South Africa got us thinking about Florida

Spending Christmas and New Year's with Peter's father in South Africa, we got to thinking about winter warmth and the lack thereof in Ottawa and whether or not we would like to look forward to a future devoid of winter warmth or... not.

This line of thinking quickly led us back to the old idea of getting a retirement place in Florida. With retirement a possibility in 5 years, but Florida housing prices likely to be nicely recovered by then, we wondered yet again whether we shouldn't consider buying something now and renting it out until we're ready for it.

And because these thoughts entered our heads when we were on holidays, and our minds not consumed by work and kids and other daily cares, they were able to take root and flourish. We started researching the various coasts and cities of Florida, looking for a fit. We started on the Gulf but Peter doesn't like that side for sailing though we understand that the many of the cities and towns are more appealing than Atlantic alternatives. Moving along the Atlantic, we reviewed data on average listing and selling prices and looked at the county just above Palm Beach -- Port St. Lucie? After reading mixed comments from residents and visitors -- and not finding anything online that screamed "YOU MUST RETIRE HERE", Peter brought up the Keys. I hadn't considered it, thinking they would likely be too expensive. But then we worked out how much we could spend if we sold the cottage and suddenly the Keys seemed achievable.

Well really, we have no idea at this point if we'll find something we like that we can also afford but there at least appear to be some possibilities based on the MLS listings we've reviewed.

So we've booked off to spend a week in May in Key Largo at a little local hotel on the beach -- we're actually staying in a little housekeeping cottage so we can even cook our own meals at night and enjoy the sunset with a bottle of wine as we consider whether that's something we want to do for the rest of our lives.