Future Snowbirds..where would you choose in Florida?

[palavra]

The "true Floridians" wouldn't have much of an economy if it wasn't for all the transplants and snow birds. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

True, the tourist industry is large here in Florida, but there are many other industries as well. I'm pretty sure Florida would be just fine.

 

[palavra]

It's a nice town to visit a few times a year to eat and look around. I know several people who live there. Nice, not typical Florida and not too much going on.

I live about 30 miles from Mt. Dora and about 10 miles from WDW. I am not a true Floridian. I moved here almost 5 years ago. I love the Lake County area of Florida. Lots of open space, but close enough to Orlando and Tampa and beaches to enjoy all the great things that Florida has to offer.

 

[palavra]

"True Floridians". Just being born there isn't enough. Your grandparents, or great-grandparents, must have lived there continuously since at least the 1920's.

My grandmother moved to Florida in 1956. Do I count even though I grew up in Alabama?

 

[palavra]

I think the Heat & humidity is way worse in TX than FL.

We don't have much humidity in the winter months. Summer is awful, but not the winter!

 

[meghanb133]

I live east of Tampa in a smaller town called Palm Harbor. I have lived in Florida my entire life (I’m in my 30’s) and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Disney is about an hour and 45 minutes away, the airport is about 30ish minutes and the beach is super close as we are on the coast. For anyone coming to Florida, I always suggest somewhere that seems “small town” but close enough to the airport and more major attractions if you want to do those things..

 

[Wishing on a star]

I think it is more about the attitude than the person and/or where they are from.
I am from the South, and have lived near an area with a lot of 'transplants'.
Some of my husband's family, were 'transplants' for a while.
I witnessed a lot of this first hand. I've heard ALL of the negative disparaging comments.

There is truth to both sides here.
One of the funniest bumper stickers I have ever seen proclaimed very loudly...
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH"
Hahahaha!!!!

We have also happened to travel when the Interstate was absolutely crawling, bumper-to-bumper, with all of those snowbirds on one of the Mass Exodus weekends.
Wow....

If my DH and I were to relocate or 'snowbird', it would not be further South in Florida to some of those well known Snowbird and Retirement areas.
I would have no desire to live in Southern Florida.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

My mim lives in a gated community in Lakewood Ranch. I love her neighborhood and will probably buy something near her in a couple of years.

 

[klacey1]

But then they cannot stop talking about where they are from. You hear it from the New Yorkers all the time.....In New York the Pizza is better, the italian is better and how beautiful the leaves in the fall are. I once snapped at a restaurant because these 2 couples next to us would not shut up about how great New York is. I turned around and asked them "Well if you guys love New York so much, why did you move here." They said nothing and continued talking.

Well, those New Yorkers were simply just stating facts about how pizza and Italian is superior in the Northeast . I seriously cannot believe you snapped at strangers in a restaurant over something so inocuous...who does that?

My mom is a New Yorker who relocated to a 55+ community in Port St Lucie on the Atlantic coast. She and her husband love it there and I love visiting! I personally prefer the Gulf coast but could totally see settling on the east coast instead.

 

[mefordis]

We love Cape Coral. Not a lot of traffic, reasonably priced homes and I'd love to live on the canal.

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

We have a house in Vero Beach. We spent about 10 years trying to decide where would be best--we are slow I grew up going to the gulf side, but ended up preferring the Treasure Coast. We are on the island, so we can walk/bike to the beach and the Indian River Lagoon--great for walking, biking and viewing beautiful sunrises over the beach and sunsets over the lagoon. The beach is quiet, which is good with us. I also enjoy sea turtle season

If you want warm weather for the winter months, make sure you get far enough south. We enjoy the panhandle area, but it would be a little chilly for us in the winter months.

We aren't seasonal because DH still works so we are "in and out." We are there a lot, just not for long stretches. It does get busier in the winter months, but not horrible. We have found that going to dinner around 7:00 is perfect--no wait and we normally eat later anyway. I wouldn't try to eat at 5:30 I still haven't found the less busy time at Publix.

The City-data forums can be good for information on specific places. I used them quite a bit for all different types of information. Make sure to do your research--I'm sure you are There are several people who ended up in places they thought they liked on the surface, but once they got there it wasn't what they thought it was going to be.

Enjoy your search!

 

[gmar1210]

I do agree with this, but it's not just limited to Publix. When I talk with some of the snowbird retirees, I am finding more and more of them have a sense of entitlement.

Like we owe them for coming here.

 

[NinaBella]

I live just outside of Tampa now (close enough to say I live in Tampa. DH and I both work in Tampa). If it wasn't for my kids being in high school and soon college in the local area, I would move a bit farther away from Tampa to get away from traffic (if we were officially retired and not working).

Trinity has some nice neighborhoods. My son lived/worked in Brooksville for a while and had a reasonably priced apartment there. It also depends how close you want to be to the beach.

Some of the more popular retirement communities mentioned on this thread are highly desired areas which also means higher cost for housing, home/auto insurance, more traffic congestion, etc.

I lived in Valdosta, GA for a while and it's a 3 hour drive to Disney. It's a nice small town as well.

 

[mefordis]

I live in the Northeast but do NOT think we have the best pizza, food, etc. Some of the best pizza I've ever had came from a Chicago style pizza place in Cape Coral.

I'm originally from the midwest. Can't wait to get out of the northeast. It's cold, and not just the weather

 

[VandVsmama]

I 2nd the suggestion to rent before you buy. Many moons ago, my grandparents decided to move to a retirement community in Ft Meyers. The development was really nice and all the homes had a canal in back with boat docks so you could basically have your little boat docked in your backyard. Their house had a pool, too. They sold their home in the northeast and headed down there because good friends of theirs talked for years about how wonderful it was.

Well, my grandmother hated it. Hated the humidity. Hated sweating all the time. Hated the huge bugs. Hated "living with old people all the time." So a year later, they sold the house at a loss and moved back.

At least if you rent first, you'll get to try before you buy.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

But then they cannot stop talking about where they are from. You hear it from the New Yorkers all the time.....In New York the Pizza is better, the italian is better and how beautiful the leaves in the fall are. I once snapped at a restaurant because these 2 couples next to us would not shut up about how great New York is. I turned around and asked them "Well if you guys love New York so much, why did you move here." They said nothing and continued talking.

People move for many reasons, one of them being MEDICAL. Showing snow and freezing all the time takes a toll on your health.

If they could live in NY without snow, I am sure they would have stayed.

 

[soccerdad72]

I agree with those who recommend renting first - there's a large market in Florida for long term rentals. Many folks rent for 1, 2 or 3 months at a time - a lot of people who have vacation property there but aren't at retirement age yet will rent their place out for the majority of high season. We're usually in Fort Myers in late March and the line of cars going north on I75 on March 31st is pretty impressive.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My parents rented for several years in TX before buying a small ranch home. My uncle has been renting for several years in FL. Great aunt & uncle own a mobile home in AZ. And my BIL’s parents have an RV. Lot of different ways you could go about it, but I agree renting is probably the smartest way to start out.

 

[FINFAN]

I live in the Northeast but do NOT think we have the best pizza, food, etc. Some of the best pizza I've ever had came from a Chicago style pizza place in Cape Coral.

I'm originally from the midwest. Can't wait to get out of the northeast. It's cold, and not just the weather

the pizza place wasn't Angelo's, was it ( going back a good 30 years here, lol)

 

[piccolopat]

If you decide to stay close to Disney, make sure your community restricts short term rentals. My BIL bought a home in Davenport but many of the homes are short vacation renters. There is no sense of community with different people coming and going all the time. There are more break-ins because neighbors aren't there to watch out for each other. He's even had to help the tourists renting the place next door when they set off the security alarm late at night.

 

[dish rag]

If you decide to stay close to Disney, make sure your community restricts short term rentals. My BIL bought a home in Davenport but many of the homes are short vacation renters. There is no sense of community with different people coming and going all the time. There are more break-ins because neighbors aren't there to watch out for each other. He's even had to help the tourists renting the place next door when they set off the security alarm late at night.

Davenport would be very low on the list as places to move to.