NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to Paradise. Before I was a dad, I thought that kids were kids - pretty much all the same.  Then my son Rocky was born.  From the earliest of ages all he wanted to do was be outside and be riding something.  It started with a scooter and balance bike before he was two and he's never looked back.  That's awesome, however as he became more mobil we quickly learned we needed a bigger house, near the beach with a huge backyard. Not as difficult as it sounds. Before Rocky's second birthday we bought a house 11 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico with a 500 Acre backyard.  To be fair, the yard isn't our private 500 acres, we live on a golf course by Siesta Key in Sarasota so our backyard gets HUGE as soon as the golfers go home. So we get to live in a place with a 500 acre backyard that we never have to mow.  I'm thinking no matter what kid of kid you have that's a good deal. In the "backyard" Search Golf Course Homes

Welcome to Paradise. I hadn't been in Florida long before I was bitten by several Fire Ants and needed medical attention.  My doctor tells me I have an underlying allergic reaction and I shouldn't be embarrassed that I ended up on crutches.  But let's be honest, NO ONE wants to admit they lost a fight with a bunch of ants and had to go to the ER. When our son showed up I did make all sorts of effort to ensure he didn't get set upon by this underground monster.  Needless to say by year three he had been attacked, in front of his mom, who swears to this day there were more than 200 bites.  In her defense, she is probably right.  It was a bad scene. But there were worse incidents. One year ago we were swimming in a lake and a gator popped up next to my son. One of his best friends has survived an alligator attack and I think Rocky wants some gator scars; and that's probably the only thing in my life that keeps me up at night. At any rate he left the water and the gator

Welcome to paradise. Or, see you soon if you are reading this up north.  I think my most read blog post was me explaining the vibe in Florida.  I grew up in New England and was told by a great number of people a huge litany of things I wasn't allowed to do or, things that I wasn't able to do.  When I wrote my most read blog post, I wrote about how the vibe was a mellow "live and let live" vibe and included a photo of my son on his wakeboard in heavy boat traffic giving me the peace sign....  And so, yeah, Live and Let Live is the vibe.... However, that really tells you what OTHER people are like.  The question truly is 'What is Florida Like to ME?'  Essentially, it comes down to what you feel comfortable doing in your home state.  Now my third grader was born and raised here and never even saw snow until this past winter.  He's a real Floridian. Today, he went to church then painted his toe nails, strapped an Ostrich Stuffed animal to his helmet and went s

Welcome to Paradise.  Been a busy fall and surprisingly we are coming off our biggest year ever in real estate!  Haven't blogged enough so, wanted to be a bit more focused as we start this year. I've been working with a young family relocating to Florida from the midwest for about a month now.  The first thing they wanted to let me know was that they were not beach or urban fans but wanted to be close to "civilization" and still maintain privacy.  Makes sense, that's a great lifestyle - or can be. My family does live by the beach and close to downtown so our holiday vacations tend to be in horse country.  We all love animals but are aware that that lifestyle is probably a non starter for us.  Our son always has fun on a horse properties we rent and actually does chores like a farm kid (with more supervision).  It seems like a working vacation for a third grader but, he seems to love it.   And sometimes it's fun to play with the goats after dark... My Website  

Welcome to Paradise. Whether you have just moved your entire family to Florida or, have just welcomed a new Floridan to you home, they need friends.  Don't worry, they will probably find a way to that part by themselves, you just want influence to ensure that their friends are "Good Kids".  This might be a new thing because when I was growing up our parents rarely knew where our friends lived let alone who they were. But it's different now. I wanted to hand select all my son's buddies but that is really not realistic so, we just made sure he played sports that involve the whole family.  The rational is that if parents are spending their weekends making sure that their kids develop and grow, they most likely will be great kids to have around ours.... So far, so good..... My website   

Welcome to Paradise. The year before I moved to Sarasota there was a dusting of snow on Christmas Eve.  It must have been magical!  Our 9 year old has never seen snow that has fallen from the sky.  He's gone tubbing on man-made snow in Florida a few times but it's not the same.  We even went outdoor ice skating by the mall that's near our house, but it was pretty warm that day and there was more water than ice. Now we get it. Snow activities should be saved for places it snows and we should enjoy doing warm weather sports and not sweating here in the Winter and Fall. At least that's my two cents.  This is Fall. My website