I can’t get to Florida fast enough!! (Melbourne, Sarasota: rental homes, square footage)

[QuilterChick]

Bring buckets of $$$ with you -- but be very careful what you wish for.

I lasted one year, three seasons, because of the oppressive heat and humidity: Hot, Hotter and Furnace.

Couldn't get back here/home fast enough.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

[ The one left finds themself with no family or friends (friends seem to vanish when you need them most) to help them in their old age. Ever hear the expression "You can't go home again?" There is often no one left at "home" to come rescue them... and so you see and smell them hobbling through the stores with their walkers or canes.


Yes - but remember there are people who don't have any family to leave. I am 50 yrs old and my Mom, Dad, and sister are dead and all the other relatives are long dead. I just have my husband and my two little boys - so we came to paradise and are happy here.

[ess.ess.ess.esq.]

Yes, the fact is that the Rich can afford the best solution.....come to Fl. for 3 or 4 months to avoid the cold....then go back to nice temperate Michigan, New York, Ohio for the other 9 months....poor Florida, 2 million citizens in 1950 and now, about 20 million....due to air conditioning----the ecology of the State has been destroyed by the over-development...and folks spend most of the year running from a/c house to 100 degree car interior to a/c job or shopping...then back to the car to the a/c house...the Rich experience Fl. the way we'd all like to, one season per year...

[davephan]

Originally Posted by ess.ess.ess.esq.

Yes, the fact is that the Rich can afford the best solution.....come to Fl. for 3 or 4 months to avoid the cold....then go back to nice temperate Michigan, New York, Ohio for the other 9 months....poor Florida, 2 million citizens in 1950 and now, about 20 million....due to air conditioning----the ecology of the State has been destroyed by the over-development...and folks spend most of the year running from a/c house to 100 degree car interior to a/c job or shopping...then back to the car to the a/c house...the Rich experience Fl. the way we'd all like to, one season per year...

If you are a snowbird in Minnesota, you need to be gone from the state six months, plus 1 day to avoid paying the state income tax. Maybe other states have similar laws.

[ZaraZoteBuccaneer]

Hello everyone and happy 2018! I can’t believe how the time has flown! It has been 4 years and 9 months to the day since I’ve posted on here and this thread has over 91,000 views to date. Incredible! Second only to the amazing pictures everyone posts to the sticky threads! Our resident expert realtor SoFLGal is coming up fast on me with her foreclosure topic – LOL!


So obviously a lot has happened to me in that time. I drank a ton of rum, visited a lot of places, and never did I find my paradise home in Florida but for good reason.
I still live in Minnesota with my beautiful wife and three kids and the kids are all approaching their final years at home as they prepare for college. We made the move out of our old house too. That 1700 sq foot split entry starter home we stayed in for far too long sold to someone who was in fact old friends with one of my neighbors. I’ll miss the place for sentimental reasons but the history of everything we built and experienced there was not reason enough to keep doing what we were doing. It is ok to say goodbye to something that has personal history and take the experiences with you.


My wife was going back to school last I updated you all. She has since passed her courses with flying colors and is currently a Nurse. It took time to finish prerequisite classes and then the official classes too, but she did it. She took a job with in-home care and after some time she then took an opportunity with a hospital as a Pediatric Nurse and loves it. I’ve learned so much about how hard it is to do this line of work and meet today’s higher standards of the profession. I totally have a higher respect for Nurses. They rock!


As for me, I’ve seen a lot of change at my company. I’ve experienced 7 managers in as little as 6 years. That speaks for itself. As I type this I am actually getting a new boss again soon. My company is doing fairly well as a whole but I am less content than in the past. To face this feeling each day I choose to be happy versus feeling bitter. It’s just a job. It’s not my passion. I’ve been returning to school online. I’m not taking a large load – I’ll be pacing myself for a while. I also entertain the occasional job interview when something pays more, is closer to home, etc… Otherwise I try to maintain consistent pay as we focus on our family.


One significant change was my in-laws choosing to move to Arizona in about 2014. We did not expect it and they could not be convinced to stay near their other kids and family. While my wife and I could relate to their reasons because we had our own reasons to move away too, the actual experience of it impacted my wife more than it did me. It kind of created a stronger desire in her to not be as willing to leave family. I grew up moving. I understood it, and we have visited them in AZ; but for my wife she harbors resentment particularly toward her mom for the decision and that resentment has some ties to disappointments she causes herself to relive emotionally from her childhood too. So while the time seemed better than ever to take the jump at the same time it unfortunately slowed down the topic of us moving away quite a bit.


Then in September of 2015 my mom passed away. I’ve mentioned her from time to time in this thread over the years. This event affected me so deeply that It took almost a year for me to get back into a normal routine again. I could go on and on but to save thread space and everyone’s time I won’t. I’ll never quite be the same. So as you can imagine, when you’re whole life is turned upside down and your kids are involved then you do what you can to support them; so we did. They had lost three of their 4 grandparents in a very short span. We made a decision to stay for now because leaving everyone else behind like friends and others would have affected them (we felt) negatively unnecessarily.


So what we did was we sold the house to the original real estate agent that I worked with before my mom even worked in that office. We found a new bigger home that could truly be a place to entertain. Our house is now the hangout place for all our kid’s friends. It has three stories, a bonus room that serves as a game room, a theater room with stadium seating (I bought a 78 inch TV for it), a lake with access in our neighborhood, bedrooms for everyone, plus a guest room. There’s also a huge deck, 4 full bathrooms, and a three car oversized heated garage. It’s 4,700 feet of more than we need but it will help us finish raising our kids with all the comforts we always wanted them to have. It’s now also the default house for hosting family holidays and game nights. Two ovens for Thanksgiving dinner!


With all of this (I know I’m blessed) I truly know from experience now that I don’t need it to be happy anymore. I always intuitively knew it but not emotionally. I don’t need beaches within 5 minutes of drive time or palm trees and oranges in my backyard. I just really want it. But what I need is for my family safe and healthy and happy. I want to enjoy the time we have right now with loved ones. I want to give others what they want and protect providing what they need. In some small way, having the chance to go and enjoy only 5-10 days in Florida every year keeps it as a place that is special and worth desiring in my heart.


We’re coming back again in a matter of weeks by the way. I spent part of last February in Naples. This time we might do a vacation home in early March where we usually stomp around. I know I have to get on reserving that or I won’t find anything.

I know now that this is going to be my story for the next few years at least. Coming back to paradise and sharing it with my loved ones as often as I can. Who knows if I’ll be able to buy a little piece of it and enjoy tasting my very own oranges in this life. I want to. It’s up to Him if I need it. Even if I never do experience living there, even if it’s something I actually need in some way and am never given… I’ll be ok. My heart is already in Florida. I’ve been rushing to arrive but I’m already there.

[gypsychic]

Thanks for the update! Florida will always be here for when you want to enjoy it. Sometimes it is better to visit a place you love than live there. I feel that way about California.

[robo-shark]

Awesome to read your update. From experience, I was born and raised in Minnesota, and did live in Florida for about five years. Having moved back to the North for many reasons, there are days when my heart just aches for the beautiful beaches and vivid sunsets and storms. It was my dream to live 30 minutes from tropical beaches - I obtained it for a while, but not without its problems, and now I miss it very much, as I knew I would when we left.

But I know there is so much that we have up here that I missed when in Florida - the amazing seasons, the coziness of a hot cup of coffee on a fall day, land that isn't just flat for hundreds of miles, the culture. There is no perfect place, and that's what makes travel so fun. If we had everything we wanted in just one spot, we couldn't fully appreciate the diversity that exists all over our country and beyond. Nice to hear you've been able to be content with where you are at this point in life. I'm learning to do the same (well, in a much tinier home, I like cozy spaces lol)!

[blueherons]

What a great update!

You may not get to Florida on your timeline but I believe it will eventually happen for you.

Self fulfilling prophecy.

It took us almost ten years from the day we decided we wanted to move.

[Veniceman]

I'm 65 and have lived all over the USA. I've heard the lament about no jobs all my life wherever I've gone. There's always a job somewhere to be had. The problem here in the Sarasota area, though, is finding affordable housing while you are job hunting. I would recommend visiting here in summer, too, to see if you can handle the heat. It is pretty warm here in July, August and September. Good luck.

[Vanderbiltgrad]

I dont blame you for your statement