Snowbirds Flock to Florida Mortgages, Permanent Residences
It started with vacations. Vacations stretched into winters. Ruth and Ted Goolst of Boca Raton (pictured) were snowbirds while Ted ran his optometry practice in Newton, Mass. When Ted, 77, retired four years ago, the couple moved full-time into their condo at Whisper Walk.
“It got to be a bit of a hassle going back and forth. And it was getting too expensive to hold down two homes. It was there or here. We figured our lives would be easier here,” says Ruth, 73, who is glad the couple’s Florida mortgage enabled such an easy transaction.
According to a recent University of Florida study, almost one in four people 55 and older who moved full-time to the Sunshine State between 2000 and 2003 started out as a snowbird with just a second home in the state. In addition, 30 percent of current snowbirds said it was “likely or very likely” they would move here year-round at some point.
Florida led the country in the number of snowbirds, with about 818,000 winter residents in 2005, followed by Texas and Arizona, the study found.
Snowbirds add billions of dollars to the economy. While the Palm Beach housing market does not break out snowbirds specifically, the Tourist Development Council said seasonal visitors and tourists boost the economy by about $1.6 billion per year. In Broward County, they spend an estimated $800 million between Thanksgiving and Easter, tourist officials said.
However, with spiraling property taxes and the threat of hurricanes, Florida “is facing more competition from other states that are becoming attractive to seniors,” such as Georgia and the Carolinas, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
In the South Florida housing market, real estate agents say high property taxes and insurance are forcing out some snowbirds who can’t claim the homestead exemption.
“A number of snowbird owners are deciding to get out. Others are making inquiries about renting. The real estate taxes are enormous. They’re really getting whacked,” said Alan Oshins, owner of West Broward Real Estate.
That is especially true for Canadians, who make up 8 percent of Florida’s snowbirds.
“The dream of retiring to Florida for six months a year is being priced out of their grasp,” says Lawrence Barker, executive director of the Canadian Snowbird Association in Toronto, Ontario. “They are leaving. Not a mass exodus, but it is happening. The property tax has really hit, this year in particular.”
While taxes may be going up, snowbirds from places like Boston and New York say a Florida mortgage loan is still a bargain, researchers say.
“You have to compare Florida with everywhere else,” said Stanley Smith, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research, who co-wrote the UF study. “Are the taxes here rising more rapidly than other locations?
“The cost of living is only one of many things people look at,” he added. “There are still a lot of things like climate, amenities and connections people already have in the state that will continue to attract people to Florida.”
Harold and Belle Neuhut were snowbirds for 10 years, traveling back and forth between South Florida and their home on Long Island, N.Y.
Finally, tired of juggling two homes, the couple five years ago decided to live full-time in their lakefront condo in Pembroke Pines.
“We had years of snow. It was enough for both of us,” said Harold Neuhut, a retiree in his 80s. In addition to the warm weather, the couple thinks Florida’s cost of living is a bargain compared to New York, and there’s no state income tax.
“We’d recommend Florida for everyone,” Neuhut said.
