Why We Left EVERYTHING And Moved To Vero Beach, Florida

To be honest, I didn't even like Florida. I thought it was all strip malls and mattress stores — perfectly charmless. When my husband suggested we think about moving to Florida, I wasn't really on board, and I said, "If you can find a place that I like, I can think about it." Well, 24 years later, we found our spot in paradise, and I've been selling luxury homes here ever since. Let me tell you about our story — maybe it will resonate with you, and it can help you find your piece of paradise too.

So let's talk about where we came from and why we landed in Vero Beach, Florida. Born and raised in Connecticut — love Connecticut. It's not that we wanted to leave Connecticut; we wanted to find someplace else. Why is that? Well, number one, winter was starting to really keep us in. We're both super active, and I was a runner at the time and I kept getting bronchitis and getting sick, and we felt like the cold was condensing our life in a way that we didn't like. We owned a consultancy at the time, for PR and special event marketing. Clients didn't care where we lived. They just wanted us to take good care of them.

So we started our search about 10 years before we actually left. We looked at places like Charleston and Wilmington, North Carolina, which we really liked, but nothing really clicked and felt like home. And then we said, "Let's explore the east coast of Florida." So our search began. We started in Boca and said, "We want to look north." I knew very definitively — we had been on an acre in Connecticut — I did not want to be out by the Turnpike or the highway, with it being difficult to get to the beach. Because what's the point? You're not going to be able to get to the beach with ease.

And so our search began. We started looking for a school first, for our daughter, who was 13 at the time. And then if we found a school we liked, we would take a look at the surrounding community and see if the components of it all made sense. Kept going north. We went and looked at a school in North Palm and it ended up not being the right fit for us. And frankly, North Palm was a little more congested than we wanted, and it was expensive — we couldn't afford it. We didn't want to feel like we were downgrading if we were going to make this move.

So lo and behold, through some internet sleuthing — this is 2002, before the internet was as prevalent as it is now, so we did a lot of our own research — we found a beautiful school called Saint Edward's School. Yay, Saint Edward's, shout out to you. You started it all. And holy cow, look where it is: it's on a barrier island. Who knew? In a town called Vero Beach.

So we looked at Saint Edward's. We did a little more looking at Vero Beach, and it looked super interesting. Well, we rented a house for a week. We brought our kayaks, and when we got in the Indian River — didn't know what that was all about — we're toodling around, and we felt like we were back in the Keys, without the honky-tonk vacation vibe. And it felt super charming. We found out the river was brackish, which meant alligators broadly didn't like it. And we saw manatees. The first time I saw a manatee I almost freaked out. I had no idea that it existed. I thought gators and Florida were one and the same, as long as there's a body of water. Wrong.

So we said, you know what, this really could work. The more we did our homework, we realised there were no high-rises other than the buildings that predated 1977. And it really started to feel like Connecticut with palm trees, if I'm honest. So we gave it a whirl, and we said, "We're going to try it for a year, and if we don't like it, we can always go back." Well, that was 24 years ago, so I guess it worked out, right? For us it has been transformational. From a place where we said let's give it a year, we can never imagine living any place else. Now when I'm gone — whether it's a business trip or visiting family and friends — I come over that bridge, and I'm telling you, my blood pressure, I can feel it go down.

Looking back on 24 years, I'm going to give it to you straight: the good, the bad and the ugly. It's mostly all good. I have to say, we would never live any place else — that's good in and of itself, because we could, and we're not going to. The food scene has gotten better and better over the 20 years that we've been here. The diversity of folks that live here — ages, backgrounds — has gotten better, as transportation and technology have enabled you to be able to live anywhere. That's a good thing.

It's hot. No joke. I mean, it really is, this time of year. Although right now it is hot, but it's manageable, and you figure out how to deal with it. Hurricanes are just a thing; you learn to deal with it. So overall, the only bad I would say is I don't love snakes and rats — and you know, it's a beachside community, and every beachside community has both of those. You get a guy that gives you bait boxes, and if you understand your snakes... work with me and I'll give you a little pocket guide to all the things in Florida. I'm not a critter person. I'm definitely not on team snake. I love the manatees and the dolphins; they make me so happy to see.

My favourite thing is probably something you wouldn't expect me to say. You're going to say the weather — wrong. My favourite thing is flowers year round. So there's not much bad. I wish it was more affordable to live here and less expensive to insure, but still, compared to places in South Florida, it's still the only game in town as far as we're concerned — 40% more affordable. So for us, paradise is Vero Beach, Florida.

All right, let's talk turkey. Let's talk money — Benjamins, a.k.a. what's it really going to cost me? Depends what's important to you. Location, location, location. I know everybody says it, but it's true. We have a barrier island and a mainland. We are right here in Central Beach. This is a beautiful renovated house at 315 Date Palm — come see it, it's fabulous, it's a little jewel box. This is 1.3.

Renovated on the barrier island is going to be anywhere 1.3 to 4 million. Obviously, river and ocean is going to cost you more. If you're talking no water, anywhere between 1.5 and 2.5 in general is where you're going to be. On the mainland, that same house is going to be 700,000 to a million. So you see the difference your dollar will bear on and off the barrier island. But keep in mind, we've got low density, which means it's not going to be a thing to hop in the car and drive over to the beach, because we don't have six-lane roads. We've got low density, and the beaches are shockingly uncrowded. Ditto the Indian River, which is brackish, and alligators don't like it.

So that's the scoop in a nutshell. Condos will be anywhere from 200,000 to 3 million on the mainland, depending on the age, and if it's on the river or not, or if you're in a golf course community. And on the barrier island, condos again — a two-bedroom is the more affordable alternative. A three-bedroom bumps you immediately into another calibre, as does age. Let's see, probably 650,000 to a million two for an older building; newer buildings, a million two to five million, like my penthouse at 8050 — shout out to them. It's the entire floor, 5,000 feet. Shameless plug. It's unbelievable. It's like a house in the sky. Four-car garage, with a cabana in the clubhouse by the beach and the pool.

Anyway, so that's it in a nutshell. It depends what's important to you, but whatever it is, the good news is it's going to be 40% more affordable than South Florida or Naples. So that is our origin story, and why we would never live any place else.

What I would say is, part of the reason I got into the real estate brokerage business is because we felt like we had to do all of our own homework when we discovered Vero Beach. I know what the journey is like. What are these gated communities like? How do you figure it out? What does it mean? What are the rules and regs? What's the deal with the river? Where should I be? Where do I want to live? We said, you know what, if we had these kinds of questions, and we had a hard time getting an adviser to help us find all the answers — maybe there's a market out there.

Eventually we sold the business. We're not in the consultancy business any more. My husband turned to writing, and I said, you know what, I'm going to try real estate. Because I used to work in the corporate relocation business and the closing business, so I can do a settlement statement and retitle. And now, all those years doing marketing for clients, I know the front end. So I said, I'm going to start a consultancy that's marketing-forward, that focuses on people that are coming here who need to understand the key questions, just like we did. And that's our origin story.

So if this is something that resonates with you — whether you decide Vero is right for you or not — I now have trusted colleagues all over the globe that can help you answer these same questions wherever it is. Whether it's Vero or Timbuktu, it would be my privilege to help you figure it out. If the story resonated with you, reach out through our contact form and I would be so delighted. On our website, thedaleygroup.com, you'll find our insider's guide to Vero, which I wrote. We've got great market reports that you can check — Vero as well as back home, wherever that home is located — and see where the market is going, and we can figure it out together. I'm Sally Daley from The Daley Group at Douglas Elliman. I hope you found my origin story helpful, so you can figure out where your slice of paradise is going to be if you're thinking of making a move. Until next time, take care.