S.W. Florida filling up.

2Gypsies wrote:
I think Florida is so crowded because of where folks are coming from - the heavily populated states north of Florida. Snowbirders seem to head straight south for the most part.

Yes. That's exactly right. From places as far away as Montreal, we can shoot down to north Florida in 2.2 days (if you have a trailer down there, you don't have to haul it, making a snap trip south very doable). Its the only "warm" climate available to the several hundred million east coasters in a last-second or, planned foray. If there is an emergency with a rental property or other issue up north, one can shoot home, remediate, and be back in Florida in under 5 days; costing only a few hundred in gas and a cooler full of food. Try that from the Southwest; it may take 4 days to book a flight on business-class, at several $thousand dollars for last minute return flight.

Even with our truck camper rig, we have driven to north Florida for a 2 week break in April....all the way from Quebec! Try doing that to the Southwest (you need 2 weeks with an RV rig to drive to get to and home from the Southwest). Waaaay too far.

The RGV would be perfect for a Central continent dweller or Tennessee to Colorado latitudinal transect dweller; the Southwest is a perfect and sane distance for a west-coaster. There are statistical outliers who do west coast to Florida; and east coast to Southwest (but this is the fringe cohort of Snowbirders).

We know a lot of Snowbirders that FLY to the Southwest from the East Coast to their condos/winter homes...but not many that drive it with an RV/rig.