# Snowbirding locations



## robfordlives (Sep 18, 2014)

With the strength (sort of) in CAD$ I am starting to think about possible US real estate purchases in locations I could snowbird in. Has anyone explored Missisippi/Alabama? Winter climate is reasonable although abit wet and an average house can be had for in the 225k range. Everybody seems to do Florida or Arizona


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Armpits of America for the most part. Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama and Arkansas are all in the bottom 5 states on a per capita income and per capita GDP basis. Of the places I have been in all those states, only Biloxi and Gulfport on Mississippi's gulf coast would rate in my mind. Buy sturdy though and on stilts to avoid hurricane storm surges or buy north of I-10 at higher elevation. And once you go stir crazy, it is only a few hours drive to New Orleans for some Bourbon St fun.

P.S. You don't want to buy a stand alone property anyway as a snowbird. You'd end up with squatters breaking in and camping out during the time you were away. At the very least, you want to be in a gated strata with 24/7 security.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I love Mississippi and Alabama but good advice not to buy there. Meth heads are abundant...there's a reason property is cheap. Good advice to look for gated/guarded communities. 

Why not just lease a place for the winter, or do like we did...buy a big *** motorhome that gives us 500 sq ft of luxury anywhere we park it...you could buy a decent 10 year old used one for 300k and the world (well continental N America) is your oyster.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

Likely best to do road trips in the areas you're thinking about, the best way to get a feel for it. I've winter vacationed in most of US (except florida and the upper east coast) and favored Texas as my winter getaway.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

robfordlives said:


> With the strength (sort of) in CAD$ I am starting to think about possible US real estate purchases in locations I could snowbird in. Has anyone explored Missisippi/Alabama? Winter climate is reasonable although abit wet and an average house can be had for in the 225k range. Everybody seems to do Florida or Arizona


A bit of an aside, but watch out for accidentally becoming a US resident (or 'US Person'), which will create tax headaches for you. You need to keep an eye on how many days you spend in the US.









U.S. Residency Rules Every Canadian Snowbird Must Know


Follow these important rules! Are you a Canadian who winters in the United States? Make sure you aren't considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes.




www.snowbirdadvisor.ca


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I love Texas more than the bayou...South Padre Island is fantastic wind surfing/kite boarding & cheap for being on the ocean. We've spent months there in our RV, some great campsites.


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## Money172375 (Jun 29, 2018)

james4beach said:


> A bit of an aside, but watch out for accidentally becoming a US resident (or 'US Person'), which will create tax headaches for you. You need to keep an eye on how many days you spend in the US.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The calculation is not very well known to most people I speak to. Every one thinks it’s “6 months.“


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

As golfers, the Grand Strand (SC/NC) suits us. No swimming in ocean! (Some do). But great for biking, beach walks and golf. Unlike Florida and warmer areas, it is off-season in the winter in SC. Rentals are cheap (We have had beautiful 3 bedroom condos for $1200-$1500 a month.) To buy one of those it would take $300-$400k plus HOA fees of $500 to $1000/month. Homes can be bought in-land a little way in the mid $200s. But no point really. As a foreign owner, you can't even work on your own home in some states.
We have visited the gulf coast states from Louisiana to Florida panhandle. The weather there is not much better than the off-season coast is from SC down to North Florida. Further South is in-season and priced accordingly.


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## kcowan2000 (Mar 24, 2020)

There is a good reason for low prices. Friends of ours retired and sold their place in MN and bought a mansion in Branson MS. They lasted one year and sold. Bought an Airstream and travelled the US, finally settling back in MN.

One of the ironies was that their MN neighbours did the same thing and have adapted to be "good old boys", staying in MS. There is much more to life than good weather.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

No interest. IF we ever buy Mexico will probably be at the top of the list. Not the least bit interested in Florida, Arizona, etc.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Eder said:


> I love Texas more than the bayou...South Padre Island is fantastic wind surfing/kite boarding & cheap for being on the ocean. We've spent months there in our RV, some great campsites.


Depends on what some folks want. I've stayed in places from Rockport to Mustang Island to South Padre and don't find any of them overly interesting or stimulating.... March break on South Padre notwithstanding.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> Depends on what some folks want.


Exactly, everyone is different which is why it's a good idea to spend some time in the location to see if it suits your needs. For Texas, I spent most of my time in the Hill Country area and usually stayed in Kerrville.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

I was watching some Youtube videos about real estate investing, one was an investor from Tampa Florida who owns several hotels. He was hurting because travel is way down and his hotels are near empty. So he was talking about renting rooms like apartments, by the month, for $1500 - $1700. These were nice places with pool, dining room, the usual amenities. For that kind of money it might be better to rent.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

There's a guy from BC that paid 30k for him & his wife unlimited use of a 5 star resort in the Maldives...he's coming back to Canada Dec 31st. 

Meanwhile Trudeau is threatening to make it harder for Canadians to return to their own country...maybe we'll get a good spanking by customs before being allowed back in? I think requiring a clean Covid test is suitable though.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Eder said:


> There's a guy from BC that paid 30k for him & his wife unlimited use of a 5 star resort in the Maldives...he's coming back to Canada Dec 31st.
> 
> Meanwhile Trudeau is threatening to make it harder for Canadians to return to their own country...maybe we'll get a good spanking by customs before being allowed back in? I think requiring a clean Covid test is suitable though.


A number of countries have done exactly the same. The Biden administration has announced the same starting in the very near future. This is about fighting covid, not making it hard for Canadians to return.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

ian said:


> A number of countries have done exactly the same. The Biden administration has announced the same starting in the very near future. This is about fighting covid, not making it hard for Canadians to return.


Yes, I have read about tens of thousand of Australians, South Africans & others being stranded overseas. Some just recently being allowed to return. 








Tennis causes tensions with Australians stranded by COVID-19 | SaltWire


By Swati Pandey SYDNEY (Reuters) - As top tennis stars descended on Melbourne for the upcoming grand slam, many Australians questioned the decision to ...




www.thechronicleherald.ca





If we had same regulations as Australia, perhaps fewer would be flying South for the winter? The need for a PCR test before boarding plus quarantine after arrival doesn't seem to be deterring many. 

Wouldn't i be great if we could have a day with zero cases as occurred in Australia this week.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

On the other hand Hawaii has shown that there is no need for quarantines if arriving tourists have a clean Covid test. They have actual data rather than guesses. Something Canada hasn't figured out (other than Alberta)


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Since retiring we have spent 5 winters travelling in Thailand/SE Asia/ Australia, two in Central/South America, one in Mexico, and one in the southern US. Hopefully next winter will be back in SE Asia, the winter after that Africa, followed by a winter renting a condos in Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo. That is three years....assuming we are still alive, have the health and the predisposition to travel.

We like to mix it up a little and knock off a few from our respective bucket lists while avoiding the snow and cold weather. I doubt whether we will buy. We do not want to own and maintain two homes.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Eder said:


> Something Canada hasn't figured out (other than Alberta)


Has Alberta got it figured out? Significantly more cases per million than Canada as a whole and 27X as many as Australia.

Hawaii has just a slightly better record of cases/million than Canada and they have the benefit of being an island state. They should be doing as well as New Zealand, yet have had 38 times as many cases.

Not many countries, states, provinces have this figured out.

Just saw this (presumably applies to Hawaii too)



Effective January 26, 2021 travelers arriving in the U.S. must:​



1) Get tested for COVID-19 no more than 3 days before departing to the United States and show a negative test result to the airline before boarding OR 2) show documentation of recent recovery from COVID-19 to the airline before boarding.​



This new order applies to all air passengers — including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents — aged 2 years and older. It also applies regardless of the length of time spent outside of the United States.​


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Hawaii welcomes 10,000 tourists/day without quarantine yet have around a 2% positivity rate without putting everyone in pseudo jail like Australia. Canada should follow Hawaii's example and stop pretending travellers are causing the outbreaks in Quebec & Ontario.

At least Alberta admits that landing with a clean Covid test followed by another 2 days later is better than quarantining healthy people.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Eder said:


> Hawaii welcomes 10,000 tourists/day without quarantine yet have around a 2% positivity rate without putting everyone in pseudo jail like Australia.


Doesn't it make you wonder then why Hawaii still has so many cases per million of population? What they are doing does not seems to be working that well, although no doubt better than most of USA.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Our friends in Australia told us last week that they need be be careful driving between states. If they get caught in one, the may not get back into the other, or they may have to quarantine. IF they get one case in a given area within a state the Gov't will close that area off for a little while.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

ian said:


> Our friends in Australia told us last week that they need be be careful driving between states. If they get caught in one, the may not get back into the other, or they may have to quarantine. IF they get one case in a given area within a state the Gov't will close that area off for a little while.


Yes, we need these kinds of restrictions between provinces. We should follow Australia's example.

In Canada, tourists are travelling between provinces for fun. Today for example I overheard two people from Toronto talking about how they came to BC to escape harsh restrictions and have more fun. We already tried asking people... premiers and the PM _begged_ people to avoid unnecessary travel and stay at home. Clearly that was not enough. Now we need harsher travel restrictions.

I'm encouraged by the new US travel restrictions just announced. Kind of amazing that the US (Biden) acted before our own politicians would, to add sensible measures to discourage frivolous travel.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Actually the mandatory Covid test to travel to the USA was brought in by Trump. I do like flying on a plane where everyone has had a clean test. Another cool thing about the USA plan is recouvered Covid patients are not required to get a test and have no quarantine. Wish Canada would take notes.

Anyway arriving with a clean Covid test to avoid a 10 day quarantine has been a great success in Hawaii.

Meanwhile Trudeau wants to put people arriving in Canada after testing negative for Covid in a Motel 6 ridden with cockroaches. Why not public flogging and forfeiture of property as well? Weld the doors shut,that'll teach them!


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

^^^


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