buying real estate in Cape Coral area, Florida

[paulandtracie]

We are heading down this weekend to look at second homes in the Cape Coral area--anyone have any good insight for us? We love the gulf coast beaches and the home values are incredible. Prices are down between 50% and 70% in the past 4 years. Seems like a good time to jump. If anyone lives there or knows anything that might help us decide, please feel free to share!

[lark22]

Hi there -- maybe send a PM to Florida Girl; I believe she just relocated to Ft Myers recently and would have some advice!

I do remember someone posting this article about Cape Coral...
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environmen ... 011745.ece

[Florida Girl]

Hi! Here I am!

Yes, we just moved to Fort Myers in February, we're just across the Caloosahatchee River from Cape Coral! You are right about housing prices being low, but they're just beginning to rise again, so now is a good time to be looking!

I have a blog about moving to Florida from California, maybe it can offer you some insight into what's involved. We are currently renting, we decided to live here a while before we buy...if we buy. We sort of like renting after owning a home for 17 years.

Another forum member, dannyboy, is also moving to Cape Coral. He and his wife were down here a couple of weeks ago furnishing their new condo. You may want to PM him too.

Here's my blog address, please feel free to PM me with any questions you have... it's wonderful in Southwest Florida!

http://floridadventure2012.wordpress.com/

[lprof]

Florida Girl (formerly known as California Girl) has a moving blog (to Ft Meyers) that is informative and entertaining... I feel sure that you will hear from her!

http://floridadventure2012.wordpress.com/

[Florida Girl]

LOL, lprof! We were posting at the same time!

[lprof]

LOL, lprof! We were posting at the same time!

Sorry about that... you had me by one second!

[John LMBZ06]

I am also looking in the southwest portion of Cape Coral for a house. I have made three trips there in the last nine months and plan to go back by August. I have a great realtor who set up a portal for me. I am emailed new listings every day. It is a very interesting area and I love Sanibel Island as well.

[Florida Girl]

John, that's what we did too... we had a realtor set us up with a portal to the MLS and we also got daily listings in our e-mail. It's really a great way to get "on top" of the new houses that come on the market!

[paulandtracie]

Thanks for all of the information and FloridaGirl, I love your blog! There is a lot to consider but we are heading down this weekend to look at homes. We also got a great realtor, she has helped tremendously and has answered questions I wouldn't have even known to ask. It can be confusing but we are optimistic and ready to go.

As far as the 2009 article about monitor lizards...well, yuck! I guess every place has pros and cons, but then again we live in Michigan and we have bears, wolves, mountain lions and 6 MONTHS OF
WINTER!!

[Florida Girl]

To be honest, now that we're here, I haven't seen one single Monitor lizard! I've seen a couple of reports on the news where people have had to have a random lizard removed, but they don't seem to be the problem I imagined!

[Terry]

Margo,
You could possibly end up with more VI forum friends moving to your area of FL than anywhere else! Go Girl! It's a great area to live and the beaches are wonderful. They seem uncrowded and peaceful, not to mention scenic.

11 months till retirement, but who's counting!

[Florida Girl]

Margo,
You could possibly end up with more VI forum friends moving to your area of FL than anywhere else!

I knowww! We're going to end up with more friends in Florida than we had in California!

[paulandtracie]

Well thing s seem to be working out for a home purchase in Cape Coral - we spent 2 full days looking at homes this weekend, made an offer on Saturday, lost the house, made another offer yesterday afternoon and it looks like we are in! I was amazed at how the market has picked up there--a little frustrating for us trying to get a good deal, but also encouraging for the long run as far as property values go. There were some really nice (and formerly nice) homes in the bank owned category, but many were in pretty depressing locations or various states of disrepair. We ended up going with the smallest house in the best neighborhood and we are very happy! Looking forward to enjoying the Florida lifestyle. Hopefully all will work out with the ensuing inspection, closing, etc. Thanks for the encouragement!

[Florida Girl]

Congrats! What part of the Cape is your new house in? How exciting!!

[paulandtracie]

We are pretty far south, in SW, a part that's called unit 64. We love the area, close to everything and easy access to the gulf. Can't wait to get back down!