Quote:
Originally Posted by Bay Kid
I bought 5 years ago and would do it again in a flash. Come and go when I please. Have everything I need at the home, I can just fly in and out with NO luggage. My own bed, etc. My OWN GOLF CART!!! Worth more now than 5 years ago. Great neighbors.
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We bought 11 years ago and enjoyed the same benefits in terms of traveling here. Nothing like only having a small carry on bag to go on "vacation". We also had the benefit of sleeping at home and driving down to Disney, or leaving from here to go on a cruise and not having to get a hotel room.
There is a carrying cost to owning two homes, but we made the decision that this is where we wanted to retire. We vacationed in Florida quite a bit and have the benefit of relatives who live here, so we knew where we wanted to avoid (for example near waste water treatment areas). The important thing to consider is the style of home before you buy since retrofitting later can be costly (for example trying to add a pool or if you wanted a golf cart garage and even had the space to add one).
Besides buying at a better time cost wise (and think about where mortgage interest rates may be in the future), we also were able to invest in having things done in the house before we got here. Most assuredly you will want your walls painted, but you might add window treatments, change your carpeting/flooring, enclose a lanai, etc. Each year we moved "stuff" down that we knew we were going to keep, and then bought what we needed once we got here, which made the final move so much easier and cheaper. We didn't need to hire a moving company, we didn't have a ton of boxes to empty, all we did was load up the dogs and a small trailer to come down. I was on the golf course the day after we arrived for good.