Insurance that pays

What your policy covers when the house sits empty, and the clause that says it doesn't.

Taxes and residency

The 183-day rule, domicile, and what an auditor actually pulls when they come looking.

Two-home logistics

What things really cost, who to hire, and how to leave a house alone for six months without regretting it.

The good part

Places worth going and things worth doing, because enjoying winter somewhere warm was the whole idea.

About Snowbird Intel

Before I hopped on the snowbirding bandwagon, I thought it was as simple as packing a few bags, pointing the car south, and racing to paradise for months on end. It’s not quite that simple.

After nearly 40 years of the grind, I retired. Then I promptly “unretired” to learn the obscure language of snowbird bureaucracy. There is more administration than the pretty sunset brochures tell you, and it gets complicated with two homes, two states, and the surprisingly consequential question of “where do I actually live?”

No state gives up taxpayers graciously. Minnesota, for one, is watching me. Dammit.

I'm Steve. My wife Melissa and I spend time in both Minnesota and Florida. I spent my career as an electrical engineer and then intellectual property (IP) attorney, which is the wrong kind of lawyer for almost everything in this newsletter. Patents and trademarks taught me nothing about hurricane deductibles. What they gave me instead is a high tolerance for fine print, and a permanent suspicion that the part that matters is buried somewhere around page 50.

Snowbirding has provided no shortage of material on which to test that cynical theory. Homeowners policies, HOAs, residency rules, home watch services, vehicle logistics, tax issues, and the many precautions involved in abandoning a perfectly good house for several months. All of it has the ability to complicate your life right when you’d rather it didn’t.

That's what Snowbird Intel is about. Every other week, I take one part of snowbird life that seems confusing, expensive, or just poorly explained, and try to make sense of it. I'll also cover the reasons we came south in the first place: beaches, restaurants, golf, day trips, new friendships, and other worthwhile ways to spend a winter once the paperwork has been subdued.

So, a house rule. Nothing here is legal, tax, financial, or insurance advice, and I'm not the guy to give it. I'm not licensed in snowbird destinations, and IP law is a different animal from any of this. What I do is read the policy, make a call, and show my work, so you can take it to your own agent, CPA, or attorney. They're the ones actually allowed to tell you what to do.

Consider this a field guide for winter defectors who might otherwise need a logistics degree to manage the seasonal journey. Come join the flock.