Does anyone know what happened to Ft Myers area?

[jjckac]

Well we lived in Florida (Boynton beach east coast ) in the 70's and in Naples (west coast ) in the 90's...we were going to move down to Florida sometime this year...So I started checking everything out.. First the Homeowners Insurance cost is out of control and second the flood insurance is crazy expensive. You have to have flood ins. if you have a mortgage but I wouldn`t own a home in Florida without it...There are many people that are paying $4000 to 8000 a year for flood ins. and many thousands more for homeowners...frankly we love Florida but paying another $1500 to $2000 "PER MONTH" for flood and homeowners has made moving to Florida history for us..

A friend has a neighbor that is on the water in Cape Coral. His bank just sent him a notice that starting immediately he will have to pay $11.000 per year for flood ins.

Almost everything in florida has to have flood ins. so if you are thinking of purchasing a home in Florida you had better check before buying what the flood and homeowners will cost..Just a heads up...

[Restrain]

No, not everything has to have flood insurance. We are about a mile off Charlotte Harbor, not in a flood zone. Yes, canals and waterfront properties are in flood zones. Don't want to pay flood insurance, either buy cash or buy inland.

My insurance is about what I had to pay in Texas. Utilities and taxes are lower.

[ron e wheels]

I did a lot of investigations with regards to elevation. Of course the closer you are to the shoreline, the lower the elevation. The pine trees are a good start, pine trees mean a higher elevation that is above the flood plan most likely. That's how I found my location, bank loan, no flood insurance.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by Restrain

No, not everything has to have flood insurance. We are about a mile off Charlotte Harbor, not in a flood zone. Yes, canals and waterfront properties are in flood zones. Don't want to pay flood insurance, either buy cash or buy inland.

My insurance is about what I had to pay in Texas. Utilities and taxes are lower.

Not all canal homes are in flood zones. Mine isn't.
Map of Lee County Flood Zones
There are plenty of gulf access homes in the area C and B area on this map which is really zone X on the FIRM map:
Intranetix Viewer [12071C0405F.tif]

[EssJay999]

I have been here for many years and left for 5 years then recently returned. I noticed a similar difference too. I chalked it up to the secret being out and also other seeking the promise land. The problem is that every few years a huge batch of people discover it here. If I am making $65k up north and houses costs $500k+ then I should surely be able to move to Ft Myers and make $45k where the houses costs $100k. It is a no-brainer!!!!

Well the pay and jobs here don't support that and I already told thousands of people who followed me.

[Florida Paradise]

Pre 2009 prices for a home were above astromical... A HUGE fake real estate bubble controlled the area. For example, my condo that is worth approx. $100,000 today,was worth almost double at the height of the bubble. 2009 came...that bubble burst. My condo in 2009 I bought for $39,000 as a foreclosure. Of the 88 units in my plan, they said approx. 75 % of them were in some stage of the foreclosure process. Thus from 2009 to about 2011 it seems there were very few people down there. A ton of people lost their homes/condos... The people living in many of the homes/condos were tenants just riding out the tenancy as along as they could before the unit they dwelled in was sold off. I heard this time and time again. People who bought at the height of the market lost their shirts indeed. Many a landlord/investor rented their properties out, pocketed the money, knowing they were going to loose their properties. And no offense I was worried I bought in the wrong area the week I moved into the association. 1/2 of the units were empty, the other 1/2 have some unsavory type renters in them. It was a little scary.

Now the market has righted itself and a majority of the for closures have been completed thru the system. I see younger families bought up many of the properties as vacation homes. I have a whole new community of really nice people. It seems that a majority of the owners rent out their units just in the winter to snow birds and use them a few weeks out of the year with their families. There are a heck of a lot of people down there, even in the summer now. The prices of properties seem within a reasonable value spectrum, but I beleive it is just a matter of time before another real estate bubble forms again.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by Restrain

No, not everything has to have flood insurance. We are about a mile off Charlotte Harbor, not in a flood zone.

I agree, but mandatory and suggested are 2 different things. You only need to carry the minimum car insurance, but I would never drive in FL without having "uninsured driver" coverage since there are so many people driving with suspended licenses and no insurance. I've also known people who didn't live in a flood zone and never had any problems for 20 years until their street flooded. I lived in Charlotte County, so I am familiar with the flood zones and "X" means that your chances of being flooded are very low and do not require flood insurance. Still, if your home is flooded, the county isn't going to say "Oops, we goofed" and I would never want to live in an area surrounded by water and wetlands without some kind of flood insurance. Of course, additional insurance coverage is always a personal choice.