Left Homestead for Atlanta at 22, came back at 38 for the mango trees
My grandfather had two acres south of Homestead with mangoes and avocados. I grew up picking them and I could not wait to leave. Went to Atlanta at 22, worked in restaurant supply for sixteen years, did fine.
Then my mother got sick and I came back for six months to help. The land was half gone to weeds because nobody had time for it. I started clearing one corner on weekends and by the third month I had stopped looking at flights.
The part I did not expect was how much the area had changed in price. In my head it was still the Homestead of 2005. I spent a long time on https://florida-real.estate/ just recalibrating, because I was about to make an offer on a neighbouring lot using numbers from my childhood and I would have looked ridiculous.
Also agricultural exemption. If the land has it, keep it. If it lapsed, getting it back is paperwork and a real difference in what you pay every year. Nobody told me, I found out from a neighbour with a clipboard.
Two seasons in now, selling at a stand on the weekend. My cousin in Atlanta thinks I lost my mind. He also asks me to ship him mangoes every July.