What are the worst things about living in St. Augustine? Thomas is going to cover 5 of the worst things about living in St. Augustine. These are the things that all the locals know are a pain to deal with when living in our small town. If you are moving to St. Augustine than this is a must read. Realtors are not going to cover these in detail.
1. Tourism – WE Love our tourists…but sometimes we hate them. The tourism industry as a whole is the largest employer here in St. Augustine. Our locals get to enjoy some of the best restaurants and personal services you’ll find anywhere. From top rated spas to fresh caught seafood. The only issue is we have to share. It is seasonal; though the seasons are getting longer. Driving scooters on the highway; crossing the street with out looking; biking like your in amsterdam; taking your honda civic to the beach and getting stuck;
2. Weather – We get 50″ of rain on average per year. That is more than Seattle. We are the Sunshine State so why do we get so much rain. I am no Meteorologist, though I would say it is the earths way of staying cool cause its so hot. We normally have a 4pm shower throughout the summer. Summer temps can hit high 90s and humidity is 100% all the time. We also get Hurricanes from June – September. So theres that as well. Most are pretty mild with buckets of rain.
3. Housing Costs – Prices of homes have appreciated 20% in the past year in our market. The competitive sales market is also driving our rental market red hot. Our average sale price is 385k and rising. This is up from 323k last year. Experts believe our market has been undervalued for a long time. With people re-evaluating what they want in a home because of work-from-home situations; NE Florida has become a very attractive option. Comparatively to other major metros we are about 200k cheaper than other Metros.
4. Population Growth – People are relocating here in droves. For different reasons. Taxes, jobs, family, covid. The secret is out; people know St. Augustine is great. With housing going up exponentially its more obvious than ever that we have a shortage of housing for the people relocating. This also causes more traffic than us locals are used to. When it used to take 15 minutes to drive around town and now it takes an hour. Such is life.
5. Bridge of Lions – This ties in with Traffic; and honestly finding 5 things I dislike about this town was really hard. Though you have heard me bitch about it before. The bridge of lions goes up ever half hour…FOR MAYBE 1 BOAT. Picture you are going somewhere; you plug it into the gps; 20 minutes no problem. Though you catch the bridge and the traffic that causes. Tourists want to watch it, locals want to dukes of hazard over it. Its chaos. Then you arrive in 40 minutes instead of 20.
