I want to be a Florida Man. Teach me Vero Beach.

I think it's about time for my wife and I to make the leap.  Yeah, yeah... stereotype of old people in Florida.  Happy to feed into it, as that's what I want to do.  In short, between mid February and mid December my wife and I travel 80-85% of the time.  During the winter we are home more often.  We're currently renting a house in GA, but it's a total waste of money since we're never there.  

We're looking to buy a two bedroom condo that we will use as a short term rental when we are traveling.  After debating between the Disney area and the beach, we are focusing in on Vero Beach.  I'm not super familiar with Vero.  We're relatively quiet and low-key people, don't drink or party.  We're looking for a place that will likely attract families more than 20 year olds on spring break.  Anyone here live in or near Vero?

A little background...I owned a condo in Davenport a few years ago so I'm familiar with short term rental in Florida pros and cons.  I also am aware it is storm prone.

Do we talk about the threats imposed by climate change here or no?  Also have you looked at getting homeowners insurance in costal Florida lately (which is related to my previous question)?

A couple of questions:  Are you beach people?  Do you need to be near a major airport?  Do you like to spend time at Disney?  Can you live in a town?, or does it need to be a city?

I understand Florida.  There are a lot of good locations around the state that you will probably read about.  Some of us living in Florida are over 150 feet above sea level.

Great questions.  Pardon any poor grammar, I am using talk to text and packing full trip. Yes, I am familiar with insurance. Although my career was Auto insurance, I have a lot of familiarity with property insurance. My wife is a beach person, I am so so. However, since we are typically only home a couple days at a time I would be very happy relaxing and resting those couple days. Yes, an airport is important and I know Vero is fairly far, however that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. We would use Orlando as our hub. Yes, I am a huge Disney fanatic. We decided we would rather be at the beach. When I come back from a trip I am fairly tired, so I'd rather relax at the beach then run around disney. 

I'm confident in short-term rental condo is the right solution for us, I have experience with it.  I just don't know a lot about Vero beach.

I'm aware of the flooding concerns and the weather, it's a risk I'm willing to take at this stage of my life.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to build a house on top of the sand using plywood however, taking reasonable precautions is fine with me.

I am about 75 miles south of Vero not sure that helps much.

I would say that its best to use PBI when possible over MCO, its a small and extremely fast to get in and out of and will probably save you 30' drive time as you will not hit as much traffic. 

I know you are familiar with insurance, but if you want a condo on the beach price it first. Some condos might have it as part of the HOA.

If you are looking for a quieter place, Vero is probably a good place. The closer you get to Pt St Lucie, the more people you will find, along with traffic and all that.

Renting in Vero, are you looking at something like AirBnb? Its kind of not here nor there ... not sure how many people are looking to vacation there, but that might work to your advantage as you are looking to use it also.

I know I am of not much help, but if there is any info in particular you are looking for ask away. Also Grover is up in Jupiter, about 15 or so north of me, he might know the area better.

I don't know much about Vero Beach (aside from it being where wirewheel.com is located), though a Condo seems like a solid choice–just make sure it's not like that one in Miami that collapsed.

And, in the chance you decide you want to permanently move to Florida, I'd recommend spending a few days here in the summer. If you can take the heat then, you'll do just fine.

Native Floridian here as well as in the real estate industry. Condos in FL are in a very precarious position right now due to changes in law after the Surfside collapse. Many are being forced to assess massive fees on the owners in order to clear the new hurdles for reserves. Add skyrocketing insurance costs to that and it's forcing many owners to sell, often at a fire sale price. I read this article just yesterday on the topic. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/florida-condo-owners-face-unretiring-112000881.html

I say that not to dissuade you, rather just some callouts. Be sure to check the health of the COA and the property insurance fees before you buy. Also, some condo complexes don't allow short term rentals so check that too.

Anecdotal advice- Vero's a very sleepy little town. It's pretty perfect for retirement, if you're lookin' to slow down, do some fishing, and be real quiet. 

I hate Vero. 

Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous, quiet (like I said) and the pace is just... different. But....and I have to say this delicately because of rules and whatnot- I do not vibe with a lot of the people there for several reasons. It's perfect for retiring and minding one's own, the beaches are always chill (it's not a huge spring break destination so it's never massively overrun, though disney does have a resort there) it's just......not for me. YMMV on any number of these things. 

One other thing of note, I also would strongly look at a condo's upcoming association fees. A lot of the condo owners voted down any increases they could for decades on end and the buildings are coming up on needing massive overhauls. With inflation being what it is and everything else, mandatory increases are being levied at a lot of places and these fees are being increased EXPONENTIALLY for some owners, making them impossible to maintain. Property in FL is just....not a good place to be right now. 

Piper Aircraft has been in Vero for a long time now as well.  

I actually worked at West Palm Intl. Airport almost 20 years ago for about a month.  Seemed like a decent airport then and a nice option but I've not priced tickets etc there.  

Probably a lot of folks that relo'd from New England living there which, you know, is a thing.  Me personally I'd rather be in New England.

Vero sounds like what we're looking for.  Sleepy and nice beach town.  We're happy to chill on our non travel days.

Yeah, we're already factoring in Flood Zone rating, cost, possible upcoming assessments, etc....

We'd use a rental management company like Vacasa.  

Do some extra digging into the feasibility of your short term rental plans. A lot of Florida municipalities are really cracking down on short term rentals. Here in Ormond Beach, AirBnB and similar companies have all but dried up because there's a city ordnance mandating rental periods must be at least one week in length. Some HOAs are following suit as well.

As for Vero, yeah, it's alright. A LOT of Florida cities have "beach" in the name but aside from a few blocks adjacent to the ocean aren't what you'd consider to be beach towns. Typically the barrier islands are beachy and the mainland is just typical Florida flat sprawl. 

So you're home for maybe 2 months out of the year.  Have you considered just putting most of your stuff in storage and then Air BnB'ing a different place in different areas of the country for those 2 months?  If you find one spot that you *really* like, then maybe buy a place there?  

Given your huge travel schedule I'm not sure I see the need for a true home base....

Just to avoid lots of back and forth about the decision (not at all being rude), we have thoroughly explored every potential option and decided a beach condo is what we want to do.  We talked about airbnb, renting, and all sorts of combinations.  We have a 37 ft tow behind camper, and thoroughly investigated the potential of just living in it, and decided not to. We are looking for a good beach town to live in. We are quiet people, so Daytona is probably too rowdy for us. It doesn't have to be a massive beach, just somewhere to relax and unwind by the ocean for a couple days.

The short-term rental would be a very nice to do, but not a must do. We could work around restrictions of one week minimum.

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

Vero is relatively quiet ... the question is for how long?

In reply to Slippery :

Man if we could keep all those northerners out we'd be good.  JK SKJSS.

I grew up in Hobe Sound and lived in Palm Bay a bit, so I've been on both sides of Vero and worked there some (construction).  You can go to Ft. Pierce for some reasonable restaurants, you can go up to Sebastian Inlet for some of the last undeveloped shoreline on the east coast, I think it's a pretty nice town generally. 

Hutchinson Island just to the south is full of condos (and presumably retirees).  

Vero is probably near the southern end of somewhat affordable beachfront condos.  There are plenty of them as you go south from there, but the prices go up as well.

Stampie said:

In reply to Slippery :

Man if we could keep all those northerners out we'd be good.  JK SKJSS.

Fugedaboutit!!!

Some additional data from a recent article.

Prices for condos built before 1994 falling

One consideration is where to store that 37 foot camping trailer when you are at the condo.

I like this guys channel. Interesting info.

Another thought... the truck that tows the 37' trailer may not be allowed at the condo.

Purple Frog said:

Another thought... the truck that tows the 37' trailer may not be allowed at the condo.

Truck and trailer have a home elsewhere.