and far less breeze.
My mom has a lot of specialists up there so usually she groups the appointments over two days, drives up the morning of the first and drives back the next day after the last. In between she does a Costco and Trader Joe's run with a Yeti ice chest. She lived there 25 years and absolutely despises it now for more than 48 hours. The traffic is horrendous.
Well, we have been on South Padre Island for the last few days checking it out. After driving and scoping out all sorts of neighborhoods, if we were to retire in the area, it’d be South Padre or the Bay Neighborhood, just a few streets back of Ocean Drive.
Corpus is a great area! Thanks for all the help and please keep the suggestions coming!
Rockport is an ok place with lots of amenities- the beaches are cleaner than CC. Hurricanes -floods same as CC,
Pleasant place.
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