Florida living

[ShokWaveRider]

Correct assumption.
Only the pool and surrounding area; not the whole backyard.
Keeping bugs out, potential snakes, bobcats, alligators.

And keeps the schmutz out of the pool. Leaves, palm frons etc. Pool clean up without them is a pain. Especially if you are like us being less than 2 miles from the beach as we always have a breeze.

 

[JoeWras]

That premium increase for flood insurance sounds like a change in flood plain rating.

Agree. I think the agency has been methodically updating the maps in recent years. There will be some unwanted surprises.

When I lived in FL (mid 80s), I had to have flood insurance (for the mortgage) and even for my modest $72k town home, it was expensive. I vowed to only live on high ground after that.

Today, I do a lot of volunteering repairing flood damaged homes. I feel for these folks who really cannot afford the insurance. Last week, we worked on a 1909 home that flooded in 2018. Yes, 5 years later the home is still being worked on. It was a family legacy, so they really can't "just move." They were a great family to work with. I hope they get another 110 year gap before the next flood.

 

[Time2]

We have been here for Irma and for Ian. We evacuated for Irma and sheltered in place for Ian. Both were experiences I really never want to have again, so this year I am going to try to plan a month + long road trip north during the worst of the season (Sept mostly). We'll see how that goes and whether we like it or not. It's hot anyways so why not get outta dodge for a bit and enjoy some cooler temps maybe in the mountains...we're retired!

I'm in Fl. also, I think leaving for Sept. is very hit or miss. Hurricanes are tracked from a long way out, so you have several days to pack and be ready to escape if it is needed. But if you need an excuse for Sept. road trip, that seems like a good one.

We hunkered down for Michael, while it was doing $90k of damage to our home, 8 days before power was restored, my cell company was down for 3 months, and about the same for cable. AT&T had the hardened cellphone system in town, so I got one of their phones, and tethered it to my computer so I had internet access and could fill out and send forms to the insurance company. I'm still unsure what we will do for the next one coming at us. We have limited access when returning from out of town, as the police often turn people back after a hurricane, so if you leave, it can be a while before you are allowed back depending on damage. Tire repair boomed after the hurricane, so many roofing nail around. I saw one guy parked with 4 flat tires.

 

[simple girl]

I'm in Fl. also, I think leaving for Sept. is very hit or miss. Hurricanes are tracked from a long way out, so you have several days to pack and be ready to escape if it is needed. But if you need an excuse for Sept. road trip, that seems like a good one.

I agree, it's hit or miss. I will be ready with my packing list and plan for where we want to go if it comes before I'm ready to leave. But, yeah, we enjoy traveling anyways, so it's a good excuse! Last year I had flights planned in October right when Ian hit, and they were cancelled, and we had to shelter in place. I learned not to schedule trips by flight during Sept/Oct. ARGH So road trip it is! Plus, we can take our fridge/freezer contents and not have to worry about dealing with that if the power goes out. We will also be able to take our bicycles with us on the car, so that's another bonus.

We hunkered down for Michael, while it was doing $90k of damage to our home, 8 days before power was restored, my cell company was down for 3 months, and about the same for cable. AT&T had the hardened cellphone system in town, so I got one of their phones, and tethered it to my computer so I had internet access and could fill out and send forms to the insurance company. I'm still unsure what we will do for the next one coming at us. We have limited access when returning from out of town, as the police often turn people back after a hurricane, so if you leave, it can be a while before you are allowed back depending on damage. Tire repair boomed after the hurricane, so many roofing nail around. I saw one guy parked with 4 flat tires.

Oh that's a difficult situation indeed!

 

[Shanky]

I'm twenty minutes from the Fort Meyers airport, and I really like that. For us, and for picking up family members occasionally.

Look at the flood maps. The houses on the canals near us flooded from Ian.

I met another snowbird couple from MN. They started out on the east coast, and then moved to SWFL. I asked why, and they said the traffic was half. I was shocked, because it seems very heavy here during the prime winter months.

My cousin has a SFH with pool. Says it costs $500/week to heat properly. I'm in a community, and they heat and maintain two beautiful pools. I'm glad they are doing that.

The maintenance crew in our community are really working hard. I never see them taking it easy. I think three guys full time. I'm glad I'm not doing it.

I think I lucked out with the association. It is run by owners. Many volunteers doing nice work in the community, and they try to not go crazy with the rules. My fees are very reasonable. Older community three miles from the beach, and walking distance to stores.

My biggest complaint: very poor effort to accommodate bicycle riders. Sarasota has done a much better job. They are planning a new trail along an old railroad line, but I'm sure that is at least 5 years away.

Good luck.

JP

We have a pool in our SFH that we keep year round at 84 degrees. We use an electric heat pump. (Bradenton Area). We have never even had a $200 monthly electric bill including everything in the house. Our house was built in late 2014 and is about 3100 SF. Pool is 26’x13’, so not large but not tiny either. Your friend must be using propane to heat to 103 degrees to pay that much.

 

[Dtail]

We have a pool in our SFH that we keep year round at 84 degrees. We use an electric heat pump. (Bradenton Area). We have never even had a $200 monthly electric bill including everything in the house. Our house was built in late 2014 and is about 3100 SF. Pool is 26’x13’, so not large but not tiny either. Your friend must be using propane to heat to 103 degrees to pay that much.

Yeah 2k monthly to heat a pool is kind of insane. We use the pool unheated around 6 months a year and only heat it otherwise to 86 degrees for special occasions.

 

[Ronstar]

So if Florida has bugs, lizards, snakes, crowds/traffic, hurricanes, heat, humidity, high cost of flood insurance, and high cost to heat a pool - why are so many people moving there? Certainly decent winter weather and no state income tax can’t be enough to draw people to Florida.

 

[aaronc879]

So if Florida has bugs, lizards, snakes, crowds/traffic, hurricanes, heat, humidity, high cost of flood insurance, and high cost to heat a pool - why are so many people moving there? Certainly decent winter weather and no state income tax can’t be enough to draw people to Florida.

The winter weather issue alone would be enough for me to move to Florida if my parents in Wisconsin didn't need help from me. It would of course be nice to have 2 homes but if I had to choose one I would choose Florida over Wisconsin for sure despite the negatives listed. That is how much I dislike the winter up here. If the beach isn't a big plus for you then southern Arizona may be a better option.

 

[Ronstar]

The winter weather issue alone would be enough for me to move to Florida if my parents in Wisconsin didn't need help from me. It would of course be nice to have 2 homes but if I had to choose one I would choose Florida over Wisconsin for sure despite the negatives listed. That is how much I dislike the winter up here. If the beach isn't a big plus for you then southern Arizona may be a better option.

Yep for me Southern Az is a better option. In your situation, I would rather live year round in Wisconsin than Florida. That’s just me. I’ve thought about Florida, but the negatives are starting to overtake the positives - mainly due to crowds.

 

[aja8888]

So if Florida has bugs, lizards, snakes, crowds/traffic, hurricanes, heat, humidity, high cost of flood insurance, and high cost to heat a pool - why are so many people moving there? Certainly decent winter weather and no state income tax can’t be enough to draw people to Florida.

We have pretty much the same here in Texas except high insurance rates (although they are creeping up).

We have the snakes, the bugs, the humidity, no state income tax, good health care, big hats and cattle too.

We also have great BBQ and cold weather (north Texas), if you like it. But, please don't mention Texas as we have enough people here already.

 

[Ronstar]

We have pretty much the same here in Texas except high insurance rates (although they are creeping up).

We have the snakes, the bugs, the humidity, no state income tax, good health care, big hats and cattle too.

We also have great BBQ and cold weather (north Texas), if you like it. But, please don't mention Texas as we have enough people here already.

Although Texas has a few negatives, the positives exceed the negatives IMO. I could live there.

But with Florida flood insurance rates of $3600, and the other issues, it would make more sense to live somewhere else and rent a Florida place for a month or 2 in the winter. Again IMO.

 

[aja8888]

Although Texas has a few negatives, the positives exceed the negatives IMO. I could live there.

But with Florida flood insurance rates of $3600, and the other issues, it would make more sense to live somewhere else and rent a Florida place for a month or 2 in the winter. Again IMO.

I grew up in CT and back then (40+ years ago), most northeast retirees moved to Florida. When I go back for a visit, I can't find many of my old friends as they are in Florida. But that was going on when Florida was pretty much empty. Today, it's jammed full except for maybe the extreme northern areas.

And yes, those insurance rates are obscene, as are the real estate prices to some extent. Renting for a few months would be much more cost effective for sure.

 

[Ronstar]

I grew up in CT and back then (40+ years ago), most northeast retirees moved to Florida. When I go back for a visit, I can't find many of my old friends as they are in Florida. But that was going on when Florida was pretty much empty. Today, it's jammed full except for maybe the extreme northern areas.

And yes, those insurance rates are obscene, as are the real estate prices to some extent. Renting for a few months would be much more cost effective for sure.

We have several friends who moved to Florida. We're going on a visiting tour later this year. One of DW's friends moved there from Illinois a few years ago after her house here was destroyed by a tornado. Her new Cape Coral house was battered around by the latest hurricane. She's looking for a place where there are no hurricanes or tornados.

 

[aja8888]

We have several friends who moved to Florida. We're going on a visiting tour later this year. One of DW's friends moved there from Illinois a few years ago after her house here was destroyed by a tornado. Her new Cape Coral house was battered around by the latest hurricane. She's looking for a place where there are no hurricanes or tornados.

I have family in North Carolina near Raleigh and they have been there 30 years and are not moving. When a hurricane gets up that way, it's pretty much a big storm. I am far enough north of Houston and during the hurricanes here, we just got rain and some wind. In 28 years here, the only storm damage we have had is an outdoor light got hit with a branch and broke the bulb.

 

[JoeWras]

I have family in North Carolina near Raleigh and they have been there 30 years and are not moving. When a hurricane gets up that way, it's pretty much a big storm. I am far enough north of Houston and during the hurricanes here, we just got rain and some wind. In 28 years here, the only storm damage we have had is an outdoor light got hit with a branch and broke the bulb.

Raleigh is not hurricane proof. However, most damage can be reduced or eliminated by:
a) Not living in a flood zone
b) Managing trees near property

North Carolina coastal properties have as bad, if not worse, hurricane risk than Florida.

Meanwhile, inland...

1954 Hazel gave Raleigh a lot of trouble, but the city was small at the time. Winds topped hurricane strength. Hitting today would be pretty bad.

1996 Fran "only" had tropical storm winds, but still caused a billion dollars damage in the county in 1996 dollars. Homes and structures in the well known flood zones were damaged badly. But most of the problem was from tree fall.

I have significantly trimmed the trees on my property since that event. I had a few thousand in damage due to tree fall. I want to avoid that again.

The following scene from Fran was repeated thousands of times:

 

[Badger]

We have several friends who moved to Florida. We're going on a visiting tour later this year. One of DW's friends moved there from Illinois a few years ago after her house here was destroyed by a tornado. Her new Cape Coral house was battered around by the latest hurricane. She's looking for a place where there are no hurricanes or tornados.

Almost all the states that experience the fewest problems with natural disasters are located in northern areas of the US. But in quite a few of them there can be a problem with floods. Here is one source of information but it is not much different than other sources. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-10-states-safest-from-natural-disasters.html

Cheers!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

So if Florida has bugs, lizards, snakes, crowds/traffic, hurricanes, heat, humidity, high cost of flood insurance, and high cost to heat a pool - why are so many people moving there? Certainly decent winter weather and no state income tax can’t be enough to draw people to Florida.

Being that FL is the fastest growing state, I can only conclude everywhere else is worse! I'll trust the collective wisdom and continue enjoying living here.


My thought and experiences on each:



Bugs: I rarely have a problem with them, in the suburbs or the city. Current house is the newest I've owned here and have had one dead palmetto bug in 4 years and black ants the first year but found the tiny hole they entered and none since. I experience more bugs visiting people further north -especially house spiders!



Lizards: Don't bother me and outside are amusing, indoors don't really bother me. The anoles generally stay outside. House geckos are pretty neat; I've only seen one in this house a couple years ago but my prior house had several... they eat bugs and we peacefully coexisted.


Snakes: Around my homes I have only seen black racers, eastern glass lizards (not a snake but looks like one), and eastern ring neck snakes -all harmless and all outside. I've only seen poisonous snakes when hiking/paddling out in nature. I think poisonous in residential areas are more common in less dense areas and further south. Pygmy rattlers are nasty but most I know with personal experience with those nasty creatures bugging them at home are further south than Tampa Bay.



Crowds/Traffic: FL is a big state, you can get away from people if you want (but amenities may not be what you desire). Also, if you live in a walkable area rather than the suburban/PUD sprawl, traffic is not that much of an issue if you don't need to drive for everything.


Hurricanes: Can't control the weather but then you better stay 200 miles inland along the entire Gulf and East Coast to be "safe." Risk can be mitigated with construction and awareness of geography.


Flood Insurance: Don't buy in a flood zone and it is not required and cheap if you choose to carry it anyway. Lots of non-flood areas in FL.


High Cost to heat pool: Only if you have a pool and want to keep it hot... probably cheaper to heat than a pool in WI.


Y'all forgot Sinkholes!: That's the scariest one to me, hard to protect against (other than knowledge of geography to some extent or an expensive geotechnical survey) but if your property has one form (not likely to be catastrophic but we have those too and they hit the news) then your property value takes a BIG hit. Sinkholes, other than "Catastrophic Ground Collapse" are not covered under standard HO policies without an expensive rider.

 

[Aerides]

^
Fun list:

Bugs - You get a service if you really want none ever inside. They often offer organic, will do the whole house, then come around every 2 months to spray outside. We do this, and we never see even an ant indoors. Not expensive.

Lizards: In season, sure I can scoop up a baby every day and put it outside. Or find the cats trying to kill it. Outside is their habitat. Only the big green iguanas bother me as they are non-native, and will poop on the patio.

Snakes: Occasional black racer outside. meh.

Crowds/Traffic: You learn what to avoid.

Heating a pool - you don't have to, if 84 is fine you can swim from late March to Early november in SEFL. If you want 90 then June to September. An electric heater will run about 1kwhr to raise 1 degree f. In the months on the shoulders - Nov/Dec/Mar, that means running it 4-5 hours a day, at current FFL rates that's less than $100 a month. Sure, getting it to 87 when it's been 60f for a week in January is gonna be a lot more, and silly. Its the gas pumps that run up the bills.

Hurricanes: Have your home built well, and have a plan. Ours is to stay in place up to a 3, then leave if needed after. I don't worry about driving out of state as I'd be going before they close the schools.

Floods/Insurance - didn't pay income tax gotta spend it on something!

Sinkholes - not a thing south of the big lake except in a rare case of a bad developer.

 

[Alan]

I am far enough north of Houston and during the hurricanes here, we just got rain and some wind. In 28 years here, the only storm damage we have had is an outdoor light got hit with a branch and broke the bulb.

We used to live very close to you in The Woodlands, Texas and Hurricane Ike brought loads of damage plus no power for weeks, army giving out meals ready to eat etc, in September 2008. So you did very well.

Our son worked in IT at Woodforest Bank’s data centre there and he left a few days ahead of the storm to get their backup data center running near Dallas. A week after the storm passed the Woodlands data center was up and running on generators so he had to move back but had a very miserable couple of weeks at home with no power. We visited him after he had power restored and sampled his MREs that he had kept for us to try. We were living in Baton Rouge at the time and had evacuated earlier that month to stay with him when Hurricane Gustav did lots of damage, and 3 days without power convinced us to get out of Baton Rouge.


Photos of destruction in The Woodlands from Ike.

https://www.woodlandsonline.com/pgps/photoview.cfm?galleryid=27&photoid=755

 

[Gumby]

I grew up in CT and back then (40+ years ago), most northeast retirees moved to Florida. When I go back for a visit, I can't find many of my old friends as they are in Florida. But that was going on when Florida was pretty much empty. Today, it's jammed full except for maybe the extreme northern areas.

And yes, those insurance rates are obscene, as are the real estate prices to some extent. Renting for a few months would be much more cost effective for sure.

I have lived in 14 states (including both Florida and Texas). In my opinion, Connecticut is the best for me.

 

[Ian S]

I hate the humidity and have unpleasant memories of going to Florida for a Fort Lauderdale wedding one August years ago. While AC kept you comfortable in the house, a few minutes outside had me sweating up a storm and requiring a shower to feel clean again. So when it came time to choose an escape from Michigan winters, I wound up in Arizona. Lived in Phoenix for three decades before tiring of it and moving to the high desert (Sedona). Loving it here with few flying bugs, 4 seasons, no tornadoes or hurricanes, little risk of flooding unless you live next to a creek or river and no earthquakes. Also plenty of sunshine: it's still a desert after all! Only real risk is a wild fire

 

[Scuba]

And keeps the schmutz out of the pool. Leaves, palm frons etc. Pool clean up without them is a pain. Especially if you are like us being less than 2 miles from the beach as we always have a breeze.

One thing I’ve noticed looking at real estate listings is that virtually all the pools in SW FL seem to be caged, while many in SE FL are not. Is there that big of a difference in the bug situation, or what is the reason for this?

 

[JoeWras]

One thing I’ve noticed looking at real estate listings is that virtually all the pools in SW FL seem to be caged, while many in SE FL are not. Is there that big of a difference in the bug situation, or what is the reason for this?

Midwesterners are wise to mosquitos, so when they move to FL for a comfortable retirement, they smartly avoid the problem. New Yorkers are hardened to everything and oblivious to the problem.

Seriously, I didn't notice much of a difference in prevalence of lanai screens between the two coasts. What you are seeing could be a local preference, perhaps due to nearby standing water, or suburbanization vs hardscaped city. It could also be due to providers being more aggressive with their marketing.

I'm going to vote urbanization. It seems that on the SE coast, there is much more hardscape which limits the bug situation. Just a guess. I personally never found bugs to be much of an issue living on the SE coast. I only found them to be an issue if I went to places like Everglades National Park. There are also seasonal bug problems that would cause your car to be covered after a short drive, but those (love bugs?) never bit me.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

One thing I’ve noticed looking at real estate listings is that virtually all the pools in SW FL seem to be caged, while many in SE FL are not. Is there that big of a difference in the bug situation, or what is the reason for this?

Seems odd, most people seem to want screened in lanais. Speaking for Tampa Bay, we are a fairly heavily treed area and the screens in theory keep the pool clean. While I don't plan to own another pool, if do I would be inclined not to have it screened in unless local conditions really required it (wildlife/mosquitos). The screen itself needed to be cleared of leaf build up and the flowerettes and pollen from the oak trees filtered through the screen and into the pool and pool deck (and ironically, didn't blow out with the blower as well as it fell in) so I still had to clean the pool filter frequently in pollen season and cleaning the pool deck was a much bigger PITA having the screen to keep me from blowing dust and dirt into the yard. Aesthetically, no screen looks so much nicer as well -although without a screened lanai, one would need screens on sliding doors opening outside to the patio to keep out flying bugs.

 

[Dtail]

One thing I’ve noticed looking at real estate listings is that virtually all the pools in SW FL seem to be caged, while many in SE FL are not. Is there that big of a difference in the bug situation, or what is the reason for this?

One guess is that there is more newer construction on the west side. I noticed some of the older houses with pools in SWFL did not have screens.