Snowbird information. Opinions welcome! (55, weather, years, family)
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This may not be on your radar screen, but you might consider Arkansas. Beautiful, plenty of lakes, cheap real estate, friendly people, and safe in most areas. Lots of midwesterners have retired in the NE corner.
But a 6% return on $100K will rent a couple of months of a modest condo a bit inland in a decent coastal area. You'd have a pool, nearby golf, beach less than half an hour, and upscale shopping and dining if you want it. Buying makes no sense at all when it's two or 2 1/2 months of use on a limited budget. Whether it's a condo or a single family home, you're paying for maintenance and you have to keep the AC on all year to prevent mold. When you add in taxes, insurance, and repairing/replacing all the things that break, it gets expensive.
The reason I am considering buying a reasonably priced place down there is that I would likely go back and forth at all times of the year with a concentration of time down there when it is cold. Packing a bag would be optional; I could keep plenty of beach garb and swim trunks down there along with toiletries and linens. Many of the inexpensive homes for sale were/are second homes and often come with furnishings (especially true with manufactured homes, where lots of furnishings are built in).
The reason I am considering buying a reasonably priced place down there is that I would likely go back and forth at all times of the year with a concentration of time down there when it is cold. Packing a bag would be optional; I could keep plenty of beach garb and swim trunks down there along with toiletries and linens. Many of the inexpensive homes for sale were/are second homes and often come with furnishings (especially true with manufactured homes, where lots of furnishings are built in).
The median home ownership length for snowbirds is about 5 years. I'm not saying it won't work for you but the typical experience is that people buy, do it for a few years, and decide it's not for them for one of a plethora of reasons. It could be financial where they didn't fully appreciate the costs of owning, operating, maintaining, and traveling to a second home 1000+ miles away. They might have problems integrating into their new community. Health issues. Family issues back at home.
I think most people would be better served doing a long-term rental for at least the first year.
I don't fit the profile; a snow bird home will be closer to a lot of my family than where I live now and so far my kids are not indicating much desire to stick around where we raised them. That doesn't guarantee I will like it enough to keep it, but I think it very likely. I lean toward selling current home and just moving, but I only get one vote and don't want to retire alone. There is a possibility of getting a small winter and small summer place both of which are near relatives (someone to keep an eye on things).
Last edited by ReachTheBeach; 08-17-2015 at 08:05 AM..
But a 6% return on $100K will rent a couple of months of a modest condo a bit inland in a decent coastal area. You'd have a pool, nearby golf, beach less than half an hour, and upscale shopping and dining if you want it. Buying makes no sense at all when it's two or 2 1/2 months of use on a limited budget. Whether it's a condo or a single family home, you're paying for maintenance and you have to keep the AC on all year to prevent mold. When you add in taxes, insurance, and repairing/replacing all the things that break, it gets expensive.
Please share where you get 6% interest on any investment
We live in northern Maine. I love the winters up here, snow and all! But I cannot stand the heat of summers too far south of here. We decided to get a little something to escpse the worst of winter.
We bought raw land in rural Tennessee, and had a small modular home delivered and placed on it. With the well, septic, slab, plus the land and modular home, it cost us about $125K. My wife has family in the area, and her brother went in on this deal with us. It's worked out well.
Everybody knows better than to ask me to go down there at this time of year. I could never stand the heat! But it's pleasant for me from about November until May. No coastal access, but we have that in Maine, and there is a really nice lake for fishing nearby, in Tennessee. Just an example of what we did.
We live in northern Maine. I love the winters up here, snow and all! But I cannot stand the heat of summers too far south of here. We decided to get a little something to escpse the worst of winter.
We bought raw land in rural Tennessee, and had a small modular home delivered and placed on it. With the well, septic, slab, plus the land and modular home, it cost us about $125K. My wife has family in the area, and her brother went in on this deal with us. It's worked out well.
Everybody knows better than to ask me to go down there at this time of year. I could never stand the heat! But it's pleasant for me from about November until May. No coastal access, but we have that in Maine, and there is a really nice lake for fishing nearby, in Tennessee. Just an example of what we did.
I can't stand the southern heat either. I live in an inexpensive place so a second home for the worst of winter is doable.
Location: livin' the good life on America's favorite island
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For those thinking Asheville for winter getaway, jeez, might as well live in Ohio. They have ski resorts there..
Someone mentioned Waxhaw, NC..nice suburb, a little far out from the city. There is a section in downtown Waxhaw that have natives, some ancestry of slaves,not really a nice area. Odds are you can buy a home for $100k. I suppose you could find a double wide some where in nicer climate than NE Ohio...
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