Future move to clearwater (Tampa, Palm Harbor: sales, rent, house insurance)

[gillgetter]

Hi, thought I would ask some of you that live in Clearwater for some feedback on your area. We visited there and loved it and are thinking of moving there in a few years. I wanted to put some thoughts out there and see what you think..
I have now lived in Michigan for 46 years and even tho I'm a avid hunter and fisherman I am sick of the long dragged out winters .
I'm thinking this could be a cheap way to early retirement:
What we're thinking is buying a mobile home in clearwater. pay cash for it. (ofcourse we would spend many,many months ahead of time looking for a good park and location)
any ways the mobile would be paid for.
Lot rent approx $450-500/month
This covers lawn care, trash pick-up, water bill, no property taxes.
other than lot rent, theres a electric bill..thats it for ultilites (we have cell phones)
Campared to here in Mich where we own a home in the country and have to pay for gas for heat, electric, property taxes and house insurance, trash pick-up, mow our 1 acre lawn, ect.
Wife works at Bed Bath Beyond so transfer to a store very close by would be possible.Sevral stores are within 5 miles of most mobile parks. Myself, I can get a job doing whatever...
I could have a boat and fish the bay and gulf alot. Short drives to work vs the 30 miles trips now.
Can anyone recommend good locations of Mobile parks? Looking for some with water frontage of some type, closer to the bay or gulf perfered.
Thanks

[cariad]

Can anyone recommend good locations of Mobile parks? Looking for some with water frontage of some type, closer to the bay or gulf perfered.

Briar Creek, Amber Glades and Bays End(on the bay) in Safety Harbor.
Gull Aire Village in Oldsmar(some bay views)

Westwind, Grand Bay, and Honeymoon in Dunedin-these are close to the gulf- not sure of water views. There are more in dunedin, but don't know them.

Blue Jay estates is in Palm Harbor, in between gulf and bay. and also Lake Tarpon Village and another one-Lake shore? maybe?(they are close together) which are right on Lake Tarpon-these probably have the best water views with many canals. I know it really looks pretty from the lake.
Some of these are pricey on the lake, but I have seen some very reasonable.

I think Blue Jay and Gull Aire are resident owned, possibly also the ones at Lake Tarpon-that would be important to me.

[gillgetter]

Thank you for all the suggestions! Looks like I'll have some research to do.

[jessiesma]

wife's transfer.It's been my experience that BB&B might be willing to transfer her but they can't force the stores here to make a spot for her and none of the retailers here are begging for people. When the snow birds and college kids leave in early may, business will take a nose dive. Whenever I've been in the BB&B in St. Pete I've seen very few mature employees and yes, ageism does exist here. If you think some part time work is going to fund your retirement in these parts, you need to do more research. My husband is 55 is working on alternate track certification as a teacher and can't finish because he can't find a teaching job. He is language arts which is supposed to be a critical needs area. Oh, well! So how do we live? Barely. He has done tons of retail and other sales and cannot find anything even part time. He did get a tax prep job that ends in a month. They promised him commission on anything he grosses over 2,500 but then they put him in a very slow store. Guess cause he's a new guy. Doesn't look like there'll be a check in June. The returnees get the better stores I guess. We have no idea how we'll survive the Summer.
Do not come down here unless you can support yourselves some how because unless you want to be greeters at Wal-Mart or baggers at Publix, it will be tough. We are in the age of specialization. If you say you'll do anything, that's a sure way not to get a job. You need a quantifiable skill. Welcome to the "New Age" [sarcasm]
Your lot rent sounds reasonable but you will have to evacuate every time there is a hurricane. Mandatory even for Cat.1 in a mobile. Where will you go? How much will it cost? Are you dependent on that one deer a year to supplement your food costs? There is hunting here but I have no idea where or how easy it is. How will you fish? Your own boat will be kept where? How much will gas cost for one trip at? Well gas for a car is now 3.25 and rising.
These are just ideas that came to me after I read your post. You say in a few years you want to do this? Ok that's the time to look at it again because we are in a recession now and it's not the time to be thinking of going off with no income.

Originally Posted by gillgetter

Hi, thought I would ask some of you that live in Clearwater for some feedback on your area. We visited there and loved it and are thinking of moving there in a few years. I wanted to put some thoughts out there and see what you think..
I have now lived in Michigan for 46 years and even tho I'm a avid hunter and fisherman I am sick of the long dragged out winters .
I'm thinking this could be a cheap way to early retirement:
What we're thinking is buying a mobile home in clearwater. pay cash for it. (ofcourse we would spend many,many months ahead of time looking for a good park and location)
any ways the mobile would be paid for.
Lot rent approx $450-500/month
This covers lawn care, trash pick-up, water bill, no property taxes.
other than lot rent, theres a electric bill..thats it for ultilites (we have cell phones)
Campared to here in Mich where we own a home in the country and have to pay for gas for heat, electric, property taxes and house insurance, trash pick-up, mow our 1 acre lawn, ect.
Wife works at Bed Bath Beyond so transfer to a store very close by would be possible.Sevral stores are within 5 miles of most mobile parks. Myself, I can get a job doing whatever...
I could have a boat and fish the bay and gulf alot. Short drives to work vs the 30 miles trips now.
Can anyone recommend good locations of Mobile parks? Looking for some with water frontage of some type, closer to the bay or gulf perfered.
Thanks

[gillgetter]

Well, first off, if you think your area is having hard time, you should count your blessings your not in Michigan! we have the nations highest unemployment, one of the highest foreclosings, ect, ect....
My wifes a manager so transfers ARE possible and we know that for a fact.
Hurricane evac? no problem, days ahead of time we get on a plane and fly back here to stay with family for a few days..no biggie...
You didn't mention how you live?house? Again I have to stress I'm strickly talking about a mobile home. Costs are VERY low doing it that way.
As for fishing, no biggie there either. I can bring my boat or buy one down there. Keep it in a storage area and tow it to a lanch just like I do now or I can rent a slip for a couple thousand a year. I'm not talking about a cabin cruiser, just a nice center console say 18' to fish the flats ect.
Oh, our gas is $3.35/gal right now! and we drive 30 miles to work vs a whole lot less if we where down there....In my previous post I detailed the basic costs and my point is to all this is a chance to get out of Mich and enjoy life and aviod many of the bills associated with a house and the weather climate.
Afterall, alot of retired people on fixed incomes are doing the smae thing down there.
Thanks for your input on this. I hope your husband lands a good job...sounds like his doing the right thing.

[jessiesma]

MI is really tough right now. good for your wife's job. That helps. Sounds as if you did your homework. We rent an apt. We pay a lot for what we have but it's not out of line for the area. We're in a non-evac area and a mobile wouldn't pay for us because we have nowhere to evac. to. So you each drive 300mi/wk up there? Wow, that is a lot but here you have to drive for everything.Is it like that there? We go thru about $30 worth of gas in a week in a manual VW beetle just doing all our errands and my husband trying to keep his substitute teaching within a 10 mi. radius. We have an activity 1X a week in So. Tampa. There's quite a bit of stop and go traffic everywhere.
So I hope you can realize your plans sooner than later. Best of everything.

Originally Posted by gillgetter

Well, first off, if you think your area is having hard time, you should count your blessings your not in Michigan! we have the nations highest unemployment, one of the highest foreclosings, ect, ect....
My wifes a manager so transfers ARE possible and we know that for a fact.
Hurricane evac? no problem, days ahead of time we get on a plane and fly back here to stay with family for a few days..no biggie...
You didn't mention how you live?house? Again I have to stress I'm strickly talking about a mobile home. Costs are VERY low doing it that way.
As for fishing, no biggie there either. I can bring my boat or buy one down there. Keep it in a storage area and tow it to a lanch just like I do now or I can rent a slip for a couple thousand a year. I'm not talking about a cabin cruiser, just a nice center console say 18' to fish the flats ect.
Oh, our gas is $3.35/gal right now! and we drive 30 miles to work vs a whole lot less if we where down there....In my previous post I detailed the basic costs and my point is to all this is a chance to get out of Mich and enjoy life and aviod many of the bills associated with a house and the weather climate.
Afterall, alot of retired people on fixed incomes are doing the smae thing down there.
Thanks for your input on this. I hope your husband lands a good job...sounds like his doing the right thing.

[Keeper]

Many seniors live in mobile home parks and usually they are the nicer ones. The only reason I mention this is there are ppl who move down here and then complain because they are surrounded by retirees and they don't have any friends their age.

Do your homework and do take Jessiesma comments in consideration. Even the slightest chance a hurricane is headed towards Tampabay, you will have to evacuate. Even a cat 1..

[gillgetter]

when is the last time a Cat 1 hurricane was forcasted for Tampa area? Kinda curious how often it has happened in last 20 years..
Thanks

[jessiesma]

Alberto actually hit up around the Big Bend as a weak cat. 1 but it veered north sort of last minute. Surf on the barrier islands was up to the buildings. Don't bet the statistics. That's what New Orleans Emergency Mgmt. did in 2005. Wind is bad especially in a mobile, but it's the water you need to fear. Katrina proved that.

Originally Posted by gillgetter

when is the last time a Cat 1 hurricane was forcasted for Tampa area? Kinda curious how often it has happened in last 20 years..
Thanks

[Keeper]

2004 was the last time..You can see where them here
Hurricane Season 2004 - Bay News 9 (http://www.baynews9.com/content/14/2007/1/23/52361.html - broken link)