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Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,160
Registered: ‎10-04-2010

Question for the snowbirds...

I have a SIL & BIL who are snowbirds, and I know they are here for the holidays and then off they go south. I understand this part, but I wonder if there's anyone who could just move south and not go back and forth. Maybe it's too hot and humid down south. Although, we have humidity here to choke you! But the chance to be out of snow once and for all, would be great. We have other reasons to stay in this state and I really don't want to be down south full time. (Bugs). I just wonder, if you could would you move where you don't have to contend with snow?

Super Contributor
Posts: 1,248
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

We have a lot of snowbirds where I live and, eventually, many of them decide to move here. I guess they get to a certain age and decide enough of snow is enough. Too much work.

Super Contributor
Posts: 400
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

At this point in my life, I wouldn't. Even though I'm right on the beach, I try not to go near the state of Florida between May 1st and October 1st. It's waaaayyyyy too hot and humid. I have a lot of friends, family and other interests there though, so sometimes I have to buck up and make a long weekend run.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,954
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

I have a number of relatives with second homes in FLA.

They wouldn't THINK of going there past April - early May at the latest.

They enjoy the FLA weather but also love the change of seasons up North too.

One time I used my cousin's place at Seaside over the 4th of July....NEVER AGAIN!!!!!

A woman I worked with got a Disneyworld timeshare for Labor Day week. It was a bargain - I can imagine why...

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

We are snowbirds. When we started this we knew that ultimately we would end up full time in Florida so we sold our home here and moved into one we had built there. Now, when we come north for 5 months, we stay in a camper near Pittsburgh. It is quite large for a camper and very comfortable but , nonetheless, it is a camper, and we can't be here when it is cold out.We leave when the campground closes in mid Oct and come back to Pa. around mid May. our plan is to do this until it becomes too much of a burden on us then we will move full time to our home in Florida. We are 65 & 69 years old and we are hoping we can do this another 10 years, God willing.We do not have children or grandchildren - that makes a huge difference in us not feeling we need to be here for the holidays. This is much less complicated than having 2 homes to care for. There are services that do home watches in Fl for a small fee. In the plan where I live 2/3 of the residents snowbird so it is extremely quiet during the summer there. The nice thing about only having a camper up here is when we leave we drain out all the water and we pay a company to come in and winterize everything with antifreeze, and we don't have to even think about it again until spring. We have been doing this for 4 years so far we are happy with our decision to do this. We are glad we sold our home and got the move over with so when we do choose to quit snowbirding we won't have that to face at 80 years old. Our next move I assume will be into the Assisted living someday.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

I wanted to add that we moved to the small town where we live in Fl. because we have family there , and when we visited we loved it there. Since then 2 other couples who are good friends and visited us there fell in love with our area and have also purchased homes and moved there. One is our closest friend. It has made a tremendous difference to us having our very good friends and some close relatives closeby. Of course we have made friends with some of our neighbors but that is not the same as the friends you have known for as long as you can remember.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,953
Registered: ‎05-13-2012

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

Jobs took us to Florida years ago. It was like being on vacation year round!! Never got used to the roaches but we loved living the good life in Florida!!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

As for bugs in Florida - we have our home sprayed outside 4x a year and we wrap up all the food in the pantry to keep things out of it after learning the hard way about ants. We have not had an insect in the house since we started with the exterminator. We had one palmetto bug once that came in with a bag of peaches - DH killed him with wasp spray. Knock on wood - haven't had any since. You can't leave fruit and things sitting out in Fl though the way you can up north.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 41,253
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

my aunt just made the decision to STOP being a snowbird and live in florida all year long. she will probably only come up during the christmas holidays since her entire family is still here. her kids are not happy about it, especially with her health problems, but they really cannot do anything.

she downsized from her large home about 10 years ago, bought a townhouse here and bought a townhouse in boynton beach. she would have her car shipped back and forth twice a year. she put her townhouse on the market about a month ago, pretty much sold everything out of it and is ready to go back to florida, even if her home doesnt sell by september.

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein
Super Contributor
Posts: 771
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Question for the snowbirds...

The only answer is California. (My home, born and raised for 35 years.) Not much humidity and the extra taxes are worth every penny.

Between the work of dealing with snow and the ick that builds up on walls and everything in your house in a humid climate (and Wisconsin isn't as bad as the more southern states) it's a whole lotta work. Add to that the fact that there are a few months of the year in mid winter where the weather is just deadly if you lose power or heat or a car breakdown or just a slip and fall on your own back porch can be fatal if no one is there to help.

FYI.....just because that California tax bill seems high doesn't mean everything else is higher. I just lost my mother about 30 hours ago. The cost for a simple cremation with a simple container is $3,400. My aunt in California was cremated two years ago and with the purchase of a nice urn (they were having services for her where they would need one) it was $1,000 less.

Note: I'm a little more jaded against the mid-west right now because I just came off of 2+ months of not having sewer because our main line froze this year in this record breaking cold. $500 heating bills are no fun either.

I bought a motorhome a few months ago to fix up and outfit for DH's retirement in August of next year 2015 and we're outta here! At least temporarily. I won't take my middle son out of high school as long as he's doing great here so we can't move permanently until after 2017.