This week, the theme is snowbirding in retirement. Should you be a snowbird? It’s a mess of an emotional, financial, and lifestyle decision about where you live in retirement, so I’m unpacking snowbirding this week. 

Today I’m talking about renting vs. owning in your snowbirding location of choice. 

Maybe you’ve dreamed for years about spending the winter in Scottsdale. You’ve vacationed there a few times. You love the desert, you love the sun, you love the golf. I was just in Scottsdale in November and it was perfect. 80 degrees every day. My husband and I played golf, laid by the pool, we ate at some great restaurants, and I went on a few runs in the sunshine. It was the best vacation we’ve had together in years. Everything was perfect. 

You may have been to Scottsdale or somewhere like it a few times on vacation, and you’ve got your heart set on buying a place in a particular snowbirding spot. 

But not so fast. Before you make a semi-permanent decision to buy a place, test the waters first by renting. Long-term rentals are way cheaper than owning in most cases, and you don’t have all the upkeep and maintenance, worries and headaches when you head back home in the spring. 

If you really think about it, how many winters will you be a snowbird? 15? 20? Once you reach a certain age, it just doesn’t make sense to travel each year, and a 2nd home is more headaches with your estate for your family to deal with. Not to mention that most snowbirding locales have volatile housing markets, where your 2nd home may not appreciate that much. 

So if that’s the case, why not take the opportunity to spend the winter in different places? You could spend one winter in Arizona and the next winter in Hawaii. The year after that you could winter in Florida. You really like Arizona, so you go back the following winter and spend the next 3 winters there. Then you want to try a more urban area like Austin, Texas or another beach locale like Mexico or Costa Rica. 

If you buy a place, you’re going to feel like you have to always go there, and you’ll likely be reluctant to travel elsewhere, which is fine for some people and an unintended negative drawback to their decision to handcuff themselves to a single location by choosing to buy. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

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