Learn me Florida.

Real retirement is 2&1/2 years away and snow falling is likely to start in the next 30 days.  
    Words like wind chill or 40 degrees below zero. Snow, Ice, Blizzard  warning.  For the following 6 months makes me willing to relocate for at least 6 months of the year.  
  I scrolled around Florida real estate and found some appealing Condo's on or near the ocean for Barely over $150,000 
My Daughter gets me free flights to and from Minnesota. Making travel possible.  
 

What I don't know is things like real estate taxes, fees, costs. Insurance both home and car.   what does gas cost?  Do you have to pay tolls to get anyplace? How much is  a weeks grocery?  How expensive is electricity? ( during winter months?) car license?  Assume A 20 year old car

Many of the numbers are dependent on location. Here are some for Palm Beach county:

- Gas $2.40/gal for 93
- Electricity will be one of the cheapest in the country
- Car registration $36.85/year
- Real estate taxes about 2% of appraised value
- You can avoid tolls.

I just had a learn me south Florida thread. Some of your questions are answered there. 

Stay near ocean the rest is a humid muggy swamp?

In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks.  Any high crime areas to avoid?  Any areas to focus on? Where do Hurricanes tend to come ashore?  Is home owners insurance real expensive, like I've heard? 
 

Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

Stay near ocean the rest is a humid muggy swamp?

That's even during the winter months?  ( Nov- Apr ) 

In reply to frenchyd :

If you're on a budget, consider the MS coast too. No real winter(it's snowed once in the 5-years we've been here), and similar cost of living to small-town midwest. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

I appreciate the offer but as a senior citizen I'm afraid MS just fails with regard medical facilities. While I'm sure there have to be some good doctors there, according to my  brother ( Doctor) medical facilities along the whole Gulf coast tend to be among the worst in the country.  Florida because of its high percentage of senior citizens rates higher. 
 

Arizona and California also rate very high of the Southern states with regard to medical care.  

Need more info on where you are considering. Florida is a big state. Driving Key West to Pensacola  is only 90 miles less than Pensacola to Chicago.  I'm in St Pete area and I tell people this coast is more laid back than the East coast in general. I-75 funnels the midwest down this side of the state and I-95 brings in the NE states.

When you ask about Florida it is hard to answer because the state is almost as diverse as California.

There is a world of differences from where i live north of Tallahassee to where the kids live on Key Biscayne.  I think when most people in the northwoods think Florida they have the southern Florida beach scene in mind.   And in between are the kids living along the St. Johns River.

Where i live gas last night was $1.96.  I can drive to lumber yards, grocery stores, and auto parts without seeing a traffic light.    We have three seasons.  It is a joy to live here November 1 to May 1 weather wise.  It is pure hot steamy hell from May 1 to October.  I'm fairly close to coastline that doesn't have buildings and such for many miles at a time.

When shopping condos the HOA fees may shock you, good to research.   On the other hand you don't have to lift a finger to do maintenance.  

Medical care in the cities with major universities is great.  e.g. Shands Hospital in Gainesville.

What cities have these 150k condos on the beach ? 

Yea, $150K won't even get you a 600sqft 1/1 in a building that can see the water here.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Thank you. Your post gave me some good answers. It seems like real Floridians won't like us Damn Yankees but I spent 7 years in San Diego and rarely ran into a "realCalifornian".  So I suspect I can handle it. 
Plus I understood  non homesteaded property taxes will be higher.  I realize that way real Floridians get a subsidy at my expense and while it might not be the cheapest place to be, it doesn't sound wildly out of line.  The value should be worth the costs. 

 I wish there were a way for Luddites like myself to just type in a Keyword and be shown postings. 

Tampa doesn't get hit by hurricanes.  Last direct hit (characterized as the eye traveling over, I think) was something like 100 years ago.  West Palm Beach and southern areas get hit pretty good.  Panhandle gets semi-regular hits, Atlantic coast gets it from about Cocoa Beach on north.  There does seem to be a sweet spot between Cocoa and Miami that doesn't get hit too much, probably about the Vero Beach to Port St Lucie?  I'd verify that before taking it as gospel, though.  That's just what I remember from where friends and family have lived and paying attention to if they were affected.

There are no winter months once you get south of Ocala.  Fall is nonexistent, one day all the leaves fall off the tree and then they start putting out new leaves about 2 weeks later.  You might get a week or two of 40 and below, even might freeze in the off years, but mostly its a non-problem.  As Purple Frog says, northern Florida actually has seasons.  I grew up in Tallahassee and you'd get fall, and you'd even get about two weeks of weather in the teens, then it would start to warm back up.  1" of snow about once every 12-15 years.

You might be able to find something on a river or canal for under $150k, its probably going to be a foreclosure or some such, though.  Its also probably going to be a mobile home.  The St Johns river is nice, you might check along there.  I have family that lives in Astor Fl.  Middle of nowhere, but its on the water.

River living brings its own problems, though.  When a hurricane passes through, or anywhere within the watershed you get flooding.  Florida is flat.

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

Thank you. I hadn't even thought about HOA fees. 
yes I probably do want southern Florida near the ocean.  The whole reason to go there is avoid any cold at all. 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Yes I'm looking at an older (1970's) that's been remodeled on a canal right now but it's close to the beach and has a nice walk way. It looks like the ground floor is the car park. And living is from the 2nd floor up. 

mr2s2000elise said:

What cities have these 150k condos on the beach ? 

I probably misspoke. They were near a beach But on a canal but that's good enough, I'd park my boat there and take it out in the summer.  

It has been a long time since I lived there per se, but as far south as Tampa/Orlando can get some real cold snaps.  It's not common, but I've been there twice in Dec/Jan when they had the salamanders going and they were spraying the fruit trees with water to isolate them from freezing temps.  I remember being at Epcot one day with a down coat and almost no one in the park because it never got above 40 and it was windy/rainy.

Like I said, not common, and certainly not MN, but it can get "seasonal" down there.

As far as Hurricanes, I only lived through one down there in Miami.  It was Andrew I think.  I remember it hit the tip of FL, but that meant the onshore surge was impressive to say the least.  The state is so skinny that you can get some pretty serious effects from hurricanes, but gulf shore does have the protection of  some land between you and the worst of most hurricanes.  My grandparents lost a roof on their modular in Ruskin (just south of Tampa) in that storm.

I think the worst part about FL and hurricanes is if you decide to leave.  You have a choice of only three highways.  Just getting from Miami to Jacksonville during Irma took me two days, and no chance of a motel, you're sleeping in your car.  Should have just stayed in Miami because it ended up hitting Naples.  I would say, pick a spot that doesn't get bad winds, ride out the tide surge, and stay put.  Trying to leave FL during a hurricane can be pointless.  At least if you stay home, you have your belongings in a hurricane-resistant building instead of two pairs of underwear and beef jerky in your easily-crushed-by-a-palm-tree Camry.

I very much enjoy Tampa/St Pete.  Plenty of retirees in that area so you won't be flooded with spring break kids, and as far as I know the crime rate is pretty low.  Only a couple hours from Orlando and not so far down the peninsula that it takes forever to get back to the "continent."  I never spent much time in Naples because I can't even afford a beer there.  Miami is everything I should love on paper, but do a search for the Miami thread from last month.  I personally prefer the northern half of FL more than the southern half if I were to live there.  

Personal preference here in case you happen to be fisherpeople... if I'm going to live on the water, I prefer ocean to gulf.  One of the reasons I left FL (other than hating Miami) was because the ocean side was bloody expensive and that's the side that gets storms with names attached to them, but the gulf coast (while being lovely) just has smelly salt water, but very little of the beach/ocean feeling.  The bay is approachable for smaller boats and has some interesting fishing, but you have to go a LONG way out to get more than 20' deep, so it does limit the larger species, and by the time you get far enough out in the bay to fish for fun things, you need a boat that is just as big as what you would need for the Atlantic side anyway.  The gulf has an interesting biome.  The clockwise current brings the MS delta sediment along the panhandle and dumps it on the FL gulf coast (hence why it's so shallow) which also makes it a bit lower salinity.  It's one of the reasons that Manatees love it there, but also one of the reasons why many fish species don't prefer it.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

That's interesting. Maybe the reason I found more affordable condo's on the Gulf side than on the Ocean side.   Plus It seems like more affordable insurance?  
      What is crime like on the Gulf side of the state?  Heck I can look that up myself once I select a zip code to buy in. 
I just realized that I'll need a decent sized airport somewhat nearby or be willing to pay for a long/ expensive taxi ride.  
 

frenchyd said

I probably misspoke. They were near a beach But on a canal but that's good enough, I'd park my boat there and take it out in the summer.  

Don't you mean during the winter?  Getting up bright an early for a day on the water with a low of 95 degrees sounds like a recipe for heat exhaustion.

Tampa International is usually listed in the top 5 in the country as a great airport.  The county to the west is Pinellas, it has Clearwater and St Petersburg.  You can get to Tampa airport in about 15 minutes from the east side of Pinellas and 50 minutes from the furthest point west in Indian Rocks Beach.  There is also St Pete Clearwater Airport on the other side of the bay from Tampa but it is a second tier airport with budget airlines. Allegiant is the big player there.

My folks spend winters in Wimauma, FL (between Tampa and Bradenton on the little manatee river) in a small manufactured home community. Barely East of 75 so property insurance isn't too expensive like coastal property. Very close to Sun City Center. 

edit: these are modular homes - no axles  

Ten years ago during the recession they got a really nice 1500sf furnished place with a huge carport and a small garage. Simple construction. Vinyl siding. Asphalt shingles. Paid $55k. You can still buy a place in their community under $100k. It's 55+. A lot of Canadians and midwesterners and new englanders. They pay rent for the land around $400/month which includes some stuff. Water I believe and trash and lawn service. This is a simple place with a lot of turnover due to the cycle of life. 

frenchyd said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

That's interesting. Maybe the reason I found more affordable condo's on the Gulf side than on the Ocean side.   Plus It seems like more affordable insurance?  
      What is crime like on the Gulf side of the state?  Heck I can look that up myself once I select a zip code to buy in. 
I just realized that I'll need a decent sized airport somewhat nearby or be willing to pay for a long/ expensive taxi ride.  
 

I never noticed crime being a problem on the gulf side.  Most of my time was in Clearwater, Tampa, and Ruskin.  I could imagine electric wheelchair theft being a more common crime than anything else.  Much of the gulf side is dotted with smaller towns.  The area directly to the  east/south of Tampa (Ruskin, Brandon, Bradenton, Sarasota) are absolutely lovely little towns and crime doesn't seem to be an issue.

Miami used to have a bad rep for murder-y stuff, but I hear it is turned over a heck of a leaf.  Keep in mind, I also lived in East L.A. where drive-by shootings were often treated about as importantly as a butterfly.  Now living in PA, I don't even lock my house door and I leave my keys in my vehicles..  My viewpoint on crime rates might be a little skewed.

The gulf coast (at least the northern part) was primarily a vibrant mix of migrant farm workers, retirees, and a healthy dose of good-ol-boy native-born people.  Overall, I found it to be a very friendly area with a lot of love and great people.  I lean decidedly left in my political thinking and I found the area to be remarkably conservative, but it didn't seem to matter  I always respect other viewpoints but some areas that lean one way or another can sometimes be contentious, (Try being a republican in Portland, for instance) but I did not find that to be the case.  Just a bunch of great people.  That was, of course a couple decades ago.

All I know about Florida, and people have said it is true, the norther you go, the souther it gets, if that is a concern at all.

As noted above: there are nice people and a-holes pretty much everywhere so not much you can do about that.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

It has been a long time since I lived there per se, but as far south as Tampa/Orlando can get some real cold snaps.  It's not common, but I've been there twice in Dec/Jan when they had the salamanders going and they were spraying the fruit trees with water to isolate them from freezing temps.  I remember being at Epcot one day with a down coat and almost no one in the park because it never got above 40 and it was windy/rainy.

Like I said, not common, and certainly not MN, but it can get "seasonal" down there.

Oh yeah, it can get cold.  Remember the Challenger?  Freezin's the reason.  I lived in Cocoa Beach when that happened, worked for a small company in Satellite Beach and only had a motorcycle for transportation.  The evening before that event I was so cold on the bike that I pulled into a Hertz car rental place, left the bike in the parking lot and drove a rental car home and to work the next morning.  Stood on A1A shivering with my co-workers when it blew.  Obviously it doesn't get that cold that often, but it does happen.

I lived in Panama City, Orlando, Cocoa Beach and Palm Bay in the late 70's till '88.  Panama City in the panhandle was OK.  Back then it wasn't too crowded and it was inexpensive to live there.  No hurricanes while I lived there but they have been hit quite a lot in recent years.  I was stationed at Tyndall and it was almost wiped off the map by Michael, along with Mexico Beach a couple of years ago.  Now, that is someplace that you ought to take a look at.  Might be some good buys on property if you wanted to take the risk of another wipeout.  Orlando SUCKS.  Hot, humid, crowded, sprawling; miserable.  Palm Bay/Melbourne area down to Vero Beach is a nice area.  It was practically deserted when I lived there but it might still be reasonable from a cost perspective.