Six months in Florida

[amy56]

Hi all,

Following on from the poster considering buying in Florida, DH and I were last night dreaming ahead to retirement (sadly 10+ year to go! )

We both said that once we retire we’d like to rent a villa for six months and experience ‘kind of’ living in Florida.

I just wondered for those that have done this, how costly is it to rent a villa with a pool for six months near Disney- ideally near the 192? (We would want room so the kids could join us and we’d but annual passes to the theme parks so we could visit often). Is it relatively easy to find long term rentals in that area?

Also DH asked - if you are there for six months what do you do about a car? Is it cheaper to buy a second hand one than to rent?

And finally, did you feel like you were experiencing living there? Or is it just like one very long holiday?! 😂

[munmun]

Originally Posted by amy56

Hi all,

Following on from the poster considering buying in Florida, DH and I were last night dreaming ahead to retirement (sadly 10+ year to go! )

We both said that once we retire we’d like to rent a villa for six months and experience ‘kind of’ living in Florida.

I just wondered for those that have done this, how costly is it to rent a villa with a pool for six months near Disney- ideally near the 192? (We would want room so the kids could join us and we’d but annual passes to the theme parks so we could visit often). Is it relatively easy to find long term rentals in that area?

Also DH asked - if you are there for six months what do you do about a car? Is it cheaper to buy a second hand one than to rent?

And finally, did you feel like you were experiencing living there? Or is it just like one very long holiday?! 😂

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I think one problem may be health insurance, most standard policies won't last that long I'm sure someone will come along to suggest a specialist provider

[12randal]

i also think you would need a visa to stay that long as your only permitted to stay for 90 days on your ESTA

[BevS97]

There are also issues with leaving your house empty in the UK. My parents went to Australia for 3 months and had issues with this.

Nothing is insurmountable though.

[BevS97]

Re the villa. I’m not an expert but it’s quite common for Americans to make a long term winter rental so it is definitely available.

[loves2plan]

Isn't this what ChrisS does? I'm sure they'll be able to offer lots of helpful advice if they see this post

[Colette-S]

ChrisS does this every year. She is very informative and I’m sure she’d be happy to help

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by BevS97

Re the villa. I’m not an expert but it’s quite common for Americans to make a long term winter rental so it is definitely available.

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Snowbirds.

[duchy]

Would you want to be in Florida for six months (or two lots of three if the visa is tricky) or in Orlando specifically. I’d think areas with a bigger year round community might be a very different experience to an area with lots of holiday lets. (Can you tell I’ve thought about it too )
Friends live in Vero and in summer it’s practically empty but in winter much busier with snowbirds (Vero mostly isn’t zoned for short term lets at all so most legal let’s are for at least a couple of months)
They still get to the parks frequently and are AP holders for both Disney and KSC and Vero is well placed for most of the cruise ports too.
There’s some Facebook snowbird groups that might give you a bit more background on how the American snowbirds do it.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by 12randal

i also think you would need a visa to stay that long as your only permitted to stay for 90 days on your ESTA

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We are planning to get round this by going out for three months, coming home for Xmas and then going back out for three months. Then back home over the summer before rinse and repeat!