Quote:
Originally Posted by hollander
Oh My...red tide and rats on the roof...Thanks for your post! We might be able to deal with the red tide but rats .... just reading your post made my wife scream...
It is odd looking for a retirement home. All these years jobs, schools, kids, and our budget dictated where we lived. Now we have so much freedom its a bit disorientating. In a way we feel like kids again with so much freedom, and at other times it is kinda frightening. Going through a open house in the villages was nice, and everything was new, but it seemed so distant from the things that were our life up north. When I'm on the beach I have a sense of peace. Thanks again for your helpful posts!
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Why don't you just rent in different places until you find what makes you happy, there really is no other way of being sure. I always thought I wanted to live on the beach and we spent 10 years on the Gulf coast in both condos and rental homes, then one day I found out there was nothing to do but walk the beach all day and shop and that suddenly got real old.
The biggest problem for us about beach living was the salt air rust, it had eaten through a metal door in one of the condos we rented. You should also take into consideration that if the condo building needs repair or upgrading the condo association votes on it and you have to pay your share. The residents in one of the condos we were in had just been assessed $25,000 per family for essential repairs due to salt water rust.
Another big minus on beach living is the very real fact that it is vacation all year round. You get the winter residents, then spring break, then Easter, summer vacations, July 4th is big on the beach, etc. etc. It is very transient living which may suit some people, but I wanted to "belong" somewhere.
On rereading my post to you it seems to be full of negatives. I don't mean it to be, it is just a heads up for you to look into what you are buying into wherever you decide to buy.