where is a good area to look for a retirement/vacation home? (Palm Beach: neighborhoods, pitbulls)

[SoFLGal]

Looking at your price range and becasue you said that you would like to boat, I would take a look at the property in Port Charlotte west of US41. Many of those homes are older but you could probably pick up something with gulf access.

Another area to begin searching is South Gulf Cove, again those canals would lead out to the gulf. It's also pretty close to the beaches. The canals in Rotonda do not go out to the gulf although there are numerous boat ramps close by and the beaches are pretty close to that location.

Cool map Tommy! Where did you get it from?

[tommy-105]

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

I think it does a pretty good job of showing whats going on in an area at a glance. On their site the map is interactive and you have to select an area to bring up the numbers that I overlayed.

I've tried using the search function to bring up other towns, but then the map behaves differently. Still trying to figure it out.

[lynne4t]

I'm not seeing anyone saying "Stay away from (insert town)" Is that just board etiquette to not bash a town, or is there really nowhere that is that bad ?

[movetoflorida]

Originally Posted by mrcoolmrcool28

Do a LOT of internet searching (We did) look at the areas from sites like Google Earth as well as others and see what looks good from your own living room before you come down then visit those places. Prices will still be good for a while, tho I have noticed they seem to be going up a bit since when we bought....But that's a good thing right??? Mr.cool

Good info. I use Zillow with the feature of "street views" as well as arial from Google. Turn away from the house you are looking at and click the forward arrows and it is almost like being there driving down the streets looking at neighborhoods!

Port Charlotte Real Estate & Port Charlotte Homes for Sale - Zillow

[tommy-105]

Originally Posted by lynne4t

I'm not seeing anyone saying "Stay away from (insert town)" Is that just board etiquette to not bash a town, or is there really nowhere that is that bad ?

Oh... there's plenty of town bashing here. Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral and Port Charlotte seem to bear the brunt of it. As usual there are two sides to the story. In this case it is usually disillusioned residents verses out of town buyers who invested in an area. What also comes into play is how an individual's background can affect their perspective.

For example; I grew up on the south shore of Long Island about an hour away from NYC. I've had easy access to the ocean and all the diversity that Manhattan has to offer my most of my life. One of the reasons I left the area, was to escape the urban sprawl. When I'm in Port Charlotte I see some of the same stuff that I left NY to get away from ie: traffic congestion, homeless people on the streets, one strip mall after another, cookie-cutter 1960s homes. Port Charlotte reminds me of Levittown L.I. without the benefits of being close to a big city. A Midwesterner into boating, who's never had access to the ocean, might be able to look past what I see as negative aspects of the town just to have Gulf access for his boat.

I currently live in Punta Gorda, very close to Punta Gorda Isles. Buying a canal front property in Port Charlotte can be a tricky thing compared to buying in Punta Gorda Isles. What you will find in Port Charlotte is that once you go North of Edgewater Drive, not all the homes are waterfront. In some areas the homes were built in the late 1950s. There isn’t much of an incentive for the owners of the non water front properties to update or improve these houses, so while the owners on the canal side of a particular street tend to keep up maintenance of their homes, the homes across the street from them or around the corner that aren’t waterfront can sometimes be neglected or turned into rental properties.

You might find a really nice home, but you might have transient renters for neighbors. This might not be obvious when visiting the area in the winter, but when the grass starts growing in the summer it’s real easy to see who takes care of their property and who doesn’t. As you move inland in Port Charlotte the houses start getting newer and this isn’t as much as an issue, but then you’re dealing with the long trips to open water.

If you look at PGI on a map you will see that almost all the homes are waterfront and therefore don’t have that extreme difference in appraisals. If you find rentals in PGI they are likely to be vacation properties, not rentals for construction workers. PGI also has deed restrictions in place that prevent “slummy neighbors” from running the neighborhood down. PGI also has many "Condo Commandos" (like Punta Gorda's Mayor) who seem to spend most of their time making sure those deed restrictions are followed to the letter of the law!

Cape Coral will also have waterfront and non water front homes on the same street, but the homes are newer and it’s not as apparent as you drive down a street. We lived in SW Cape Coral a few years ago. I liked the neighborhood, my wife (a Florida native) didn’t. Again it’s a matter of perspective. You will find plenty of negative and positive posts about Cape Coral on here. The biggest compliant seems to be a lack of direction by city government.

The Charlotte County property appraisal office has an on line GIS map that’s a really useful tool for checking out potential neighborhoods. Not only can you see appraised values for a given property, but you can also see if the owners have a Homestead exception. If they haven’t taken the exception, and the property isn’t their water front vacation home, then it’s most likely a rental. You can also use the GIS web site to obtain a neighbor’s name, and then go to the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s web site to look at the legal status of a property. With this site, you can determine if any county liens have been filed or if the property is in foreclosure. It can take a while to figure out how to use the GIS map if you haven’t used one before but it’s worth the effort.
Charlotte County GIS Department

I would say that in order to narrow down your search parameters, you need to decide how important being on a canal is to you. What’s more important, being close to a beach, or having fast access to open water in a boat?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by tommy-105

A Midwesterner into boating, who's never had access to the ocean, might be able to look past what I see as negative aspects of the town just to have Gulf access for his boat.

I often think that's it. I preferred the East Coast because of the Atlantic, whereas a Midwesterner will be more satisfied with the Gulf.

[Samiamnh]

Lynne,we were looking for the same thing....and found a fantastic short sale in Cape Coral on a canal with a beautiful pool.Just needed landscaping and sod although there are lots of beautiful adult trees and shrubs.We paid 160k and spent 12k for landscaping and the place looks like a million.....here's the secret.....walk or bike the neighborhood for 10 or 15 blocks in every direction.We found a great mix of working families,retired people,mostly with boats .Hardly any houses for sale,no junk cars or mean dogs.No loud music on weekends....If you look in the Cape,I'd try to stay in SE or SW

[tommy-105]

Originally Posted by Samiamnh

Lynne,we were looking for the same thing....and found a fantastic short sale in Cape Coral on a canal with a beautiful pool.Just needed landscaping and sod although there are lots of beautiful adult trees and shrubs.We paid 160k and spent 12k for landscaping and the place looks like a million.....here's the secret.....walk or bike the neighborhood for 10 or 15 blocks in every direction.We found a great mix of working families,retired people,mostly with boats .Hardly any houses for sale,no junk cars or mean dogs.No loud music on weekends....If you look in the Cape,I'd try to stay in SE or SW

Did you fly in and spend some time in the area?
Just curious how that works.

When did you have time to walk or bike through the neighborhood?

I think the op is planning on spending two days here.

[Samiamnh]

Actually we have a small vacation home in Ft Myers,up near Buckingham and wanted to be closer to the Gulf.....it's over an hour from where we are now.So we know the area fairly well since we've been spending Nov and March there for the last 10 years.Didn't know much about the Cape until we checked it out>

[tommy-105]

We used to live down on the end of Aqualinda Blvd. by El Dorado Pky. Nice quite area, except for the neighbor directly behind us. He would sometimes entertain late into the night.