Help...moving from Chicago to Ft. Myers (Tampa, Cape Coral: apartment, rent)

[Lvinchitown12]

Hi...and thank you to everyone first!

I am picking up the pieces of whats left and heading south! I am 47 yr old...looking 37, my last daughter flew the nest and I'm relocating. I have been in the service industry all my years of working so I'm hoping that finding a job won't be to hard. But, i do need help with an area to start looking in for a place to live. I'm driving down the week of Christmas and I am going to have a motel room for 2 weeks and go from there! Winging it, I know, but hey, sometimes you just need to go and make a new start!
So, my question is, where do I look for afford living near many restaurants and hotels. One more thing, I can't drive over that bridge to get to the beach!!!!! Is there a water taxi that goes across it?

I'm looking forward to some answers so I can continue my search on here! Thanks!

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by Lvinchitown12

Hi...and thank you to everyone first!

I am picking up the pieces of whats left and heading south! I am 47 yr old...looking 37, my last daughter flew the nest and I'm relocating. I have been in the service industry all my years of working so I'm hoping that finding a job won't be to hard. But, i do need help with an area to start looking in for a place to live. I'm driving down the week of Christmas and I am going to have a motel room for 2 weeks and go from there! Winging it, I know, but hey, sometimes you just need to go and make a new start!
So, my question is, where do I look for afford living near many restaurants and hotels. One more thing, I can't drive over that bridge to get to the beach!!!!! Is there a water taxi that goes across it?

I'm looking forward to some answers so I can continue my search on here! Thanks!

You can't drive over the bridge? If you are scared of bridges you are going to have a hell of a time living here. Moving to a place you have never been, winging it is a horrendous idea, doing it to a place with a very high unemployment rate is even worse. Service industry jobs are available, but most will be seasonal or go down to part time in the summer. You will want to get a local phone number before applying to any jobs as the biggest reason an application or resume gets tossed in Florida is out of state phone numbers. I have a couple friends that work in HR and own/manage restaurants and they all said people with a Florida address and out of state phone number move directly to the bottom of the pile. Even with this being an economy pretty based on the service industry, do not think you are just going to move here and find a job, there are tons and tons of people looking for the same jobs you are. I hope you have quite a nest egg you are moving on, if not, I would rethink this entire plan. Unless you buy a boat of your own, there is no water taxi.

[Lvinchitown12]

Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated!

[mollybygolly]

I'm in IL and will be relocating south next fall, so congrats on wanting to get out of the cold and start a new life.
I've lived all over FL before I moved back to IL 6 years ago (and I can't wait to leave!) but I'm just curious why you chose Fort Myers?
There are ots of people here who will give you great advice, but we need more info re: why Fort Myers and what is the bridge issue?
Good luck!
You can definitely do this (but I'm not sure Fort Myers is the best choice unless you have a compelling reason to go there)

[Beak Boater]

Well......others know the area better, I am a new comer here, but from what I have see, If you dont like bridges, and you are looking for work, but you want to go to beaches, you probably should stay in the Ft. Myers area, more choices for the line of work you are seeking. But the bridge issue may be a deal breaker around this area. You cant go too far in any direction without crossing some sort of bridge. Do you have the same problem with highway overpasses. The reason I ask, even if you go south to Naples you will encounter some type of overpass/bridge.
Good luck, hope things work out for you. This board is a wealth of information and their are some really helpful, knowledgeable folks here. They will steer you in the right direction.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by Lvinchitown12

Hi...and thank you to everyone first!

I am picking up the pieces of whats left and heading south! I am 47 yr old...looking 37, my last daughter flew the nest and I'm relocating. I have been in the service industry all my years of working so I'm hoping that finding a job won't be to hard. But, i do need help with an area to start looking in for a place to live. I'm driving down the week of Christmas and I am going to have a motel room for 2 weeks and go from there! Winging it, I know, but hey, sometimes you just need to go and make a new start!
So, my question is, where do I look for afford living near many restaurants and hotels. One more thing, I can't drive over that bridge to get to the beach!!!!! Is there a water taxi that goes across it?

I'm looking forward to some answers so I can continue my search on here! Thanks!

It is very difficult to advise people without knowing what they mean by "affordable." Do you have several months of savings? Do you own a reliable car?

It also doesn't matter if you are 47 and look 37 (unless you're posting on eHarmony The pay is lousy down here no matter who you are. Although the economy is improving, a lot of businesses closed during the past few years and unemployment is still high - about 8.6% in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral area. Working in the service industry can mean anything from waiting tables to managing hotels so, as I said, it's next to impossible to offer advice on finding a job and affordable housing without specifics.

By the way, it's already what we call "season" in Florida so most restaurants, stores and other service related businesses have already hired the help they need. I'm not saying you can't find a job, but Florida is different from most places since it relies so heavily on tourism and many establishments make the lion's share of their annual profit during the first 3 or 4 months. Usually new hires are trained and ready to work by November.

Regarding the bridges. you do not need to cross a long bridge to go to the beach, but that depends on where you live. However, if you want to work where the tourists go, you can't have it both ways, that is, live in an affordable area like Cape Coral or North Fort Myers and work on Sanibel Island or Fort Myers Beach. Some people live in Fort Myers and commute to Naples, although there are plenty of restaurants in Fort Myers. Still, as others have written, there are a lot of people looking for work who already live here.

I hate to sound like a broken record (do people still use that expression? lol) but there are some people who think affordable is $500 a month and other who think $1,500 is reasonable, so you need to say "I am looking for an apartment that is...." or "I want to buy a house that is ....."

Good luck, but I think you are taking a very big risk.

[Straegen]

A lot of the advice above is very good so I would certainly consider it, but if you are headed down anyway take a look at the Estero area. Coconut Point has pretty high end eateries at least for the area and Estero is fairly close with decent rent prices.

The bridge over to Ft Myers beach from Ft Myers is a very small bridge and relatively easy to cross. My mom has a thing about bridges and she doesn't mind that one.

[Compression]

Really tryin to think this one thru........It's kind of a challenge........

IMHO, the area with plenty of hotels and restaurants would be North Ft Myers, U.S. 41 just over the bridge from downtown Ft Myers.......Pretty much the cleanest and safest area of North Ft Myers. But there's that bridge issue again, unless you run your life only in a northerly direction. But you can still access all of Cape Coral by running west along Hancock Bridge Pkwy (regardless of it's name, there's actually NO bridge worth mentioning), or Pine Island Rd, which could take you all the way to Pine Island, as long as a very short, low draw bridge at Matlacha pass doesnt bother you much. No beaches on Pine Island though, and only a kind of "ersatz" beach in Cape Coral on the river front.

For beaches, Sanibel, has a big(ger) scary bridge like Ft Myers Beach, they even make you pay $6.00 to go over it. From Cape Coral to Ft Myers there are two long span, tall bridges, $2.00 tolls on those. From North Ft Myers into downtown Ft Myers, a no toll long span tall bridge. Indeed even the bridge over the river on Interstate 75 just before the Ft Myers exits is a long span tall bridge. But not to worry, the even longer span tall bridge over the Peace river up in Port Charlotte will stop ya cold 35 miles before you get this far.

Sorry if I seem a bit negative, but aside from the employment concern, until you can handle the bridge issue this area wouldnt be a good fit for you.

Any chance a friend can travel with you and get you acclamated to the bridges for a couple of weeks. I actually have had a few friends with bridge phobias of sorts. I cured one of them by tricking them into crossing the Sunshine skyway across Tampa Bay, they never had an issue after that. I had a few hairs go grey in some unmentionable places though.

Bridge is just a part of the road like any other, really.

Edit: I'm basing my descriptions of the bridges in this post by comparing them to the bridge the OP seems to have a stated aversion too. The FMB bridge is tall, but relatively short in comparison to the others I mention, while the others are longer, and as, if not taller than the FMB bridge. Perhaps it is the steep climb in a short span that is disconcerting to the OP, and the other bridges wouldnt be a concern?


YC.......

[BugManTPC]

Forget Fort Myers, move to Naples. It is the closest you are going to get to Chicago dining or service experience. And fewer bridges to cross.

Naples affordable living begins in Golden Gate and moves east from there.

Being that your in the service industry, please keep in mind ObamaCare has caused serious distress to all restauranteurs and hoteliers. Upon implementation of ObamaCare most service industries will implement part time work for all staff. In ObamaCare if you have more than 50 employees you are required to offer medical. Unless they are all part time and average less than 28 hours per week.

In Florida, I am sure elsewhere too, employers are required to pay 50% of the employees monthly premium.

So, bad time to be moving blind, wish you the best of luck.

[chadman154]

move to bonita springs, you can go to barefoot beach off of bonita beach road. No bridges. Its alot better area than some in FT myers.