Snowbird Resource Center
Thinking About Becoming a Snowbird?
Exploring the idea of living somewhere warmer for part of the year
For many people in Michigan and throughout the Midwest, the idea of becoming a snowbird starts gradually. After enough winters filled with snow, ice, short days, and cold mornings, spending part of the year somewhere warmer begins to sound less like a vacation and more like a lifestyle worth considering.
Sometimes the conversation starts while shoveling the driveway. Sometimes it begins during a February trip to Florida. Sometimes retirement simply creates the freedom to ask a question that was not practical a few years earlier:
What if we did not have to spend every winter here?
At first, the idea seems fairly simple. Spend the warmer months at home, head south when Michigan turns cold, and return when spring arrives.
But becoming a snowbird is really the beginning of a new voyage, and once you begin thinking seriously about living in two places, a much larger collection of questions begins to emerge.
Where should you go? Should you rent or buy? Would you prefer a condo, house, RV community, or 55+ neighborhood? How close do you want to be to an airport? What hospitals and healthcare systems are nearby? Will your Medicare or health insurance work the way you expect while you are away? Where will you fill prescriptions? What happens if you need a doctor and do not have one there? And what if a seasonal escape eventually turns into a permanent move?
Snowbirding is not simply about getting away from winter. It can become a significant retirement lifestyle decision involving housing, healthcare, insurance, travel, residency, transportation, finances, community, and the benefits that come with having more freedom over where and how you spend your time.
The My Policy Shop Snowbird Resource Center is designed to help you explore those decisions before you make them.
Sometimes the Idea of Snowbirding Becomes Something More
We have watched this happen with people we know personally.
What begins as, “Maybe I would like to spend a month in Florida someday,” can gradually become three months, then perhaps an entire winter, and eventually a serious conversation about where someone wants to call home during retirement.
A longtime friend and colleague of ours has been having exactly that conversation.
Florida has increasingly become part of her own retirement thinking. Not simply as a place to vacation, but as somewhere she can imagine spending considerably more time as the next stage of life unfolds.
And that raises many of the same questions other future snowbirds face.
Which part of Florida? Near the Gulf or the Atlantic? A larger city or a smaller coastal community? Rent first or eventually buy? Close to an airport? Near friends? What healthcare systems are available? What would everyday life actually feel like there after the vacation feeling wears off?
Those conversations helped reinforce something important for us:
Choosing where to spend part of your retirement deserves more thought than choosing where to spend a vacation.
The lifestyle matters. The community matters. Healthcare matters. Cost matters. Access to family matters.
And sometimes the best answer is not immediately obvious.
Explore Before You Decide
One of the advantages of snowbirding is that you do not necessarily have to know the final destination before beginning the journey.
Florida may sound perfect, but Florida itself offers dramatically different lifestyles. Naples does not feel like Tampa. Sarasota does not feel like Orlando. The Villages offers something very different from Fort Lauderdale.
And Florida may eventually lose out to Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee, or somewhere you barely considered at the beginning.
Rather than approaching snowbirding as one enormous decision, it can be approached as a period of exploration.
Spend some time somewhere. Learn the community. Experience the routines of everyday life. Then decide whether you want to come back.
Rent First. Explore. Then Decide.
Before purchasing a second home or changing residency, many future snowbirds find it helpful to rent.
A few weeks can tell you something. A full season can tell you considerably more.
Renting through Airbnb, Vrbo, a seasonal rental company, an RV resort, or another temporary housing option gives you an opportunity to experience everyday life before making a larger commitment.
You begin discovering things that rarely matter on vacation.
How long does it actually take to get groceries? What is traffic like in February? Where is the nearest hospital? How difficult is it to get to the airport? Can your children and grandchildren visit easily? Are there restaurants and activities you genuinely enjoy? Would you still like this place after living there for three months?
A community that photographs beautifully online may not feel right once you live there.
And a place you initially overlooked may surprise you.
Explore Popular Snowbird Destinations
Different destinations appeal to different people, and our goal is not to declare one state or city the “best.”
Instead, our destination guides are designed to help you compare the things that may actually matter in retirement.
Resources
FLORIDA
For many Michiganders, Florida is the first place that comes to mind.
Its beaches, golf, boating, large retirement population, extensive healthcare systems, numerous airports, RV communities, and enormous variety of housing choices make it one of the most established snowbird destinations in the country.
But choosing Florida still leaves another question:
Which Florida?
Our Florida guide will help you explore communities throughout the Gulf Coast, Atlantic Coast, Central Florida, and other popular retirement areas.
Arizona
Arizona offers an entirely different winter experience, with dry desert weather, golf, hiking, mountain scenery, active retirement communities, and major healthcare systems around Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tucson, and surrounding communities.
Texas
Texas provides warm-weather destinations ranging from large metropolitan areas to Gulf Coast communities, RV destinations, golf communities, and smaller retirement towns.
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Grand Rapids, MI 49525
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