can someone tell me about Brevard county Melbourne/Palm Bay (Jupiter: rentals, sex offender)

[inu27]

I am looking to relocate in less than a week to Brevard county to the Melbourne area. I am looking to buy or rent but hear that Palm bay is bad but Melbourne is good. Then vice versa. Can someone give me a straight answer. It seems like this website is subjective also from what I have read and it keeps going back and fourth. Any good answers would be GREATLY APPRECIATED..

[muggums]

We visited the area in early May, because we are hoping to move there also. We have found that we can get more house for less money in Palm Bay. We were told by locals that both areas are acceptable, but Melbourne is more upscale and has better shopping. Both while we were there, and since, I have not read or heard about so much crime in Palm Bay that would make me chose Melbourne instead. The crime rate in Palm Bay is comparable to where we live now. We are having a difficult time finding rentals though, so if we find the right one in either area, we are jumping on it. Palm Bay's schools are as well rated as any others in Brevard county, and the overall cost of living is cheaper.

Look up Palm Bay on wikipedia, and you will see the town has quite a unique little history, and I think that has given some of the residents a lasting bitterness. But, when we drove through and talked to the locals, everyone seemed happy and were very enthusiastic about the place. I don't know about the job scene, hubby will be working in Cocoa and I'll be self employed, but the overall area seemed nice, and is close to everything else. Not too far from the beach, Disney, Melbourne shopping, etc. I would rather have a cheaper cost of living and a bigger house and yard and drive a little ways to shop, than have it the other way around. I'm doing careful searches of the sex offender registry whenever I see an interesting rental, and going from there.

[chantelINtheBay]

hi! I live in Palm Bay, and moved here from Melbourne. I always thought of PB as low-class/high crime. However, it really depends on the area of PB. It's broken in to the following: North West, South West, North East, & South East.
NW is where I live, and I refuse to live in any other area of the 'bay. SW and SE are newer as far as building goes, but it is also literally in BFE.. out of the way, takes forever to get anywhere, and many dirt roads/minimal neighbors.. but yes, cheap land/homes. NE palm bay is my least favorite, and to be honest, I would not recommend living East of Port Malabar Blvd. The houses are grungy looking.
Schools, I only know about where my son went, which would be Lockmar Elementary (he is not going there next year due to re-zoning), but it is a good school, rated A for the last 10 years. Other schools in the area are Jupiter, Discovery and Riviera Elementary, Central Middle School, Palm Bay High School and Heritage High School.. I think Edgewood is out there too.. but really, the schools I am not super familar with so I recommend research in that aspect.
Jobs are hard to find in Palm Bay, so most of us commute to Melbourne .. I work for the hospital which has braches in melb., palm bay, viera and cape canaveral. From my home in NW palm Bay to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne is only 20 minutes in morning rush hour traffic... Traffic at night/evening coming into PB from melb. is much worse, especially on Minton Road at the Palm Bay Rd. intersection .
for housing, rentals are super cheap in Palm Bay! I live in a 1680sq.ft. home with 3 beds and 2 baths, fml. living and dining and fenced in yard, 2 car garage... and pay $750/month.. In Melbourne, the house I live in could easily be listed at $1050+ / month. I attribute that to more deed restricted subdivisions in melbourne vs. palm bay, where we just have 'neighborhoods'. Check out www.brevardcountymls.com , enter "public" site, and search for a rental - that's how i found my first house in the bay about 4 years ago.
Definitely check the offender registry, anywhere you plan to live... My husband and i did, but 6 mo after we moved to our home we found out a sex offender wa sour neighbor and had just registered, even though he lived there for some time.
Good luck!

[Bella Nicole]

Hi. I live in Palm Bay and let me tell you live in Melbourne. Palm Bay is really sketchy. Also, Be selective of neighbor hoods. I would recomend Hield Road or Falcon Ridge. If you have a choice, live in Melbourne if you do live in Palm Bay it is fine depending on the neighborhood. Melbourne is also nicer, cleaner. Hope that helped.

[inu27]

thank you all for your help i chose Melbourne.
Lets see how it goes.