Snowbirds swoop in on home deals

You can add real estate offices after restaurants, golf courses, condos and RV parks on the list of where you will find snowbirds, the perennial winter visitors from Michigan, Ontario and other parts north who began arriving in early November.

Despite the poor economy, and stronger efforts by Western states to recruit seasonal visitors affluent enough to afford two residences, more snowbirds are expected to gather in Florida this year than last, partly because of housing prices here.

"It appears snowbirds are arriving in greater numbers early this year," said Walter Klages, who heads Tampa-based Research Data Services Inc., which provides consulting services for visitors bureaus.

"These are not tourists," Klages said. "They are part-time residents."

"Reservations are up this year," said Bobby Cornwell, executive director of the Florida Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds, which has 385 members. "This is not a recession-proof industry, but it is one of the few industries to escape the downturn."

In addition to those who stay in campers and recreational vehicles worth $5,000 to a couple of million, snowbirds flock to condos and homes they rent or buy, said Michael MacKenzie, director of communications for the 70,000-member Canadian Snowbird Association, headquartered in Toronto.

This season is off to a good start primarily because of the parity of the Canadian and American dollar and an attractive U.S. real estate market, MacKenzie said.

"Whenever the Canadian dollar is almost at par with the U.S. dollar, you get more Canadians traveling and spending more money, in Florida particularly," he said.

"In addition, Canadians are seeing real estate deals they've not seen in a generation. People are seeing $400,000 homes for $200,000. We've never seen deals like this, so people are visiting and shopping to buy homes."

The National Association of Realtors reported that 23.6 percent of all international homebuyers in the United States in 2008 were from Canada, up from 11 percent in 2007. Canadians bought more than 40,000 U.S. homes in 2008, the association reported.

Just how many snowbirds visit Florida and other states each year is difficult to ascertain. Neither Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing bureau, nor local visitors bureaus track how many people relocate to the state for long visits each year.

But Klages, in a 2006 study for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, found that Pinellas County's snowbird population peaked in March that year at 258,000.

In recent years, the University of Florida Bureau Of Economic and Business Research produced a handful of studies to show how to scientifically identify a state's snowbird population.

Still, locals can see the impact, from additional highway congestion caused by vehicles with out-of-state plates to the increased business, sales and property tax revenue from long-term visitors.

Tallying Florida's flock

A 2006 Journals of Gerontology paper by UF's Stanley K. Smith and Mark House estimated there were 818,000 snowbirds in Florida at the peak of the 2005 winter season.

Though specific numbers are lacking, anecdotal evidence of snowbird trends is plentiful.

"Typically, people think Canadians are the majority of the market," said Cornwell, from the RV parks association. "Others come primarily from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York - those regions."

But some are like Judy Stein, who scouted Florida campgrounds and RV parks for several years on trips from Missouri.

She and her husband settled on the Dunedin Carefree RV Resort, where they live in a fifth-wheel camper.

"You figure you are blessed enough to live in the North and are able to get away from the cold weather and being grumpy and come to Florida, so you do it," Stein said.

"I always believe people come to our park because of the people who are here."

The Dunedin Carefree park's 235 sites are booked from Nov. 1 to May 2, office manager Darlene Proctor said. Plus, there's a monthly waiting list.

Rates vary by length of stay and other factors, but fall well within the Florida RV Park association's statewide estimate of $350 a month for a park with few amenities and not in a good location to more than $1,000 a month for a park near a beach.

In addition to the favorable location near water, restaurants and shopping, the Dunedin Carefree RV Resort benefits from being along the Pinellas Trail, a bicycle and pedestrian path that extends from Tarpon Springs to St. Petersburg.

About 30 percent to 40 percent of the snowbirds are Canadians, both French- and English-speaking.

However, many snowbirds live among permanent residents in rentals or homes they buy.

The best guess is that of about 200,000 Canadian snowbirds who stay in homes or condos, about 70 percent to 75 percent spend the winter in Florida, MacKenzie said.

Arizona is second with a 15 percent draw, followed by Texas and California with 5 percent each.

Property tax drawback

Why Florida? More snowbirds from Canada come from eastern provinces where weather is more severe than the western ones, so that means a two-hour plane ride or two-day drive to Florida, compared with a five-hour flight and much longer drive to Texas or Arizona.

But Arizona, in particular, has taken aim with advertisements directed at Canadians in recent years. The ads focus on Florida's property tax anomalies that penalize out-of-state property owners in terms of their tax liabilities, compared with those of year-round residents, MacKenzie said.

That stems from Florida's Save Our Homes law, which caps year-round resident assessments at 3 percent but allows unlimited increases for non-homestead owners.

That can result in snowbirds paying far more in taxes during a six month-stay at their Florida property than their neighbors who live here year-round.