Tips for Reducing Your St. Petersburg, FL Housing Costs in Retirement

Living in a beautiful area like St. Petersburg, Florida during retirement is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy good weather, plenty of fun within a day’s drive, and the beautiful ocean. However, many people do realize that their housing costs are higher than they might like, particularly if you also are maintaining more home than you actually want to spend time cleaning and repairing. Here are just a few ways to spend less on housing while still enjoying the sunny days in Florida.

Take Advantage of Property or Extra Living Space

If your home has acreage or buildings like a shed, a cottage, or another small building, you may be only a small renovation away from a great opportunity. It has become very popular to create separate living space on your property and then turn it into either long-term rental space for another family or person, or short-term vacation rental space. While short term renting on sites like Airbnb and VRBO does involve more cleaning and marketing than finding one renter for the long haul, it has the advantage of offering much higher rates, so if you want to rent part of your property and offset some housing costs in the meantime, either way could be very fruitful.

Consider Sharing a Home With Family Friends

While it can feel strange to take on roommates during retirement, many people talk about how relationships and strong personal connections are actually the most positive and life-giving portion of being retired. If you have family friends who would also like to reduce their housing costs, consider whether you could double up in one single-family home. Often, people need less space to themselves than you might think, and sharing some common spaces like kitchens and living rooms isn’t a hardship when you want to spend time with your friends anyway. This compromise can help people who enjoy each other’s company to afford even higher-dollar communities while also having built in socialization often. 

Keep Your Eyes Peeled for Deals in Smaller Living Spaces

Many people in Florida discuss how hard it is to sell their larger family home and downsize; they expect to get a better return on the larger home and find an affordable condo or other smaller home. It can be a shock to discover that those smaller homes aren’t that much more inexpensive, making families make the hard choice between feeling like they aren’t getting a good deal and keeping up maintenance on too big of a house. 

The solution, it seems, is to be willing to keep track of the St. Petersburg market. If you get a great real estate agent who is ready to go to bat for you, you can keep an eye out for a property that really fits you and is currently not as expensive, and your agent can also notice when the market for large homes is tight, helping you sell for a reasonable amount. A great agent can be part of your process, but keep in mind that being patient may yield results!