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General Discussion => Essentially Flyertalk => Topic started by: Pete on January 25, 2024, 11:18:12 PM
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In 3 years I may try my hand at snowbirding. Who has done it, or is familiar? I’m a total noob, and open to any warm area for the months of Jan - March.
Looks like Texas, Arizona, and Florida are the most common.
I’d like to rent a fully furnished 2 - 3 bedroom house or townhome, with a fenced yard for my dogs for 3 months.
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Never done it, but I’d choose Arizona if I did. Warm desert sunshine in the winter is a wonderful thing. Some excellent outdoor recreation down there. And you can see a Cats bball game.
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Never done it, but I’d choose Arizona if I did. Warm desert sunshine in the winter is a wonderful thing. Some excellent outdoor recreation down there. And you can see a Cats bball game.
It does seem like my fav so far. Monthly rentals seem to become more plentiful after age 55 in the old people areas. Tucson seems cool, but I have never visited. I did really like Tempe, but not terribly familiar.
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New Mexico seems pretty good but maybe still too cold?
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unconventional: alabama
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unconventional: alabama
I love Gulf Shores, just not as many reasonable monthly house rentals
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New Mexico seems pretty good but maybe still too cold?
Santa Fe and Taos are quite a bit pricier.
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i would look south of the border for a variety of reasons, although not sure what the tax implications would be
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i would look south of the border for a variety of reasons, although not sure what the tax implications would be
I like that idea, but there are two challenges for me that probably make working abroad a no-go. First, even though I can work from anywhere with an internet connection, my employer has made a stink about people working remotely from other countries due to tax stuff and due to arrangements with their partner companies that operate in those countries. It's a whole rough ridin' thing. Oof.
Second, my wife has a bunch of health issues that require monthly visits to doc, so we'd have to get that figured out. Maybe we could just go for 3 week stints or something? Seems like a hassle.
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I had considered doubling down on KS and buying land here, but for a host of reasons that isn't in the cards anymore. So, my anchor home will likely be in Northern Minnesota. I was going to keep a small place in KS (and I still might go that route eventually), but I am inclined to live in MN April - December, and just rent something fun for Jan - March.
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My grandparents used to snowbird near Tucson, that's all I got Pete.
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unconventional: alabama
I love Gulf Shores, just not as many reasonable monthly house rentals
Depending on what you love about Gulf Shores, you might be able to find something similar if you try Mississippi. Biloxi, for example. Maybe Gulf Port. if you go a little further west, there are some small towns along the beach that are pretty sleepy but have the basic stuff you need. I spent a lot of Xmases in those areas as a kid and its usually around 50 deg this time of year. That may not be enough of a snowbird retreat in temp, either.
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This appears to be a Pete flex thread. 'grats Pete.
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My parents go to south Texas every winter in their RV. They play tons of golf and pickleball. Seems fun.
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new orleans, tucson, st george
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How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?
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How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?
Honda Odyssey with a 100K miles on it. All of this scheme will be driving, and not flying.
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The temps aren't that important to me. I kinda like hipster places, but I don't really want to pay the hipster premium. Like, Sonoma looks cool and so does Santa Fe, but those are probably too pricey. I'm not looking to buy, just to rent for a few months.
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This appears to be a Pete flex thread. 'grats Pete.
Yeah, it’s been a long road brother.
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This appears to be a Pete flex thread. 'grats Pete.
Yeah, it’s been a long road brother.
Just goshing you friend. Actually jealous. Mrs SF will never leave KS because her parents are here. I'd move somewhere warm right now. Snow birding is def something i'll be considering once my kids are out of the house.
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I’d like to rent a fully furnished 2 - 3 bedroom house or townhome, with a fenced yard for my dogs for 3 months.
not for snowbirding, but did this a bunch when my wife worked as a travel nurse. It can be tricky to find pet friendly short term rentals, especially in smaller towns. But beyond the hassle of getting housing and utilities setup, it is good fun to be somewhere new for a few months.
Tucson is good for cycling if you are still into that sort of thing. Also enjoyed St George/Hurricane UT, Henderson NV
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I’d like to rent a fully furnished 2 - 3 bedroom house or townhome, with a fenced yard for my dogs for 3 months.
not for snowbirding, but did this a bunch when my wife worked as a travel nurse. It can be tricky to find pet friendly short term rentals, especially in smaller towns. But beyond the hassle of getting housing and utilities setup, it is good fun to be somewhere new for a few months.
Tucson is good for cycling if you are still into that sort of thing. Also enjoyed St George/Hurricane UT, Henderson NV
These are great tips! What was the weather like in those other spots in Jan-March?
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catchacold and I are in lock step as always
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These are great tips! What was the weather like in those other spots in Jan-March?
Henderson would start around 65/40 in Jan to 80/55 in March
St George roughly 10 degrees cooler than that
Visited Henderson for the Cats game in November it was around 80, pretty nice. This is the "late night" trailhead just west of the city
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New Mexico seems pretty good but maybe still too cold?
Santa Fe and Taos are quite a bit pricier.
I have always enjoyed time spent in Las Cruces/El Paso.
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Pete are you going to forfeit Kansas/Missouri fall weather in this new adventure?
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Also if the place isn't fully furnished, furniture rental companies were easy to deal with and they deliver/pickup. Then you just need kitchen stuff, bedding, etc. We sometimes found these in thrift stores and then donated back when we left.
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How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?
Honda Odyssey with a 100K miles on it. All of this scheme will be driving, and not flying.
Sounds like you should lave Minnesota by mid-October and not go back until May.
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Pete, my mom has been a snowbird for 6 years now. She lives in Wyoming during the summers and then has a house just outside Phoenix during the winters, both of them are on golf courses. The first covid winter I snowbirded to AZ because it was just miserable in KC. I also live in south Texas now so I have a couple things I wanted to add.
I like Phoenix but the traffic around both downtowns sucks, it's also so spread out it takes forever to get anywhere. During the winter when you're there the weather is amazing, sunny almost everyday and lots of things to do outside. It sucks to live there in the summer so you wouldn't have to worry about that.
I like Tucson a lot too, it's got a small town feel in a not too overwhelming area. They also have skiing all year and it's nice during the winter. So you can enjoy your 60-70s weather and be like 30 min from the slopes. The food in both Tucson and Phoenix is very good and lots of variety.
The winters in south Texas are similar to Arizona but you do have more cloudy days and there's probably ~2 weeks a year where it could get down to freezing. When it does, omg, it's like the end of the world, people don't know how to drive and they even hoard water and stuff pretty wild. BUT I really like it down here. Austin is nice but it's super expensive but there is a lot to do also. There's a lot of hiking and biking here too. San Antonio has a lot of stuff to do outside and there's all the touristy stuff but there a lot of different areas of the city to visit. Hill country is not far and that's great for hiking and biking.
The other good thing about AZ and Texas is they are very close to KS. So I'm only a ~2 hour plane ride away from being home, that helps.
Anyways I absolutely hate the winters in KS and can deal with the super hot summers here so it's worth it to me to stay here to be able to enjoy all the months outside of the scorching summers.
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Man this blog really delivers.
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Somewhere in the Coachella valley/thread
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Wilmington NC may provide enough hipster and enough sipping cold one's at a yacht basin eatery overlooking boats of all shapes and sizes . . . MJ might even cruise buy on his fishing yacht.
Albeit affordable rentals may be difficult.
The place is getting pretty upper end, the county experiencing population decline because of gentrification and the working class indigenous population being pushed out because of higher costs of living.
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Agree with the St George comments. Similar to Az but a little cooler. Lows average at or just below freezing in Jan and highs in the 50s. By March you’ll be up to 70s or even some 80s. Again, fantastic outdoor recreation there. Some of the weird Utah things to get accustomed to, buts it’s slowly normalizing as the population grows.
And the entire Wasatch front will be down there for MLK, Presidents’ Day weekends, so you can bitch and moan about all the out of towners messing everything up.
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As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?
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Sunbirding!
Snowbird/Sunbird is my goal. Mountain town in the summer, SW desert in the winter.
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Just move to the pacific coast
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Sunbirding!
Snowbird/Sunbird is my goal. Mountain town in the summer, SW desert in the winter.
Sunbirding is my retirement (or semi retirement) wet dream. During COVID my online research took me to Bend, OR. But now I’m sort of resigned to CO on account of convenience and a bunch of family there.
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Just move to the pacific coast
Maybe when I have no taxable income.
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As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?
Get/rent a cabin in northern MN/WI/MI in the north woods May - Sept. May fishing is the best, but you won't be swimming. July/August is the best for lake sports.
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I have dreamed of being nomadic and starting in Minnesota in early summer and migrating south before winter hits, not sure how far south I'd end up going but San Antonio seems like a logical spot.
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As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?
Oh come on, it’s not THAT bad
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What’s the mosquito sitch on these Minnesota lakes during summer?
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’m literally 20 min from anywhere in the city in SA.
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
this sounds exactly like kansas city
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
This is an insane take and I love it!
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
DFW is gigantic, so I think you’re meaning just, like, Dallas Dallas? Because the metro sprawl is to the max.
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How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?
Honda Odyssey with a 100K miles on it. All of this scheme will be driving, and not flying.
Sounds like you should lave Minnesota by mid-October and not go back until May.
That is definitely the ideal approach, but it's just more expensive. If for any reason we find that we need to keep our KS place, that's almost exactly what we'd do, and then stay in KS Oct - April....that's what my mother-in-law and father-in-law do.
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What’s the mosquito sitch on these Minnesota lakes during summer?
If varies, and gets worse at night. Most of the time it isn't really that bad at all. If you are going to be out of the water, just wear bug spray or clothes that ward them off. Camp fires work great for keeping them away. People don't really ever notice them if they are swimming or tubing/skiing during the day, for example.
Personally, since our kids are nearly out of the house, we don't spend any time swimming really. I'm either fishing or doing a stroll around the lake in the pontoon. When I am fishing I am usually wearing long sleeves, like those fishing hoodies, and then a little bug spray on top of them to keep them away. On a moving boat, they won't get you much, so the pontoon strolls are nice.
The whole thing kinda gets overblown. Northern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, and Northern Michigan all have the same ecological profile, and they are all amazing in the summer. Minnesota does have the advantage of more lakes, of if you like water stuff, that's nice. Wisconsin and Michigan have way more access to the Great Lakes though. Duluth in MN is a super desirable place on a great lake, but definitely better in WI and MI if you like the big water 100 foot lake trout and salmon stuff.
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What’s the mosquito sitch on these Minnesota lakes during summer?
If varies, and gets worse at night. Most of the time it isn't really that bad at all. If you are going to be out of the water, just wear bug spray or clothes that ward them off. Camp fires work great for keeping them away. People don't really ever notice them if they are swimming or tubing/skiing during the day, for example.
Personally, since our kids are nearly out of the house, we don't spend any time swimming really. I'm either fishing or doing a stroll around the lake in the pontoon. When I am fishing I am usually wearing long sleeves, like those fishing hoodies, and then a little bug spray on top of them to keep them away. On a moving boat, they won't get you much, so the pontoon strolls are nice.
The whole thing kinda gets overblown. Northern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, and Northern Michigan all have the same ecological profile, and they are all amazing in the summer. Minnesota does have the advantage of more lakes, of if you like water stuff, that's nice. Wisconsin and Michigan have way more access to the Great Lakes though. Duluth in MN is a super desirable place on a great lake, but definitely better in WI and MI if you like the big water 100 foot lake trout and salmon stuff.
I'd much rather chill on one of the smaller lakes in MN as opposed to the great lakes. How big is your "Home" lake up there? Boat dock on it or do you have to put in at the launch every time you take the boat out?
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
DFW is gigantic, so I think you’re meaning just, like, Dallas Dallas? Because the metro sprawl is to the max.
Sprawl? Sure. However every little area has the same pop-up stuff. You really don't have to drive far unless you have a specific major destination like Jerry World, theater, baseball, etc., etc.
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Yeah, like clams said, that how most people live even in KC.
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Perfect snow/sun for me.
Summer around the Great Lakes. Winter in south Texas, Arizona, or Florida (south of Fort Myers).
I don't do dry air well.
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You can live in northern MN on a lake or deep in the woods and still be relatively close to necessities. Each little lake town has it's own full array of services. Most all of the spots are within 3 hours of a an airport that has multiple daily flights to MSP or ORD (or both). I am one hour from BRD (daily flights to MSP), 2.5 hours from DLH (multiple daily flights to both MSP and ORD), and 2.5 hours from FAR (daily flights to MSP and ORD).
My place in MN is closer to a grocery store than my house in north Overland Park. Just a quirk of geography. My in-laws found the lake we are on and wanted a place there because they liked the lake, then more in-laws came to the lake and we decided to get a spot on the same lake (5 cabins of related parties)....anyway, it just worked out that the one grocery store (which is also gas station, hardware, equipment rental, bait shop, gun shop, hunting supplies, sporting goods, auto parts, boat parts, etc) is like 1.5 miles from my cabin and off by itself and not really "in town," though the town is 300 people. I go there almost every day when I decide what I want to cook for dinner and get minnow/leeches/worms for fishing. I want to get a side by side Polaris so that I can look cooler and more local when I go to the grocery store, but my wife says that is not needed, which is such rough ridin' bullshit. Rolling up to the American Legion on bingo night in your Polaris is such a flex, and I am consumed with jealousy.
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For the Sunbirds, if you didn't really care about boating and fishing or being RIGHT ON the lake, there are loads of places where you can get a little place in a town that is walking distance from the lake for really cheap.
Walker, Bemidji, Nisswa, Cross Lake, just tons of places where little houses in town are cheap. Like, Council Grove or St. Mary's cheap, but just happen to be next to a rough ridin' lake. OR, if you were a person who liked to fish, but mostly wanted to be able to try lots of lakes and tow your boat around, it's perfect to get a towny house.
If you crave human interaction, you'll usually be easy driving distance from several different American Legions and VFW's and all of them have something every night.
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For example, I happen to be just south of Leech Lake (enormous lake in north central MN), and the little towns in my area have the following regular lineup each week, not including festivals, and they are spaced out a bit like silver lake/rossville/st Mary’s/wamego…
? Sunday night meat raffle at Hackensack Legion
? Sunday night meat raffle at Walker Legion
? Monday night Lions Club meat raffle at Hackensack Municipally Owned Bar
? Tuesday Bingo at Backus Legion
? Tuesday Bingo at Pine River Legion
? Tuesday Bingo at Walker Legion
? Wednesday Progressive Bingo at Hackensack Legion
? Wednesday Trivia at Backus Legion
? Wednesday Texas Holdem at Pine River Legion
? Wednesday Karaoke at Horseshoe Bay Lodge in Walker
? Wednesday Bingo at Walker Legion
? Thursday Farmers Market with live band in Walker
? Thursday meat raffle at Hackensack Legion
? Thursday meat raffle at Horseshoe Bay Lodge in Walker
? Thursday trivia at Pine River Legion
? Friday meat raffle at Backus Legion
? Friday meat raffle at Pine River Legion
? Friday meat raffle at Walker Legion
? Saturday meat raffle at Hackensack Legion
? Saturday night lakeside concert at Hackensack
? Saturday bingo at Pine River Legion
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I have spent time in Norther WI as well, and it's very similar. When I was young I lived in Milwaukee for a a couple years, and would go up north with friends. It was awesome. Also had relatives in Sheboygan (half way between Milwaukee and Green Bay/Door County), and they loved living by lake Michigan in a small town feel. Door County and Sturgeon Bay are really great. Green Bay is OK, but it's really just about football weekends.
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I didn't mention golfing, but if you are golfer the courses are amazing. They don't have to work very hard to keep all them very, very green. It's a short season for them, but the average town golf course up there is outstanding, let alone the high-end destinations like Gull Lake area in MN, and Kohler in WI.
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And the State pride of MN/WI/MI amongst the people who live up North is infectious. They all truly believe that they are blessed to live in one of the best places on earth. I think loving the winter is rough ridin' nuts, but those dip shits eat it up (ice fishing booze shanties, snow mobiles, etc.).
It's just kinda fun to be around people who really love where they live, AND not have to pay as much as money bags scrooge McDuck RustyCat in SF and Brooklyn.
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Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere
I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.
DFW is gigantic, so I think you’re meaning just, like, Dallas Dallas? Because the metro sprawl is to the max.
Yeah I don’t think anyone who lives in Dallas means DFW when they say Dallas. Other than going to sporting events, amusement parks, or gigantic box stores like Nebraska Furniture Mart there’s not really a reason to go to another city in the metroplex.
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Yeah, like clams said, that how most people live even in KC.
Like I said I’ve only ever visited. But my experience was always like “oh you need to hop on 435 and go to this city [or state] for that.” It probably only feels more sprawling to me because there’s a lot of openness between things.
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Pete if you snowbird in dallas OR dfw so help me
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I absolutely love the winters in North Texas, but if you’re craving warm weather you’ll be sorely disappointed. It hovers between 30-50 most of the winter. A few glorious days will be right around 60 and sunny.
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Nah, we kinda assume we’ll need to try different places before we decide on something, but right now I am a very very strong Arizona lean.
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It takes like 8 hours to get from Ft Worth to Prosper, I think catastrophe is high on drugs.
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It takes like 8 hours to get from Ft Worth to Prosper, I think catastrophe is high on drugs.
NO ONE SAYS THEY LIVE IN DFW
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Pete, I’ll just say it’s pretty nice in south Texas today. In shorts and a tshirt enjoying the weather.
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I think Pete has pretty well disuaded me from ever summering up north. That sounds truly terrible.
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Seriously, what kind of psychopathy is a "meat raffle"
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i guess they don't have enough meat for everyone so they distribute it by lottery? amazing diversity in these united states of ours.
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The meat raffle is a slice of rural MN goodness. It’s like a party. In the Legion halls they have giant large hall filled with huge tables and chairs and a bar, and they all just sit around drinking beer, playing cards, eating bar food, and bullshitting, then people come around selling raffle tix and every 30 minutes or so and they raffle off a table full of choice cuts of meat. They do a bunch of rounds. It’s quite the spectacle. VERY well attended.
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There tons of breweries as well, but I rarely go. They are super popular.
There’s also this old rail road called the Paul Bunyan Trail that the converted into a really wide paved trail. It’s quite long and runs north and south. I’m about 1.5 miles from it. It connects through most of the towns and there restaurants and coffee shops and crap. Big cycling scene that congregates 20 miles south of me.
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Sometimes I wonder if I was supposed to be born in MN/WI
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The winters are not easy up there. I don’t know how they do it. The likely explanation is that they drink a lot. Flying down the side of the road on snowmobiles headed to the next bar, or to their ice shanty on the lake. Most major roads have permanent snow mobile paths running along them. In the summer people still use them with their 4 wheelers.
Those ice shanties can get super elaborate. They’re basically campers with hydraulics to lower them to the ice and then holes in the floor to fish l.
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Any of you guys own a vacation rental property? I kind of think I’d like to get a place that I could live from November through April where it’s good enough weather to golf and generally be outside during that time, but then rent out the rest of the year.
I am lazy so I would probably want to use a management company to handle all the renting and stuff that comes with that. my goal would be to put down about a 20% on a house with a mortgage, and breakeven after the rental income and expenses. I’d also settle for losing about $5000 a year if the place was rough ridin' awesome.
Is this an amazingly stupid idea? Is this a good idea? I’m out of my element.
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It’s not a bad idea. The question is how big of a place do you need & are you thinking of it being a condo? I’ve heard of people that have condos that love it & others that have horror stories with additional maintenance costs that have made them money pits.
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Any of you guys own a vacation rental property? I kind of think I’d like to get a place that I could live from November through April where it’s good enough weather to golf and generally be outside during that time, but then rent out the rest of the year.
I am lazy so I would probably want to use a management company to handle all the renting and stuff that comes with that. my goal would be to put down about a 20% on a house with a mortgage, and breakeven after the rental income and expenses. I’d also settle for losing about $5000 a year if the place was rough ridin' awesome.
Is this an amazingly stupid idea? Is this a good idea? I’m out of my element.
We have some friends that have done this in Destin, FL. They started out with a condo for them their family to go to over Thanksgiving and then would rent it out throughout the rest of the year. They had a management company and also listed it on VRBO. There was a direct website to book through as well and if you booked through that website, it was cheaper than VRBO.
They had it for a couple of years and then decided to add a second one so that they could more easily accommodate their family (one condo was getting a bit tight). Overall, I think it has worked out for them and they certainly don't seem to have regretted it.
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The GF's parents rented a house on Marco Island for the month of February and I'm heading down the next week.
I'm bringing a collapsible fishing pole in my luggage and will you know what kind of fish you can catch off the back canal.
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I think renting a spot for a month or two seems way more optimal than buying. If you just park the 250k into a risk free asset like a high yield savings account or CD or something you can net like 10k a year. That should pay for a few months I would think.
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I definitely think the rental might be a better way to go, especially if you don't know of a specific place you definitely want to go to. If you rent, you could move around winter to winter and see what's the best. Then you can always buy once you have that all figured out.
My dad is doing this. He has gone to Honduras, Sedona, Biloxi, and a couple spots in FL. He almost bought a spot on an island in Honduras(crazy how cheap it was going to be....something like $250k for a 4 bedroom 3000SF with it's own beach), but now that he has moved around I think he prefers that. This sounds awesome to me unless part of the goal is to get socialized with other folks that live there.
Side note: The thing that keeps me from wanting to buy and rent out my place is that I would basically have to keep the rental vanilla so that others aren't rough ridin' up my stuff the other 9 months a year. I feel like if I buy a place, I want it to be mine. For example, I like to cook. No way am I leaving good pans, good knives, etc there for others to steal or damage. Same with a really good bed and couch or anything else that you appreciate and brings you comfort. If you are going to live in something that feels like a rental, let all the bullshit that comes with ownership be someone else's issue, imo.
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You can get a pretty nice single family house in Vegas for under $400k. One of the easiest places in the country to rent out as well.
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I’ve thought a lot about buying vacation homes places but ended up deciding we like flexibility so have never done it. If I was going to it’d be in Hanalei, HI.
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I will rent before I buy. We’ll try out some places first. Then I’d love to find a spot where I want to go back every year. I just love the idea of being able cover a large chunk of the cost by renting it out.
Places that seem like good candidates for me are spots that have really high occupancy in the summer, but low in the winter….yet the winter is still nice enough for golf, biking, etc. outside. Since I only want to use it in the winter, my hope is that I can cover almost all of my mortgage payments with rental income and still get to use it 4 - 6 months a year. Gulf coast areas of Alabama and Florida panhandle seem promising.
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You can get a pretty nice single family house in Vegas for under $400k. One of the easiest places in the country to rent out as well.
Do you or anyone you know live in Vegas full time? I can't imagine many people would want to rent out a single family house in the burbs of Vegas for any long amount of time when there are so many hotels. No idea though.
I used to love Vegas, haven't been in 5 years but couldn't imagine "sun birding" there.
If you want to sun bird in the desert just go to Arizona is what I am thinking.
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I looked at one by where I lived in the Colorado mountains. I love the summers there and the rental market is hotter for skiers in the winter. My wife and I both work remote and have friends in both areas so we could easily bounce up there for a few weeks in the summer. We ultimately decided against it because of the fear of community cracking down on rentals (which is a big concern in a lot of vacation markets).
Rentals can be managed via apps with a couple of good locals to clean and do maintenance. Once you find a good local team, take really good care of them. You want to be their priority when something goes to crap. Be prepared to let small crap go and have a supply of backups. People go crazy trying to charge for every slightly stained sheet or scratched piece of furniture. I've worked in property management and have helped friends with some rentals so would be happy to point you in the direction of a few useful tools if you want.
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I looked at one by where I lived in the Colorado mountains. I love the summers there and the rental market is hotter for skiers in the winter. My wife and I both work remote and have friends in both areas so we could easily bounce up there for a few weeks in the summer. We ultimately decided against it because of the fear of community cracking down on rentals (which is a big concern in a lot of vacation markets).
Rentals can be managed via apps with a couple of good locals to clean and do maintenance. Once you find a good local team, take really good care of them. You want to be their priority when something goes to crap. Be prepared to let small crap go and have a supply of backups. People go crazy trying to charge for every slightly stained sheet or scratched piece of furniture. I've worked in property management and have helped friends with some rentals so would be happy to point you in the direction of a few useful tools if you want.
Good advice. Owning and renting in a big “don’t tread on me” market seems to be a good idea…LOL at the idea of a Gulf of America state or community ever siding against property owners want to make cash renting (all bets are off in college towns tho).
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I looked at one by where I lived in the Colorado mountains. I love the summers there and the rental market is hotter for skiers in the winter. My wife and I both work remote and have friends in both areas so we could easily bounce up there for a few weeks in the summer. We ultimately decided against it because of the fear of community cracking down on rentals (which is a big concern in a lot of vacation markets).
Rentals can be managed via apps with a couple of good locals to clean and do maintenance. Once you find a good local team, take really good care of them. You want to be their priority when something goes to crap. Be prepared to let small crap go and have a supply of backups. People go crazy trying to charge for every slightly stained sheet or scratched piece of furniture. I've worked in property management and have helped friends with some rentals so would be happy to point you in the direction of a few useful tools if you want.
Good advice. Owning and renting in a big “don’t tread on me” market seems to be a good idea…LOL at the idea of a Gulf of America state or community ever siding against property owners want to make cash renting (all bets are off in college towns tho).
All going to be under water down the road anyways, don't want ocean bottom property
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I looked at one by where I lived in the Colorado mountains. I love the summers there and the rental market is hotter for skiers in the winter. My wife and I both work remote and have friends in both areas so we could easily bounce up there for a few weeks in the summer. We ultimately decided against it because of the fear of community cracking down on rentals (which is a big concern in a lot of vacation markets).
Rentals can be managed via apps with a couple of good locals to clean and do maintenance. Once you find a good local team, take really good care of them. You want to be their priority when something goes to crap. Be prepared to let small crap go and have a supply of backups. People go crazy trying to charge for every slightly stained sheet or scratched piece of furniture. I've worked in property management and have helped friends with some rentals so would be happy to point you in the direction of a few useful tools if you want.
Good advice. Owning and renting in a big “don’t tread on me” market seems to be a good idea…LOL at the idea of a Gulf of America state or community ever siding against property owners want to make cash renting (all bets are off in college towns tho).
All going to be under water down the road anyways, don't want ocean bottom property
I do worry about that, and about the impact of hurricanes.
Odds are that I’ll just wait and buy cheaper duplex in a 55+ community in New Mexico or Arizona that I will not rent out.
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Those 55+ communities are interesting. They have to by law maintain at least 80% occupancy by people over the stated age or they lose their ability to discriminate based on age. I was hoping I could just roll in there and ask them to make an exception for me because I don’t turn the music up loud. Turns out that you can apply for early acceptance if you were under 55, but it’s unlikely that they grant it because they like to save those exceptions for younger spouses of occupants who are over 55.
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I'm with you Pete. I don't know how i am going to do it, but I don't plan to see more than like 10 days a year below 60 degrees in retirement. I rough ridin' hate the cold and I am hating it more and more as I get older. I don't know that I want the PITA of owning another home though, so I'll prob just find a long term rental every year. Plus, I think it would be fun to go to different places as opposed to the same spot every winter. I've also considered YOLO'ing the eff out of things and just completely cashing out at 50 and finding a non US island/coast to spend the rest of my days.
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The GF's parents rented a house on Marco Island for the month of February and I'm heading down the next week.
I'm bringing a collapsible fishing pole in my luggage and will you know what kind of fish you can catch off the back canal.
where on the island is the house? My parents Condo is on the south end and there definitely will be sheepshead and small snappers under the docks and have seen snook, sharks and tarpon swimming in the canals over the years but usually in the warmer months.
I suggests bringing a good real in addition to the collapsing rod as rentals house sometimes have shitty rods that you can will land plenty of fish when paired with a decent reel and good line.
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I'm with you Pete. I don't know how i am going to do it, but I don't plan to see more than like 10 days a year below 60 degrees in retirement. I rough ridin' hate the cold and I am hating it more and more as I get older. I don't know that I want the PITA of owning another home though, so I'll prob just find a long term rental every year. Plus, I think it would be fun to go to different places as opposed to the same spot every winter. I've also considered YOLO'ing the eff out of things and just completely cashing out at 50 and finding a non US island/coast to spend the rest of my days.
If I were single, I’d do the YOLO to Costa Rica or an island
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The GF's parents rented a house on Marco Island for the month of February and I'm heading down the next week.
I'm bringing a collapsible fishing pole in my luggage and will you know what kind of fish you can catch off the back canal.
where on the island is the house? My parents Condo is on the south end and there definitely will be sheepshead and small snappers under the docks and have seen snook, sharks and tarpon swimming in the canals over the years but usually in the warmer months.
I suggests bringing a good real in addition to the collapsing rod as rentals house sometimes have shitty rods that you can will land plenty of fish when paired with a decent reel and good line.
That sounds like fun
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The GF's parents rented a house on Marco Island for the month of February and I'm heading down the next week.
I'm bringing a collapsible fishing pole in my luggage and will you know what kind of fish you can catch off the back canal.
where on the island is the house? My parents Condo is on the south end and there definitely will be sheepshead and small snappers under the docks and have seen snook, sharks and tarpon swimming in the canals over the years but usually in the warmer months.
I suggests bringing a good real in addition to the collapsing rod as rentals house sometimes have shitty rods that you can will land plenty of fish when paired with a decent reel and good line.
It's on the eastern side of the island around 2'oclock. From some pictures I was sent over the weekend it looks like they already have some decent rods/reels at the rental house so I don't need to bring my rod.
Any recommendations on bait? I was going to bring a couple soft plastics combo's and spinner type lures plus whatever they already have there. I don't need anything crazy, just planning to wet some lines out in the backyard when there is downtime and see what I can catch.
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The GF's parents rented a house on Marco Island for the month of February and I'm heading down the next week.
I'm bringing a collapsible fishing pole in my luggage and will you know what kind of fish you can catch off the back canal.
where on the island is the house? My parents Condo is on the south end and there definitely will be sheepshead and small snappers under the docks and have seen snook, sharks and tarpon swimming in the canals over the years but usually in the warmer months.
I suggests bringing a good real in addition to the collapsing rod as rentals house sometimes have shitty rods that you can will land plenty of fish when paired with a decent reel and good line.
It's on the eastern side of the island around 2'oclock. From some pictures I was sent over the weekend it looks like they already have some decent rods/reels at the rental house so I don't need to bring my rod.
Any recommendations on bait? I was going to bring a couple soft plastics combo's and spinner type lures plus whatever they already have there. I don't need anything crazy, just planning to wet some lines out in the backyard when there is downtime and see what I can catch.
i like to cast with 1/4 & 3/8 oz jigs with Gulp plastics and a chunk of live shrimp around docks but small hooks and bobbers like you are fishing for bluegill works best. I believe Marco Island Bait Co. is the only place to buy live shrimp now and has a limited selection of tackle.
At a minimum I would bring some clear leader material (mono or fluorocarbon) with you or buy it at the bait shop or Sunshine Ace Hardware that is a few blocks up the street from the bait shop. The barnacles on pilings are razor sharp.
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You can get a pretty nice single family house in Vegas for under $400k. One of the easiest places in the country to rent out as well.
Do you or anyone you know live in Vegas full time? I can't imagine many people would want to rent out a single family house in the burbs of Vegas for any long amount of time when there are so many hotels. No idea though.
I used to love Vegas, haven't been in 5 years but couldn't imagine "sun birding" there.
If you want to sun bird in the desert just go to Arizona is what I am thinking.
The only people I know personally are retirees. I know a few people online who have kids and they enjoy it. You’re right that it is very similar to living in PHX, though I believe it is a bit cheaper.