Consider Florida For Retirement: Part 2

Note: This is Part 2 of a 3 Part series.  In Part 1 we laid out the basic facts about the Sunshine State and divided it into 8 different regions.  Now we'll get a little more discriptive about each of those regions. 

Panhandle

First, in Florida’s Panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico you will find towns like Panama City and Pensacola. Both are relatively low key, lower cost, and very popular with retirees. Panama City has a reputation for attracting spring breakers in the springtime. Since there is several large military bases in the area, many military retirees have decided to retire here. There are great beaches here and numerous bays – fishing and boating are topnotch.

At the start of the Panhandle in the “Big Bend Area” is Tallahassee, a completely different kind of place. A college town, it is home to both Florida State Univ. and Florida A & M. Also the state’s capital, it is considered one of the more liberal enclaves in the state (although people who view themselves as conservatives will find like-minded people too). Though not on the water, it is only an hour’s drive to very peaceful areas of the Gulf, such as Apalachicola.

The real estate market is relatively stable and slightly below the state median price. Traffic can be bad. Winters are mild. Although there is an occasional frost, the prime vegetable growing season is winter.

Northeast Florida – Jacksonville to Daytona Beach

Jacksonville is one of Florida’s 3 big urban areas, along with Tampa/St. Pete and Miami. This one tends to attract the youngest residents. There are huge suburbs and new developments. Some of these include neighborhoods for families with children, along with others designed for the 55+ crowd, an approach that is attractive to many who want to retire near their grandchildren.

Going east from the city, Jacksonville Beach offers many little neighborhoods on the beach. Jacksonville has a great airport and some of the country’s top medical facilities.

As one goes south along the beach you run into very wealthy enclaves like Ponte Vedra, home to many famous and/or wealthy people.  Historic St. Augustine is an interesting, if touristy town.

Palm Coast is a massive development originally started by ITT in 1969. Now a city, it is one of the largest developments in the country. It has multiple neighborhoods and developers, and attracts families and retirees for the recreation, newer homes, and attractive prices. At $120,000, 2011 home prices were lower than the Florida median.

Finally there is Daytona Beach, site of the famed speedway. The city on the beach has somewhat of a checkered reputation as first a destination for spring breakers and now for motorcycle rallies.


Mid Atlantic – the Space Coast

From Titusville to Port St. Lucie, Florida’s Atlantic Coast tends to be overlooked. The traffic isn’t as bad, and the climate is a bit warmer in winter. Real estate is quite inexpensive, with the median home in Melbourne going for $120,000 in late 2011.

The area generally has inhabitable barrier islands that many of the nicest neighborhoods are on. It is quite easy to live very near the water. The bigger towns are on the inland side.

A drawback is that in otherwise great retirement towns like Vero Beach it is a long drive to the nearest big airport. Parts of this area were severely walloped by hurricanes in the mid 2000's. A significant percentage of the people who live in this area are retired.


Central Florida

Moving away from the coast there is the gigantic center portion of Florida, which runs from the college town of Gainesville (University of Florida) in the north to Ocala’s horse country, the major metro of Orlando, and on down to Lakeland, Winter Park, and smaller towns below that. The climate is different in central Florida – humidity is a bit lower and it gets hotter in the summer.
The area is filled with countless lakes – in many areas like Lakeland and Cypress Gardens it often seems like there is more lake than land. The housing crisis has hurt this part of Florida as hard or harder than anywhere in the country. It is filled with inexpensive active adult communities, RV communities, and inexpensive communities of manufactured homes. As an example, the median price of a home in late 2011 was $80,000 in Ocala.

Nearer the huge city of Orlando the selection of communities is more varied, going from very low budget to gated golfing communities where all the homes sell for more than a million dollars. For budget-minded retirees, we like this area. Real estate prices are cheap and there are tons of communities to choose from.

Check out places like Mount Dora and Kissimmee. Famous active communities like On Top of the World and The Villages are in this part of the state. Many people believe that central Florida is the most conservative portion of the state.


South Atlantic Coast

Stuart is not only a very cute town on the coast, it is reputed to be the northernmost part of Florida benefiting from proximity to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream.

From here south the coast gets more and more crowded, going through retirement towns like Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, and finally, the huge and most unusual city of Miami.

Here in this region the ocean and the beaches are beautiful. One can find any type of community for any budget here. The Century Villages (there are 4 of them) are old-line, very large active communities dotted throughout the region. Those are fairly inexpensive, but it is easy to spend plenty to live in very exclusive communities like Sailfish Point on Hutchinson Island near Stuart.


Middle Gulf – The Nature Coast

The Gulf Coast is surprisingly unpopulated in its northern regions below Tallahassee. The first town of any consequence coming from the north is Spring Hill. It has a lot of communities to live in, most of which are nothing special. It is a short drive to the beach.

Tampa/St.Petersburg/Clearwater is one of Florida’s biggest Metros. Tampa tends to be the commercial center, while St.Petersburg’s island location and many nice neighborhoods and beaches make it more relaxed. Although has a lot of interesting neighborhoods rather than 55+ developments, the city is filled with retirees. Home prices are low (about $70,000 according to City-Data.com).

Going south from there is Sarasota, a wonderful place to retire for people who are looking for culture, restaurants and a vibrant community. It has active adult developments and nice general neighborhoods. The beachfront barrier islands of Siesta Key and Longboat Key offer a chance to live on the beach but be right next to a city. Sarasota proper has a more liberal outlook than many other places in Florida.


South Gulf Coast

Fort Myers is the biggest community in this part of the state. It is a diverse community in its own right – from a very pretty and restored downtown area to sprawling developments to a very long coastline. Real estate prices are low and traffic in season is high. It has a terrific new airport and active cultural life. Towns around it and south of here offer different attractions.

In Cape Coral anybody can buy a house on a canal for well less than $100,000, whereas Punta Gorda is strikingly more upscale.

To the south Bonita Springs offers great beaches and plentiful golf. Naples and Marco Island, the last 2 towns before the Everglades start, are the decidedly upscale parts of the state. Naples has a wonderful downtown and beautiful neighborhoods on the beach, plus very expensive active adult communities on the bay.


The Keys

Starting below the Everglades on the East Coast of the State the Keys begin on a series of mangroves. Narrow Route 1 connects them to Miami over a series of bridges and narrow coral islets, ending in Key West just 90 miles from Cuba. In most places the Keys are less than 200 yards wide, although the principal towns of Marathon and Islamorada are bigger.

While great for vacationers who love the beach and fishing, the Keys are better for younger retirees than older ones. That’s because it can be a long way to Miami for healthcare, not to mention the problem of mandatory evacuations that can come in hurricane season. Property values in Key West, the tropical and bohemian paradise, are among the highest in the count

In the next post, Consider Florida For Retirement: Part 3, we'll get deeper into what would attract different types of people to the different regions.



Resources:
Directory of Florida retirement towns and active communities



Comments?
What are your favorite parts of Florida? Do you think I have characterized it accurately? 
Let me know if you have any thought about it.

“You’re Never Too Old…”

“You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – CS Lewis

What a great saying! So upbeat, so positive, so reaffirming.

But you’ve gotta ask, “Is it really true?” I’ve concluded that there may be a time when setting another goal or dreaming a new dream is indeed impossible – but (and this is a big BUT) – not being able to do so isn’t really related to your age. So I’ll tell you my bias right up front. When I’m around, don’t use “age” as an excuse for not achieving, or changing, or improving, or yes, even dreaming new dreams or setting new goals.

But if you live long enough, you’re bound to experience some of life’s difficult challenges. You may learn that sometimes a door that was open will be shut in front of you and regardless of how fervently you hope or pray or dream, that door will not ever open again.

Recently a 48-year old NH police chief was killed in the line of duty only 8 days before he was to officially retire. He and his wife had a month long vacation planned. His wife has seen the doorway to a wonderful retirement slammed fiercely in her face and she’ll no longer be able to set new goals or dream new dreams that involve her now deceased husband, but that’s not because she’s too old. It’s because life has intervened.

Some of us may have lost jobs – and may be having a tough time finding new work. It’s hard to be positive with that cloud overhead. But do keep setting new goals. Explore new avenues, hone your skills, network and connect. You may feel at times that you’re facing discrimination because of your age – and you may very well be right. But don’t let that keep you down. If a doorway has been slammed shut in front of you, move sideways instead.

Every time a door has been slammed shut in my face, (and there have been many slammings over the years), I’ve fought hard to rise out of the ashes and dream a new dream. Some may think it’s harder to dream new dreams if you’re After Fifty. Actually, After Fifty dreams are probably “better quality” dreams, as they’ve been honed by years of experience and the wisdom that comes with maturity. As a group, we’re probably more insightful about what will and won’t work.

So will we ever be too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream? I say age alone won’t prevent new goal setting. What about you – do you have a new goal, a new dream?

View the original article here

The cold war fallout shelter: baby boomers remember a unique part of the history of the United States

Like many Americans, I've been watching the situation in Japan with the nuclear reactors with great concen and interest, hoping that things will improve, there's no meltdown, and the people will feel safe again.

The thought of "nuclear fallout" has brought back many memories for me. As a child on a farm in rural South Georgia, we were the only family I knew that had a fallout shelter. That's right - my dad built an underground shelter of concrete walls and a concrete roof. All we had to do was walk several cinder block steps down into the earth, make a left at the bottom of the stairs, then an immediate right and we were in a dark, damp room measuring about 16x18 feet.

In 1957, the year I was born, the Gaither Report was published to inform people of the nuclear strike capabilities of the U.S.S.R. and the United States, and frankly, President Eisenhower felt a responsibility to encourage the building of fallout shelters across the country. The U.S. Department of Defense issued instructions on how to build one. All my patriotic Dad had to do was order the manual, wait two or three weeks for it to arrive, then get to work! Imagine if Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube had existed then! Shelter owners could have just told one another what to do, what to avoid and how else the shelter could be used once the fear of war subsided. Today, of course, we're at war with nuclear power plants when we aren't embracing them as a solution to our energy challenges.
Anyway, our family fallout shelter was very simple. There was a single light bulb in the ceiling with a pull chain. In reality, our family of eight couldn't have survived 14 minutes down there, never mind the 14 days the government told us to expect to have to stay underground should a nuclear fallout occur! I wasn't worried, though. I was confident my parents would know exactly what to do and they'd keep us safe.

Meanwhile, we discovered that a fallout shelter also made for an awesome place to play with friends. And my enterprising father figured out that we could take advange of the dark, underground, cool space, which was a perfect environment for storing farm-grown potatoes.
Ten years ago, shortly after 9/11, I read that underground shelters and in-home bunkers were regaining popularity as Americans looked for anything they could do to keep their families safe. This new incident has caused yet another uptick in people fearing the worst and trying to prepare for it.

Ironically, my father filled in the fallout shelter with dirt and sealed it permanently several years ago. Why? Because as a grandfather, he thought it was the safest thing to do. He didn't want the grandchildren to fall down the steps or get hurt (or even bitten by a snake) while playing in the big dark hole.

So, we've come full circle. That which was supposed to protect children by being readily available became the thing that could harm them by being readily available.
As I'm writing this, it occurs to me that I still haven't met a boomer who had a fallout shelter at home as a child. Or maybe I just didnt' know that tidbit about them because it was a distant memory nobody thought to mention. How about you?  Did your family have a fallout shelter? What are your memories of that time?


Comments The Cold War fallout shelter: boomers remember a unique part of U.S. history