[TrudyM]

I am in a similar boat. (not quite on board yet hubby can't decide if he wants to be here) But some people when at sea over this issue were in yachts and some were in rowboats. The qualifying for a loan while still working would be a deciding factor for me. Make sure the loan you take out in Florida does not have a prepayment penalty, they are I believe legal in some states and not others. We have a huge loan on our house in the Pacific Northwest but when sold will have enough equity to buy here without one as the houses in metro areas tend to be pricey even compared to the villages. We are already retired and could not I think get a second loan now with only retirement income as they look at monthly income much more than your debt to equity ratio.
We plan on putting our stuff that we can't do without (lots of art stuff and collections) in a Pod as we de-clutter the house to ready it for sale. We will then decide what of the furniture to sell or keep when the house sells. We will probably do a rental here for six months.
My further concern is as the prices have risen so much in the last six months is it a bubble and will they level a bit later. I can't figure it out.