How is the Verandah area of Fort Myers? (Cape Coral: home search, live)

[goingsouth73]

My wife and I will soon be empty nesters and have been looking at several areas in Florida, one of which is the community called "Verandah". Not knowing very much about the area, it appears to be a nice community but is kind of far north and not to sure how the surrounding area is. We are are more interested in age restricted communities with lots of amenities and social functions, a golf course is not necessary. The other area is Cape Coral, read some interesting items about it on these threads and again would be searching for an age restricted community. Can anyone offer some insight for us? Thanks so much.

[justNancy]

When I visited someone with a home in Verandah a few years ago, I thought it was a gorgeous, upscale development. There was a lot of security too. No community is ever 100% secure, but there were guards at the gate and they checked my ID and wrote down my license plate, if I recall correctly. I have to admit I was surprised when Bonita Bay built Verandah in that area of Fort Myers, being right off of route 80.

I understand it is under a different management company now, and I don't currently know anyone who lives there. So I can only tell you that the location is very convenient, but you'll also be very close to some not-so-nice sections of Fort Myers.

[goingsouth73]

Just Nancy,
Thank you so much for reply. We feel by asking questions of local residents, we can get a better idea about the area we should concentrate our home search on. We have read about several other developments, but they seem to be closer to the beach. We want to stay in the 200-300 range. Can you make any suggestions, something in an age restricted/55 + community? Thanks again.