Need Information on Fort Myers (Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres: real estate, housing, rental)

[Floridamex]

Originally Posted by nikki22

Living down here is not all terrible. Although it is true that florida does not have the best reputation for schools, they are not the worst either. there are still many communities that are fun and somewhat affordable. Check out Gateway golf and country club (near the airport). This community has everything from small condos to million dollar homes. There is an optional country club. also it has schools, rec center, deli, dry cleaner, etc. They are building quite a bit near this area. This region is about 30 mins from the beach so it is still easy to enjoy beautiful sunsets and waterfront dining.
unfortunately the population can be quite old here, especially in the winter. This may or may not appeal to you. sometimes driving is frustrating during season as well. The weather here is gorgeous in the fall and winter but almost unbearable in the summer. hope this helps a bit.
enjoy

There is nothing like the sound of an jet landing at the airport on a hot summer night.

[hiknapster]

I was at the doors the first day of school choice. Didn't make a difference. They put her where they wanted to put her. Teacher was inexperienced. Teacher would send home all of the day's work for students to do as homework. She didn't have time to teach. About half of her class could not speak English. Lots of discipline problems. A kid ended up in the prinicpal's office the first day. This was Kindergarten!

Hurricane season was slow last year. You got lucky.

Wait you'll see.

[gilette]

I have lived in Ft Myers almost my whole life, excluding about 10 years, and have two children myself. It's hard to answer whether or not it would be good here for you, it depends. If you are conservative, Rebublican, and into the "hard and shinies", you will love it. If you are over 40, you will love it. If you don't mind people judging you if you don't fit into those catagories, that would work for you, Moderator cut: rude I myself am wanting to relocate. I am a single mother in my mid thirties, upper middle class, and "down here", if you're not married with kids in that instance, you're socially ostracized. So if you do move here, don't get divorced or have a lifestyle that is in any way not conventional. I know it's not good to generalize, but as a person with a bachelor's degree, high standards, and a brain large enough to know that everyone doesn't have to think the same way, Ft Myers is not the place for me.

[nomoresnow]

Gilette, I'm sorry...what are "hard and shinies"???

[gilette]

you know, $$$ is the KING, materialism

[nomoresnow]

aka bling, right? Thanks!

[neohiocop]

We have been here for 5 years now and to be totally honest we are looking at moving more towards Tennessee. It's very expensive here, housing, taxes, insurance and all. When we moved here our 12 yr old son was doing work in 7th grade here that he already did in 6th grade in Ohio. The pay is not great and being this is a right to work State or Work at will State. What that actually means is the workers have no rights at all. There may be a few good companies here but they are few and far between.

And whatever you do DON'T buy in a gated community. We made the mistake of buying in one that was supposed to be one of the first kid's or family communities in the area. Yeah sure, it was kid friendly until the homeowners took over. We starting coming here 5 years before we moved here and we found that coming here on vacation is great but living here is not so good. Sorry for the negative response.

Good Luck

Jim

[BeerWolf]

We will be moving to the Ft. Myers area in March. I have read so many negative posts and a few positive ones. (Can't wait to see the sunsets.) I have lived in Ft. Walton Beach and Titusville so I know about the bugs, heat, hurricanes and high insurance, etc. I just hope the area will be of our liking as we will be there for a long time with our employment.

We are keeping an open mind and will just have to make my own opinions once we get settled in. Hope you all don't mind our Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers!

[kappersack]

I was just reading about fort myers, we are moving at the end of this year. We already found a place in Estero. Is this an ok area, what about the middle schools. Cant be worse than here in Georgia. We think the beautiful beaches and ocean will make up for the other things......

[tjstrain]

Estero is nice. I live on the Estero/Ft Myers border. it's/was the last undeveloped area in close proxcimity to the Gulf. There are 2 giant new malls just built within 5 miles each way of us.