For those retired in Florida...

[Beachgrl]

where do you go in the summer? we are planning our retirement in 6 years and will be giving up our NYC apartment. I love the heat and could stay in Fl year round, dh however does not love it and wants to leave for summers.

So where do you go?

 

[Bamaman]

The mountains of Northeast Georgia. East Tennesse, Southwest South Carolina and Western North Carolina is covered with Florida license plates. The change elevation and weather is popular and the region is breathtaking in beauty.

Home prices are most reasonable in Georgia. Tennessee also has no state income taxes and low property taxes.

 

[Jerry1]

I don't have the means to do it, but my ex-boss lives in Florida something greater than 6 months for residency purposes and then comes back to Michigan in the summer. He has a home on a lake in Northern Michigan. Very nice.

 

[pb4uski]

Vermont for us as we have family and ties there.

When we were living in Vermont year-round I often said that our wonderful summers were our "dividend" for putting up with long, cold and snowy winters. Now, I get the dividend but don't have to pay the cost.

 

[MRG]

Both my parents and in-laws stayed year round. They were both in southern coastal areas, but we never visited in the summer.

I recall being in Orlando in July on business. Suit, tie and hot. I drove around in the rental blowing the A.C. on high before I could go into the client's business. As soon as I stepped out the humid air hit my eyeglasses and they fogged over. My vision was estimated around 20/800 then and it wasn't fun finding my way there.

I'd look at Maine, Bar Harbor is nice.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Depends where in Florida, coastal NE Florida is good all year round. We do not leave in the summer except when we visit our rellies in the frozen north. Then we make a point of ONLY going there in the summer.

 

[Badger]

Moved to Florida 56 years ago. It was pre-Disney so much has changed over the years. However, one thing is constant during the summer - heat and humidity. I also live in NE Florida at the beach. A typical summer day would be to get all my outdoor chores and play over by no later than 11AM. By then I am soaked to the skin and in severe need of hydration. After that it is inside for air conditioning. Maybe some time in the studio, grocery shopping, or the movies.

We have spent many weeks during the summers in N Georgia, Western N Carolina, Maine and Nova Scotia. Anywhere to get some relief from the heat and humidity.

Cheers!

 

[Dash man]

Main home in SE PA, just bought a Jersey Shore home for a few weeks each year in the summer, renting out the rest of the season. Winter condo in SE Florida right on the beach.

 

[Beachgrl]

Love all the ideas! Do you guys just rent an apartment for 2 months or hotel or other??

Edited to say we definitely don't plan on buying another place.

 

[Beachgrl]

Both my parents and in-laws stayed year round. They were both in southern coastal areas, but we never visited in the summer.

I recall being in Orlando in July on business. Suit, tie and hot. I drove around in the rental blowing the A.C. on high before I could go into the client's business. As soon as I stepped out the humid air hit my eyeglasses and they fogged over. My vision was estimated around 20/800 then and it wasn't fun finding my way there.

I'd look at Maine, Bar Harbor is nice.

LOL yes this is familiar; we were in Naples one August with a sick relative and walking from the car to the hospital we were just drenched mid day. Sometimes it can get a bit too hot even for me, but in general i'm like a cat!

 

[Beachgrl]

Vermont for us as we have family and ties there.

When we were living in Vermont year-round I often said that our wonderful summers were our "dividend" for putting up with long, cold and snowy winters. Now, I get the dividend but don't have to pay the cost.

I hear that!!!

 

[Dash man]

Love all the ideas! Do you guys just rent an apartment for 2 months or hotel or other??

Edited to say we definitely don't plan on buying another place.

We like to own. We own four properties of which we rent two. One a long term tenant and our Jersey Shore home will be a weekly rental. This year it looks like $3400/week for the prime weeks...8-10 weeks.
Edit to add: our condo association in Florida doesn’t allow short term rentals and few in our area do.

 

[Bamaman]

Don't complain about Florida heat in the Summer. It is actually hotter then in many other parts of the South, especially in the big cities. Louisiana and Texas specifically.

The water that keeps Florida warm in winter also keeps them just a little cooler in Summer than they should be.

 

[pb4uski]

Love all the ideas! Do you guys just rent an apartment for 2 months or hotel or other??

Edited to say we definitely don't plan on buying another place.

We didn't either.

We rented for one month in Naples in early 2015, then rented for 3 months in Sarasota in early 2016.

We intended to keep renting. When we were trying to find a rental in a specific area for early 2017 we could not find anything but a FSBO crossed our radar and we ended up buying as the carrying costs for the year (HOA fees, property taxes, power, etc.) was less than 3 months rent.

2018 will be our second year owning and we love it... we now spend about ! months here and 6 months at home.. perpetual summer.

 

[CaptTom]

To those hearty soles who survive Florida summers, my hat is off to you!

To mere mortals, South Florida was uninhabitable until the advent of air conditioning. Better transportation also allowed the "snowbird" lifestyle.

Some of my earliest memories are family vacations in the (un-air-conditioned) station wagon, camping out in a tent, on our way to visit family in Florida... in August! No interest in doing anything like that again.

I'm hunkering down here for another Maine winter. It's not so bad now that I don't have to get up at 4 AM to shovel the driveway, then drive 25 miles through a storm to get to w*rk. Ask me again in February

 

[neihn]

We are from Portland OR, bought a home in SWFL last year. Our plan is coming back to Portland OR during the summer (we still own the OR home), visiting kids, grand kids, extended family.

 

[Blueskies123]

To those hearty soles who survive Florida summers, my hat is off to you!

To mere mortals, South Florida was uninhabitable until the advent of air conditioning. Better transportation also allowed the "snowbird" lifestyle.

Some of my earliest memories are family vacations in the (un-air-conditioned) station wagon, camping out in a tent, on our way to visit family in Florida... in August! No interest in doing anything like that again.

I'm hunkering down here for another Maine winter. It's not so bad now that I don't have to get up at 4 AM to shovel the driveway, then drive 25 miles through a storm to get to w*rk. Ask me again in February

When I see these thoughts I have to smile. When I was growing up in South Florida in 50's no one had AC, not even the schools. My first car had no AC and no tinting and while I was in high school at the time lots of people drove to work in suites everyday with no AC.

 

[Sunset]

I had a friend who lived in Naples, he would drive up to his cottage in Canada for the months of June -> Sept to avoid the FL heat.

 

[ReadySetGo]

where do you go in the summer? we are planning our retirement in 6 years and will be giving up our NYC apartment. I love the heat and could stay in Fl year round, dh however does not love it and wants to leave for summers.



So where do you go?

The mountains in NC, around the Boone and Blowing rock areas, are a haven for folks escaping the Florida summers.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I still think NE FLA has the best all year climate in Florida. Yes it does get a little hot in the summer. But we lived in Toronto for many years and it can get pretty hot and humid there too in the summer. I personally feel it is a small price to pay for an almost perfect winter. I am originally form the UK and while it did take a little getting used to the summer temps, it was not that hard to do so. It took me WAY longer to get used to the laid back slower way of life than the weather. As We has always lived in fast pace areas such as London, Toronto, Calgary, Denver and Lost Angeles. But I am as slow as any Southerner now, I can easily keep [-]up[/-] "down" with them. BTW did I mention I have not moved to long trousers yet. Still in Shorts, FFs 7 T-Shirts.

It is Rainy today and a little Cold 66*F at the moment. Brrrrrrrr. will stay in today.

 

[kcowan]

I had a friend who lived in Naples, he would drive up to his cottage in Canada for the months of June -> Sept to avoid the FL heat.

I had a secretary who would take her holiday in July in Myrtle Beach. I asked why and she said she wanted heat and sun on vacation and had spent too many vacation days in cold and rainy weather north of Toronto in the summer. It is also an expensive place to rent in the summer. While Myrtle Beach is off-season.

 

[W2R]

I don't live in Florida, and doubt I ever will. But if I did, I know exactly where I'd go in the summertime.

The beach!!! I'd take waterproof sun block and frolic in the surf all day. Then I'd go home to my air conditioned house and post about it here.

 

[Souschef]

I used to visit my mom in West Palm Beach every May for my birthday. Parking was easy as all the snowbirds had left. Walking out of her door was like getting hit with a hot wet sponge.
I live in the County of Ventura CA, and the climate is perfect.
However, today it is going to be 92!

 

[Moemg]

I don't live in Florida, and doubt I ever will. But if I did, I know exactly where I'd go in the summertime.

The beach!!! I'd take waterproof sun block and frolic in the surf all day. Then I'd go home to my air conditioned house and post about it here.

That is exactly what most year round Floridians do .

 

[W2R]

That is exactly what most year round Floridians do .

Sounds really nice, to me.