Best Cities To Retire In Florida

July 8, 2013 sarah Uncategorized

Millions of baby boomers are on the threshold of retiring and many of them will end up somewhere other than where they currently 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 you will find that many of your fellow baby boomers will choose to retire to Florida.

This raises the question what are the best places to retire in Florida? You could be happy with dozens of cities in Florida, let’s take a look at 3 cheap places to retire in Florida.

Apalachicola

One of the top retirement spots is a small town on the Gulf coast. It’s approximately an hour’s drive from Tallahassee and has a population of 2300. Apalachicola is an affluent fishing town with lush fishing areas off the coast. Downtown Apalachicola as an interesting array of restored buildings with a lovely, working waterfront with fishing boats tied up next to tasty seafood restaurants. Many believe that the town’s oysters are the finest in the entire world.

Apalachicola also sports one of the most beautiful stretches of beaches and coasts in all of Florida. If you want to live on the beach, nearby Sand Island, St. George’s Island and St. Vincent Island offer warm, tropical surroundings. You will find a plethora of restored homes and you can plan a mini vacation in one of the many bed and breakfasts. The median price of a home there was $110,000 in late 2010

Sarasota

Sarasota has a population of around 52,000 and is on Florida’s central west coast–on the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay.

Sarasota plays home to dozens of historically significant buildings and institutions. It is a very popular retirement community and many consider it to be Florida’s cultural capital. It has one of the best downtowns in Florida.

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. You can witness this at the Ringling Musuem of Arts – one of the most awe-inspiring in Florida.

You have hundreds of living options in this city, many choose to live in a downtown apartment. There are also housing options in the outlying neighborhoods. Sarasota home prices are still affordable with the median home price coming in at $185k.

Venice

Just south of Sarasota lies Venice, a charming city of 21k residents located on the Gulf of Mexico. It was established in 1925 by train engineers. They were visionaries, thinking Venice would be an ideal senior retirement community. Like its namesake, Venice has many canals and rivers running through it. It is a top-rated community for adults over the age of 55.

Venice is similar to Naples in many ways except it has less traffic and its prices are far lower. For example, the real estate market in Venice is very soft right now as it attempts to recover from overbuilding, the hurricanes of 2005 and speculation. The median home price in Venice is down to $140,000 from a high of $300,000 in 2006.

Now you know some of the cheap places to retire in Florida.

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