My husband is presently in Kissimmee on a golf vacation at Orange Lake...can you recommend a retirement condo/house property he should look at? And..if not in Kissimmee, where in Florida? The coast is most expensive, right?

Hi Horatio..we are also looking for a condo for a couple of months. I'm told that Sarasota and south is the best in terms of weather on the Gulf Side. The temp can actually be 5-6 degrees warmer than St. Petersburg area - and for us snowbirds, that's a big difference!That's where we're concentrating our search.

Yes, the coast generally is more expensive.

As for recommendations, I'd say without knowing your preferences, price range, etc., it would be hard for someone to comment. I mean, I can say that I like a certain area, but it might be for reasons you'd hate.

The range in options goes from $30K mobile homes in the interior to $1M-plus on the coast. Want shopping? Golf? Beach? Nature areas? Nudist faciltiies? OK, a little overboard, but you get my meaning.

It would be a lot more helpful to put a price range on your post. The SW area, Ft. Myers/Sarasota/Naples, is extremely pricey and getting more expensive.

I believe that Patrick, a resident of Naples and a frequent poster, owns several condos in the area. You might want to narrow your search and then repost.

My parents live in the Tampa/St. Pete area, which is more affordable than Sarasota/Naples. Yes, it does get a couple degrees warmer in the latter, but it is still super warm in Tampa in the winter. You might want to look at the Anna Marie Island or Longboat Key area. Also nice is St. Pete area where there are many options available.

Last spring break DH and I looked at Anna Maria Island properties. One was a tear down dump across the street from the beach with no view for $1.5M and another was a brand new 2 bdrm condo across the street from the beach with no view for $795K.

We bought in Arizona.

I recommend that you pick a place you think you might like, then rent a house or condo in the area for the winter to give you time to scout the area out. We did that in 2000/2001 in the Ft. Myers area. We have 2 kids there and wanted to be close, but not too close. We found a house in Lehigh Acres about 25 miles inland from Ft. Myers. We looked in Ft. Myers and Cape Coral, but decided to stay in Lehigh. We bought a lot, went back to Ohio, sold our house, moved back and built a house. Luckily for us we did all this before prices went up about a year/year and a half ago. The people are friendly, it's diverse and yet close enough to the kids and Ft. Myers and the airport.

Do some homework at home via the net. Check out the local papers as they usually have articles on various areas around them. Contact local Realtors for rentals or information. We have a friend who came down every winter for 4 or 5 years before they found just what they wanted. Good luck.

I tried sending you an email earlier today, but figured I'd post something as well. I understand that your message was posted back in November, but please let me know if you are still interested in a condo/house near or on the beach in Florida. I just put mine up for sale a few days ago and it's in all honesty a great find...in historic St. Augustine, near the beach, great retirement community, and many other features. Here's a web link below. Thanks.

condo web link: http://realestate.yahoo.com/Homes_fo...&submit=Search

-Josh