Ft. Meyers Florida anyone local?
 

I am heading over tomorrow to look at an investment home that caught my eye on zillow.

I visited the area 2 years ago to do tourist things, like visit the Ford and Edison homes with my kid. We found the downtown area and were surprised how nice it was.

We walked away from Downtown and noticed the neighborhoods went down hill kid of fast. Which I thought was odd, such a nice downtown area should increase the values around it.

Over here in Stuart Florida, a decent home close to a very small downtown is demanding premium prices.

We did some research on the area and found a couple of houses that interest us that are about 50% what they would cost in the area I live in. (Stuart)

We have an appointment to view one of them this weekend and might set up a second one we found last night.

I feel like Ft. Meyers is way undervalued and set to take off. Of course this is based on me staying there 2 years ago and looking at RE on Zillow and reading articles on the area.

Anyone live in Cape Coral, Sanibel or areas nearby that can chime in on my hunch?

the whole area crashed bad and only slightly has recovered recently
I would not expect a big or fast change in the short term
but 5 to 10 years out it could go up


sanibel is NOT the same deal as the mainland at all

I'm not sure I would want to live in an area that is "set to take off". I understand buying cheap, but a booming housing industry will provide you with increasing traffic/construction in future years, and take some of the quaintness away from that area.

My BIL lives in Boyton Beach, and is a cop in DelRay...I don't know how he deals with the mass influx of NYC/New England people (including immigrants from Haiti) that seem to have no regard for the laws, and are usually in a bigger hurry than you are (pushy). I have never seen gridlock at 10:00 on a Tuseday morning like I have there...just crazy.

Myers......not Meyers.

I used to live there but that was a while back.

I let the computer correct me and it says you are wrong. :D


I was told by a friend 2 years ago Ft. Myers is the not Naples area. He would not even venture into Ft. Myers.

I thought it was a cool little city 2 years ago, it appears the downtown is spreading south towards where I am looking at this house.

I will get into more detail once I am there looking around tomorrow, just looking for some local knowledge as to how folks feel about the place and where it is heading.

My plan is to make this house a Rental after a little TLC then after a couple of years make it a Home Away or Air B&B, (No HOA and area is duel use commercial residential so I should be fine) then a few years later either move into it or sell it off.

Pretty much the whole state of Florida has gone to hell from tourism, IMHO.

There are many areas off the beaten trail still habitable but most of the "big cities" or resort destinations have been ruined by the human race.

If you are just looking for an investment, obviously that's a horse of a different color. I think there's opportunities out there, Ft Myers included.

I was outside last night in my front yard around 10PM and it was quiet and there was a nice cool breeze blowin ' in off the ocean. Sky was beautiful and the sweet sweet scent of Crinum blooms filled the air. We have our moments.

By "take off" you mean "fill with even more old farts", right?

We were there in the Spring, visiting family. They're in Ft Myers, we stayed in a (surprisingly nice) AirBNB in Cape Coral, and we visited Naples.

Ft Myers: Old people driving very slowly, ignoring stop signs and pedestrians.

Cape Coral: Old people in broken cars driving slowly, ignoring stop signs and pedestrians. Oh, and some random tattooed gangster types.

Naples: RICH old people driving convertible Corvettes...slowly. While running over pedestrians and ignoring stop signs. And getting the skin under their chin sunburnt because they have their freaking noses so high in the air.

I think that you would need a seriously different type of person to suddenly want to hang out at the smelly beaches (read, young, with lots of disposable money) to make that pace take off. The hard part is convincing those people that of ALL of the beach communities in Florida, Ft Myers is THE one to sink your youthful money into.

What's the hurry when you live in Paradise??:confused:

You just described all of Florida in the winter, even my sleepy town, Jensen Beach, turns into a stupid madhouse with stupid drivers doing all the things you describe.

You stayed in an Air BNB, would you consider a nice one 2 blocks from Downtown Ft. Myers? One where you could walk to coffee shops, Breweries, restaurants, etc.. and not have to drive unless you wanted to go to the beach?

If I decide to buy this house, which I think is off the charts cool, I will share more info. If I pass I will share more as well.

Let me just say a house like this is the kind of house I would look for when looking for an Air BNB or Home Away type of home.


I am just trying to get a feel for the area, is it taking off? I missed the boat here where I live, I feel like I found a neat opportunity.

Hell, I like this house a lot, it has a 3 car garage out back right up my alley. I could see myself living in it in 7-10 years from now once I am done with renting it out.

Marco Island from my trip there: Fairly well to do old people. Healthy looking old people behind the registers at stores and working in eateries. Old people. Lots. If not for the beach it would be death if under 70 and you were not into shuffle board.

Lizards on the sidewalks.....like a boss. Just saying. Beware. :D None of that shiet in northern Ohio. Gila Monsters I think they call them. They were inches long.

Collier Museum in Ft Myers. Not open to public but if you are there you can figure out an event to attend for getting in.

Renamed the Revs Institute, it’s off Horseshoe Dr in Naples. Now open to the public, reserve tickets are recommended, they really try to keep the atmosphere quiet!

https://revsinstitute.org/exhibits/

100% must see and do!

Just got home from spending an evening in downtown Ft. Myers and can say I am loving that little city.

We walked about 10 miles yesterday walking all over the city checking out every street we could.

Our hotel (Indigo) was in the middle of the downtown area.

The brick area in the middle of this pic is a courtyard with a few restaurants, bars and nightclubs surrounding it. There was a stage in there with a blues band playing. They were really good. The 15 yo was tired at 9 and was sick of being out and about. We walked him back to the hotel room then went out for some drinks, listen to the band and bar hop a little.

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...W7QHTMw-XL.jpg


The crowds.. I would say a good mix of people, I saw lots and lots of people from all age groups. The clubs had lines of 20 somethings heading in. The cool bar we headed into was called 10 Twenty Five had all kinds of folks in it. We ended up chatting with a guy who owns a tattoo studio sitting next to us.


This was the bar we were in.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/10-twenty-five-fort-myers.


This is the blues band in the courtyard.
https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...Kjs28MJ-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...XqmQsdF-XL.jpg

If Ft. Myers was the land of old farts, me missed them the crowd we saw was pretty young and ready to party. The downtown area is loaded with bars, clubs and restaurants.



Earlier we found this restaurant for dinner, it was just what we like, unassuming on the outside, with a come as you are atmosphere. The food was off the charts good.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/kings-kitchen-fort-myers


The manager who was working that night was so nice. He sat at our table with us, went over the menu and chatted with us. We ended up talking to him quite a bit as the night progressed and we were one of 2 tables left. He retired as a VP with Bank of America in 2008 in his early 40's. He takes a lot of vacations and will be running around new england for a month starting next week.

We talked about how he got into banking. Were telling him how good our 15 y/o is with Math and science. Our son is really shy so he did not like being discussed. The manager picked up on that. When we were leaving the manager said to him "Hey Kid, do not be bashful about being smart, get a degree and get out there and rule the world, the geeks run the show, remember that. No one will tease you when you are making 500K a year and driving a nice Porsche." He got a smile out of my son.

Anyway, Kings Kitchen is off the charts great gourmet food in a non pretentious atmosphere. They had an option on the menu to buy the kitchen a round of beers after work for $6. I know they probably drink for free, it is the gesture that counts. Whenever I see that I always do it.

We walked from the hotel to the house for sale this morning, it was a 12 minute walk from downtown.

We have a lot of thinking to do now, we really feel like we need to do this. The area the house is in is going through a renaissance. The city slated a ton of money to rejuvenate the neighborhood this house is in. It is a historic neighborhood, the house we are looking at was built in 1910.

We can get a really good deal on this house and the seller is motivated to make a deal.

The grandson is living in the house, the grandparents moved out and into a condo as they are too old to take care of the house anymore. The grandson is very interested in renting out the house. We are sill unsure on that one. We have a lot to mill over, I am not keen on being a landlord.

The house shows signs of neglect and will need a lot of work. This is what makes us hesitate. We think it would make a fantastic Air BNB. it is 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. As I said a 10 minute walk to downtown and the walk is nice and safe. We did it 3 times to see what the hood was like at different times of the day and it was always nice.

We live 30 miles north in Punta Gorda. We moved here 5 years ago and it seems like everywhere is growing. We looked at Fort Myers, but being unfamiliar with the town and it’s size we chose a smaller city. But we do visit it quite a bit.

Hopefully things will work out for you.

It sounds like you had fun, but certainly not the place I would like...not into the bar scene/nightlife, or congestion of an inner city. I understand that I am a bit of a stick in the mud that prefers my 10 acre farm over fabulous, crowded entertainment.

We are more foodies than bar scene types. We like a good restaurant and an nice area to walk around before and after dinner. The house we are looking at is a half mile from the center of downtown. It is a nice 10-15 minute walk over. Once back in the hood where the house is, it is nice a quiet.

I snapped a couple of pics of the downtown area as we were leaving yesterday.

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...kKGTdh4-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...JNswG63-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...C64Rpp5-XL.jpg

Some mid teen girls were running around putting these posters up. We got a chuckle out of it.

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...n8zQ3VD-XL.jpg


This is a new waterfront hotel being built and will have a large convention center, something the city does not have. The city was pretty excited this was opening soon. Pics taken from our hotel rooftop bar.

https://photos.smugmug.com/General-P...sgzXMwC-XL.jpg

That is a nice looking downtown district Jim! I can see why you find it attractive.

One thing you can research is the ocupency of the Vaca rentals, vrbo lets you see the year around calendars of properties listed. This will give you some insight as to rates and percentage of occupancy year around.

I would be wondering about managing the repairs/ remoddeling from a distance.
I guess it's not too far from home to be able to get over there regularly?

Sounds like a prospect you are excited about, keep us posted on any progress.

Cheers Richard

Sarasota downtown is booming. The construction and traffic has turned everything into NYC.
No parking, always lines, and prices only go up. Drivers tailgate and race to the next red light.
It's a madhouse, not a vacation.

Do you plan on selling to high rise builders in 10 years?
The economy could change but the 'off the beaten path' areas near nature areas will stay quiet.

No hi rise allowed in the area the house is in, 3 stories max.

So your closer to the Edison house than the beach.

Yes, no where near the beach. This is right outside the center of downtown Ft. Myers.

You can walk to the Edison house from the neighborhood we are looking in, it would be about a 1 mile walk.

I am wresting with the 1910 home, it was very neglected and will need a lot of TLC to make nice. It may be too much for us to make sense out of, OR we will kick ourselves 5 years from now for letting this opportunity go past us. Which is my typical operating mode.

I get scared, stay in my little comfort bubble, never take chances and then cry when a chance I passed up would have been a great move.

Like not buying up $5K in Amazon stock in 2010 at $130 a share. I had just joined Prime and was impressed, I was going to buy 5K in stock and chickened out. That was a $60K mistake.

OR

Not buying up houses 1 town north of me in 2010 for 60K a pop. I could have purchased 2-3 of them, made them all rentals and could be selling them all now for 200+K each right now. I got scared then too.

I am pretty sure I can grab this house for under 200K it is a 3 bed 2 bath 3 car garage home. It will easily need over 100K in renovations especially if we pay contractors for some of it. Which we plan on doing. The seller is motivated to make a deal now, I could buy and immediately rent it to the grandson to cover the mortgage for now and start working on the outside.

Then after a year or so start up on the inside, it needs new bathrooms and a new kitchen. The flooring is mostly original except there are some places where they put down laminate over the wood floor which is puzzling and makes me nervous.

We are really wresting with this one, we both feel like it is a good move just do not want a money pit.

I lived in FM for two years back in 88-89. During the summer it is HOT AS HELL down there. SmileWavy

Would Mid August be summer?


Dood, I live straight across from Ft. Myers. I am dealing with 110 heat index every day and I work outside from 7-8 am to about 1 PM every day.

Yes, all of south Florida is hotter than hell, and I love it!!

I will never complain about hot, cold on the other hand.... you can keep it. :D

Man you live in FM back in the day. I bet it was a sleepy little town back then and downtown was a mess.

Before you sign on that line, look at the area, housing price clusters, and what is nearbye which will stay strong in a recession.

Neighborhoods next to major hospitals(full of responsible renters), or tourist hubs, or schools, or established communities will probably weather the storm a bit better.
State debt. Trends. Gas airline costs. Local contractors costs influenced by insurance etc.
What is the fortitude of the entire area? The state?

Even a stopped clock like Tabs is right (jk jk) and The China-thing could be a long slide for this country or a drop off the deep end.
That gravy train ends up somewhere.
The footholds will prevail. I hope. #meetoo.

A 1910 house will need work. I also know. Been my life for the past few decades.
Liens? Foundation? Mold? Water plane, flood zone, or past flooding?
Always look at it with a skeptical eye and dig into the details. Make it maintenance-free first.
Nobody gives away nothing.

Downtown closed up at 9:00 back when I lived there. And summers the town was empty. But in the winter the midwest snow birds came right down I-75 and it was crazy busy.

Now they close 1st Street the first Friday evening every month for what they call "The art Walk" where local artists and I am sure out of towners come in and set up booths.


Then on another Friday they close 1st for Band Walk, and set up stages with bands playing all over.

When we were in town 2 years ago it was St. Patricks day the place was packed and once again 1st was closed to traffic with stages and bands playing, it was a good time.

When were there this past weekend it seemed to be a very local scene and man, the place was packed, even at 11 PM when we were walking, slightly crooked, back to the hotel, there were lines to get into clubs.

Wearing rose colored glasses during seasonal up-times is not a good investment indicator.

(Sorry to be henny penny. Don't fall in love with real estate. Another will always come by if this one doesn't turn out.)

I am a land surveyor, the house is way outside the flood plane I looked that up first.

I then checked the zoning, it is mixed use. I can open a business (which I am planning on opening a small surveying office in 3-5 years) I can make it a BNB I can live there I can do almost anything I want outside industrial.

My wife did a ton of reading on the area the zoning etc.. they are pushing hard for this to be a art community. The hood around best we could see if pretty quiet and not really having a crime problem. No bars on windows etc..

Many many historic houses, as a matter of fact the house we are looking at has one on either side that is identical. It took me a bit top realize it because all 3 are very different.

Our pause comes from the fact that it is a 1910 home and needs a complete exterior refurbish. I needs a LOT of work inside too. If we can get the price down then it may make sense.

Our long term (5 year) goal is to be living in it. Our short term is to rent it while we do the outside. Then go fast and hard on the inside with no tenant.

Furnish and make it an Air BNB we can block out and enjoy when we want. Maybe even spending a lot of time there during slow season, which is summer here.

We both love historic old homes and actually look for older homes when using Air BNB.


We checked to see if there are liens I need a pro to do it I will have one of my title company clients do a search on it. I have a lot of favors out there that need to be paid back.

We plan on getting a very thorough inspection done before we make an offer.

As I mentioned the seller is motivated as they are moved out and in a condo. So they just want to cash out of this thing.

BTW - he was a ship carpenter the garage is loaded with mid to early 1900's shop equipment. Planers, lathes, table saws etc...

The garage is so big I am sure I can fit all my cars in there. Which is a big win long term.

Agreed we are seriously hesitating.


We want to do a full inspection before making an offer with a contractor who can owrk up some quotes.

Our offer will be insultingly low and I honestly do not give a rat's behind. I am not being polite and never have been when purchasing RE.

In moments like this, contrary to the vibe I am giving I am an A-hole. I make take it or leave it offers and they are in my favor, I need to get my ducks in a row before the offer happens.

If it sells out from under me? So be it.

This house needs a lot of work the selling price is delusional. I think the RE agent knows that. He said make any offer they are ready to deal which in my opinion means they cannot sell it and know the asking price is a joke.

"Historic District" could be a red flag.
Get video records of past council meetings.
Are they all a bunch of stuffed "peas in a pod" for lack of better description, or are they normal and reasonable people?

Daily fines because the railing isn't the correct color chartreuse.
Tenant parks on lawn and hangs laundry outside and isn't going to change.
Across the state...you are totally unaware and not informed until too late in the game.

I get nervous when I hear that word or HOA.

Fantastic point!! No HOA and as far as historic goes:

The house has to be registered as a historic property for them to take hold of your improvements.


This one is not registered and will never be if I purchase it. I will never let a set of people who have no interest in my personal financial well being dictate how I improve a property I purchased.

We already checked that part out, it is not registered as a historic property therefore is not under the control of anyone.

That said we want to keep it as original looking as possible within reason.

wow, that was pretty easy to track down on Zillow SmileWavy

Then buy it. :D

Save me all this debating with the wife and then making an insulting offer at about 50% the asking price.

As of this morning I am thinking of walking away unless I can get it closer to 100K the 200K asking price is a pipe dream.

That house has been neglected for 30 years easy and needs at least 100K in renovations probably closer to 150K.

I can go up the street and buy a renovated one for 260K or less.

First time hear Ft Myers and investment in the same sentence... It's not exactly a recovering economic mecca. More a magnet for hurricanes... On that coast, Naples possibly for tourism. Sarasota, sure. Tampa/St pete definitely, booming like crazy... But even so "investment" is relative. There's always more space and construction and hurricanes, everything is 2ft above the water line and subject to a sinkhole swallowing you at any time, and maintaining an investment place in FL in general is not cheap (property tax is high, so are costs for the bugman, the lawn man, the AC guy, etc). Did I mention termites ? Historic house is likely gonna cost $$ to fix up termite eaten wood. If you live there and are charmed by the area, OK, but I maintained my parent's place in Lakeland for a few years and it sucked - one time the AC died and by the time I realized it 3 weeks later there was already mildew all over the furniture !

Ft Myers always struck me as a bathroom break stop between Tampa and Naples, not the next up and coming place. Not trying to rain on your parade though I might just have, but it's probably cheap for a reason and not where I'd invest in FL. If you get a steal, cool... Otherwise proceed with lowered expectations ?

I see a cool little city that is behind the rest of the state, yes. I also see it as an undervalued, up and coming area that is getting more desirable year after year.

We went there 2-3 years ago on a whim to go see the Ford and Edison winter comes and research laboratory.

We happened to be there on a Sturday which was St. Patricks day. Down town was closed to traffic and there were band stages set up in the streets. They relaxed the drinking in public rules so you could take a drink for a walk.

We found the downtown to be really nice with lots to offer back then. When we returned last weekend, we saw a cool little town that had lots to do and we can see it becoming a neat town for people to want to come to to visit.

We have a desire to eventually live in a house very close to a downtown area where we can walk over to have a nice evening if desired. With some culture and with things always going on to make for some fun times. My wife would like to get out of Florida, I prefer to stay in Florida. But would consider something in the SE.

Then we found this cool little house in Ft. Myers purely by accident and decided to explore the possibility of buying it with the intention of moving into it full time in about 5 years from now.

We really love this little house, it has a 3 car garage that was added in 2005 and the 1910 home is so cute we can see ourselves living in it. We especially love the neighborhood and the proximity to downtown.

What we did not expect was how bad of shape the house was in and how neglected it was. Couple that with a delusional seller thinking it is worth 100K more than it is worth and we have decided to not even make an offer. It would be insulting.

We may email the seller and tell him we have a number in mind, it is insulting but we can make that offer if they get no others.

At the asking price they have, this house makes no sense to us.

So we are moving on, for anyone looking, Ft. Myers is a cool little city and we will be back again soon to visit and enjoy it some more. We really liked it there a lot.

Hey Jim,

I've enjoyed your thread and the photos too. I really liked the area when I was there ('90-'95). The last 2 .5 years though was living in the country so not exactly apples to apples, I guess. But still thought the city itself was an OK place.

While I was there we (the company I worked for) helped with the construction of the athletic fields for both the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox spring training facilities.

Every fall I attended the Oktoberfest off Pine Island Road hosted by the German American Social Club. It was fantastic!

I saw a couple of concerts that to this day are amongst my favourites....Tears For Fears at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center and Huey Lewis and the News at the City of Palms Park.

There used to be a little restaurant in front of the Edison Mall right on 41 that had a wood fired oven and utilized an old fashioned diner theme a little bit. I loved going there for the food - and atmosphere.

I ended up doing a lateral transfer with my company over to this side of the state, because I really missed surfing. My parents were also in this area and many friends I went to high school with so it worked out well, but I will always look back on those years in that area with a smile on my face.

Oh - and I also bought a Mako 19' while there which I still have to this day. So much fun cruising the area on the water, not to mention the fantastic fishing.

Good luck with whatever you decide.