Help!!! 55+ relocating to Florida from Pittsburgh... (Tampa, Orlando: environment, real estate, hotel)

[whirlwind]

Hi all...boy am I glad I found this message board, here is the situation, and all help would be appreciated.
We have lived in Pittsburgh all of our life. I am 55 my husband is 64, I just lost a job I had for a long time, and my daughter moved out of our area, so I said, maybe this is time to relocate. My husband enjoys fishing, swimming, and he is sight handicapped, so he cannot drive, and is retired, I thought a 55+ manufactured home community (that permits a golden retreiver)my husbands constant companion, would be a good place to start. WE are looking at central Florida, somewhere within 50 miles or less to Orlando, as with the Airport close it will be convenient for my daughter and us. We want a Lake in the community and swimming, just a nice clean environment. We were looking in lakeland, leesburg, etc., We know nothing about relocating, we have a house to sell, and a mobile home at a lake, we want to take a flight down in January to look at some communities. Where do we start, what do we do first, sell our home and lake home? Find a place to move to first? Do we take our furniture? et., etc., I would have to do all the driving so we really do not want to drive down till it is time to move, the rest of the time we would fly and rent a car. We need your help , I know getting it from the horses mouth is the best way. Please any information or help is appreciated, or suggestions on other small towns ....thank you.

[bale002]

As a general rule in current real estate market conditions, you should sell your house before you close on the purchase of a new place to live. Don't let any real estate agent tell you different.

That does not mean, however, that you should not, on the contrary, you should come down first and either stay at a hotel and/or rent for a while before you decide on any real estate transactions: for however good and proper, doing research on the internet is one thing, but seeing and experiencing live in person is another.

As for furniture, I suppose there may be some emotional attachments to favorite and/or long-time pieces. From the strictly economic point of view, one must calculate the shipment cost to one's place of destination vs equivalent replacement cost for new furniture at one's place of destination minus the income from the sale of one's old furniture locally.

[fannym]

The Best Area For You Will Be Tampa, New Port Richey...quiet, Clean, Affordable...what Else Can You Ask For

[mandyh]

I would fly down and rent for a few months, that's what we are doing right now. It gives you a chance to see the different area's and the lay of the land. You will find that it gets a little hilly going north on 75 from Tampa. We are looking at Citrus Co. There are some nice 55 plus comunities around Zephyrhills and surrounding area's.

[FL80]

We've recently moved from NJ to Charlotte County. Although I'm looking to move back to NJ in the spring, this is a great area for retirees. It has low crime, beautiful weather, reasonable housing prices and many (most) of the residents are from NJ/PA/or MI. It makes for an easy transistion.

This area is big on "snow birds" so their are many rental available. You may want to consider renting for a few months to see if it fits well for you. I personally think it's a beautiful area, but I'm not big on all of the FL bugs, or that the pay is lacking down here.

[SouthernBelle3]

Check out Lake county along Highway 27 from Lady Lake to Clermont. It sounds exactly like what you are looking for. There are many retirement communities, and south Leesburg is close to the Turnpike. Another plus is that it is inland. I would stay away from older manufactured homes. If you could afford to buy a site build concrete block home, that would be safer in case there is another bad year of hurricanes. Hope this is helpful.

[Tampa Red]

I hate to be indelicate, but do people swim in Lakes in central Florida?

I don't think I'd want to.