Millennial Snowbirds

The pandemic really changed my life. Growing up, I moved a lot, so after buying my first home 13 years ago, I thought that I would never move again. I used to say, 'I am being buried here.' However, after having kids and being in one of the worst school districts in the state, a small percentage of me considered moving to a better school district 2-5 miles away. Then, Covid opened up a new job market for me, which eventually led me to move to a different state in Ohio. Now, both my wife and I are remote.

However, after visiting Florida twice this year, it made me think of moving back down to Florida. My first stint in Florida was a forced move, not by choice. I was in high school and my dad’s job changed again. I didn’t want to move and was only there for 2 years. I missed the snow (I was big into snowsports at that time), friends, and family. Now, I have no interest in winter. I have cross-country skis, a snowboard, and snowshoes, but I can't say that I wanted to do any of that in the past 3 years.

Some friends of ours are millennial snowbirds and are a family of 6. The husband is a ship pilot, so during the winter when there are no jobs, he lives in Florida, and then comes back up and works in spring, summer, and some of the Fall. It’s becoming complicated because 2 of their kids are now school-aged, and he still needs to be up north in the fall. However, homeschooling and virtual school options are making it possible. Personally, homeschooling and virtual school would not be options for us at this point, as our kids prefer the interaction in school.

My wife and I are both Millennials. Both of our parents—her dad got divorced and remarried—so we have three sets of grandparents who are retired and live about 100 miles away. Health-wise, my parents and her dad are not in great shape. To make this move, I need a pitch. Ohio was easy because we moved to one of the best neighborhoods with the best schools, great location, and a very nice house. I also have two family members who live 5-10 minutes away.

Florida obviously has great weather (which I think physically and mentally really helps). Our current house has 3 bedrooms, and having a 4th bedroom would be nice to accommodate an office space or one of the kids' bedrooms. I found a nice house in Kissimmee with 4 bedrooms and a pool. However, public schools are not great, and we would have to commit full-time to living in Florida or find a temporary place up north during the summer and holidays. I lived in South Florida, and hurricane season is not fun. Plus, we wouldn’t have family close by.

Another angle I had was regarding my parents. They are the oldest, and although generally they are in good health, they really need to move to a condo. My dad has had several heart attacks, but after all the moving they have done, they are being stubborn. They have lived in Florida twice, so you'd think they would like to move back. I thought I would talk to them about that; however, they have made it clear a couple of times that they want to stay in their house.

My father-in-law is not in good shape. He just beat cancer and had hip surgery, but his health just isn’t getting better. Living in a retirement community might be a good move for him. I have told them several times that a move to Florida would be great, but his wife’s kids are all up north, so that would be difficult.

So, what say the hive? Should I stop wasting my time with this angle and be happy, or keep pushing?

In reply to trigun7469 :

Is Florida weather or being close to your family more important?

This might seem silly, flip a coin. Heads Florida, tails stay put. Flip the coin and see what side your mind hopes for it to land on. There is your answer. 
 

Mrs. P3PPY and I are absolutely torn on this. We REALLY want sunshine and yet we REALLY want to be connected to family, and they REALLY don't want to move from this gray state. We are resigned to being stuck here until someone else departs - and it's disappointing, to say the least.

It sounds like you're more used to moving that we were, but it took us the standard 5 years to start feeling connected to ppl other than family after we moved, and that's a significant amount of time.

Good luck, man. 

I go back and forth on this a lot. We've been really close to moving to FL twice in the last two years. It's the school district I'm in here in Pittsburgh that keeps us from moving. For now. We're committed to moving before my oldest gets to high school. The area we've picked in FL has good schools, not as good as we have here, but still a better rating than what I grew up attending and I turned out alright.

My in laws already have a condo that in the area we plan to move to so that makes it easy. Her brothers are close but they are brothers which means we see them and their family for holidays even though they are local. We're a family of 5 and that's the most important thing to us. Any other family has and will let us down. We want to be planted in the area where our kids will graduate high school and likely set down roots. I know that's not guaranteed.

Speaking of being a snow bird. I'd love to do that, but the days of a middle class family owning a second home are long gone. Unless you inherit a place, two mortgages are going to be hard to swing. Not to mention the cost of travel. It's just hard to do unless you're quite wealthy. 

As a former Kissimmee resident - do not move to Kissimmee. It is HELL for children and the property values are dubious at best due to the proximity of s certain rodent themed attraction complex. HOWEVER - 

as a still current Florida resident, I cannot tell you the difference moving to the other side of Orlando made. Seminole county is the move. There's at least one other grmer here, the schools are actually good, it's mostly people that want to be in Florida full time as opposed to people either trying to berkeley the next guy or get out from under whatever situation they're in...it's just a regular ass place. Oveido, Longwood, casselberry, etc, all good. 

I won't sugarcoat it- it's a challenging place to be right now. Cost of living is super wacky. We got hit very hard with inflation. Our population growth continues to be some of the most explosive in the nation. The wealth divide between the haves and the have nots is getting worse, and it's creating a lot of animosity towards those coming down- though that's generally directed toward people that wanna show their ass the minute they walk in. I still think it's a great place to be. Year round racing, beach an hour in any direction, NO SNOW, there's a lot that it can offer If you're willing to trade. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Is Florida weather or being close to your family more important?

Of the 3 sets of parents my wife was the only one not to move away after high school, pretty much everyone in her family and step siblings left and are slowly moving further away.  One of the parents (note mine) is extremely needy and controlling, my relationship was further strained with the move, because they don’t understand what’s going on economically. They don’t understand the volatility of my industry and how higher education is reaching a cliff and schools are slowly consolidating and closing. They think we should move back.  However, one of the reasons for our original move is we needed to live in a bigger city with opportunity, in addition Colleges and Universities are at a crossroads and having people not in the buildings is not well received by everyone, regardless if you don’t work on the front end and really don’t interact with people. My parents are low maintenance they obviously understand why we move, there was discussion about them moving near us, but they decided to stay where they are at. In addition, the high maintenance parent refuses to travel to our house so we typically must meet them halfway. Them jumping on a flight or train, I don’t think would be very different, again living near a big city would help accommodate the travel. In my opinion it’s not choose between weather and my family, it’s following the economic growth (I think is down south) and enviable the place where I want to retire. I have also considered GA, SC, and NC.

In reply to Mndsm :

The industry and development in Orlando is what makes that area appealing but I have no limitations, I was just looking for somewhere that was under 20 hour drive to up north for visiting and close to or in a big city with opportunity. Thanks for the tip of Seminole County, I looked at some of the housing Longwood looks school wise like a nice area but there seem to be a good mix of foreclosures.

I also thought of Lakewood Ranch, Sarasato which I am familiar with and is somewhat similar to where we are now and is close to St. Pete and Tampa, however the housing pricing is very different. The school divide is crazy Elementry schools can be either a 3/10 or 8/10 and then the Middle schools and High schools are low rating. Must go to private schools?

When I was a kid, there were two types of grandparents, those that stayed up here in the cold and were miserable but close, and those that moved to Florida and were happy but distant. My grandparents were the latter. Grandpap was a WW2 marine and lived a tough life, who could blame him for moving to a condo in Florida and enjoying his hard-earned retirement? Whenever we visited, he was always happy and enjoying life and took us to Disney. I didn't see his as often, but always saw him happy. My aunt decided to follow and move south, so he had other grand kids and great grand kids nearby. 

YOU have to do what makes YOU happy. 

Mndsm said:

as a still current Florida resident, I cannot tell you the difference moving to the other side of Orlando made. Seminole county is the move. There's at least one other grmer here, the schools are actually good, it's mostly people that want to be in Florida full time as opposed to people either trying to berkeley the next guy or get out from under whatever situation they're in...it's just a regular ass place. Oveido, Longwood, casselberry, etc, all good. 

I'm here in Sanford. Not too bad if you can afford something closer to downtown (I got lucky). The location isn't terrible either as it's just a few minutes away from I-4, 417 and 429.

Scotty Con Queso said:

...We're a family of 5 and that's the most important thing to us. Any other family has and will let us down...

Quoted for sad sad truth. I can't tell you how much this statement resonates. 

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

Interesting point. I had one of each kind of grandparent growing up. It was exactly what you describe here. As a kid I thought how wonderful my Fla Grandma was and how happy and vibrant. My NY grandparents were more somber, good people, volunteered in the community but always struggled. It was never a super exciting thing to see them. They were just always there, there for hockey games, regular weekends, golfing on a Sunday, pick me up from school if my parents needed it.

I was in my 40's before I realized that even though Fla granda was great she made the choice to prioritize her happiness over any perceived obligations. My NY grandparents were constantly doing something to help one of their kids. That included participating non stop in all of their grandkids regular activities. 

Not passing judgment on any of them, they all did what they had to do. I bet it is a hell of a lot easy to be happy and cheery when you don't have to care about anything other than yourself for 51 weeks of the year. 

In reply to NY Nick :

Yeah I've noticed that if you're living to make your family happy, it will come at the cost of your own personal happiness. Choose wisely. 

Colin Wood said:

Mndsm said:

as a still current Florida resident, I cannot tell you the difference moving to the other side of Orlando made. Seminole county is the move. There's at least one other grmer here, the schools are actually good, it's mostly people that want to be in Florida full time as opposed to people either trying to berkeley the next guy or get out from under whatever situation they're in...it's just a regular ass place. Oveido, Longwood, casselberry, etc, all good. 

I'm here in Sanford. Not too bad if you can afford something closer to downtown (I got lucky). The location isn't terrible either as it's just a few minutes away from I-4, 417 and 429.

I went to an alternative art show one time, and a lady was selling shirts that said "Sanford- It's not that bad!" And she joked how the occasional stabbing keeps property values down. Donuts to go is a treasure, and I value that mall a great deal... as abandoned as it is. It's just a little TOO far since the aforementioned rodent still pays my bills. 

I moved to FL 2.5 years ago. Before that I called it the armpit of the US. Heat, humidity, and 'gators helped it earn that moniker. Circumstances lead me here. Part of that was my wife's severe seasonal affective disorder. 
2.5 years later I'm so glad I moved to SW Florida. My wife is a new person, it's amazing. I also discovered that I was also a mess due to not seeing the sun for weeks on end. The heat and humidity are only a little worse than MI, but the heat is here longer. But months straight of blue skies and temps in the 70's make it worth it.  
I often do what Z31 said, I'll flip a coin on a decision and see what my knee-jerk reaction is to that coin flip. It helps me see where my heart is leaning. 

trigun7469 said:

Florida obviously has great weather (which I think physically and mentally really helps).

This is highly dependent on the area of Florida. I think you should check the climate data (Summer temp and amount of sunlight) for the area that you're interested in before deciding. 

I've lived in SW Florida since 2006 and find that half of the year is frankly disgusting. Hot, moist, and buggy. Very little opportunities for outdoor recreation except for the water...which is full of Gators or red tide. Or Green/blue algae. Thanks to the amount of rain and heat most people spend too much time indoors during that part of the year. 

The gap between expectations and reality in FL is pretty large...I'm moving to Colorado in July but will continue to visit relatives here.

I live in Sanford and like the direction this thread is going.

The Sanford historic district was one of the last places with trees, walkable roads, small businesses that you want to patronize, and just enough crime to keep the property values down.  I found a house just outside the district with a three car garage and jumped on it mid pandemic.  It only works because I don't have to commute to downtown Orlando for work any more.

In the last few years, either I have gotten significantly older or central Florida heat has gotten worse.  It was hot last summer.  We are in for a big hurricane year this summer.  With all that said, Florida has perfect weather for 2-3 months out of the year.  When I lived in western New York, you got two weeks in spring and two weeks in fall.

The biggest problem with Florida is getting out of Florida to do fun car stuff.  An 8 hour tow gets you to Atlanta, then you can start your drive to your destination.  Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, Baltimore and Rochester are within a 6 hour drive of Columbus.  Barber Motorsports Park is the same drive time to Columbus or Orlando.

CrustyRedXpress said:

trigun7469 said:

Florida obviously has great weather (which I think physically and mentally really helps).

This is highly dependent on the area of Florida. I think you should check the climate data (Summer temp and amount of sunlight) for the area that you're interested in before deciding. 

I've lived in SW Florida since 2006 and find that half of the year is frankly disgusting. Hot, moist, and buggy. Very little opportunities for outdoor recreation except for the water...which is full of Gators or red tide. Or Green/blue algae. Thanks to the amount of rain and heat most people spend too much time indoors during that part of the year. 

The gap between expectations and reality in FL is pretty large...I'm moving to Colorado in July but will continue to visit relatives here.

That's funny because I find summers to be very tolerable.  Ring close to the water means there's almost always a breeze. That helps with the humidity. 

In reply to ojannen :

Last summer was brutal. Everyone I know lamented that fact. The weather is acting a fool lately. 

In reply to DrBoost :

June-August was almost three straight months of heat indexes in the 105-115 range in Sanford.  We just didn't go outside.

It was like the microclimate that exists just outside the OIA baggage claim exterior doors that makes your glasses fog up and covers you in sweat in 0.2 seconds.  Except it lasted for 3 months.

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

Good point, Florida is bigger then many think, I previously lived in Ft Lauderdale it was hot and I played sports so I was outside all day (we good easily cook a head on our helmet), in the summer. I had to go to a sports camp in Orlando and remember the heat being a little dryer there then Ft Lauderdale. However I am looking more north, the heat in Ohio and PA living near the lake I get the heat and humidity similar to Florida but not for a extended amount of time 2 weeks max, however it was brutal when I didn't have AC. I will sure to be looking for something either close to a pool or has a pool and of course AC is standard. When you live by the lake up north the sweeping wind of -26 windchill really is no way to be comfortable other then being indoors. I will however miss having a basement.

At a racing standpoint I am currently in a good location under 2 hours of several tracks, Mid-O, Nelson Ledges, Pittrace, Fremont, and Thompson. I have raced in Florida at the Firm and Andersen RacePark. I would like to race at Daytona with Dart Kart Club. I have heard of Orlando Kart Center, which looks cool. I am guessing I just will have to travel more if I moved down. 

For those who have moved to Florida have you assimilated (assuming you wanted to) into the community? for example when we moved we made friends right away through or recreation center that has a gym and pool. I play basketball with a bunch of Dads, my kids play sports at the rec and met friends, and my wife taught fitness classes so it was a very smooth transition. In addition to schools, finding a area to be part of the community is important to me.

In reply to trigun7469 :

We've looked a lot at Lakewood Ranch but that's not where we're targeting anymore due to cost of housing. A 2,000 square foot home in a cramped, authoritarian HOA (can't leave garage open except for car ingress-egress type place) is a minimum $500k. 

Parrish, FL just up the road is an up and coming (rapidly developing) area with good access to Tampa, Sarasota, St . Pete, etc. Decent schools. Housing is way cheaper. My own hesitation to that area is access to work, but if you're remote it'd be perfect. I'll likely have to take a WFH job to move there.  Parrish is minutes from Bradenton Motorsports Park and the Freedom Factory, but there days are limited due to the rapid development I mentioned. The owners have committed to building another track if the Karens close them down. Due east of that area is a bunch of reclaimed mine land.