Moving in Retirement

[bjl584]

A coworker of mine is retiring in about a year. He and his wife just closed on a home in Florida (we live in Pennsylvania)
They plan to be "snowbirds" and live in Florida in the winter months

My wife and I have contemplated doing something similar, or perhaps even relocate permanently to somewhere warmer.

Is anyone else thinking of doing the same?
Or have you actually already done it?
How was the experience?
Any lessons learned?

[myrdale]

I don't fall into this category, but here are my thoughts.

You bring up two completely separate options. Moving permanently or purchasing a second residences.

For the topic of moving permanently, I would suggest buying a home equal or less than your current mortgage / equality. And generally either make a horizontal move or potentially down size in house.

Be careful buying a house because of other people. I have a friend who is right now talking about moving to NE Georgia to be closer to his parents. His parents are talking about moving to South Carolina to be closer to his brother. His brother is talking about moving to South Dakota.

[Fishindude77]

Not my cup of tea, but we have a lot of friends that winter in Florida and the Alabama coast.
Regarding the snowbird lifestyle, don't get in a hurry to buy. I'd suggest renting for a month or more first to see how you like it and like an area.

Second homes are great, we have two; a lake house and a hunting cabin. Treat second homes like any other luxury "toy". If you can't pay cash for it and take care of all of the expenses without causing financial stress, you can't afford it.
Beware of the property taxes. Since it's not a primary residence, they can be pretty high.

[ua_guy]

Yes. Considering a secondary residence or a primary in the desert Southwest. We've done some snowbirding down there while still working, spending a few months at a time down there in our RV. We've enjoyed doing this for a number of years now and have many fond memories and have made friends and connections. Retirement is on the horizon so we think we want a more permanent abode there with the ability to spend a lot more time there, if not making it our primary/only residence.

There are a lot of tax considerations if the destination is a secondary residence and/or you're still employed in another state. Much easier if you're retired and not also a resident of another state.

My recommendation is to make sure you like the area in the not-nice seasons. For the desert, that's April-September and it's hotter than Hades. It's a dry heat, but it will still kill you. Snowbirds flee, tourism dries up, and the area has a much different feel. That's where having friends who live there year round is great; we already have an "in" plus insight as to how they manage through the hot season.

[myrdale]

I'd suggest renting for a month or more first to see how you like it and like an area.

I support this idea, it makes a lot of sense to me. You could probably find an Air B&B or something similar for a week or two at a time fairly cheap.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Maybe even rent a year to see how much you like it and when? And i mean it might make sense to just be a long term renter. I want to "snowbird" in vegas one day and then spend the rest of the year nomad about traveling and going to spend a month or two in asia or europe. Then home base in vegas.

[pacerob]

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[riverwed070707]

We plan to sell when we retire and move abroad, though our plan is more to nomad for a while before settling down to any one place. Once DD is off to college, we won't have any ties to our area anymore so it doesn't make sense to keep a home base here.