LOL - I was not suggesting that any of this group become reverse snowbird. Just thinking that it could be an opportunity for a struggling retiree (or anybody needing dirt cheap living expenses). Maybe even make money house sitting.
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If you’re not on the ocean, what is the draw of Florida over other warm, non hurricane attractive states?
No state income taxes?
Maybe, but I can’t imagine no sales tax being the only draw.
If you haven’t already, please visit LV in the summer and stay there for at least a couple of weeks before you move there. It’s a whole different level of hot than many places I’ve been.
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I think real estate costs in the center of Florida are generally pretty low (likely because there is not a ton of demand). If I think about states that are warm in the winter, Florida has water. It has some culture, thought that is pretty much on the coasts (maybe Gaineseville or Orlando?). But, the other states that are as warm as Florida in the winter are probably the San Diego area, Southern Arizona and parts of Texas. San Diego is a lot more expensive and has higher taxes (though has good weather it year-round). Relative to these three areas, Florida has water (though I’ve learned that San Diego is doing a great job on desalination).
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Why do people snowbird?
No snow to clear. No snow in April. No ice. No sub zero temperatures. No driving in such. No seeing your neighbors for months.
Why people I know go to central Florida. Warm winter months. Not as expensive and not as congested. Golf, pickleball, walking, running. All the things you do in the summer up north. Cheap to fly to Florida. Many from the Midwest can fly back and forth, keeping doctor appointments and family members can visit easily and cheaply.
You will undoubtedly know friends down there and will have visitors who want to get out of the winter weather.
There are plenty of people who don’t care about the ocean. They just want to do stuff outside. I promise the people I know aren’t fancy and are not looking for anything culturally related
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My husband’s grandparents had a home in a Boston suburb and a place on the Cape for summer. Then they sold the Boston home and did summers on the Cape and winters in a condo in Fort Lauderdale, not far from the beach. Then the Cape house went to the golden grandson (haha) and they were full-time in FL. By that time, the heat wasn’t an issue for them. They lived out their remaining years in FL.
I think it was Hurricane Andrew that had GFIL evacuating on his own; it’s a wonder he survived, and he moved into assisted living not long after.
I think it was a transition that made sense.
A lot of people I know or worked with did the snowbird thing to AZ. The ones who just moved down w/o considering the summer heat are miserable.
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We are on Cape Cod visiting family right now (as is often the case in summer and sometimes offseason too). Over the years we’ve met many Cape Codders who spend winter in warmer places, often Florida.
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Except to maybe escape the crowds WHHHYYY would anyone leave Cape Cod in the summer?! It has to be the best season or at least next to fall.
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To help welcome a new grandbaby and be the household worker bees and help the family adjust to a new little one. 
in two different situations we have been asked this exact question about leaving a best weather/scenery place.
I told both my parents (divorced) when they separately moved from Michigan to Arizona:
- Don’t move just to be near me and DH. We have been very mobile all our lives, and it is highly likely that we will move again.
- Don’t scoff at the heat. Spend weeks of mid-summer with us (both did) before you decide. You will hibernate from the sun here every bit as much as you hide from the cold there. You may not shovel sunshine, but it will be a burden nonetheless.
They both acclimated but both miss the water and greenery of Michigan. In the past few years, my 90-year-old dad says he wishes he never moved (for reasons that don’t make sense now), and my mother has visited the cabin a couple of times to get her fill of Michigan-like weather and scenery, but she says her travel days are over, so she just endures the AZ summer though her heat tolerance is high.
Arizona is beautiful in many ways, and the weather is lovely most of the year. People are still flocking here, but buyer beware.
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OOPS - corrected my post… cape cod snowbirding to FL.
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I told my mom if she wanted to have someone to take care of her then it would be up to her to move close to me because I wouldn’t be traveling to where she is. I was able to do it pretty well when she was in NJ up to few years ago. When she started having to go to hospital from time to time it became difficult. Now she lives half a block from me. I pop over whenever she needs me.
I am doing the same with my kids. We made a decision to live close by each other, so I could see the grandchildren now and later on they could take care of me without a lot of inconvenience.
I love NyC area. It has four seasons, and we don’t have a lot of extreme weathers - hurricane, tornado, earthquake. The worst thing we get is a big snow storm.
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I do think that when I am “old old”, which will depend on health, I would like to live reasonably close to at least one of my kids. Who knows if that will be possible and there is always the possiblity of the kid moving again, but will cross that bridge if we get there.
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I definitely hear what you are saying. Last year in early August I spent 4 days in LV. It was a solo trip for me, so I did a lot walking around outside. It was definitely hot for sure. Ironically, I got off the plane and my room wasn’t ready and I jumped into a poker tournament. I was wearing shorts and a polo. In 3-4 hours I was freezing sitting in the poker room. I was drinking coffee to warm up. On a break a ran outside just to warm up.
I do understand that there will be time in the Summer where going outside will not be ideal at all. That is why if we move there I must have a pool. If we go single family home it will need a pool. Or if we go condo the pool must be nice and useable.
I just can’t stand January & February where I currently live. It is dark early. We don’t go outside except to go to work or the store. Then there is the shoveling of snow.
Not to make a move solely about money but no state taxes and lower property taxes definitely helps push the scale towards LV.
As I have said before I am 9-10 years away and things could easily change.
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Just note that you will only be able to swim in it during the cooler months. Once summer hits, the water temp will rise such that it won’t be comfortable anymore. Neighbors used to throw enormous amounts of ice into their pools when out-of-town guests insisted on swimming late July-September. We had a huge pool (40,000 gallons) and stopped going in by August. A residential pool is basically just a water feature during the hottest months (when you want it most). Commercial pools circulate fresh/cold water to keep them comfortable. The pool is actually what pushed us out of our Scottsdale house. After 16 years there, we weren’t using it much, never during the hottest months, and filling it in would devalue the property too much, so we chose a resort community with multiple pools we don’t have to maintain.
AZ natives rely on A/C, cool showers, and travel to get through the summer. Cold casinos do a booming business in the heat.
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My AZ kid says he spends about 3 months in air conditioning. We in New England spend at least that amount with our heat on. My kid says…the months without the horrible heat are actually gorgeous in AZ. But he does visit us in the fall to see real changing leaves.
I can’t see us ever moving there, but I wouldn’t mind a two month rental in January and February.
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Instead of snowbirds, San Diego gets Zonies - people who come from Arizona in the summer to escape the heat. Lots of Arizona license plates around July-August.
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I do have concerns about continued warming in Arizona making fewer months habitable. For @ChoatieMom, that would be Ok because she can adjust her times in AZ versus ME.
ShawD will be living near us but ShawSon is in the Bay Area. He and his wife have given some thought to buying a place in Sea Ranch, which they love. They are doing well financially, but we would help them with that. She has to get to the South Bay three days a week, but they could spend four days in Sea Ranch, which is just gorgeous. I wonder if a self-driving Tesla could handle Highway 1 up and down the coast.
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