Inexpensive Parks (Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers: bank owned, for sale, real estate)

[Tman46544]

Trying to decide on whether buy a house, buy land and build or just buy a trailer in a park. What parks in the Fort Myers area have reasonable lot fees? I get so much more for my money in Indiana, $604 mortgage and that is for a 2500 sq ft ranch style house with lots of amenities. Most of the lot fees I've seen are more than that. Just been trying to figure out why people would spend that much on lot rent when a mortgage seems so much more economical.

[Compression]

Welcome to SW Florida, If you love Indiana, take I 75 north.......

Sorry, couldn't resist.

After several harsh winters up north, and a pseudo recovery of the economy, SW Florida is becoming a destination for many to migrate to.

The vast number of new apartment complexes being built, in an area where they have been somewhat sparse is a testament to that. Folks moving here, fresh to the area might not always be able to qualify for a mortgage as soon as they land here. Hence the burgeoning rental market.......

Trailers in parks are often used as rental properties, or for residences for the older set that don't mind paying the monthly freight in exchange for the majority of their maintenance issues being taken care of for them.(Think free standing condo, only less restrictive in terms of association rules) The lot rents will be what the market will bear.

"Economical" is a personal state of mind. What might seem to be for one, maybe not so much for another.......depends on where you are in life, and what your needs are.

Edit: From my point of view, I don't see why everybody doesn't just buy an RV and camp in the WalMart parking lot.......
CN.......

[NoSnow4me]

Originally Posted by Compression

Welcome to SW Florida, If you love Indiana, take I 75 north.......

Sorry, couldn't resist.

lol. Pro tip for OP, a lot of people come down from "up north" with an attitude that all kinds of things back home are better. It really comes across as condescending, and you won't find a better way to alienate the locals.

I've heard stories about nasty surprises for people that rent lots in parks. If you're considering a trailer park, look for one where you own the lot and have control over what happens with it. For single family homes, you will get less square footage per dollar than in much of the rest of the country. I think it's worth it, but it isn't for everyone.

[Tman46544]

Originally Posted by NoSnow4me

lol. Pro tip for OP, a lot of people come down from "up north" with an attitude that all kinds of things back home are better. It really comes across as condescending, and you won't find a better way to alienate the locals.

I've heard stories about nasty surprises for people that rent lots in parks. If you're considering a trailer park, look for one where you own the lot and have control over what happens with it. For single family homes, you will get less square footage per dollar than in much of the rest of the country. I think it's worth it, but it isn't for everyone.

Trust me, things are NOT better here, the attitude of people in the area I live in is exactly why I want to move. I just don't understand why homes themselves are so cheap compared to lot rent. I know a few that have made the move and love Fort Myers and the surrounding areas. I plan on downsizing during the move anyways, hence why I am considering a trailer. I have thought about buying a place before I make the move because I know it will be more difficult to obtain a loan, that and I know I will probably take a significant loss in pay. Figure I could float two mortgages for awhile if the second wasn't a high payment.

[LifeIsGood01]

I just bought a small home in North Fort Myers and my mortgage is a few hundred dollars less than what I heard a lady at the dog park mention her lot fee was for a home she was trying to get rid of.

[NoSnow4me]

I didn't mean to say that I thought you were doing that. You kind of started in that direction, but I didn't see it as a criticism. It was just commentary on what prompted Compression's joke in case you didn't realize.

As far as homes being inexpensive, I don't know what research you've done, but I made a mistake when I moved here and did most my research online, only coming down for about a week to vacation and look around a bit to see which areas I liked best. Online, I saw tons of very inexpensive foreclosure homes that looked gorgeous in the MLS, and thought it was going to be easy to find a house I loved within my budget. What I found when I moved here was a pretty rude awakening. It is common practice for houses that were foreclosed on to show pictures from before they were abandoned. The problem is that most of those foreclosure houses have stood vacant for years, and the banks that own them turned off the electricity and didn't do any upkeep at all. Nature works very hard to reclaim what's hers here, and every last one of them that we looked at was so gross that I'd never expect to make them livable again. I'm talking about mold, bug infestations, rats, stench, appliances and light fixtures scavenged by the people that got booted, pools with water so black that you couldn't see more than a few inches down (you can't drain an in-ground pool here because the ground water will push it up out of the ground and destroy it, so a house that has sat vacant will have water in the pool that's been stagnating for that long). There were a few that I didn't even make it past the front door before I knew they were out. Our poor real estate agent must have hated us for being too stubborn to give up on the foreclosure deals sooner than we did.

It wasn't just the foreclosures either. Real estate photographers are damn good at what they do, and can make an awful house look pretty good online.

The point is, don't make the leap until you've scouted it out in person if you haven't already done so. It could be a heck of a lot different than you expected. We were fortunate enough to find a great home that we love, but made a significant trade off on the distance to beaches and night life. Those weren't as big of a deal to me as they were to my wife. I'm happy with NW Cape Coral, but it wouldn't be for everyone.

[Tman46544]

Originally Posted by LifeIsGood01

I just bought a small home in North Fort Myers and my mortgage is a few hundred dollars less than what I heard a lady at the dog park mention her lot fee was for a home she was trying to get rid of.

Exactly my point. I kinda like the idea of living in a park for a few different reasons but I keep leaning towards a house or property to build a house.

[chiluvr1228]

Just saw a beautiful, large mobile home for sale on Craigslist. "The monthly lot rent is $832.00 and includes Grass cutting, Garbage removal twice a week & Comcast cable TV." That doesn't include your mortgage if you get one. Highway robbery in my opinion.

[mktobob]

Look for coop manufactured home communities. Most are very well kept with nice amenities and low monthly HOA fees. Community/resident owned parks usually is the better deal.

[Tman46544]

Originally Posted by NoSnow4me

I didn't mean to say that I thought you were doing that. You kind of started in that direction, but I didn't see it as a criticism. It was just commentary on what prompted Compression's joke in case you didn't realize.

As far as homes being inexpensive, I don't know what research you've done, but I made a mistake when I moved here and did most my research online, only coming down for about a week to vacation and look around a bit to see which areas I liked best. Online, I saw tons of very inexpensive foreclosure homes that looked gorgeous in the MLS, and thought it was going to be easy to find a house I loved within my budget. What I found when I moved here was a pretty rude awakening. It is common practice for houses that were foreclosed on to show pictures from before they were abandoned. The problem is that most of those foreclosure houses have stood vacant for years, and the banks that own them turned off the electricity and didn't do any upkeep at all. Nature works very hard to reclaim what's hers here, and every last one of them that we looked at was so gross that I'd never expect to make them livable again. I'm talking about mold, bug infestations, rats, stench, appliances and light fixtures scavenged by the people that got booted, pools with water so black that you couldn't see more than a few inches down (you can't drain an in-ground pool here because the ground water will push it up out of the ground and destroy it, so a house that has sat vacant will have water in the pool that's been stagnating for that long). There were a few that I didn't even make it past the front door before I knew they were out. Our poor real estate agent must have hated us for being too stubborn to give up on the foreclosure deals sooner than we did.

It wasn't just the foreclosures either. Real estate photographers are damn good at what they do, and can make an awful house look pretty good online.

The point is, don't make the leap until you've scouted it out in person if you haven't already done so. It could be a heck of a lot different than you expected. We were fortunate enough to find a great home that we love, but made a significant trade off on the distance to beaches and night life. Those weren't as big of a deal to me as they were to my wife. I'm happy with NW Cape Coral, but it wouldn't be for everyone.

I understood, just wanted to make sure no one thought I thought everything there was like Disney.
I've been down three times in the last few years, two times just in the last few months. I have driven all over the place checking out areas, mostly vacant land and trailer parks. I ventured to a few homes, one near downtown which I am glad I made it out of the area alive with the 2016 Camaro rental. Probably head down again later this year and check more out. I found a trailer on it's own property for less than 50k. If it was a double wide park model I would have jumped on it since it's just down the road from a buddy of mine. Even though it's a three bedroom I'm not so sure it would be what I want. I have found property in Lehigh(yeah I know),but have talked to "thee" neighbor(no other homes close other than his) and he said that was a good part of Lehigh but still on the fence on building. I totally understand about the vacant housing, there are a lot of homes like that in my area. When I look at obvious bank owned property and the asking price I just smile and figure it's probably worth maybe half. Anyways, thanks everyone on the input. I just need to keep looking.