Among Friends

[dulwich]

When we first moved to AZ we purchased a lovely s,western style house in a gated over 55 community on golf course, with all activities available - really beautiful views loved the house but.....

did not realize at least three-quarters of our neighborhood were 'snowbirds'.

We felt sometimes we were the last people on earth as half of the year no- one much around.  Then come winter everyone there and prices even in our Safeways all went sky high.

After 2 years we sold and moved as no people, no kids, no everyday neighbors - it felt very lonely.  So when moving to community living make sure it is a community as for us we felt like we were living on the moon - a very nice moon but very solitary.

[151949]

@dulwich  We aren't in a 55 + community but we are in a plan of homes in Florida. When we first moved here 8 years ago all but 8 homes in this plan were empty all summer but as time as gone on  that has changed and now about 1/3 of the people stay all year. A great many are widows who after the spouse died, and they owned a home here and a home up north, decided to sell up north and live here - where all the outside work is done by landscapers and there is no snow to shovel, plus these small homes 1300 to 1500 sq ft -are easy to maintain.

Our small town is predominantly snowbirds owned property.The entire town is very very quiet all summer. Many businesses like restaurants, beauty shops etc close for the summer because they make enough $$$ during the season to cover them for the year, so they lay off their employees and close.My beautician reduces her hours to 2 mornings a week only while her kids are home on vacation, and she's not even busy then. However, in the winter it's impossible to eat out without a reservation because everywhere is packed. The traffic is horrific. And generally , we much prefer , as much as possible, to stay home from Jan 1 to Mar 31, or we just go to the Elks. 

[dulwich]

@151949  Do your food prices go up when snowbirds arrive?  Ours jumped considerably higher then went back down in summer.  Agree about the restaurants too.

I did love my house - still miss it - and the views and pecan forests around us but there were only a dozen or so of us living there permenently.  Glad people are now staying all year as I think the style and location of community we lived in were really nice.

[151949]

@dulwich Yes, absolutely our food prices will really jump starting about Oct1. I am already stocking up on those items I don't have to worry about spoiling or getting stale. Pasta , canned items, rice, soups, soap and tide etc.Anything I have enough room to store and I know I'll use. Unfortunately, some things like toilet paper and paper towels I just don't have enough room to store a stock of.