Snowbird Lifestyle, Cuisine, Entertainment and Travel
The small bite hors d’oeuvres are beautifully presented, everything is more sparkly and has an element of being that much better. Beef tenderloin blue cheese bites Butternut squash crostini with arugula hummus Parmesan crisps with Prosciutto and orange marmalade preserves COOKING CLASS Four Festive Small …
Recently I was contacted by a reader who is planning her first snowbird stay this winter. She has vacationed in NW Florida for many years, but never for an extended time and is looking for suggestions to find group activities. Her concern is becoming bored staying in the condo for a month and she asked if I could offer some ideas to help. She said she enjoys "food-related activities, walking/hiking and biking" as well as any other recommendations.
Ironically, I can absolutely relate to this. We purchased our first vacation rental condo in the winter of 2021 and stayed in it for the first time for Thanksgiving. Although we have rented a unit nearby for six seasons, we have no network of friends at the new place for a late Autumn stay and it is basically starting over again. Not just meeting new people, but adjusting to a new environment, which is more complicated than it might seem. So I began researching ideas of where to begin to meet like-minded individuals, not only for the reader who contacted me, but for myself as well. This is what I came up and it's a spring board to build upon not just your first snowbird season, but every season thereafter. Make a plan and stay the course.
Meeting new people in a community outside your primary area can be daunting. In fact, it can create anxiety and feelings of apprehension, but with a plan and goals, it will be much easier to accomplish.
Where to start? I recommend the best place is the neighborhood where you are staying while in your snowbird community. If it is a condo complex, high rise or park model community, there will probably be many neighbors around who you will encounter while walking to and from the parking lot, riding on the elevator or while at any of the resort's amenities such as the pool, fitness center, tennis courts, hiking trails, community center, etc.
If you are staying in a residential neighborhood of traditional homes, it may take longer to meet your neighbors, so make an effort to be outgoing and say hello as you are jogging, walking your dog or spending time outside your residence.
Wherever people are congregating, look for that place and join them. As an example, there are private beach access points with seating all along our southern community. Many residents gather there daily for watching the sunrise and sunset and it's easy to strike up a conversation. Just the basics, "Where are you from?" is enough to lead to more conversation.
Snowbirds tend to be very outgoing and get acquainted fairly quickly. Networking with neighbors has been my go-to method to make new friends and once that happens, new plans will pop up. We've hosted and attended food-themed parties, watch parties for sports events, Valentine's and Galentine's dinners, Mardi Gras, traditional pot lucks and more. No one plans for the long term, it's much more spur-of-the-moment social invitations.
-- Michelle Tillis Lederman, American author, keynote speaker
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In May of 2019, I published a blog post entitled "How to Be a Working Snowbird," and in 2021 it remains quite relevant. In fact, How to Be a Working Snowbird has become one of my most popular blog posts. No doubt the rise in interest is because the global pandemic combined with increasingly effective technology has brought a new generation of people who can and do "Work from Wherever (WFW)."
The terms for these remote workers include telecommuter, virtual worker, work-cationer and "Zoombirds." Being able to work remotely means there is a dramatically increasing desire to work in locations outside the primary home. I consider a Zoombird similar to a WFW Snowbird, with the biggest difference being WFW Snowbirds make it a point to escape the cold climates and typically stay awhile in their warm-weather community. Zoombirds may purposefully seek winter locations in the United States such as Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Michigan's U.P. and New England as well as Canadian locations such as Toronto, Quebec and British Columbia, which is not a hallmark of snowbirds.
Traditional snowbirds and those able to "Work from Wherever" are seeking the best places to spend some or part of the winter in a southern climate, which means there is additional competition for housing accommodations. My husband and I have worked remotely in NW Florida for six years and we put much thought and consideration into choosing the best rental property to meet our unique needs. There's much more to finding a suitable rental property than simply getting a place with a table and chair next to an outlet to plug in your phone charger and laptop computer. Here's what we have found is important in a rental property.
First of all, there's no point in considering a rental property in a remote "off the grid" location that does not offer reliable, high speed wi-fi. Therefore, some mountainous regions and very rural or exotic locales that may be great for a quiet, eco-vacation will probably not work out for your WFW quest.
Can you and your equipment easily transport to your desired new community?
Do you have a vehicle large enough to move everything you need to work remotely as well as your personal effects, your pet/s, spouse or partner and/or family members?
Are you able to drive to your snowbird community? If so, are you willing and able to share a vehicle with your spouse/partner?
Do you need to be located near an airport, rail station, bus terminal or other form of transit?
Will you need to fly to your new community such as an island location, foreign country or places too distant or challenging to make the drive?
If you fly, does your budget allow for a rental vehicle or second vehicle to be stored on site? If not, can you walk or hire a driver as needed to go to the places you need to conduct business?
Are you considering a location that is readily accessible to business services such as shipping, printing, supplies, banking, post office and more? It's not always possible to control how packages are sent to you, so therefore if the post office tries to deliver something to you, cannot make the delivery and you have to retrieve it from them, will you be driving a long distance to get there?
Can you adjust to and work within a different time zone?
Do you have a reliable home team: trusted neighbors, friends and family members who can help out with anything needed while away?
Do you have a supportive spouse / partner to help as needed with the unpredictable situations that will undoubtedly arise?
What is your target price range per day, week or month? Cost of Snowbird Rentals: Beach, Desert, City/Metro
Condo, home, high or low rise? View? Amenities? Parking? Pet friendly? What to Look for in a Snowbird Rental
Park model or RV community? 21 Considerations for RV Snowbirds
I don't think I'm the only one who wants the wow factor in a WFW rental. There has to be something appealing that draws you to a place whether it is the location, view/scenery, amenities, local attractions, people you know in the area or perhaps a combo of everything. It is far too much work to pay for and then pack up and move yourself and your stuff across the country to settle for mediocrity. You'll eventually resent a space that has nothing appealing about it and next thing you know, you'll be homesick, lose your ambition to work and wishing you hadn't bothered to WFW.
Look carefully at the online photos promoting the property. Pay attention to all of the details because the images and angles are designed to make the space look and feel bigger than it actually may be. Ask the property manager a lot of questions, such as: Are the property photos current? If I rent the place, will the furnishings and furniture match what is shown in the photos? Are there any known issues with anything that would interfere with your ability to work there? Are there things stored in the closet/s or under the beds that might take up space that you need for your business essentials? What is the actual square footage of the property? If you get a vague answer, check the property records.
Is there adequate space in the rental you are considering? Be realistic about this. If you rent a condo with a small dining table that also doubles as your desk, is that truly enough? Because you also likely need to have a printer located next to the work space as well as files, components, equipment, parts and supplies. If there are no other available options to eat your meals, this set-up isn't going to work. It's not only your desk space, but your files, ancillaries, supplies, products and more. Think it through, it may not seem like you need much until you start adding it all up.
Make sure you can put your business supplies and everything related to that in a cabinet, closet/s or corner of a room so you aren't miserable in a layout that simply doesn't meet your needs. On TV, they try to make "tiny" houses seem appealing, but not if you can't function in the space. No one is going to sit outside all day to work remotely, nor is it practical to sit in a coffee shop to conduct business.
Our first season, a visiting friend remarked to me, "Are the owners OK with you changing things around?" I had rearranged dishes, removed unattractive artwork into a closet and modified the living room furniture arrangement. As long as things are put back where they were by the time you leave, no one knows about or cares what you do, providing items aren't lost or damaged in the process.
Try to set up so you are facing a window with a nice view or at least some sort of interior feature that you enjoy looking at such as a focal point in the room. If it's large enough space, make sure your work space and relaxation space/s are not the same.
For years, we moved a desk for my husband from the primary bedroom next to a large panoramic window in the living room with a gorgeous ocean view. We placed our printer on a sturdy dining chair and a portable file cabinet on another chair. For my "desk," I moved a game table next to an outlet and placed my computer monitor and keyboard on top with the hardware tower sitting on the floor. Neither of us had "office" chairs, so we used the game table chairs, which are not especially comfortable, nor do they have wheels.
The very large dining room table (which seats ten) functions for shipping/receiving products and supplies as well as for setting up the medical devices and systems we import from Europe. We can eat meals at a long kitchen counter area or outdoors on the deck. The third bedroom is where we store products, parts, supplies and shipping materials. The second bedroom is dedicated entirely to guests or used as a TV room. We know we are more than a bit spoiled because our unit is 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths and 1,900 sq. feet plus a 500 sq. foot balcony.
However, all of this space comes at a premium price. It is expensive to rent a great place at the beach with unobstructed views. For us, it was a reward and an incentive to work diligently all year and worth the cost because the entire goal of working remotely is to escape the winter and enjoy a change of scenery in a warm climate. We offset the high rental cost by staying less time than a full winter.
Is there adequate security for packages being received? By this, I refer to situations such as a busy condo complex with many guests coming and going past your door. A package sitting in the open can be very tempting. Don't count on security cameras to help. If there's any installed, they aren't necessarily working or monitored.
Your snowbird community is not the same as your primary home where everyone knows their neighbors and has a doorbell camera. Even if someone is caught stealing on camera, there's low odds of finding them, especially in communities with many transients. Who wants to go through the trouble of tracking someone down and pressing charges? The damage has already been done. Your package is MIA and now you need to redirect energy into replacing it.
Keep in mind, Amazon, FedEx and UPS drivers, have the discretion to leave your package or not if no one answers the door. If they feel it isn't safe to leave it, they will take it back to the terminal.
One option is to arrange for the front office of the place you stay to sign for your package/s. Of course, this is only if the service is available and it requires pre-arranging in advance, although it isn't a guarantee everything will go as planned.
Our condo complex does not offer business services such as that. There have been many evenings where we wanted to go across the street to eat dinner, but instead had to stay and wait until as late as 8:00 pm for packages to arrive, especially those that required a signature.
Last, but not least, is the place you are considering quiet enough to be free from noise and distractions? Working remotely from wherever is great, but it won't last long if you can't stay focused on work and find yourself distracted by noise, other temptations and become derailed.
Put much thought into your choices. If you like where you WFW, reserve it for your return trip a year in advance, preferably while you are on site. It won't be there if you procrastinate. This can and does happen because there's not a lot or any loyalty from property managers to look out for you. They are typically very busy and cannot block in "potential" dates unless the dates are properly contracted via electronic signatures and collection of your deposit money. For the same reasons WFW is popular, technology is what makes booking online the only way to essentially guarantee you get the same place again.
If you don't like your place, re-evaluate your priorities and seek something more suitable. Ask around, conduct research and don't hesitate to try something else. Again, reserve far in advance, a new place might even turn out for the better. After three years of staying in a place we thought we loved, miscommunication caused us to lose the condo for the following year. We were upset, but accepted an alternate choice that turned out to be an even better Western sunset view. After that, we purposefully returned to the "new" place, which had the same fantastic layout and amenities as the original condo. The old saying, "Everything happens for a reason" proved to be true for us, thankfully.
-- Ryan Blair, American Entrepreneur and Author
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My husband and I recently purchased our first vacation rental property in Northwest Florida. This did not happen overnight, it was years in the making. Much thought and consideration went into research of the housing market, types of properties, costs, return on investment and how we would manage the property from our primary home. Now, we have family who are considering purchasing their own winter home property and wanted to know where to start and what to consider.
Of utmost critical importance is to determine whether you plan to buy a true investment property, which is one that is largely rented to guests versus a second home, which is vacant for most of the time the owner isn't there. Everything else will relate to your primary objective: financing, location, price, type of home, management, insurance and much more all tie in to the property's primary purpose.
Never lose sight of the fact that location will be paramount to the very next steps to purchase your second home, particularly the cost of your investment home. As the climate gets warmer or closer to the golf course, mountains, water way or beach, the price will go up. Same with property type, size, age and amenities. Price relates to all of it. If you get the best location based on your objectives, it will be less likely you have buyer's remorse. Therefore you need to establish what you can afford to spend on your property, as well as what a bank will lend if you are financing it.
I've included a personal account of my search for a second home as well as insight from other's experiences with their own search. Please feel free to contact me with your own goals and objectives and first-hand accounts.
When I mentioned years of research prior to purchasing our own vacation rental investment real estate, I mean YEARS. Looking back, I was always hoping that I was prepping for my/our future purchase, but hopes and reality don't always line up. It may seem like a pipedream, but conscious steps to educate yourself are ultimately going to help you reach your goals because no one but you can actually turn that goal into a reality through your own choices and actions. Who knows? You may decide it isn't a good idea to own your place now or ever and that's OK too.
I watched many, many seasons of real estate shows on networks such as HGTV and I must say, at the time I felt that maybe I should be doing something more productive than another marathon of "Beachfront Bargain Hunt", "Vacation House for Free," and "Flip or Flop." More recently, HGTV's "Vacation House Rules" has been another go-to show that I watch, as does my trusted advisor, my sister.
Real estate television shows are entertaining, informative and invaluable for minimizing your own mistakes, objectively seeing real estate from a different perspective as well as empathizing with others that there is a lot to learn and things will go wrong. If you learn and grow, then that is the best outcome.
As I stated above, price, the type of home and location are all interconnected. We considered every possible price point from less than $10,000 on up. Location will determine price, as well as other factors such as type of housing and amenities. Don't overlook the impact of homeowner's association fees, property taxes, property restrictions and more.
I found a fairly new, beautifully furnished park model home in South Walton County of Northwest Florida that included half an acre of land in a pine forest for $110,000, which is expensive at $1,100 per sq foot. For comparison, I also searched the Orlando, Florida area and found an aging, furnished mobile home with an attached screened sun room and parking pad that was listed for $8,500. Lot rent would be an ongoing expense for the Orlando option and all of the furniture would need replaced. We were not serious about purchasing a park model, but for the sake of completeness, it's important to know what the very least expensive options are in your area of interest compared to the ceiling of your quest.
The next price point we considered was a studio layout condotel property with balcony in the upscale Sandestin golf community of South Walton County Florida. There were several options with a bay view or garden view for approximately $150,000, plus ongoing HOA fees. Although we preferred a gulf-front property, for the price, we were willing to consider sacrificing the gulf view. However, the small size of a studio condotel was a concern and when we learned pets are prohibited, we moved on. Many lenders don't offer bank loans on condotels, which is another consideration.
We also looked at several condo options with either gulf front or Destin Harbor views. These fully furnished properties with a rental history were aging and would need remodeled. They ranged in price from $285,000 to $375,000. However, the deal breaker was large dogs, whether with owner or guest, are banned by the Restrictive Covenants of the very popular beach front resort located on Holiday Isle in Destin, Florida. No matter how tantalizing, there is no point in buying a property where our beloved Golden Retriever is banned.
Of course, the most expensive properties of $400,000+ we considered were what matched our top criteria. Ultimately we chose a gulf front condo with a vacation rental history in the location we were most comfortable with, large-pet friendly for both owners and guests and beautiful amenities. Because of the expensive price, we chose a one-bedroom condo with hall bunks and two full bath rooms. The stunning view of the Gulf of Mexico and South pool were exactly what we dreamed of.
Once we found what turned out to be the best property for us, we arranged for our local real estate agent to show us the condo via a video tour. We had also seen 24 photos of the unit via the online listing. We made an offer based on the video tour and the photos, however, not everyone may be comfortable with that. Only you can determine what works for you, but if you want to see a property in person before making an offer, keep in mind that in a hot market someone else may swoop in before you can arrive for a showing.
--Personally visit the area/s you are considering if you have not already done so in recent years
--Consider all seasons of the target area, particularly high/peak season when the tourists will affect traffic, transportation, dining out and much more
--Be realistic about how you and your household will arrive at your new home. If you live in the Pacific Northwest and want a second home in South Florida, then flying is about the only logical option. Once at your destination, can you leave a vehicle behind once you return home? If you your pet and/or your partner have physical limitations, how many days on the road can you tolerate to arrive at your second home? One? Two? Three+? No one is aging backwards, so what works today may not be so great in the next five or ten years.
--Once you determine your target area, sign up with a third party real estate site to get daily or weekly notifications of all properties within the parameters of interest. For example, my husband and I each signed up for daily email alerts in the Miramar Beach Florida area an entire year before we actually purchased our investment real estate. We chose realtor.com, but there are many others such as Trulia and Zillow and so forth.
--Ask for referrals for an experienced real estate agent if you don't already have one. Your agent can also set up your parameters to receive property alerts.
--If the real estate market is hot, like it has been for 2021, are you prepared to buy a property sight unseen except for photos and/or a video tour?
--Ask a trusted family member or friend to give feedback on the properties you are considering. I was so glad my sister, who lives in Oahu and has no personal experience with Destin Florida, offered a non-biased and totally honest evaluation of each property that we considered. She helped me recognize the deal breakers for several units, including feedback on properties that she felt seemed overpriced for the value. Another example, my sister pointed out that one unit with a 4' stucco balcony wall blocked the view of the gulf for anyone sitting on a chair or sofa in the main room of the unit. Why pay for a gulf front unit if you can't see the gulf when seated?
In summary, the single best strategy we employed was signing up for online property alerts. This immensely helped us personally know the target real estate market and ultimately, it was the secret weapon that helped us find "the one" that we purchased. Your real estate agent can help of course, but unless you do your own homework, you may always wonder if there was a bigger, better deal that you missed. I have not one regret over the choice we made, because I know we did everything possible to research the market and make an informed buying decision.
To view the property we purchased, please visit maravilla2411.com for a photo tour, rates and availability. We hope to someday host you as our guest.
-- Naeem Callaway, American, Founder/CEO Get Out the Box, Inc., a 501(c)(3) Non Profit Organization dedicated to educating and mentoring at-risk youth in low income and rural communities
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