Cape Coral, FL...Anybody Live There?

[Craig T]

Anybody with FIRST HAND experience with Cape Coral, FL?

My wife and I are calling it quits in a couple years and still looking for our final retirement location (outside of California). I'm looking for easy access to year-round fishing, golf, and paddle boarding. My wife wants easy access to a nice safe downtown and easy flights to Charleston, SC. Forbes gives Cape Coral high marks and Tampa Int Airport is only two hours away.

We did some house shopping in the Keys over the Christmas holiday, but the Keys are just too remote. Also, very few permanent residents or retirees in the keys. Also looked in Charleston, SC area, but state taxes and housing cost seem to point back to Florida.

[URY914]

Ft. Myers/Naples airport is closer than Tampa.

There was a thread not long ago about SW Florida.

[nota]

''very few permanent residents or retirees in the keys. ''

that puzzles me as the place is loaded with them
just not on the public beaches or key west duval st bars
but cape coral will have lots of both

but cheap mackel built houses on small lots
one of the bigger devolved to sell to Yankees projects
no corners left uncut to max profits
dead center of the home price crash in fla for very good reasons
few jobs little ever happens
other areas near there are nicer
Sarasota for one but not as super cheap

[id10t]

You may prefer N Florida to S. Florida... totally different state. I'm in hte Gainesville area and aside from the UF stuff we have the springs, several rivers, a couple of lakes, golf, reasonable shooting ranges, etc. Also all 2 hours from Jax, Orlando, or Tampa. $200-300k will get you a NICE house in a nice older neighborhood 10 to 30 minutes walking distance to the stadium and half that to Mom's pond which got restocked 2 years ago

[Brian in VA]

Look a little more south too - Estero, Bonita Springs, Naples

[Craig T]

Well, several financial magazines give Cape Coral high marks for retirement living, but according to Nota it doesn't sound like Cape Coral is the place for us. Naples and Sarasota might be better.

What about Tarpon Springs? Too much like Cape Coral???

I think we'll do what we did in SC and the Keys and spend a week meeting with realtors in different cities. I need to visit Amelia Island as well. Amelia looks interesting, and an easy hop to Charleston. You just can't tell form Zillow and city websites.

[Brian in VA]

Ahh just come to Naples. #1 per capita golf courses, #1 job growth, #1 population growth, #1 billionaires/capita, #1 Gallup well being/happiness survey, #1 Gallup health. And you can SUP and boat and fish and there's a pretty good number of car shows etc. Traffic's annoying during "season" though.

Pm me if you come down to look around. I can recommend a realtor too.

[Baz]

Craig......if you want to surf (not SUP) then you'll be on the WRONG coast of Florida!

You should look into my town...New Smyrna Beach.

While NSB is not the quaint coastal community it used to be.......it's still a pretty cool place to live - especially if you surf. We have some of the best surf on the East coast (of the US). Granted, it's not always perfection....but most days you can ride at least something to keep your zen intact and there are many days that you can have a dang good surf session.

For me - the key is to live within' walking distance of the Inlet. We allow driving on the beach with some restrictions but it seems like the day will come when the PTB will take that away from us. I'm a 15 minute walk to the most consistent break in the area and that's where you want to be. The barrier island.

We have pretty much everything you would want for social and recreation activities. Churches, schools, shopping centers and plazas, tons of awesome restaurants, golf courses, lots of parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and an airport - plus airports nearby in Daytona Beach, Sanford, and Orlando.

Plus "Rocketland" aka Cape Canaveral is just down the road which is cool if you are into space and rockets and stuff like that.

Lots of great fishing here as well of course.

But getting back to Cape Coral - I lived in the area (Ft. Myers & Lehigh Acres) in the early 90's and really loved it there - except for the surf situation. When I had an opportunity for a lateral move within' the company I was working for at the time - I jumped on it.

Just food for thought....

You know, it's funny to see someone say they want to leave the Ventura area. I love California and except for the cold water....seems like Ventura would be an awesome place to live.

[Brian in VA]

Yeah Baz, New Smyrna is a really cool, kind of laid back surf town (or was back when I went there) by far my favorite on that coast. Amelia Is is very pretty, not sure what it'd be like to live there.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Brian in VA

Ahh just come to Naples. #1 per capita golf courses, #1 job growth, #1 population growth, #1 billionaires/capita, #1 Gallup well being/happiness survey, #1 Gallup health. And you can SUP and boat and fish and there's a pretty good number of car shows etc. Traffic's annoying during "season" though.

Pm me if you come down to look around. I can recommend a realtor too.

Brian, I'm going to plan the trip probably for early May. I will most definitely PM you with my dates in the area.

[Baz]

I lived in Naples (Royal Harbor) for a while too back in the early 90's.

Cool place but (for me anyway) I enjoyed living in Ft. Myers and Lehigh Acres more.

Happy where I am now.......due to the abundance of surf. Plus we don't have as many snow birds!

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Baz

Craig......if you want to surf (not SUP) then you'll be on the WRONG coast of Florida! You should look into my town...New Smyrna Beach.

You know, it's funny to see someone say they want to leave the Ventura area. I love California and except for the cold water....seems like Ventura would be an awesome place to live.

Baz, we will stop by NSB on our way down from Amelia island. I'll PM you...But only cuz I want to meet your dogs . I think we'll fly into Jacksonville and rent a car. We'll start in Amelia and make out way down to NSB, then cross over to Naples, working our way up to Tarpon Springs. We can fly back out of Tampa.

First...about surfing. 47 years of almost daily surfing and shoulders are toast (A/C Subluxation-no good surgical solution). Thats why I took up SUP surfing (Yes, I know you hate us...Heck, I hated them too until I couldn't paddle prone anymore...but it's a HUGE advantage when catching waves with a paddle). I'm doing a lot more endurance paddling and SUP fishing now and less surfing. Surfing in retirement would be a luxury, but not a necessity anymore.

Second...Ventura. We DO love it here. Awesome surf, great weather, avocado orchard, and we have a new Grandbaby five miles away. The problem is ITS TOO DAMNED expensive! Even if we downsize, a simple 3 bedroom house in my area is $850,000. My wife and I do not have pensions. We have nice equity in our house, but can't maintain our lifestyle here in retirement. It's a very expensive property to maintain. We can sell here, use the equity to pay cash for a house in SC or FL thats nicer than we have here, pocket some cash, and be completely debt free. Also, CA has 9% state tax, 8% sales tax, and taxes 401K, IRA's, and SocSec as regular income. Screw that.

[SweetWaterSurprise]

I'll be heading down to FL this summer to see what areas we like best. Had enough of NJ but need a home with substantial property and very large pole barn. I have more then a few cars, RV and trailers. Gotta store it all. Think we are leaning towards the SW side of the state.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Craig T

only cuz I want to meet your dogs

Sounds good, Craig....the girls love meeting new humans!

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Baz

Sounds good, Craig....the girls love meeting new humans!

Sorry Baz...My daughter calls me The Dog Whisperer. I never met a dog that didn't trust me and let me scratch behind their ears within two minutes.

[Seahawk]

Some food for thought:

I have no issues with Florida in general and I have spent a lot of time in the Naples and Port Charlotte areas.

If I was set on moving to Florida, I would take a long look at Northern Florida, especially the Pensacola area...from say Perdido Key (I lived there for a year) to Miramar Beach.

There is a hint of four seasons in the area, the airports are great, there is variety of terrain and you are close to some significant, diverse cities like New Orleans and Atlanta. You are also a reasonable drive to some really spectacular areas around Apalachicola, etc. Do not underestimate how much you will miss the foothills, etc...south Florida is mostly flat and monotone.

Also, at the entrance to Pensacola Bay there is a nice surf break, nothing spectacular but it is consistent. The area around Fort Pickens is terrific.

My two vents.

[SweetWaterSurprise]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Some food for thought:

I have no issues with Florida in general and I have spent a lot of time in the Naples and Port Charlotte areas.

If I was set on moving to Florida, I would take a long look at Northern Florida, especially the Pensacola area...from say Perdido Key (I lived there for a year) to Miramar Beach.

There is a hint of four seasons in the area, the airports are great, there is variety of terrain and you are close to some significant, diverse cities like New Orleans and Atlanta. You are also a reasonable drive to some really spectacular areas around Apalachicola, etc. Do not underestimate how much you will miss the foothills, etc...south Florida is mostly flat and monotone.

Also, at the entrance to Pensacola Bay there is a nice surf break, nothing spectacular but it is consistent. The area around Fort Pickens is terrific.

My two vents.

Being from NJ I have no interest in having a hint of any season but summer and spring. I have no problems with heat. More worried about what areas might be safer then others and have more open areas for property.

[URY914]

Summer in SW Florida is HOT and HUMID! I used to live down there. Everyone says "It's not the heat, it's the HUMIDITY"

You guys can say you don't mind the heat but I'm telling you, you need to visit in August before you write a check.

[Gazebo78]

Large lots with zoning for pole barns hard to come by anywhere in south Florida. Not to mention pricey.

[SweetWaterSurprise]

Gonna give that a shot this year and see how bad it is. I'm very much a warm/hot weather guy.