Best Cities To Retire In FloridaMarch 30
If you are one of the millions of baby boomers about to retire, you will soon be looking for a new place to live. In fact, a survey done recently by the Del Webb company found that 59% of those retiring will retire to someplace outside their home state. And of course one of the top choices for baby boomers is to retire to Florida, or at least look into the possibility.
This brings up the question, what are cheap places to retire in Florida. So let us take a look at 3 of the best places to retire in Florida.
Apalachicola
One of the best places to retire in Florida is this small town on the Gulf Coast. It’s approximately an hour’s drive from Tallahassee and has a population of 2300. Apalachicola is a wealthy, old fishing town with a long history due it to its proximity to the rich oyster and fishing areas of the Gulf Coast. You will find restoration projects on many of the older buildings downtown and several seafood restaurants offering fresh fish and oysters of course. Locals proudly claim their oysters are the best in the world.
Apalachicola also sports one of the most beautiful stretches of beaches and coasts in all of Florida. You can choose to live on the beach in places like San Island, St. George’s Island and St. Vincent Island offer relaxed, tropical settings. The town also has a large number of historic restored homes and bed and breakfasts. The median price of a home there was $110,000 in late 2010
Sarasota
Sarasota is next up on our list of best places to retire in Florida, it boasts a population of almost 53,000 residents and is located on the central west coast.
You will find dozens of historical buildings dating back to the late 1800s. It is a very popular retirement community and many consider it to be Florida’s cultural capital. One of the best aspects of Sarasota is downtown, which is rich in culture.
Sarasota is home of the Ringling Brothers circus in the winter. The philanthropic legacy of John and Mabel Ringling has made Sarasota something of a cultural powerhouse. The Ringling Museum of Art is one of the most impressive museums in Florida.
One option for living in Sarasota is an apartment in the downtown area. There are also housing options in the outlying neighborhoods. The median sales price of a home in the Sarasota/Brighton/Venice area was $185,000 in 2010.
Venice
Just south of Sarasota lies Venice, a charming city of 21k residents located on the Gulf of Mexico. It was originally developed in 1925 by, believe it or not, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. They saw it as a planned retirement community. You should not be surprised to discover canals and rivers running through Venice Florida just like Venice Italy. Once you see it and meet some of the residents you may agree that living here is one of the best places to retire in all of Florida.
Venice is similar to Naples in many ways except it has less traffic and its prices are far lower. You may find many deals as Venice offers a soft real estate market due to overbuilding by developers. Prices soared to an average selling price of $300,000 in 2006 but as of 2010, the median home price was $140,000.
There you have 3 of the best places to retire in Florida.
30 Mar 2011 | 1:37 pm | Uncategorized
