NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to Paradise. Lots of people, when they are new to Florida, want a great back yard view.  I get that because, me too!  But here's the thing you really need to think it out before you pull the trigger on anything.  Nearly a ten years ago I sold a beautiful beach front condo to a couple from Illinois on Longboat Key.  They loved the idea of watching the sun drop into the Gulf at the end of the day.  But here's the thing, they didn't realize that after sunset it's like a black curtain and the darkest view in the world.   Here's the good news, we went and found a cool after dark view, with lots of water and boat action for entertainment. Perfect. My Website  

Welcome to Paradise. I love a good playground. My son likes to climb stuff and there are some great opportunities at the playgrounds that aren’t too far from our house. His favorite playground is only about a mile from our house, but he’s getting to the age where climbing stuff is starting to lose its appeal a little bit so, we have been hiking through the woods to a dam on a river that’s close to the actual playground. It’s really fun to spend time there, but some water activities in Florida can be concerning because of Alligators.  The only time I actually remember yelling at my son was when he was in a lake swimming and a gator popped out next to him. One of my son’s best friends has been attacked by a gator, so we are more than aware of the potential danger. So, in the end, I’m a little bummed that playgrounds are probably something that’s going to leave our life soon. However, my neighbor has some stuff that my son likes to play with and that has been fun too…. Florida neighbo...

 Welcome to Paradise. When I was ten, like my son is now, I had my first job. I watered the landscaping at a condo complex. We lived on an island and there were restrictions on when you could run your sprinkler but, no restrictions on having a child perform manual labor for you. I guess.  Not sure if it was a safe job, no one ever checked on me but, I think it was. Just a little creppy to be alone working in a complex that was not visible from the street. Anyway, I survived but, of course they isn’t a single photo of me at work. Probably the best business to start in Florida is a dog walking empire, provided your mom is there to photograph you work ❤️  Our website

Welcome to Paradise. I am currently reading a book about the revolutionary war. I actually grew up on the hill, where Abigail Adams and John Quincy Adams walked to watch the cowardly British shell the city.  It was a pretty interesting place to grow up and I was always a big fan of New England residential architecture and loved the idea of living in a bow house at some point and eventually built myself a salt box just like John Adams and John Quincy Adams lived in.  The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of in New England were the strict rules that families and especially children had to follow. On the street I grew up on most of us went to public school, but going to a religious school was somewhat common and totally acceptable. But I still remember the day my neighbor Thomas told us he was going to Thayer Academy.  My sister let him know that he was a liar and no longer welcome in our house and I think I probably knew that was the best example of how jealousy hurts relation...

Welcome to Paradise. I grew up in a town on the Atlantic Ocean named for a pirate.  In the summer we would make the arduous journey to Cape Cod to the town where the Pilgrims landed.  I never liked that town and haven't been back, truth be told - if I lived there in 1620 I would have been on the Native Americans' team and tried to send those Pilgrims back to The Netherlands (if you were thinking "back to England" you went to a bad elementary school). So it surprised me when I swam in the Gulf of Mexico in my 30s.  I thought Florida was theme parks around Orlando and Orange groves.  Boy was I wrong, I became a "Gulf Guy" couldn't have be happier.  The water is warmer than the summer ocean temp in my hometown.  Which is why I came here, but now that our son is nine, we love Orlando. But, we ARE NOT a Disney Family. Our son has been there and thought the lines were ridiculous, the rides were boring and there is way more fun stuff to do.  That's what is ...

Welcome to paradise. My last blog post was regarding our son's personality and how freedom of thought seems to be heavily promoted throughout Florida.  I have not posted in a few months because our son had a very serious accident and has been working on his recovery.  I am grateful he is doing so much better, and even jokes that he was never too injured he just wanted a helicopter (air ambulance) ride. For a kid that is usually headed somewhere for an action packed adventure, this season in our lives was looking worrisome.  How could we keep our kid active and protect his brain as he works on his TBI recovery?  After some serious contemplation and discussion with the medical team I think we figured it out.....  Helmet in the backyard! My Website  

Welcome to Paradise. In the town I grew up in, my hero was a bookseller who almost singlehandedly defeated the best military in the world.  He lived near me, taught himself military strategy and became one of General George Washington's closest friends.  He left school at the age my son is now to support his mom and younger brother and made himself the most interesting book seller in all of Boston. The thing I like about him was how he marched to his own drummer.  He didn't worry what others thought of him but certainly knew the difference between right and wrong.  People have largely forgotten about his heroics but, our family has not. Two weeks ago we traveled to Northern Florida and then Georgia for our son to compete in a wakeboard competition.  While we were there my son decided that some of the water lilies were cool and he should decorate his helmet with them.  Preteen boys typically do not fawn over flora or use it as decoration, but our kid isn't ...

Welcome to paradise. The reasons for moving to Florida are about as varied as the people who move here.  But when talking to new residents, the weather is normally a factor even if it's not the biggest one.  I knew I was going to end up here when I was 10 years old and shoveling snow in mid-April.  That's not the life I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I had lots of great friends where I grew up and I'm a history nerd so being born in Wollaston (modern day Boston) was a point of pride to me.  Even though Wollaston was named after a pirate who was generally considered an undesirable.  But, seriously how many people do you know who grew up in a town named for a pirate?  There really aren't too many of us. At any rate, since moving to Florida, I have been surprised at the amount of time everyone spends outside.  To that end I couldn't be happier that our son loves the outdoors and is involved in a few sports that take place outdoors almost exclusively.  I...

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 g...

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 a...

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 da...

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

Welcome to Paradise. When I first came to Florida, I avoided lakes altogether.  I was freaked out about alligators, thought lakes were "buggy" and didn't own a pontoon boat :-D so, I focused on the ocean.  Fun.  But after our son was born EVERYTHING was back on the table, including lakes. It did take a minute to figure out that you really shouldn't compare Lakes and the Ocean, for us, one cannot replace the other.  But, both can compliment one another.  We swim or dive off docks at lakes, good times, and also wakeboard and wake skate.  Our son even took the wheels off his skateboard and has ridden that around several lakes in Florida and Georgia.  Plus we like to swim in Lagoons and Slough(s) when the mood strikes (my next post will probably be explaining what a slough is).  Also, on the way to open ocean we often wakeboard or wake surf behind our boat in the inter-coastal (I will not explain what the inter-coastal is because, I have tried and by ...

Welcome to Paradise. Our son, now in third grade loves a few action sports and art.  It's a cool combo and it all keeps him healthy and focused on academics.  He is even interested in art history and has made me tell him the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum Heist more times than I can count.  (It's fun being a parent to an inquisitive kid.) But in all honesty, I don't know much at all about Rodin, the sculptor. Rocky asked me a few questions about this guy and I made a mental note to do some research this week.  But I didn't really need to, because yesterday, Rocky passed me going 20 miles an hour (sideways) with his hand on his chin and I immediately knew why we were talking about a Sculptor that lived a 100 years ago.      The Thinker.... So yes, I think the schools in Florida are pretty great! Home Search

Welcome to paradise. When I was a young man, I was terrifically injured while training with the Army at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.  During my medical assessment, my doctor wanted to know if I knew who the President of the United States was because, there was apparently concern about a brain injury.  I was a little panicked for a second because I could picture the guy but, his name escaped my grasp.  Eventually, I got the name and pretended I knew it all along. I was reminded of this episode when the last hurricane rolled through South West Florida.  Our family does not evacuate, in fact we are more likely to go to the beach during the storm but, this year my son wanted to surf.  We spent an afternoon getting tossed around in the Gulf of Mexico.  I took a few hard slams in fact, I think everyone there did.   I don't really have a memory of getting out of the water.  I remember finding my son (thrilling) and not being able to remember the Presidents'...

Welcome to paradise. Lots of people move to Florida because of the absence of State income tax or other financial reasons, but the most common justification still remains the weather.  It's great to have a mild winter when beach adventures are still possible and (very) often summer temperatures that are lower than the midwest.  In Florida; year round pleasant temps are the norm.  Now, when I was a kid, in New England, I remember that the ocean was too cold to swim in during the summer and the winter was a devastating season of despair.  Which is why we wanted to raise our son in Florida. The best part for us is that we are able to attend all of our son's activities so he knows he's loved, we are invested in his life and successes and we all get to stay very active and as healthy as possible.  There is legitimately no downside. Pretty much. We recently stayed in North Florida and spent our days in South Georgia watching our son wakeboard.  Of course, for my ...

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Welcome to Paradise. I have lived in a few states and even more countries so, many times people will ask me if Florida is the best place I have ever lived.  It is but, I have found that that perfect weather, an outdoor lifestyle and booming economy does not make a place great.  It's always the people you surround yourself with.   The favorite pictures I take of our son are not posed, or candid.  They are the 'in between' photos, my friend Jordan does not like the 'in between', he likes to see things through or, to focus on how to begin.  Not me, ever.  I like the part halfway through.  The part were you still need to do the hard thing, you're a little scared but more excited and your surrounded by your friends. There are a few pictures of me like this as a young guy and I can remember each moment of that day.  Even if it's 30 years ago in a foreign country, I can remember feeling invincible, excited and content at the same time.  I hope ...