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Message: [QUOTE="Edward Sargent, post: 4989357, member: 912"] We snowbird between Florida and Mass. I have a buddy who lives in Bluffton and he loves it and SC by the way. I have been snowbirding since 2008. We spend Late October to early May in Florida, go back to Mass until early June when we come back down to Florida until middle of July. We own a home in Mass and a condo now in Florida. After July we take in all the furniture throw down the hurricane shutters and get away from hurricane season until October. One problem I had was that I was still working as a consultant up until 2021. Moving files for active projects was a bit of a pain. I am mostly retired now with one client so that isn't an issue. Back in the day I got paid by check and the USPS mail forwarding is terrible. I get my mail on time less than 50% of the time. We've since migrated to almost all on line bill pay. We have 3 cars one stays in Mass the other in a safe storage facility away from the water in Florida. We drive one car up and back as we are constantly bringing clothes furniture and other stuff back and forth. You do have to plan ahead for example we have 3 weddings this summer and early fall so my tux and shoes need to go north,We take a week or so to drive stopping to stay with friends, play a round of golf, see some sites etc. We have a couple who have been cleaning for us in Florida for nearly 20 years. They come by twice a month to check on our place (especially for damage/leaks after storms) flush the toilets so seals don't dry up, run water into showers and sinks so drain traps don't evaporate and make sure the air-conditioning is working properly. We keep the air at 78 and with the hurricane shutters down our electric bill is pretty good. [B]Empty your refrigerator and your freezer[/B]. We once lost power and when it came back on blew the mother board in the frig. We thought we had cleaned out everything but missed a steak that sat in room temps for 3 months. Up until 3 years ago we had a home down here in the same town. I don't know about Bluffton but when we left for Mass I went to the police station and filled out a form and the police did house checks every other day. They would walk the property. We also had an alarm system (ADT) which is good and bad. Never had a break in but the occasional lizard walking in front of the sensor would end up setting off the alarm. In Mass we own a small cabin in the middle of a horse farm (its was the caretakers cabin and blacksmith shop). We hired a caretaker who comes and checks on the place weekly or more frequently if there are storms. We have a guy who cuts grass and comes buy and clears snow from the house (snowfall has been scant for two years). Most importantly we want to make sure the heat is on and no pipes are frozen. We keep the heat at 58. I belong to two golf clubs with men's groups in both. We've had friends from Florida visit us in summer and Mass friends visit us in Florida in winter. One thing we've notice is its sometimes hard to make new friends and some places are harder than others. We lived in Truro for 10 years and it was hard to get to know the locals. For health care I would establish yourself in one place. While we are close to Boston, we have some of the best health care in the country down here. If I have an issue I can set up a Zoom medical appointment with my doctor too. All in all I like going back and forth we will be starting our northern migration Thursday. Good luck [/QUOTE]

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