Extended stay snowbird rentals where it's warm

[fireorbust]

We are having a tough time deciding where to retire to. Can't seem to find the right house in the right town. We will probably suspend our search til next spring. Our house is paid for.

Having said that, we might want a 3 month get away 1st qtr, 2019. We would like to rent a condo or home in Florida for Jan, Feb, March.

Since we don't know much about Florida, we need a little help.

1: Where is the best location for winter golf
2: We only need 1 or 2 bedrooms, don't want anything too "low rent"
3: We would prefer to have "unlimited" golf.
4: Is Florida the best snowbird state for Q1

Any ideas?

 

[marko]

Depends on where in Florida you're thinking of. If you're wanting to rent in the Miami-Palm Beach corridor, you're pretty late to find something for this coming winter

 

[Freedom56]

Palm Beach County has a lot of golf courses. This site may help you find what you are looking for:

Florida Monthly Rentals – Palm Beach Florida – PGA National Vacation Rentals

I would recommend staying east of the I-95 close to the coast in the corridor from Palm Beach Gardens all the way to Miami Beach.

Many of the nice condos do not allow short term rentals, AirBNB, or subletting. The association at our condo imposes a minimum 1 year lease and full background check before authorizing a lease agreement.

 

[Bamaman]

You might want to be looking south of Orlando if escaping cold weather is your priority. I.prefer the Gulf coast from Sarasota south.

As far as golf goes, Florida has no.lack of courses and developments with golf.

I used to spend 5 weeks a yar in Florida working. You might want to go for a visit to feel what area suits your needs. Online real estate search engines are also very good ways to see what suits your pocketbook.

 

[marko]

I would recommend staying east of the I-95 close to the coast in the corridor from Palm Beach Gardens all the way to Miami Beach.

+1 Definitely stay east of 95.

Some parts of Florida can get dicey once you get a mile or two from the beaches.

 

[VanWinkle]

I like to golf in the 65 to 75 degree range and find the northern areas (Panama City Beach/Destin) have much lower costs for both beach side condos and golf.
It gets a little warmer south, but that is not what works for me when golfing.
To each his own!!

VW

 

[kgtest]

We are having a tough time deciding where to retire to. Can't seem to find the right house in the right town. We will probably suspend our search til next spring. Our house is paid for.

Having said that, we might want a 3 month get away 1st qtr, 2019. We would like to rent a condo or home in Florida for Jan, Feb, March.

Since we don't know much about Florida, we need a little help.

1: Where is the best location for winter golf
2: We only need 1 or 2 bedrooms, don't want anything too "low rent"
3: We would prefer to have "unlimited" golf.
4: Is Florida the best snowbird state for Q1

Any ideas?

Been travelling to FL for the past four years. Mainly been staying in the villages, we've stayed in three different sub developments and enjoyed them all. It can be chilly in January/February but its still warmer than where I come.


The villages offers basically unlimited golf, and most rentals come with an electric or gas golf cart to get around. They have a few Arnold Palmer coarses (at least two that I know of).


If it turns out to be a hotter winter, set that tee time early. All the pickle ball players are usually wrapped up about 11am, and you don't want to rent a place adjacent to those courts. Unless you like hearing pickle ball competitions at 6am.

 

[IMATERP]

Jekyll Island, Georgia and Hilton Head Island, SC are not bad choices either. Usually the weather is pleasant 10 out of the 12 weeks.

I

 

[Bamaman]

I like to golf in the 65 to 75 degree range and find the northern areas (Panama City Beach/Destin) have much lower costs for both beach side condos and golf.
It gets a little warmer south, but that is not what works for me when golfing.
To each his own!!
VW

Ft. Walton's property taxes are the lowest in the state, too. It is cheaper to live in the panhandle.too,.but itmdoes.get cold in winter. But Fall and Spring are.longer there.

 

[Red Badger]

While more chilly than FL, Myrtle Beach area has +100 golf courses.

 

[Cut-Throat]

We are having a tough time deciding where to retire to. Can't seem to find the right house in the right town. We will probably suspend our search til next spring. Our house is paid for.

Having said that, we might want a 3 month get away 1st qtr, 2019. We would like to rent a condo or home in Florida for Jan, Feb, March.

Since we don't know much about Florida, we need a little help.

1: Where is the best location for winter golf
2: We only need 1 or 2 bedrooms, don't want anything too "low rent"
3: We would prefer to have "unlimited" golf.
4: Is Florida the best snowbird state for Q1

Any ideas?

I rented in Florida for 4 winters..... 2011-2014 --- I tried to Rent a Place in South Florida (Naples area) for 2019 in January of this year. After about 50 inquires, I gave up and rented in Hawaii.... The answers I got most were "Our current renters are staying next year", I won't know until May whether the current renters are renting again"... "Already Booked - Sorry".



After Hawaii this coming winter, I will go back to the Bahamas.... No traffic, Better fishing, Warmer weather.... Crystal clear water. - Lobsters, Conch

 

[bhoferp]

Not Florida, but the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area of Alabama has several golf courses. I don't golf, so I don't know about the quality, but the area is nice and prices are reasonable.

 

[brucethebroker]

We winter on the gulf side, south of Ft. Myers. Blue, nearly clear skies 95%+ of the time. Once in a great while an hour of rain or so-then back to blue skies. All of this in shirt sleeve weather, Dec. through March. (Usually a cold spell of about a week each Jan. Sweatshirts or jackets then.) If you like to walk, bike or go to the beach, the weather is hard to beat. Totally spring like.

Good friends have spent the last two winters in Pensacola. Cool, sweater type weather mostly, and too cold to really want to be outside much. Their solution? Winter in Sarasota this year.

1+ to be south of Orlando/Tampa for nicer outdoor weather.

BTW, I occasionally fly home from FL for 2-3 days to check up on things over the winter (Midwest). Even worse than the pressing cold/snow/ice are the gray, depressing days. You REALLY notice the difference then.

 

[brucethebroker]

I rented in Florida for 4 winters..... 2011-2014 --- I tried to Rent a Place in South Florida (Naples area) for 2019 in January of this year. After about 50 inquires, I gave up and rented in Hawaii...

How did the rental prices compare, if you don't mind sharing?

 

[Cut-Throat]

How did the rental prices compare, if you don't mind sharing?

Per Square foot Hawaii is the most expensive, Followed by Florida, Then the Bahamas.. You can get a place over close to Ocean much easier in Hawaii and the Bahamas.


Florida is the cheapest, as Flights and Rental Cars come into play... You can drive to Florida.


But the Naples area was hard to rent... Just because it was on VRBO, did not mean it was available in the Winter.. Maybe for $10 Grand a month, but for $5 Grand much harder to find... So, Florida was time consuming and frustrating for me... You decide on a place and book it, then the owner comes back and says whoaa! --- I don't think it's available for then.

 

[bearkeley]

We travelled up and down the east coast this year on our boat and bought a rental condo on Hutchinson Island (Vero Beach / Ft Pierce area between Cape Canevaral and Palm Beach). Peak season (Jan-Apr) on the beach is almost sold out and at premium rents $3500-$5000/mo but on a golf course, it should be a little less and should still have some availability. Check out VRBO and Craigslist. Indian River Plantation might be of interest. Another place to consider is Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast. Beautiful area but could get colder in the winter

 

[Teacher Terry]

We looked at rentals in the Villages and were shocked at the prices. Plus few took dogs and if they did only one. Then looked at RV parks and some wouldn’t rent if RV older than 20 years, some rented year in advance and quickly became very frustrating.

 

[Cut-Throat]

some rented year in advance and quickly became very frustrating.

Yes, It is very frustrating to rent in Florida for the winter.... You go to a place like VRBO and there is probably only about 5% that are actually available for the 3 months that you want.... You just can't tell which is the 5%. So you end up sending 50 inquires and come up empty....



So, I have gone offshore with much better results (almost 100%).... Bahamas, Australia, Hawaii, Dominican Republic, Barbados etc. etc. --- The Flight plus car rental - Foreign Country thing scares a lot of people off... Harder to take Grandma, the Dogs, the Boat, the trailer etc. etc.

 

[RAE]

After Hawaii this coming winter, I will go back to the Bahamas.... No traffic, Better fishing, Warmer weather.... Crystal clear water. - Lobsters, Conch

Nice to hear from you again, Cut-Throat (from a fellow ER.org old-timer, and fisherman). My wife and I made four trips to Eleuthera several years ago now, and we loved it down there. As you say, spiny lobster, conch, great weather, and very good fishing (I fish mostly from a kayak). We had a great place to rent down there for a while, but eventually it sold to a very wealthy individual who no longer rents it out. Where do you go in the Bahamas? We definitely want to go back, but first we have to wait for our (old) yellow lab to pass on, and then we will have more freedom. I definitely want to get back into fishing down there. Bonefish are great, but I also like to fish for yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, mutton snapper, grouper, etc.. Car rentals are expensive down there, as you say, and the extra flight to get there adds to the cost as well, but still.........I want to go back.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Nice to hear from you again, Cut-Throat (from a fellow ER.org old-timer, and fisherman). Where do you go in the Bahamas?

We wintered for 3 years on Grand Bahama Island in Freeport.... But we have also stayed on Abaco, Exuma etc... It depends on how remote you want to be... Most of the people live in Nassua (New Providence Island)...



As you know Groceries are twice as much, Rental Cars are twice as much, Flights are twice as much.... But that is the price of no Traffic, Good Fishing, Pristine Beaches and the Clearest water on the planet!

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have to be able to bring the dogs to go for 2 months. Otherwise we have a 10 day limit so will just take a cruise to somewhere warm. This February off to the Caribbean.

 

[RAE]

We wintered for 3 years on Grand Bahama Island in Freeport.... But we have also stayed on Abaco, Exuma etc... It depends on how remote you want to be... Most of the people live in Nassua (New Providence Island)...



As you know Groceries are twice as much, Rental Cars are twice as much, Flights are twice as much.... But that is the price of no Traffic, Good Fishing, Pristine Beaches and the Clearest water on the planet!

Thanks. We actually prefer places with fewer amenities (and pristine beaches, good fishing), which is why Eleuthera worked well for us. But we are open to going to other islands in the Bahamas as well.........just depends where we can find a suitable rental in our price range. Yep, car rentals certainly are expensive, and flights the same, but as you say, the positives outweigh the negatives, at least for us. We are going to Florida this winter for a couple months (Crystal River area), because we can take the dog along, and hopefully that will work out okay. But I do want to get back to the Bahamas eventually.

 

[Scuba]

We have to be able to bring the dogs to go for 2 months. Otherwise we have a 10 day limit so will just take a cruise to somewhere warm. This February off to the Caribbean.

We experienced the same frustrations attempting to rent in S FL. The HOA’s don’t usually allow dogs and units seem to be sold out over a year in advance. We had a great experience renting for 3 months in the USVI. Easy to find a furnished rental, harder to find one that took dogs but we did find one. It was hard on our indoor dog for the first few weeks (new plants/environment to adjust to), but he did fine after a few weeks.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have 3 dogs so I gave up. I did think it would be easier to find a reasonable RV park but wasn’t able too. So neither option worked for us.