Are there any snowbirds here?

[disneysteve]

Do any of you have a 2nd home that you spend time at regularly (not just a weekend cabin sort of place)? If you do, I have a bunch of questions I'd love to ask you. We can do it here or in private messaging if you prefer.

[moneybags]

I hope you get some public answers . Today is my first day of snow birding, but I am renting a place. Our ultimate goal is to move somewhere warm; snow birding in the mean time. This year we are investigating the Orlando area, as we have family down here.

So, I probably can't answer any of your questions, but would be interested in what you learn.

[bjl584]

My Mom and Stepdad are snow birds.
They live in Ohio in the summer and spend the winter in Bradenton Florida.

I may be able to answer some of your questions Steve.

You can PM or email me directly if you like.

[rennigade]

My in laws are in the process of looking up places in florida to snow bird. Are there any monthly rental websites anyone knows of other than vbro or airbnb.

Looks like pretty much all around Florida you can get a really nice place for $3k/month (being close to beach and at least 2 bed/2 bath.)

I was also looking up places in mexico...baller places ocean front in touristy areas aka safter places for less than $4k/month.

[Fishindude77]

Not a snowbird as I'm not a big fan of the warm sunny south, but we have a lake home in northern Michigan and also a pretty nice cabin at my hunting place in southern, IL. Live in IN.

Both places have all the amenities suitable to live in long term. We spend a lot of time at the Michigan place in spring summer and fall and have kids and grandkids that live within five miles of there.

My dad is from IN and still has a home here but spends 7-8 months+ at his other home in FLA. As they have gotten older, their stays in FLA get longer.

[disneysteve]

Today is my first day of snow birding, but I am renting a place. Our ultimate goal is to move somewhere warm; snow birding in the mean time. This year we are investigating the Orlando area, as we have family down here.

Congrats on your first day. We are currently in Orlando ourselves, but just for the week. We leave for home in the morning.

How long are you renting for? How did you go about finding the place? Did you go through a realtor or find it on your own?

[disneysteve]

My Mom and Stepdad are snow birds.
They live in Ohio in the summer and spend the winter in Bradenton Florida.

Do they own or rent in FL? If they own, did they rent first?

[disneysteve]

My in laws are in the process of looking up places in florida to snow bird. Are there any monthly rental websites anyone knows of other than vbro or airbnb.

That's what I'm starting to explore. VRBO is great for a vacation rental but not really intended for long term rentals. I mean we're renting a great condo in Florida this week but I wouldn't want to spend what we're paying for it nightly if we were going to rent it longer term. I would hope that the monthly rates would be better.

[Jluke]

this is probably obvious....

Have you picked up any real estate newspapers while you're down there?

That might be a good place to start. or just the usual online places:

zillow
realtor.com
redfin

Some condo establishments have HOAs and/or property management groups that handle places that come with monthly rentals, etc.

[bjl584]

Do they own or rent in FL? If they own, did they rent first?

They own now. They used to do a long term rent on a condo for several years but decided to buy a house about 2 years ago

[disneysteve]

They own now. They used to do a long term rent on a condo for several years but decided to buy a house about 2 years ago

I'm kind of thinking that would be the way to go for a variety of reasons. Once we are back home and settled, I need to sit down and crunch some numbers and start giving it some serious thought, as well as checking sites like those Jluke mentioned to see what's out there.

[Gailete]

Sorry I am of no help, but boy would I like to be a snowbird right about now! It warmed up just enough for lots of the snow to melt and now it is coming down again. Our high today was 52 which must have happened around midnight, by the time I took orders out to the mailbox it was 42, an hour later 32, and it keeps dropping and the rain turned to sleet and now snow, which means for the most part I am again confined to the house until it clears up.

Drink up some sunshine for me.

[disneysteve]

Drink up some sunshine for me.

Well it was only in the 30s when we got here but it has warmed up as the week went on. It was mid to upper 70s today. Another cold front is moving in tonight. Tomorrow will have a high of 59 and a low of 39. So you don't totally escape the cold in Florida but it's a heck of a lot better.

[moneybags]

How long are you renting for? How did you go about finding the place? Did you go through a realtor or find it on your own?

I'm spending a few weeks with family, then renting for 2 months. I used VRBO (on my own) for the rental. I actually booked it last June and it seemed that rentals were a bit picked over.

[MooseBucks]

My parents are snowbirds. They split their time between FL and NJ. They love it and I love being able to go down there with my family and not have to pay for a hotel. They’re two hrs from Disney but for them the beach is much more important. I’m lucky that I can telework so we spend several chunks of time throughout the year when the kids are out of school at their place. Once our kids are out of school our plan is join the snowbird lifestyle.