I flew down to Southern Headquarters this time. Interestingly, for the stretch I was down there, Savannah was cooler than Michigan. In fact, for this entire trip the weather was of the sort that makes you feel that the southern realm is a climate paradise. My long history tells me that is quite rare in June, but the uninitiated could be fooled. (Michigan was sweltering and dry and I came back to a brown lawn thanks to my sprinklers not yet being turned on. That's a separate rant.)
The first week was a week of chores. Mostly gardening. The SH (Southern Headquarters) features very productive fruit trees in the backyard. The SO (Significant Other) and SSD (Sorta Step Daughter) enhanced those with a spice garden and have since taken gardening to heart. So the week was taken up with mulching and planting. Not unpleasant work as chores go, although we left a big part of the project to the professionals. And the yard is looking good. The star of the show is a Sunflower that is well over 5 feet tall with lots of growing still to do.
The other chore, if I can call it that, was getting the SO's car situation sorted. She was buying out her lease, which was set up in Texas prior to moving, so she had to make arrangements to buy the car from a dealer in Georgia and finally get her Georgia driver's license. If you have any understanding of how the world works, you can already see where this is going.
Buying out the lease was annoying, a complete waste of time. I fail to understand why a process like this, where a price is already decided on, where boilerplate papers need to be signed, can't be handled in 15 minute meeting, but requires a three hour stretch in the dealership most of which is sitting around making awkward talk with a salesman while waiting for the business manager to be free. Throughout my life I have had essentially no positive experiences at an auto dealership. Every single one of them has been frustrating and wasteful. Virtually every other commercial experience has improved in my lifetime but not auto dealers. Their service model is the worst.
Correction: Their service model is the second worst. The worst is the DMV. AKA, Secretary of State in Michigan or Department of Driver Services in Georgia. In Georgia you need to show your Birth Certificate, your Social Security Card, two examples of proof of residency (utility bills are good for this). Furthermore, and this is especially hard on women who have been married, you must show proof of name change. So the maiden name on your birth certificate must match with the name on your marriage certificate. What's worse, the marriage certificate must be an official embossed copy.
Problem: The SO was married in California where they do not produce embossed copies. And this is where you will find yourself in either 1984 or Idiocracy depending on your mood. Situations like this are what two-bit bureaucrats live for. They now have the power to tell you "no" and the excuse of "we're just following the rules". What they really mean is "I don't have to care about your problem and there's nothing you can do about it and I'll still get paid." I would bet the DMV is responsible for more MAGA-drain-the-swamp-types than Fox News.
The truth is that they can help you. They can make exceptions. They can work to enforce the spirit of the law -- letting people they believe are low risk to be scamming them get licenses even if the documents don't perfectly conform -- rather than the letter. They just don't want to. It is a true power rush for a basic bureaucrat to stiff arm you free of consequence.
Luckily I have experience with this. I knew from my days dealing with the Secretary of State that it all depends on who you happen to get at the window. I also know that in small towns, rural areas, people are more inclined to be helpful and understanding since most of the folks who come in are their neighbors. Our first attempt in Savannah produced a defiant stiff arm. The situation was resolved by driving an hour away to an office in a much smaller, more accommodating place where we were in and out in about 15 minutes, further confirming the arbitrary nature of the whole mess.
Adding insult to injury is that there is a new initiative that most States are adhering to called Real ID. When you have a Real ID license you have verified that you are who you are. If you have a Real ID license in one state and want to get one in another state, you should just have to verify residency. Your identity has already been verified. The SO's Texas license has Real ID, but we were still put through the identity wringer. Arrgh!
Not that I was planning on it, but the whole escapade made me resolve that I won't ever be moving to Georgia.
Where I will one day be moving is Florida. And that was the second part of the trip.
Two stops in Florida, the first Sarasota.
I have lost track of the fastest growing retirement communities in the country but I know the last time I checked The Villages, was on top and probably still is. Second is Lakewood Ranch, a community -- or rather, a series of communities inland from the Sarasota/Bradenton area, just east of I-75. Somewhat famously, Mick Jagger bought a home there for his in-laws. This was Target One for this trip.
Lakewood Ranch consists of 50 square miles with a dozen or so individual developments which have slightly varying features and costs. Now bear in mind this was June, off season, and we are a good distance away from the beaches and the tourist areas, and it was still very active. There are areas of commerce, including a nicely designed "Main Street" area which I assume is the center of any lifestyle activity. There was a top notch farmers market going on the day we visited.
First, an aside about retirement communities. These are obviously a big deal in Florida, and presumably, a growing deal in most other places considering the aging population. Some, but not all of these communities are called "55+", which does not mean you have to be over 55 to live there. It means:
55+ communities do not allow anyone under the age of 18 to live there full-time, although visitors are allowed for specific numbers of weeks per year, as stated in the homeowner association documents.
People who are not yet 55 or older are also allowed to live in these communities provided their spouse is at least 55. Many communities require at least 80% of the housing to be occupied by 55+ owners or renters, with up to 20% only required to be 50 years or older.
When we visited the Villages last year I was surprised at the number of young people I saw. In our new world where rent is so high, adult children continue to live at home and I sense that there are many such situations in these communities.
Aside to the aside: Folks look on this phenomenon as a kind of failure, but multi-generational homes have been the rule, not the exception, for the bulk of history.
Only a couple of the developments in Lakewood Ranch are 55+, although you wouldn't know it since the bulk of the people who can afford these homes have had to have long, productive lives to get there.
Developments like these, where for the most part you are buying new construction, are centered around a builder. Pulte, Toll Brothers, Lennar are some big names. These builders supply buyers with alternative floor plans of varying specs -- square feet, number of bedrooms/baths, garage space, etc. -- and varying ability to customize. The houses themselves typically range from 500k for the most basic all the way up into the millions. On top of that you have to pay what is called a lot premium -- an extra amount that depends on the desirability of the location, usually starting about 50k but into the 200k range for water view and golf course abutting lots. So, yeah, this is a big purchase and generally reserved for what one hopes will be their final home.
Lakewood Ranch has some nice benefits. First it is in the Sarasota/Bradenton area that I know well. There are limitless things to do, there are beaches within an hour, there is a big-city level commerce and services available, including high-end medical facilities. There is an airport in town used by most of the big airlines. All in all, it would be a solid place to settle in and hope you don't get swamped in new developments.
There are, naturally, some downsides. First, while there are nice clubhouses with pools and fitness facilities, I'm not sure they will be up to snuff for me. I have pretty high-end requirements in those areas. That means I may be looking into the surrounding area. Second, I have seen how busy and chaotic it can be when the snowbirds flock in. That could get frustrating. But otherwise this would be a cool spot. Well, not in summer, but I have already resigned myself to finding ways to spend high summer back in Michigan.
Target number two was a couple hours north in Crystal River. Crystal River is famous for being the place you can swim with the Manatees. A thing I have done twice and highly recommend. It's not swimming in a tank or pool with captive manatees. You are swimming with them in their habit.
All areas of the Florida coast have names. Here is a map of them. Crystal River is part of The Nature Coast. If any area of the Florida Coast can be considered to be undeveloped it's the Nature Coast. How it was spared is interwoven with the story of I-75. Back in the 80's I-75 was being extended all the way through Florida (it starts in Northern Michigan). Eventually it reached almost to Marco Island before hanging a sharp left and connecting with the Atlantic Coast via Alligator Alley. This did two things. It alleviated traffic on the former north-south corridor road, US-41 and also encouraged commercial development another 5-10 miles further inland. Another interesting effect of this was to essentially freeze US-41 in the 80s. With the bulk of the pass through traffic taking I-75 there has been very little new development on US-41. All the old buildings and strip malls and motels still exist there in all their tedious-road-trip-in-the-family-station-wagon glory. I-75 was indeed a blessing. I am one who had to make this road trip on stop-and-go US-41 so I know that to be true. But I digress.
Anyway, as I-75 grew southward it passed through Gainesville and at some point it was going to have to veer towards the gulf coast to relieve US-41 as planned, but drawing it away towards the center of the state was the 900 lb. gorilla of Orlando and The Mouse. This made Crystal River an afterthought for snowbirds barreling down from the northern kingdoms.
The vibe in Crystal River and the surrounding areas is palably different from Sarasota/Bradenton. To me it's more normal. The traffic is not bad. It's filled with two-lane roads with long distances between stop lights. And there is only one really nice retirement community, but it's really really nice. Although it's a smaller community, the homes are just as nice as Lakewood Ranch and a bit more customizable. It's also what is called a lifestyle community, like the Villages, where the recreation and social world revolves around the on site amenities. There are restaurants and health clubs and, of course, golf courses and pickleball courts, all for residents only. Even I was impressed with the gym, and that's not easy.
Crystal River is not a backwater. But the retail atmosphere is Publix/CVS/Target level. And the good restaurants are few. The growing (and, I think, affluent) city of Ocala is about a half hour away where choices are better. Tampa is probably an hour and a half. Orlando is probably two. So there are citified choices if you really need them.
One concern with being away from the city centers is medical services, a thing that is likely to grow in importance as time passes.
At one point in the visit the SO turned to me and said, this is kind of like Dexter. A major plus as I love my current home of Dexter, MI. There is still time, but at least for now, I would say Crystal River is the frontrunner.
I have probably been talking on this site for at least 10 years about retirement planning. It's getting closer and more real with each passing month. Soon a decision will have to be made. And money spent. Lots of money.
