Info on Lehigh Acres (house, place to live, move)

[hiknapster]

Bring back Lehigh Acres to what? It was never much to begin with. I could understand getting rid of the huge criminal element that now exists. That makes sense. But saying you'd like to bring it back implies that it must have had some glory at one time.

Hardly. It fact, one could argue that it never got off the ground.

Cape Coral has that stripped-land and abandoned look in some places, but it did get built up over the years in many, many areas and has always had some things going for it like the proximity to the water.

On the other hand, Lehigh Acres patiently waited for 50 years for a boom. When it hit, it hit big, with more homes being built in the boom than had been constructed since Chicago's Lee Ratner first dreamed up the area as an innovative tax shelter in 1954.

Unfortunately, Lehigh was always the poor cousin in the area, and it became the last affordable place for some folks to live. Consequently a bad element was moving in as early as 2005.

At this point, the best you can hope for is that the bad element will move away, but they don't have an incentive to do so.

[twobums]

This article is from the WSJ ~ though it is titled 'Done With Ft. Myers', it focuses on Lehigh.

Home Builder Hovnanian High-Tails It Out of Florida - Developments - WSJ

[hgustaf123]

I would agree with others the crime rate is high. I currently have a customer that his parents bought a great home for 60k and the house was broke into within 3 months. They are looking to move to Port Charlotte up the road. Port Charlotte has been rated #1 place to retire by CNN & Money Mag. That might be a thought for a place for them to live.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by twobums

This article is from the WSJ ~ though it is titled 'Done With Ft. Myers', it focuses on Lehigh.

Home Builder Hovnanian High-Tails It Out of Florida - Developments - WSJ

And how about First Home Builders? That was a brilliant but nasty company. They slapped up thousands of homes, then sold out to Hovnanian at the peak.

[twobums]

First Home Builders won that wildly popular game that was all the rage in 2005..... 'who's the greater fool?'.

[debbe]

Why? I'm not "pulling at straws to make myself feel better or believing in a "pipe dream" or your smoke screens you speak of. I just consider myself very lucky to have a very cute and affordable little place in Lehigh. So far I've ran into very nice people, and we love our place. Sorry your so negative. I hope beautiful Estero will make you feel better. You asked where? We are off Homestead Rd., not to far from the VFW.

[ChrisA70]

I meant "where?", like as in "where is this great place in lehigh" sarcastically. I have not seen any... Hey, Estero is great, ask anyone here who knows Estero... No need to make it look better than it is here, it is good. Besides I am not the only one in here saying how bad lehigh really is...

[eelow]

we also bought in Lehigh recently.
yes the community has its issues, but hey, it is what it is.
We bought in Lehigh because lehigh presented us the opportunity to own a home in SWF mortgage free.
We did some digging, and really got alot of negative feedback. Barely any positive.
But we drew the straw.
We are in it for the long term. We'll be the whistle blowing, community organizing neighbours. Not the ones that sit on the sideline and simply watch a nerighbouhood with great potential be taken over by the rotten, opportunistic few.

Already the "perceived" value of our purchase has doubled since purchasing in March, as similar homes on the street are being snatched up and in many cases mutiple offers considerably above the asking. If we decide to sell now, after fees, we'd still walk away with a nice change.
The greater the risk, the greater the rewards.

[memorygap]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Bring back Lehigh Acres to what? It was never much to begin with. I could understand getting rid of the huge criminal element that now exists. That makes sense. But saying you'd like to bring it back implies that it must have had some glory at one time.

I grew up in Lehigh, I have fond memories of a very active community - The Spring Festival, Charm Circle, Golf Tournaments, flocking to the community pools, big events at local church and fraternal organizations. There once was a very strong community there, where everyone knew what was going on and had some awareness of the the people in town. You could go into a local store and see people whom you have known or met at least once and they almost always had a smile on their face. Slowly it all went away, and when I hear people say about bringing "it" back, the first thing I think about is the friendly community that I grew up in. I beg to differ that there was never much there, once upon a time Lehigh had a lot going for it.

[CapeHouses]

Originally Posted by nhkev

I'm gonna say not a fan on lehigh mostly because it is has no gulf access, because it is not a city it is uncorporated, which presents a whole different set of issues, another reason is when it was set up they didn't plan for any land to be set aside for infrastructure and commercial properties to support things like hospitals and schools , police depts , parks if it was every to realize it's growth potential. with all that said I like your take charge attitude and believe that in any place one person can make a difference just as misery likes company a can do attitude thrives, people look for leadership and if you are willing to do it hat's off to you.. I've noticed on the street that I bought one neighbor planted 3 huge palm trees in his front yard, within a week everyone in the neighborhood was out planting trees and flower beds and decorative stones (and I mean everyone) and in the process neighbors were talking and exchanging numbers and making future plans to do things together. It starts one house at a time one neighborhood at a time. congrats on your closing.

It really is that simple...one person standing up and taking ownership of their property. Congratulations.