(Mar 27, 2023)
Florida ranks at the top of the list for many potential homeowners for several reasons. The state’s warm climate, welcoming people, and accommodating tax regime makes it a uniquely attractive place to own real estate.
Whether you’re looking for a commercial property, rental space, or a place to live, this article is geared towards helping you make the best decision as you carry out your real-estate search.
Because we can’t reasonably cover the entire state of Florida in this piece, we’ll be focusing on a single prominent city here - Brooksville. Aside from FHA Loan, which provides US citizens who might otherwise be unable to afford a property with the funding to do so, we’ll also explore the state’s general real estate environment.
We’ll highlight all the little things you need to know before buying a home here, including its economic state, educational facilities, public infrastructure, and more.
Let’s jump right in.
A Short History of Brooksville, Florida
The City of Brooksville is Hernando County’s seat of governance and serves as its center of politics and culture. With a population of approximately 9,000 residents spread over 12 square miles, it’s relatively sparsely populated compared with other metropolitan areas in the state.
Four families initially founded the city; the Mays family in the eastern part of the town; the Howell family to the north; the Parsons family to the south; and the Hale family to the west. The city was officially given the name of Bookersville back in 1871, when the Pierceville post office, which was the defining feature of the town up until then, was renamed and officially incorporated in 1880.
Education in Brooksville, Florida
Before choosing to relocate, wherever it may be, most people will want to know that their educational requirements will be adequately taken care of. This is especially true for people with children to consider. Brooksville has plenty of quality facilities to ensure you access satisfactory education at every level.
Here’s a quick glimpse of some of the best schools that the Hernando School District, which covers Brooksville, has to offer based on academic performance, equity, spending, and other permanent metrics.
Elementary Schools
Exceptional elementary schools include Brooksville Elementary School, Chocachatti Elementary School, Moton Elementary School, Pine Grove Elementary School, and Eastside Elementary School.
Middle Schools
Notable middle schools in the Hernando School District include Powell Middle School, West Hernando Middle School, the Hernando eSchool Virtual Franchise, and the Brooksville Engineering, Science, and Technology Academy.
High Schools
Some of the best high schools in this district include Nature Coast Technical High School, Hernando High School, Central High School, and the Hernando eSchool Virtual Franchise.
Universities and Colleges
Within 50 miles of Brooksville, more than 20 colleges and universities serve over 150,000 students. This means that students living within an hour or so of the town can attend these institutions quickly.
They include Florida Southern College, the University of Florida Main Campus, Hillsborough Community College, and the Pasco-Hernando Community College,
Public Schools
Public learning institutions in the Hernando School District serve all age groups, from elementary to high school.
Some of the best include Pine Grove Elementary School, Chocachatti Elementary School, Powell Middle School, Nature Coast Technical High, and Brooksville Engineering Science and Technology (BEST).
Private Schools
The Hernando School District hosts five private schools with a total population of almost 1,000 students. The top-ranked private schools include Hernando Christian Academy, Queen of All Saints Academy, Methodist School Center, and the Eckerd Academy.
Working in Brooksville, Florida
The Brooksville city economy employs more than 3,000 people, with a sizable majority working in the Social Assistance and Healthcare industries. The highest-paying jobs here are in the Scientific, Professional, and Technical Service fields, where the median income is $64,000.
With an average yearly growth of approximately 8 percent, job prospects in Brooksville are robust. They are set to increase as years go by, making them an attractive destination for anyone hoping to find work or carry on in their chosen area of expertise. Other notable employers are the Accommodation and food industry and the Retail industry.
Family-Friendly Activities in Brooksville, Florida
Keeping children occupied and entertained is a challenging task for anyone to handle. Still, things can become much easier when you live in an area with a selection of activities and attractions suitable for the entire family.
Brooksville, Florida, is a great place to live in this regard, as you have plenty of options. These include attractions and activities such as:
Boyett’s Grove
Wild animals will permanently enchant children, and few places in Florida offer them a better opportunity to engage with them as closely and safely as Boyett’s Grove. Located on 4355 Spring Lake Highway, Brooksville, the Grove offers a wide array of wildlife housed in humane conditions, allowing locals and visitors alike to meet and interact with them up close.
Even though the Grove started as a local fruit stand selling citrus fruit to passersby, it quickly became an impressive roadside zoo featuring remarkable attractions, such as Zebra, Monkeys, and Alligators, to tropical birds.
To this day, visitors to the Grove will get the chance to visit their exciting dinosaur cave, explore their Gulf Fish Aquariums, feed the wildlife in their wildlife park, and more. Whether you have children or not, you can be sure that there is plenty of fun to be had by everyone who pays a visit to Boyett’s Grove.
Moore ATV Rentals
This company was founded by Roy and Shelley Moore, who hoped to set up a facility where people in Brooksville and the surrounding neighborhoods could come in and rent sports equipment. They offer their clients a fun, energizing, and exhilarating day in the sun and sand, where they can enjoy the wind against their faces as they rush through the lush Florida scenery.
You’ll be provided with friendly, professional, and experienced guides to ensure that you and your loved ones are not only completely safe but that you enjoy the routes and trails to the fullest extent possible.
In their efforts to ensure your safety, your guides will ensure that everyone in your party is provided with goggles, a helmet, gloves, and whatever padding they might require. You can find Moore All Terrain Vehicle Rentals at 6420 La Rose Road, Brooksville, for an unforgettable experience for the whole family.
Annual Halloween Haunted House and Fall Festival
The Hernando Historical Museum Association is one of Brooksville’s most prominent cultural institutions, and it plays various roles in preserving the history and culture of the city. As part of its duty towards locals and visitors alike, it plays host o the Annual Halloween Haunted House and Fall Festival.
The festival was first held to celebrate the coming of the Fall season and evolved to include a variety of spooky, fun activities such as haunted house tours, fortune-telling events, bonfire storytelling, and more.
You will also find a variety of local food trucks serving local delicacies, and younger visitors are encouraged to come dressed in their favorite Halloween costumes.
Visitors are typically charged very low fees for admission, and you won’t incur much more expenses aside from the nominal fees charged for some of the activities at the festival. If you’re ever in Brooksville from the middle to the end of October, you should make this a part of your itinerary.
Busch Gardens
You will have heard of the Busch Gardens Theme Parks wherever you live in Florida. These are a part of the extensive Florida Theme Park Scene stretching across the entire state, drawing countless visitors from across Florida and beyond. Busch Gardens is an exciting combination of an amusement park, zoo, and live entertainment venue that provides a wealth of options for visitors of all kinds.
Aside from the exhilarating rides and traditional animal attractions, Busch Gardens also offers various additional entertainment, dining, and lodging alternatives.
There are plenty of restaurants and diners where you can enjoy a quiet grown-up evening with good food and wine. You will also find it if you’re in the mood for more grown-up distractions.
Brooksville Blueberry Festival
While Florida is more famous for its strawberries, tomatoes, melons, and other hothouse fruit and vegetables, recent efforts by the state’s farmers have made blueberries one of the most profitable crops in the state.
Growers in Brooksville have quickly grown to become prosperous blueberry farmers, and the Blueberry Festival is an event held to celebrate this.
Each year during March or April, when the town’s weather is perfect for outdoor events, Brooksville hosts this event. It incorporates arts and crafts, live entertainment, and various foods and beverages suitable for younger and older attendees.
In the spirit of the festival itself, these products are mainly sourced from local producers, making this a genuinely Brooksville-inspired event. The festival takes place downtown Brooksville on the courthouse lawn, with adults paying a nominal entrance fee and children being allowed free.
Local Attractions Worth Visiting in Brooksville, Florida
Aside from the child-friendly options available to the residents of Brooksville, there are plenty of choices available to those who wish to experience a fun day out on their own, not necessarily with little ones around.
The places we mention are not necessarily child-averse, but they are more geared toward a mature clientele. They include:
The Leepa-Rattner Museum
Suppose you have a passion for art or want to spend a quiet afternoon enjoying quality contemporary artistic creations. In that case, the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art will be an unmissable opportunity to indulge yourself. The museum is situated on the campus of St. Petersburg College.
It features a wide variety of intriguing works of contemporary art focusing on local themes such as sponge diving and commercial fishing, with a majority of the pieces being the creation of notable local and regional artists.
Even though you might find the price of admission to be surprisingly affordable, you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality and scope of the art on display, making it well worth a visit.
World Woods Golf Club
Tom Fazio is one of the country’s best golf course designers, and some of his best work can be found in Brooksville. Florida. Here, you’ll encounter the World Woods Golf Club, which features two great courses - Rolling Oaks and Pine Barrens.
These courses have been a prominent fixture of the Florida golf scene since they were first opened to the public in 1991 and continue to be a favorite venue for state tournaments. Pine Barrens is distinguished by its wide-open fairways and massive sand bunkers, while Rolling Oaks is noted for its proliferation of ancient oak trees. You’ll find World Woods Golf Club at 17590 Ponce De Leon Boulevard.
Papa Joe’s Italian Restaurant
Donna and Joe Giarratana are the owners and managers of Papa Joe’s Italian Restaurant, one of Brooksville’s most impressive restaurants. The restaurant specializes in traditional Italian meat and veggie creations, and visitors here will enjoy various delectable items from their menu.
These include delicacies such as chicken cognac, puttanesca, sausage gnocchi, eggplant parmesan, and a selection of antipasti dishes such as strombolis, specialty pizzas, calzones, and much more. The couple is well-known for their various charities, including their annual 99-cent pasta festival.
Papa Joe’s is a restaurant dedicated to the Brooksville community. It demonstrates this by operating a culinary scholarship fund and a specialty catering service whenever residents or institutions require them. You’ll find Papa Joe’s at 6244 Spring Lake Highway.
NJoy Spirits Distillery
On the outskirts of Brooksville, you’ll find the 80-acre NJoy Spirits Distillery, a lively operation specializing in producing various quality beers and spirits. The vast grounds are dedicated to raising sugar cane and rye, the raw materials used in their production process.
Aside from their commercial activities, the compound also offers a variety of attractions and activities open to the general public, including a beer garden where you can enjoy samples of their products at your leisure.
If you enjoy quality beers and spirits, visiting the NJoy Distillery will be a delightful excursion during which you can purchase and sample their award-winning products, including specialty liquors and world-class beers. Their garden offers meals and fresh honey sourced locally from the farm.
The distillery allows visitors to bring pets and children along. However, the pets have to be on a leash for the duration of the visit, and children are prohibited from entering the bar or the tasting area. You will be allowed to stroll through dedicated paths where you might be lucky enough to encounter some local wildlife, especially the wild turkeys that roam across the grounds.
Most Attractive Cities in Brooksville, Florida
If you’re in the market for a home in Brooksville, you’ll want to find the best neighborhood for you and your family.
Depending on your job, family composition, budget, and general preferences, you’ll find that there’s a perfect place for you. Some attractive options include:
Southern Hills Plantation / Cedar Falls
The median price for a home in Cedar Falls stands at approximately $350,000, with the average rental price currently at $1,389.
While plenty of people work close enough to their places of work to walk there each day, most people drive their cars to work, with the average commute taking about 20 minutes.
You’ll find a sizable Cuban community here, with about 5 percent of the community tracing their roots to the country.
High Point
The suburb of High Point is one of Brooksville’s most desired neighborhoods, with the median cost of a home standing at approximately $208,000.
If you’re looking to rent a house rather than buy one, you can expect to pay about $2,000 monthly. Most people living here drive themselves to work, and the average commute takes about 15 to 30 minutes.
Ludlow Heights
While buying a house in Ludlow Heights might be cheaper than the neighborhoods mentioned above, with median prices at $221,000, you’ll find that this part of Brooksville is a great and welcoming place to live, work, and raise a family in. Most homes here have 2 to 3 bedrooms, most of which were constructed between 1979 and 2000.
Hill N Dale
The median price for a home in the up-scale neighborhood of Hill N Dale currently stands at $370,000, with rental prices at about $1,700. Workers living here typically drive themselves to work, with commuting times typically ranging between 20 and 30 minutes.
This is a highly diverse neighborhood in more ways than one. In addition to comprising an eclectic mix of people working in all sorts of professions and positions, you’ll also find various ethnicities living here.
Royal Highlands
The median price for home ownership in the Royal Highlands neighborhood stands at a reasonable $309,000. It mainly consists of relatively newer buildings, with most of them constructed later than the year 2000.
While most people living here own their homes, you will still find opportunities to rent a home for yourself and your family. Most people here spend about 30 minutes heading to work each day, most choosing to drive themselves on their commute.
Final Thoughts
Owning your own home is an incredible accomplishment, and we all wish to find the home of our dreams. Brooksville prides itself on having a strong sense of community, making it a great place to live and raise a family.
The neighborhoods in Brooksville present attractive options for people hoping to find FHA Homes for sale, as they offer a combination of quality schooling opportunities, low crime rates, and a wide variety of single-family homes for sale.
Wherever you wind up and whatever type of house you decide on, you can be sure that you’ll flourish in this fantastic city. Best of luck!
(Mar 27, 2023)
