Move south or snowbird ? (55, beach, moving, spouse)

[stagman]

My wife and I are retiring in a month
We live in northern Michigan. Please, anyone with an opinion. Should we snowbird or relocate? Thanks. Family is spreadout.

[Pitt Chick]

Do you want to live there full time or part time?
What does your wife want to do?

[M3 Mitch]

The northern Midwest, particularly, has little to no appeal to me, so I would leave for greener pastures. If you want to keep a pied a terre there in MI for reasons I can't comprehend, I would stick with a hunting cabin type setup that you can winterize and not have to heat in winter to avoid freezing pipes.

The overall problem with snowbirding is you leave one residence more or less "unmanned" for the coldest part of the winter, unless you can get someone to check the house frequently or even live there to make sure the heat does not fail.

My advice is to just head South, now where exactly and how far south are open questions, but I certainly would not keep a MI residence myself.

[gemstone1]

Maintaining 2 houses is expensive. Going the RV route, either fulltime or snowbird with 1 home base is expensive. Fulltime RV with no home is expensive, and a remember an RV is a depreciating asset. We did the fulltime RV for 8 years, it was a lot of fun, saw some great places, met some interesting people, but the RV lost money...a lot.
If it were me living in the frozen north, I would buy a home in a climate that suited me.

[Threestep2]

What are you really looking for? What does your family think? What is the budget you are working with?
Congratulations!!!!!

[Parnassia]

Can't provide an opinion based on literally no information OP. All you offered was that retirement is a mere month away and that you live in northern MI. The two of you have never talked about it?

Try a forum search. There must be dozens of threads debating the pros and cons of snowbirding and a permanent move. Read them. Discuss them with the spouse. If you have questions total strangers might be able to answer, come back and ask!

[TMSRetired]

Go rent a place in the south for a month here and there so you can experience the seasons before you up and move.

The south's seasons can sometimes be....hot, hotter, really hot, ice storm

[rjm1cc]

Look for an over 55 community with lots of activities.
See if you can rent in the area for a while to see if you like it.
If you stay what will you do?
I would tend to move to a warmer climate.
Remember you are looking for a home and not a vacation spot. Dr's, shopping, etc
Try the 2 or 3 day visits a lot of communities offer when you are looking.
Try this https://ontopoftheworldcommunities.com/

[FrannyBear]

I just came back from a 3 week vacation to Florida. The sunshine was nice -- we just rented a 1 bedroom place and walked around and shopped, sat on the beach, ate out a lot. After 3 weeks I was totally bored -- everyone is older and retired, everything is brand new and tons of building going on, the roads were very busy as everyone is moving to Florida. Like all restaurants these days, the food and service was mediocre and expensive. It all gets old after a while. Everyone I spoke to said the healthcare is not great -- very hard to get medical appointments. To be honest, I am NOT a beach person but it was pleasant, just something I would not want long term. I cannot stand the heat in the summer and I like mountains and change of seasons and a bit more culture and scenery. I definitely would rent for a couple of years before you commit -- it is a BIG change. My husband loves the sun and the heat so we may just go for 3 weeks every winter -- I prefer trips to Europe and as I said, i like the mountains in the Northeast during the gorgeous fall season. I even like snow when I can stay inside and read and do jigsaw puzzles.

[dcfas]

I’m in upstate, NY. From mid April to about Thanksgiving I think it might be challenging to find a better place to live, anywhere. However, from December through most of April you better like the cold, ice, and snow.

We plan to snowbird it.