The Ways People Live

There were several reasons for traveling to Florida this winter.  Number one – seeking warm weather. Secondly, we also have many friends who winter or have moved to Florida.  We wanted to see them, and see parts of Florida that we had not previously explored.  Although we are in a motorhome being a tourist throughout the state, it has been interesting to see how people ‘winter’ in Florida, and to think about whether we would want to do that, and how we might do that. 

We picked campsites nearest the people or sites we wanted to see, without a whole lot of regard to the quality of the campground – that led to some interesting challenges.  Our motorhome is 27 feet long – we were two nights in a space that was 28 feet long – shoehorned between two driveways and a telephone pole.  We have camped next to very busy roads, and near active train tracks.  Good thing we have thermopane windows!  This trip was about the people, and the sites, not necessarily seeking quite remote locations.

We had a lot of trouble getting camp spots in Florida state parks.  The snowbirds (retired folks who winter in warmer climates) make reservations a year in advance and tie up many of the state park sites.  They can only stay for two weeks at a time, so they set up sequential reservations alternating between two or three parks.  Every year they need to re-do reservations, and plan on jockeying around every two weeks.  That may work well for some, but wouldn’t foster the same sense of connectivity to a community as one would get by staying in the same place for 3-4 months.

We stayed in some simple campgrounds with nice sites, where people pulled in, camped, and left.  Nothing fancy, no modifications to their site.  This would be the ‘look’ for such a site in a state park. 

Due to the limitations of state parks, we stayed in many private campgrounds that hold some transient sites for folks like us just passing through, while most of their camp sites are occupied by people staying 4-6 months, or even permanently.
We stayed in a neighborhood where motorhomes are co-mingled with very small mobile homes (planted to the ground).   Residents purchase a lot, and can plant pretty much what they want.  This neighborhood had mostly 400 square foot homes, a waterfront swimming pool, and a clubhouse.  It was very tidy, quiet, and well kept.   The people were older than us.  There are lots of communities like this throughout Florida.

Some of the houses were very cute ... true 'tiny' house lifestyle.

We stayed in a campground where people lease lots and put the motorhome of their choice on the lot.  The lots were very small and people added all sorts of ‘amenities’ (outdoor refrigerator, lawn chairs, folding tables, awning rooms), making their space impossibly tight.  Many of the residents run around in golf carts. The waterfront property itself was beautiful, but what they did with it … not so much.  The tourism in the area was interesting, but the camping location wasn’t a very good cultural fit for us.   Not a place we’d spend a whole season, although many do.

Another waterfront community, with larger lots, was fully developed and had been there for a long time.  The lot ‘build-out’s’ were funny, in that they seem to have grown over time.  For example … start with an old travel trailer, add a lanai, add a carport, add a shed, and then put a roof over the whole thing.  I seemed like people had started using the lot for wintering, then ended up staying permanently.  That’s a bit problematic as the plumbing and electric is only old travel trailer caliber.  There was a lot of cut and paste to make this all workable.  But the waterfront sites were cute.  The community had no amenities other than the waterfront.  We've never seen so many clothes trees.

 There are MANY 55+ ‘active lifestyle’ communities … all over the place.  Some are beautiful, planned, fancy gated communities, with a price tag to match.  Those communities tend to be more full time residents rather than snow birders.  

There are also many communities that are developed with mobile homes.  We were fascinated by this … something not seen so much back at home.  About 20% of the homes sold in Florida are manufactured homes (different than modular or stick-built).  The communities are often developed on a land lease system.  Homeowners do not own the land, but pay a fixed fee ground rent to the developer, typically a 99 year lease.  The home buyer selects the lot and the mobile home based on the same variables that would be used in buying a stick-built house in a new community (floor plan, cabinetry and lighting upgrades, carpet/floor­­ color).  The home arrives on wheels and is planted on the lot, including installation of hurricane straps.  The whole process is completed in about 3 months.  It’s hard to tell the difference between these and stick-builts when inside these homes.  The lots are bigger than communities built on planted RV’s or travel trailers.  

There are many new and used houses of this variety.  They are profoundly less expensive than stick-built homes, largely because of the construction costs, and the leased (rather than fee simple) land.  

We found one waterfront community developed in this way that had a golf course, tennis courts, large community centers and very interesting residents.  It felt like our neighborhood for seniors.

The campgrounds and neighborhoods all have their own personalities.  Some are very quiet, with relatively (relative to us) older residents.  Other campground/neighborhoods have younger and more active senior residents who plan activities, play tennis, pickle ball, plan golf outings, etc.  

In the end, we found some places we’d like to go back to, and a number of places we don’t need to see again. 

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