“Today I’m putting aside real estate charts and data to share some of the joys homeownership brings (get my May Delray Beach market update published this morning).
Regular readers know I lived in Costa Rica for 13 years. While there, my wife and I became fascinated with all the exotic trees and fruit. From the hundred’s of varietals of Helicoñias and teak farms… to mouth-watering Mangosteen and Mamon Chino.
These were some of our top benefits of owning a home there.
The Most Fulfilling Benefits of Owning a Home in Florida
Living in Florida is a nice compliment to the southern tropics. Here we have beautiful native trees like the Capparis cynophallophora – Jamaican Caper – and fruit like pineapple, papaya, banana, passion fruit and mangos.
My wife and I have been planting in our yard the last 6 years. We have 2 banana trees, coconut, papaya, cherries, mango, and soon passionfruit. And, a handful of herbs that thrive in this climate.
We also have a couple dozen varietals of orchids hanging from our eaves.
If you aren’t here now or you just haven’t noticed, it’s Mango season. Mango harvest is mid-May to the end of June. And I mean right now, today, mango are beginning to drop from the trees throughout South Florida.
Over the last three days I’ve picked up over 100 mango while on walks and in my yard. And over the next week or two, I bet I’ll get 200+ more. I peal them then put them in the freezer. They’ll last all year and become delicious mango popsicles or additions to our smoothies.
Benefits of Owning a Home is Growing Your Own Food
The good news is there are a couple dozen types of mangos here. Overall, reports say there are between 500-1000 varietals. Who knew? The big purple-red mango you find at stores fall first. Then the longer green ones later in June.
Right now mangos cost about $1.99 each at stores. But, if you ask someone who has a tree if you can have a few, I’m sure you’ll get some. This years’ Florida mango harvest is enormous – perhaps the best we’ve seen in our 8 years here.
Also, our Barbados Cherry trees are full of green and red fruit. And, this week I need to pull down about 25 coconuts from our tree – it’s going to be an electrolyte fiesta.
This is a fun time of the year as the rains are back, the heat and humidity is starting to kick in, and our environment is alive. If you’re here, make sure you get your hands on some incredible fruit. And remember this is the tropics. One of the most fulfilling benefits of owning a home here is planting fruit trees and watching them grow. My friends used to think I was nuts… but now they say we have a “pinterest backyard” full of fruit trees.
Enjoy!
* 1st photo above: I collected about 40 lbs. on a June 6th walk in the alleys
* 2nd photo: After I cut up 40 mangos – cherries in background
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*** Speaking of fruit, Sprouts Farmers Market opens this weekend at the corner of Atlantic Ave and Military.
*** ICYMI – Delray Beach is the 1st city in America to get a Blue Flag designation. Just one more reason we #LoveDelray.
*** Our local housing inventory continues to fall. See below.
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*** Your Weekly Inventory Update ***
* 4 years ago there were over 54,000 properties available in S. Florida
* It bottomed in February 2022 at 14,485… a 73% drop
* Last week there were 27,908 available… a 102% rise in 16 months
* This morning’s Inventory is 27,617
*** Inventory is DOWN 18 of 19 weeks***
