CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It can get cold in the Coastal Bend during the winter months, but not nearly as cold as northern states where it snows all winter.
The warmer weather is a big reason why many deemed 'Winter Texans' flock over to Texas. Yes, flock as in like birds going South for the Winter. In this case, South Texas.
Steven Stone was one of those Winter Texans who moved from Denver, Colorado. He wanted warmer weather, cleaner air, and the ocean where he could fish.
Stone recalls first hearing about Corpus Christi at an RV park in Hemet, California, where he used to stay for the winter.
“I started talking to a guy that pulled in next to me, complaining about the rain and he says ,'well we just came up here from Corpus Christi and the weather down there is great',” Stone said.
That’s when he told his wife that they should move to Corpus Christi. He liked it so much, that he moved to the Sparkling City by the Sea in Flour Bluff permanently in September after staying in his RV with his wife for eight winters.
“The people are friendly down here. They’re not friendly in Colorado. The veteran benefits are great and there is no traffic,” Stone said.
His real estate agent, Lydia Ransom with RE/MAX Professionals, said this year more Winter Texans like Stone are buying houses quicker because the pandemic caused a housing shortage.
“Before the pandemic, then we were always always busy. Except for October, November, December. Those are the months that kind of slowed down,” Ransom said.
She said the winter-month slowdown isn’t the case this year. She’s had clients offer up to $10,000 above asking price and no closing cost.
Visit Corpus Christi CEO Brett Oetting said many Winter Texans come in December. He said many of them are older and stay until March before the Spring Breakers take over.
“If you look at the whole year, we have about 18 percent of overnight hotel room stays are in the months of December, January and February and 28 percent of our short term rental market month is during that time,” Oetting said.
