Coming to Cape Coral/Ft. Myers in 2 weeks to home shop and could use advice! (Fort Myers: short sales, real estate)

[suzie77]

Hello!
My husband & I along with our 4 year old will be coming to Cape Coral/Ft. Myers in 2 weeks to home shop. We have vacationed/visited several times and LOVE the area and plan to relocate ASAP. Job/Employment is already secure so we are not concerned with the high unemployment rates, instead we are concerned with choosing the right area that is safe and has good Elementary Schools. We are ready to make an immediate offer and purchase. Looking for homes in the $190-240K price range, we need a single family home with a swimming pool and preferably in a gated community. From our past visits and online research we have concluded that Lee High Acres and Northern Ft. Myers is not nice or safe, is this correct? We are leaning towards Estero, Southern parts of Ft. Myers and Cape Coral. We find homes we like in CC but many are not in gated communities. We hope to be close to beaches and shopping. Any suggestions on location and neighborhoods is greatly appreciated! yes, we have been there in the middle of summer and know how hot & humid it gets, the climate is desirable to us, just need to be careful in buying a home, the last thing we want is any regrets! Thanks in advance for any help!

[justNancy]

I'll send you a DM with a link to a list of communities in Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Estero. I do not know if it a complete list, since I am not a real estate agent, but I believe it will be helpful as it shows listings in each community and describes the amenities. I would pick Estero or even sections of Fort Myers over Cape Coral, but it's a personal choice. However, you need to check out the HOA fees in each, number of vacant homes, and how often the fees have been increased. Also, some communities might have a CDD, something I never heard of before moving here. If you decide to move to a gated community, read the rules before buying. For example, there are some people who moved to Cape Coral where commercial vehicles & boat trailers are not allowed in driveways and now complain continuously as if the deed restrictions were a big surprise!

Good luck.

[hiknapster]

You need to read the sticky at the top of the Fort Myers/Cape Coral forum. It will have information on School Choice. Where you move to will NOT necessarily make a difference on where your child will attend school.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

You need to read the sticky at the top of the Fort Myers/Cape Coral forum. It will have information on School Choice. Where you move to will NOT necessarily make a difference on where your child will attend school.

I can't give you a rep, but I'll post a quick comment. I have no personal experience with schools in Florida, but when I was on the East Coast, I met someone who moved to a master planned community with its own school. She thought it would be great to have a school only blocks away from home. Her child had to take a bus to another school. I thought that was so stupid, but imagine how the parents felt. So good point, Hik.

[MafHoney]

Estero is a beautiful area (I may be biased because I live in Estero), and it's close to things in Ft Myers and Naples. BUT, housing prices are still higher here. You have Bella Terra which is out east. We lived in the townhomes there for about a year. It was nice then, but it's really kinda turned into college city with a bunch of foreclosures. And quite a bit of chinese drywall issues. But, housing is cheaper that way because of it.

I live across from Coconut Point Mall and I love our neighborhood. Everyone here is friendly and it's quiet, but there are still quite a few kids. Some of the houses have pools, but there's also a nice community pool. The houses here though will start around the top of your budget though (which is why we're renting!). I'm 99% sure all the communities here are gated.

I can't say anything about Cape Coral just because I avoid going there. Not because of crime or anything, but there's just nothing to do there.

There are some nice, less expensive neighborhoods on Daniels Pkwy. They tend to be a bit older, but they neighborhoods are nice and a lot of them have pools. And there's also Three Oaks Park. NOT San Carlos Park (which 3 Oaks is next to), but we have friends who live in there and really like it. There's really only one gated community in there though.

And yes, Lehigh sucks. We had a house out there, and while it was in the ONE gated community out there and was nice, it still sucked. The area around us was depressing and crappy, and then it was such a drive to go ANYWHERE. Especially when both me and my husband work in Estero, it was 45 minutes each way (with no traffic).

Schools are by your choice, so where you live doesn't really matter. But it depends on when you move. If the school year has already started I imagine you would get placed at a school where there's room, and not necessarily where you want. That's what I'd imagine though, but I can't say for sure because I don't have kids.

[suzie77]

Thank you all for the help so far! We have definitely eliminated Leehigh from our search. We are staying away from all from homes with Chinese Drywall issues including those that have been remediated. We are aware of the water/sewer assessments and hidden costs with some homes and factor that into the offers we will make. The school situation still seems confusing....... Where schools are not assigned by neighborhood it makes it very difficult to shop for a home. We are using Listingbook to view homes and narrow our search before we arrive in 2 weeks. We are using Realtor.com to cross reference listings because Realtor.com gives the list of schools and ratings for each home, we have been basically eliminating those homes where the majority of schools have lower ratings and adding to favorites those where most schools are high rated, does this make sense?

[Samiamnh]

Suzie.....we had great luck working with a realtor......they know the area and every house on the market...it's so much easier to let them do the legwork.Tell them all your requirements including price range and let him or her do all the work for you.When you arrive,you'll have several properties all set up for you to look at.
We did the same as you...searched the internet,googled locations etc etc....but we didn't know the area and many homes that looked good on line were not what we wanted.
By the way....I have nothing to do with real estate.We're in the restaurant biz.Not very smart with home buying....but smart enough to call a pro.
Bottom line...our realtor found us a short sale3/2/2 with a nice pool,lanai on a canal with a boat lift already in place.....sweet.

[MafHoney]

Yes I would definitely get in touch with a realtor ASAP. The one we're using to see our house in Lehigh knows neighborhoods and communities like the back of his hand and his knowledge is priceless. Even though we've lived here since we were kids he made us aware of a lot of things we wouldn't have considered in the first place.

And especially with all the short sales and foreclosures in the area they can really help you navigate around that. Our house has been under contract for 8 months now because of it being a short sale and the mortgage company is dragging their feet. So while the price on them is much lower than normal, the process can be extremely long and drawn out.

We don't have kids living with us, but I remember when my stepson lived with us for awhile, he came down in the middle of the school year and got placed in a school 30 minutes from where we lived at the time because it was the only one not over filled. So picking a neighborhood based on what school is by it doesn't mean much here.

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Originally Posted by suzie77

Hello!
My husband & I along with our 4 year old will be coming to Cape Coral/Ft. Myers in 2 weeks to home shop. We have vacationed/visited several times and LOVE the area and plan to relocate ASAP. Job/Employment is already secure so we are not concerned with the high unemployment rates, instead we are concerned with choosing the right area that is safe and has good Elementary Schools. We are ready to make an immediate offer and purchase. Looking for homes in the $190-240K price range, we need a single family home with a swimming pool and preferably in a gated community. From our past visits and online research we have concluded that Lee High Acres and Northern Ft. Myers is not nice or safe, is this correct? We are leaning towards Estero, Southern parts of Ft. Myers and Cape Coral. We find homes we like in CC but many are not in gated communities. We hope to be close to beaches and shopping. Any suggestions on location and neighborhoods is greatly appreciated! yes, we have been there in the middle of summer and know how hot & humid it gets, the climate is desirable to us, just need to be careful in buying a home, the last thing we want is any regrets! Thanks in advance for any help!

I hope you did a lot of research on line before you come here. Other wise it will be a wasted trip.

[suzie77]

Sounds like you had great success, please send me a private message with the name of the Realtor you worked with. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Samiamnh

Suzie.....we had great luck working with a realtor......they know the area and every house on the market...it's so much easier to let them do the legwork.Tell them all your requirements including price range and let him or her do all the work for you.When you arrive,you'll have several properties all set up for you to look at.
We did the same as you...searched the internet,googled locations etc etc....but we didn't know the area and many homes that looked good on line were not what we wanted.
By the way....I have nothing to do with real estate.We're in the restaurant biz.Not very smart with home buying....but smart enough to call a pro.
Bottom line...our realtor found us a short sale3/2/2 with a nice pool,lanai on a canal with a boat lift already in place.....sweet.