Please share your snowbird budget with me!

[Osprey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Badger We have rented 2 BR (pet friendly) ocean front condos at MB for ~$1200/month. Weather is as PB described, mostly pleasant with a few cold snaps. Numerous flags from Canada and many northern states hang from the balconies. We vacay there not for the weather, but to stay at a huge, uncrowded beach that is very sparsely populated. And yeah, all costs are very reasonable.

I have 2 Labrador retrievers, do the pet friendly condos have a weight limit for dogs?

[JP.mpls]

Sunset,
I agree. Not much savings. Probably trying to feel better about paying for rent.

The cost to rent in the panhandle, and in golf shores is significant cheaper, but it is also much colder in December through February.

I knew someone with a place in Destine Florida. They said, the summer months are the in demand rental months. People living in the southeastern states want to be near the ocean in the hot summer months.
They let their parents use the place in the winter.

JP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset They must have been exaggerating as most folks places from up North would freeze the water pipes, and possibly heave the foundation footings. When we snowbird, I shut off the water, turn the water heater to vacation (used to be off for the old one), and turn the heat down to about 60 F. So a tiny savings on our heating bill that can hit as high as $100/mo in the Winter, might save $30 as the first $30 of the bill is admin fees.

[brett]

Sunset....first of all we made a mistake and landed flew into Cebu on Valentines day. Very, very crowded.

We found the basic tourist services that we tend to depend on lacking. Internet access was abysmal. Communication with several island accommodation providers was very poor.

Internet was abysmal. Transport the same. Booking air at a local agency was a zoo. Once they reached some dollar limit for the day they ceased taking air reservations! The biggest difference was the people. Compared to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia where everyone seems extremely friendly, helpful, and industrious our impression of many Philippines that we came in contact with was that they had 'given up'. To us it seemed like they did not see any better future for themselves. The odd thing is we have many Philippines immigrants in our country. They are very different from their former countrymen in the Philippines in terms of outlook, etc.

We had enough on our short visit. It really brought home to us the benefit of not having a firm itinerary or at least having one that we can change as required. This past winter were started up the Mexican coast in Huatulco. Everything we read, and those we spoke to suggested to us that we may want to stay for a few weeks. We left after four days. But a few other places where we thought we would be for three days ended up being a week or longer.

[brett]

Sunset....first of all we made a mistake and landed flew into Cebu on Valentines day. Very, very crowded. Spent a day, then went Panglao,then Palawan for several days. Then decided to return to Thailand poste haste.

We found the basic tourist services that we tend to depend on lacking. Internet access was abysmal. Communication with several island accommodation providers was very poor.

Internet was abysmal. Transport the same. Booking air at a local agency was a zoo. Once they reached some dollar limit for the day they ceased taking air reservations! The biggest difference was the people. Compared to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia where everyone seems extremely friendly, helpful, and industrious our impression of many Philippines that we came in contact with was that they had 'given up'. To us it seemed like they did not see any better future for themselves. The odd thing is we have many Philippines immigrants in our country. They are very different from their former countrymen in the Philippines in terms of outlook, etc.

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 We spend a month near Cancun at an all inclusive resort. Total cost is about $5,500. This includes unlimited food and drinks and round trip airfare from Seattle.

I wish people would post the Hotel name so others can check things out. We also would like to know more about this in Mexico (Anywhere). We have only found All Inclusive for $2,400 a week for 2 people. This is the same price for East or West coast Mexico as we like both.

[brett]

We were seven weeks in Mexico this past winter. We stayed in all kinds of places. We picked up two last minute stay at AI's during our travels. Five days each. One in Playa, the other in Nuevo Vallarta. We enjoyed both but we also enjoyed our stays in other places. The hotel we stayed at in Acapulco for seven nights had an optional AI package but we did not take it. We did about two weeks around Cancun area, a week or more in each of Puerto Escondido, Acapulco, Zihuantenejo, and ten days in P. Vallarta area. We were planning to go to Mazatlan but covid issues convinced us to end our trip in P.V.

[RetireAge50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider I wish people would post the Hotel name so others can check things out. We also would like to know more about this in Mexico (Anywhere). We have only found All Inclusive for $2,400 a week for 2 people. This is the same price for East or West coast Mexico as we like both.

We usually go during off-peak times Oct/Nov. We have stayed at Marina El CID and Ventus in Puerto Morelos. Water is not good there but everything else excellent. Cancún we stayed at Omni. We just booked Hard Rock Hotel in Cancún for 2 weeks for 2 people for $1,750. This was a limited time special (Costco) which by the next day was over $4k.

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 We usually go during off-peak times Oct/Nov. We have stayed at Marina El CID and Ventus in Puerto Morelos. Water is not good there but everything else excellent. Cancún we stayed at Omni. We just booked Hard Rock Hotel in Cancún for 2 weeks for 2 people for $1,750. This was a limited time special (Costco) which by the next day was over $4k.

Thanks

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider I wish people would post the Hotel name so others can check things out. We also would like to know more about this in Mexico (Anywhere). We have only found All Inclusive for $2,400 a week for 2 people. This is the same price for East or West coast Mexico as we like both.

All properties are not the same..I think it's more then lucky if I see an AI I enjoy at less then 250 a day total for two.

[brett]

This past March we paid $950.USD for five AI nights at Riu Vallarta in Neuvo Vallarta. This was for an upgraded room...suite w/ ocean view. .

We paid $925 USD for five nights AI at the Riu Tequila in Playa del Carmen. Standard room. Early Feb this year.

Both were late booking offers while we were traveling in Mexico. Both booked through a third party booking site. No preference for Riu, just what came up for the right price/reasonable hotel, right location.

Both no airfare...we were traveling in Mexico. The AI's are fine but we are ready to go after 5-7 days. All the food starts to taste the same.

We have also stayed at Moon Palace and The Fives in Cancun on a full air/hotel/AI basis. Forget what we paid. Had our daughter's wedding at Moon Palace.

[Eucerin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireAge50 We usually go during off-peak times Oct/Nov. We have stayed at Marina El CID and Ventus in Puerto Morelos. Water is not good there but everything else excellent. Cancún we stayed at Omni. We just booked Hard Rock Hotel in Cancún for 2 weeks for 2 people for $1,750. This was a limited time special (Costco) which by the next day was over $4k.

$1,750 for 2 weeks in Cancun all inclusive is an unbelievably good price, do you have Costco notify you or you go to the site often to check?

[Eucerin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett This past March we paid $950.USD for five AI nights at Riu Vallarta in Neuvo Vallarta. This was for an upgraded room...suite w/ ocean view. . We paid $925 USD for five nights AI at the Riu Tequila in Playa del Carmen. Standard room. Early Feb this year. Both were late booking offers while we were traveling in Mexico. Both booked through a third party booking site. No preference for Riu, just what came up for the right price/reasonable hotel, right location. Both no airfare...we were traveling in Mexico. The AI's are fine but we are ready to go after 5-7 days. All the food starts to taste the same. We have also stayed at Moon Palace and The Fives in Cancun on a full air/hotel/AI basis. Forget what we paid. Had our daughter's wedding at Moon Palace.

Booking through 3rd party, do you mean Expedia sort of?

[brett]

We actually booked through a UK firm, TUI. We paid in GBP. But we priced direct with Riu, with booking.com, hotels.com.,expedia, agoda,...there re many many sites

When we travel we check several sites for pricing including many out of country sites. And we have called or skyped vendors and suppliers in the UK, South Africa, Australia, UK, Turkey on occasion in order to obtain better pricing on identical products than were available on the typical North American vendor and third party websites.

[GravitySucks]

January 2018 stayed in a 2 bed, 1 1/2 bath house at Ocean Lakes Myrtle Beach think it was an extra $100 for the dog. Only limit on dogs from the resort is no Rottweiler or Pit Bull. Whole month was about $1,800.
Some rentals say only 20lb pups or under. My shepard is 90lbs. It does cut down the available units. I rented a different house in that resort for 2 weeks in March 2020 and the site I used (VRBO?) didn't mention dog weight. I did see the house on a different site that had a 20lb limit listed. Not sure how they would enforce that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osprey I have 2 Labrador retrievers, do the pet friendly condos have a weight limit for dogs?

[RetireAge50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eucerin $1,750 for 2 weeks in Cancun all inclusive is an unbelievably good price, do you have Costco notify you or you go to the site often to check?

We periodically look around and just happened to see this deal. First time I noticed the Limited-Time Deals section so wonder if these pop up once in awhile.

[Fermion]

Buy some snowmobiles and embrace the winter!

[finnski1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Buy some snowmobiles and embrace the winter!

Beautiful pic, where is that?
My wife and I still love the winter, do lots of snow shoeing,winter hiking etc.
In fact on days like yesterday(96, hazy, hot ,humid) I really miss it, or at least the fall"soup season" as we like to call it.

[Out-to-Lunch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Buy some snowmobiles and embrace the winter!

Yeah, there is that.

I always say that I don't mind how cold it gets here. I just mind how long it gets cold! By March, I am annoyed, and by April I am stir crazy.

[Eucerin]

To brett and RetireAge50 -
Thanks to you both for your responses, its very helpful.

[LiveBelowMeans]

Just thought I would mention if you are wanting to stay 5 months, maybe you should stay 6 months and become residents of Florida. (You actually don’t have to be in Florida 6 months, you just have to be in Florida more than Wisconsin if you travel elsewhere) Depending on your income, buying a house/condo in Florida and becoming residents could pay for itself in tax savings. JMHO