Reflections apartments? (Cape Coral, Fort Myers, San Carlos Park: real estate, rentals, crime)

[kcsheajay]

Thanks for reading! I'll try to be brief..
Does anyone know about Reflections Apartments in Fort Myers and how they are overall? I've read online reviews which seem pretty ok. Also, I drove by them during the day and it looked nice, but I was warned that the apartments are "on the edge of a bad neighborhood" and was told to look for apartments further south which I also did.
I grew up and currently live in a large metropolitan area with lots of crime (I've had my car broken into 4 times in my life) and am used to city noise, but I don't want to live in a dangerous neighborhood. But the price for the apartment is good, they have the amenities I was looking for, and it's close to my work. Even though it looks like it's in a more commercial part of town, being right across from the mall, etc.
Any insight would be appreciated! Of course I won't sign a lease until I am able to view the unit and grounds.
Thanks :-)

[ChrisA70]

If you can get into the gates at night take a look then. I was going to work there a couple years back, I went through during the day and it was so-so. I went through at night after following someone through the gate and I wasn't too excited about what I saw. People hanging around in the parking lot, and not that it's a problem they were in the lot, there were like 8 of them with the pants down to the knees look. As i drove around more I saw more undesirable people all over. I lived and worked at Westwood apartments, it was that way in there too. That is why I was only there for 5 months.... The supervisor at the property across the street(Westchase) worked for Reflections, and he said it is pretty crappy. Like I said do a few drive throughs. When at Westwood, as I drove around during the day while at work it was quiet, looked nice, after the office closed.... WHOA!!!! It was pretty ghetto in there. When I had to be called out at night on emergencies, I hated it, the place scared the crap out of me.

It(Reflections) is on the edge of the crappy part of Fort Myers. Basically anything north of Colonial is not so good. others will vouch as you get replies.

[hiknapster]

Fort Myers is not Detroit or even a very bad area of Chicago. In fact, on the face of things it doesn't look that bad. I think there is something about lots of sunshine and palm trees that makes the hood less hood-like.

Having said that, I use to sell co-ops at The Oaks. I lived there as well and was the emergency go-to person on off-hours. From what I can see it is now called Palm Vista. It barely resembles the place I knew many, many years ago.

Back then, Reflections was "the" place. Those days are gone.

The neighborhood was always slightly iffy and bordered a bad area. Let's put it this way, it's all gone from bad to worse. My advice is to find another place. Over the years I've read a lot of "It's not Detroit" comments regarding Fort Myers. Well, gee, that's not exactly a place I'd go running towards.

And north of Colonial is bad, yes, but there is also other areas, especially near Pine Manor and Harlem Heights. Even some parts of San Carlos Park can be iffy. Estero and Cape Coral are better bets. Or get yourself a real estate agency that handles rentals.

[claycassden]

hiknapster pretty much got it all right. Lots of wannabe gangsters in the area, the culture dominates Fort Myers as a whole. Only pockets of Estero, South Fort Myers, Cape Coral are nicer. But those areas have the same types as well. And I'm not talking racially, in fact most are whites that try to emulate hood culture. It's pretty funny IMO but then again I'm a male and not threatened by these clowns but If I was smaller and younger or female I'd more than likely be somewhat intimidated. They are more bark than bite however.

The main thing is the drug culture that dominates these areas. Not good. When I was younger and dumber and associating with people like that not knowing any better (didn't know how insane my area was til I traveled) I actually used to do drugs in Reflections at the pool areas at night with kids. Skinny dipping etc. So yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.