Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Real feel in Sarasota 87. This is not for people that like to be active outside like in Minnesota. I cant get out of heat and humidity of Florida fast enough. However, if u like no change of seasons, like to boat and fish and stay inside in AC, then Fl is for u.
You dont have to be rich to be a snowbird. The key is to control your costs:
mortgage interest - pay cash for inexpensive places, or at least put 20% down to eliminate title insurance costs
real estate taxes - do your research, find the lowest County to live in. Fla Panhandle has very low property taxes.
hoa and cdd's - eliminate or dramatically reduce.
insurance - buy best flood zone designation, hip roof, 2003 or after construction, hurricane shutters, block construction, flat cement tile, right windows, ect..
These are just a few tips. You have to be very smart and keep square footage to minimum. Dont worry about housing guests...you can rent a place for then for much less than buying more home than you need to host them.
Make Florida your State of domicile to avoid State income tax in your Northern State. 6 months and 1 day in Florida.
I've seen decent newer homes around here for <$250,000. You dont hve to be rich to maintain 2 homes, just frugal, and smart.
This is really an old thread, it's about 9 years old. ZaraZoteBuccaneer is taking a little longer than expected to get to Florida!
I was going to stay one more winter in Minnesota after this winter is over, but decided to retire sooner rather than later. This winter will be my last Minnesota winter. Most people I talk to in Minnesota would rather have 87 degrees than our cold and snowy winters. A tiny portion of the population in Minnesota actually enjoy the winters here and do outdoor activities in the winter. The vast majority of the population in Minnesota do not like the winters. They put up with the winters, hunkering down in the heated homes, offices, stores, and cars. In the summertime, Florida can be hot and humid, but we found that it wasn't that bad before 10 AM and after 6 PM or 7 PM. So, in the mornings and evenings, you can go out and do things in Florida in the summertime.
In Minnesota, in the winters, you have to hunker down inside 24 x 7 for at least 6 months. Minnesota has has very short summer. If you push it, there's 4 months. Out of that 4 months, at least one month is either very hot and humid, sometimes two months, or the mosquitoes are so thick, large, and aggressive, that you have to spray yourself down with DEET. Otherwise, you're constantly swatting mosquitoes. So, if you subtract the hot and humid summertime conditions in Minnesota, plus the times when the mosquitoes are bad, there are only about two months in the summertime in Minnesota when you can go outside a lot. We like to garden, and are outside most of the 4 months by spraying and re-spraying ourselves down with smelly DEET mosquito spray to discourage the large aggressive mosquitoes.
We visited Florida mainly in the winters, but also for a week at a time in the summers. After months of endless heat and humidity every day, it might wear you down. We might do snow birding for several months in the summer. However, we don't have to own two houses. We're selling our Minnesota house to an in-law. In our extended family, we are able to live with the in-laws for an extended time period. So, we can come back to Minnesota and stay in our old Minnesota house with the in-laws that are still stuck in Minnesota for several years until they retire, then they will also move to Florida. They'll be able to take vacations, and have a place to stay in Florida. We sold our previous Minnesota house to the same in-law, so that cuts out the realtor costs selling the house. It's a very simple process. It can be a pain for people to maintain two houses, spread over a thousand miles apart, plus the expense of owning two properties. Our solution makes it very inexpensive to be snow birds, plus we get to snow bird in the nice home where we used to live. The cash from the paid off Minnesota house will make it very easy to buy the Florida house. We could afford to own and manage two homes, but we don't need to do that due to our extended family situation. Not all families are like that. So, that type of arrangement won't work for a lot of people.
The truth of Florida the good the bad and the ugly, the good winter weather is nice. Its one grace going for it. Winter also brings a lot of people to the point its hard to get around in traffic and get a restaurant. Beaches get full parking full ect. Summer is a hot very hot sweat box. Rains most days in summer. You will have to take two showers a day if you go outside. Air conditioning does not turn off from June to September. Then Hurricanes. If you get several years like we had great but if global warming is real we may see a lot more of them and it could be bad. From mid state south not a lot of land over 14 feet above sea level. Cost of living is not too bad for food and fuel compared to much of the us. No state income tax, and no food sales tax. Home prices did come down and were good for several years but now are getting back into the high range. Property tax is not a buy and hold state. So if you bought at the crash you will still pay the tax on what current value is. You do get a Homestead exempt on some if you live there as primary home. Southern Florida is a very hit and miss as beauty goes. The beaches and inlets are beautiful other than that its a flat boring swamp. Up by Mount Dora is a bit hilly and nicer. Those who can go back north in summer are the best off. Get out for summer. Its horrible.
Wow! You make Florida sound like a horrible place, but that really doesn't match reality. We rarely go to restaurants, so there's little impact there. We don't find the beaches that crowded in the winter. It does rain in the summertime, usually every day around 4:30 PM. It rains hard for 30 minutes or so. Sometimes it misses you sometimes it hits you. Then it drys up quickly, and it's nice again.
It's true that your AC might be on for many months, so is the heat in Minnesota. The heat never turns off for over 6 months every year in Minnesota. Hurricane season is from June through December, so there is a risk of hurricanes. The Florida summertime weather isn't that bad before 10 AM and after 6 PM or 7 PM, so you can get outside and do things part of the day. In Minnesota, the winters are cold for over 6 months, 24 x 7. Florida isn't going to be underwater in 5 or 10 years like some people believe. You won't see much change in the ocean water rise in your lifetime. Look at the property taxes in states with high income taxes. Florida isn't that bad compared to that. The traffic in Florida isn't that bad compared to major cities anywhere in the US. Florida's no income tax is wonderful for the people who saved their whole lives, living below their means. Their retirement savings go farther in Florida because no state income taxes come out of your income stream and the pretax retirement accounts.
Wow! You make Florida sound like a horrible place, but that really doesn't match reality. We rarely go to restaurants, so there's little impact there. We don't find the beaches that crowded in the winter. It does rain in the summertime, usually every day around 4:30 PM. It rains hard for 30 minutes or so. Sometimes it misses you sometimes it hits you. Then it drys up quickly, and it's nice again.
It's true that your AC might be on for many months, so is the heat in Minnesota. The heat never turns off for over 6 months every year in Minnesota. Hurricane season is from June through December, so there is a risk of hurricanes. The Florida summertime weather isn't that bad before 10 AM and after 6 PM or 7 PM, so you can get outside and do things part of the day. In Minnesota, the winters are cold for over 6 months, 24 x 7. Florida isn't going to be underwater in 5 or 10 years like some people believe. You won't see much change in the ocean water rise in your lifetime. Look at the property taxes in states with high income taxes. Florida isn't that bad compared to that. The traffic in Florida isn't that bad compared to major cities anywhere in the US. Florida's no income tax is wonderful for the people who saved their whole lives, living below their means. Their retirement savings go farther in Florida because no state income taxes come out of your income stream and the pretax retirement accounts.
Rain every day in summer is not true. Keep a log this summer. Weather patterns are off and have been for a few years. It's been so dry.
Water temps are a bit chilly in the winter for locals, it's usually tourists who are swimming until water warms up in March.
Summers are VERY hot. No getting around that. If you aren't used to it it can be a shock to the body and takes some time to acclimate. Some people never do. Some people love it.
Rain every day in summer is not true. Keep a log this summer. Weather patterns are off and have been for a few years. It's been so dry.
Water temps are a bit chilly in the winter for locals, it's usually tourists who are swimming until water warms up in March.
Summers are VERY hot. No getting around that. If you aren't used to it it can be a shock to the body and takes some time to acclimate. Some people never do. Some people love it.
Thanks for the response to my post! We are back in Minnesota for a little while longer. I'm very close to retiring now, so we'll be heading back to Florida for more house hunting soon. Most of our visits were in the winters, but we've also visited in the summer. During the mid-day hours, we could only hack about 20 minutes before we had to get back to the AC in the car ASAP! But before 10 AM and after 6 PM or 7 PM, it was a little humid, but nice. But that was only for about a week to a week and a half duration. Maybe after months of the same hot and humid weather, day after day, it would wear us down. If that happens, we can always drive back to Minnesota and live in our old house with the sister in law who is buying the Minnesota house. We could stay for several months. It would be very easy for us to do snowbirding if we felt we needed to go back north during the summers. Or, we could do some traveling during the summer months. Retired people do "traveling", working people "take vacations". Since we'll both be retired, our work calendars are empty, and every day will be just like a Saturday! The end of the 'weekend' depressions on Sunday afternoons will be gone!
The rental homes had pools and hot tubs. The temperature of the pool was 88 degrees, which is a little cool to me. I would like the pool to be about 90 or 92 degrees. Maybe in the summer, 88 degrees would feel better. When the temperature in the hot tub got up to about 104 degrees, it was pretty hot for me! They had a series of hot pools in Vietnam. The hottest one was 50 degree Celsius, which is 122 degrees Fahrenheit, that was very hot for me! I also lost a lot of weight doing intermittent fasting. After my weight loss, I feel the cold much more, and my heat tolerance improved. I realize it may take several years to adjust to the climate change. We plan on living full time in Florida, but if we need to break up the summers, we can easily do that.
I'll track the weather better after we move to Florida, probably this summer. I'll probably buy a weather station that can be hooked up to the Internet.
You might try the Melbourne area. Harris Corp. is a Defense company located over there. I think you would have better success in the aerospace industry there. There is nothing on the Gulf Coast. Also, housing is expensive in Sarasota county. Renting in winter is very expensive. You might want to come by yourself and rent awhile before moving your family here. Lots of people rent bedrooms out in their homes. That's your cheapest way to rent here temporarily. Not fun but it would get you by as you check out the area. Check the listings on Craigslist. Ive known people who have gotten started here by doing that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
