NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

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 ...