A Personal Note

Recently we put our Florida condo up for sale and moved into a villa in a huge, gated community.  We loved the condo, but the time had come to make a change.  Ever since Hurricane Charley, I had served as Treasurer and unofficial Managing Director of the 32 unit condo association, having handled the rebuilding program after the terrible damage caused by Charley.

There were three reasons for our move, which will cost us in ownership costs about 2-3 times what they were at the condo: 1. over the past few years we have lost many couples-friends to death or to a decision not to return to Florida for the winter any more.  We were experiencing loneliness, and decided a huge complex with many facilities and on-site activities was what we needed. 2. we had tired of the antics of a few owners who were forever either trying to ‘get over’ on others or who were constantly complaining. and 3. the population of the condo association had changed, leaving only two or three owners who were willing and able to help with the operation of the complex.

At our ages, we decided we probably had only about 5 years before we also would become too old to make the trip back and forth to Rhode Island twice a year or even to make such a move, and we want to enjoy those final years.  Also, this move gives us a real option to spend the rest of our lives full-time in Florida, even if one of us has to face this decision alone.