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Long story short, dh and I bought a 2 bdrm condo in MB a couple of years ago and are currently using it for personal vacations a couple of weeks out of the year and renting it out through a rental company the rest of the year. We also own a home where we live full-time.
We are in the process of liquidating our assets here because we are in the rental property business and are just tired of escalating costs, how tenants are these days, etc. We hadn't considered moving to MB full-time in the past, but my dh has come across a couple of businesses for sale there and does not want to put the money we get from our rental properties when they sell back into the area where we live now, so he is seriously discussing buying a business down there and living in our condo until we get on our feet and buy a house there. I am an RN and would continue to work in that capacity there, as I see a lot of jobs posted in that area for RNs and have years of experience so could hopefully get hired. Our kids are grown now (19 and 21), and our son is getting married later this year, so our idea is to allow him and his wife to live in our current home rent free and just pay the monthly expenses, and then let our daughter, who is still in college in the area, live with them and commute as she has been doing. It would be a win/win situation for everyone, since our son and his wife have student loan debt and are just starting to look for their first "real" jobs after college graduation.
Back to my original question, though: our condo is in one of the vacation resorts on Ocean Blvd. It is in a quiet area just south of the Grande Dunes area and next door to a neighborhood of residential homes. Still...do you know of people who actually live full-time in a resort condo, and if so, what is it like on a day to day basis? I am wondering about parking, noise, congestion, etc., particularly during the peak summer months, which we have actually never experienced first hand, having always traveled in the winter or spring. We would hopefully only live there for a year, two years tops, until we knew for sure that the business that we purchased was going to be successful and I was established in a nursing position. This property does allow full-time, year round residents, but I don't know if any live there right now or not. My guess is that there are probably at least a few.
This is just one option we are considering and it is not a done deal by any means, because we would miss our kids terribly, just wanting to get some opinions, experiences, etc. at this point.
Thanks!
Last edited by canudigit; 04-16-2013 at 10:50 AM..
Well, not all resorts are equal and not all folks are equal. We have a few friends who live in Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort, AKA Litchfield by the Sea. but only one couple of 'em live in the oceanfront condos. They seem to enjoy it and somehow find a way to take all the tourism craziness in stride. I think they told me one time that less than 5% of the oceanfront condos are full-time residents. Their condo complex has reserved parking, so they are able to avoid that nightmare, at least most days.
I'm sure this is an area where everyone's mileage varies. I know that I would go stark raving looney by about July 1 of the first summer. I cannot imagine committing to it without running at least a two month trial in mid-summer, but that's just old tourist-phobic me. If you go for it, good luck. I'd recommend stocking up on valium and tequila.
If you go for it, good luck. I'd recommend stocking up on valium and tequila.
Ha ha, I get your drift.
I know it does seem a bit crazy, but we figure since we already have a "home" there, for all intents and purposes, then it would make sense to start out where we wouldn't have a mortgage payment so that we could get settled financially more quickly (we got the condo very reasonably during the housing bust). However, like I said, it is far from a done deal, so we shall see. I know that the peak of summer must be brutal weather wise, and that is precisely when we have our most gorgeous weather here. I'm also not a huge fan of noisy people and their kids, if you KWIM, and I know that a resort even in the quieter end of MB would be full of them during the summer, not to mention the parking garage being full of oversized SUVs with NY license plates like it always seems to be when we've been there, making parking even more of a challenge than it is during the less busy months of the year.
Time will tell, but thanks for your thoughtful reply. If I recall correctly, isn't Litchfield a more spread out, tree-shaded kind of place, as opposed to a high rise on the beach? Probably a more homey atmosphere in general. The other thing is that there is virtually no storage in our condo, so we would be forced to rent at least one storage unit and I wouldn't have access to most of my books and other things that I take for granted in day to day living here.
We stayed oceanfront for 7 months when we first moved here about 4 years ago. We stayed one month at Royal Gardens in Garden City and the other six at Bay View Resort in Myrtle Beach. This was September through March though, not when things would be at their craziest. I loved it, but those months don't really compare to summer. There were a few weeks that brought in a bunch of people (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) and my kids wanted to know why there were so many people in their pool , but again, that can't really compare to what you would see in other months. That being said, if given the opportunity, we would take our chances and give it a try. Waking up to the view of the driving range isn't quite the same for us as the ocean view we became accustom to.
Thanks for your reply, Neecewh. I totally get it about other people being in "your" pool, because dh and I haven't lived in multi-family housing since the late '80s and it would be a big adjustment to wake up to strangers in "our" hallway, or "our" elevator, pool, lazy river, etc., etc., etc. I don't mean that in a negative or snobby way, just in the sense that it would be different. The small town where we live now gets a smidgen of tourism in the summer because we have hotels, a water park, and a some cutesy shops and restaurants, but we still don't get a minute fraction of what MB gets, not to mention that our subdivision is only partially filled with homes because the housing crash forced the builders to go belly up, so we are surrounded by empty grassy lots which has us spoiled for not being on top of our neighbors.
I kind of look at this like being long term snowbirds, if and when we decide to take the plunge, but as PD pointed out, it would behoove us to see MB in the peak of the summer tourist season before making the big leap.
I actually got a phone call out of the blue today from a national healthcare organization that is interested in hiring me locally, and there are some very good perks, including they actually pay up to $3,000/year of their employees' kids' college tuition. I have to keep pinching myself on that one, because it's almost too good to believe. This might be a bit of a game changer, and the best thing is that if and when we did decide to make the transition to full-time Grand Stranders, this company has locations in MB and Murrells Inlet, so I could probably arrange for a transfer. It's all good.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply. It may not be oceanfront, but waking up next to a driving range doesn't sound so bad, and for our adult son, the golf-aholic, it would be paradise, especially if he had a membership. He would be there everyday as soon as the sun came up.
Last edited by canudigit; 04-17-2013 at 03:00 PM..
I would imagine "turnover day" would be a nightmare and you would have one every Saturday from May 1 to Sept 15. People packing 12 people into a 3 bedroom condo, trash rooms over flowing etc. Five months of hell for 7 in paradise. Works for me.
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If you go for it, good luck. I'd recommend stocking up on valium and tequila.
, but again, that can't really compare to what you would see in other months. That being said, if given the opportunity, we would take our chances and give it a try. Waking up to the view of the driving range isn't quite the same for us as the ocean view we became accustom to.
