When George and Anne Valentine, of Long Island, made plans to retire, there was no doubt they would leave New York for Florida, where they had vacationed for years.They adored the year-round sunshine. Anne Valentine’s arthritis made it so difficult in Islip’s frigid winters that she could barely dress herself. But when it came to retirement-home shopping in Florida, price shock rivaled Manhattan’s. “We looked in [tag]Sarasota[/tag]. It was too much money – there were million-dollar homes – and it was really crowded,” said Anne Valentine, 59. “So I said, ‘Let’s go back to that place we looked at so many years ago.’”

That place was [tag]Homosassa[/tag], in [tag]Citrus County Florida[/tag]. A place that once was considered the middle of nowhere, the county is fast becoming somewhere to thousands of people each year, according to a recent census study. Among similarly sized statistical areas in the study, Citrus County had the second-highest rate of people moving in from other parts of the country and state from 2000 to 2004. Only Mohave County, Ariz. – home to Lake Havasu City and the relocated London Bridge – had a higher draw. Each year during that period, Citrus County grew by an average of 4,147 people. They’re coming from New York, the biggest loser of population durin