Condo HOA's in Ft.Myers (appointed, HOA fees, house)

[jasamina]

I already live in Florida and am wanting to buy a condo in Ft Myers. I've been looking and am disappointed with what the fees are. It's like having another house payment. Looking for a pool and that's pretty much it for amenities, wanted to be as close to the beach as possible. I'm land locked now. Any ideas? Am starting to think of just getting a small house but.. I'm not home that much and thought a condo would be easier to maintain.

[Samiamnh]

We looked too and decided that owning a home was much cheaper....you can get pool,lawn and bug service as well as someone to check your home once a week for around $200 per month......add monitoring for an alarm system and you're up to $240 or so.Even at $300,it's still cheaper than a lot of condo fees.Plus you can have a boat at your back yard dock....no charge...BBQ on your own deck and do pretty much what you want.
Some condo's have self appointed HOA police that will report you if you hang a beach towel out to dry.

[ZebraCrossing]

We looked at a new property in the The Forum complex the other day and they told us that HOA fees are $100+ a month and we understood that all this covered was irrigation and keeping the grass cut in a very small common area at the entrance. After looking at several developments IMHO the HOA fees in this area of Florida are not good value for money. As I have mentioned before, condo HOA fees can be a moving target. especially if the builder/developer is still in control.
In our high rise they are nearly $600 a month (for now) but it is surprising how few owners/renters actually use the pools, games and fitness rooms etc. For 'snowbirds' who spend, say, 6 months each year here that is an expensive proposition.