Moving to Fort Myers !!! (Miami, Palm Beach: gated, condo, rent)

[compelled to reply]

You know what? Even though I don't love Fort Myers, I know people who live there and are quite happy with it. This useless Fort Myers poo-poo session was of little relevancy to the (very OLD) original post. I feel they received virtually no useful information. Can't we all just calm down, and if we hate the place so much, can we leave our two cents, then leave it alone from there?

[mustgetoutofflorida]

I would suggest not moving here......unless you want nightmare rental experiences.......everything closes by 10p......traffic is horrible just getting around town......crime is getting horrible.......cost of living is getting worse.....there aren't many jobs now due to lack of house building....we have been here for two years and HATE it.....it is like being dropped into the 80s or 90s.....we are going to Houston, jobs pay better and houses are half the price.

[momix5]

My inlaws have lived in cape coral for 30 years and they love it

[firemed]

Originally Posted by florida1

This is ridiculous!! Ft. Myers is the smallest airport in the country to have direct air service to Europe. Why is this important? Because the European market is one of Lee County's most popular suppliers of tourists. For pete's sake (sp?) the Ft. Myers High band was invited to play in London's largest parade just to show how commited London was to the Ft. Myers area. I was at the beach last week (south end of Ft. Myers beach). The people on my left were vacationing from England, and the people a little further down were vacationing from Germany. Both had visited the destination previously and chose to return again. If Ft. Myers was such a "hell hole", why do these European tourists choose the Ft. Myers/Sanibel area to take vacations? Maybe the city of Ft. Myers isn't known for its wealthy residents, but the general area around it certainly is. As far as the ones on thsi forum who say things like, "I used to live there and I hated it", this area changes every month so it is kind of unreliable basing a current opinion on what the area was like 5+ years ago. Also, I have had run ins with rude retirees in nearly every city in Florida.

I see people from Germany and other parts of the UK all the time. Its a great deal for them right now. With the dollar two for one on the euro it half the price !

[homeCMGrown]

thanks for those with something nice to say! i didn't mean to sound rude in my previous post, but i was kind of starting to get bummed everytime i read any of these posts on fort myers. but i'm from erie pennsylvania, so anything is a step up right? i just graduated college and i'm just looking forward to a new experience...no one i've met yet, new place to explore, see what life is like somewhere else you know that sort of thing. i'll be staying in a family members condo (rent free) for a few months as they are not renting it to anyone now, and if i like it i'll be moving into an apartment with a girlfriend in naples come february. so please uplifting words of wisdom are gratefuly appreciated!!

[Tarastomsgirl]

Don't be so sure of that you'll like the weather there Myers. Just as the cold weather becomes old and long so does the summer. Realize that there will be absoluetly NO season change for you. People there inspite of what the commercials show you on tv do NOT go outside in the summer. Nor do the sumer camps take the children out.

On Christmas day you can bet its gonna be in the 80s possibly 90's. Wait till you get your first taste of what tropical holidays are down there. They're no fun. I lived there for 23 years.. Well I lived in Ft. Myers and Naples. People are pretty miserable for the most part. They're old, they don't like young people at all, the don't like the holidays. They banned outside concerts, they complain about leafblowers, airplanes and traffic. I can remember MANY a letter to the Naples Daily News about people complaining about people saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays.,. I mean come on. You're going to find with apartment rentals many places that have restrictions on what kind of car you can drive, how many you can have, oh and you can't put signs on the side of your cars advertisting your business. Once you buy a house you're gonna find most neighborhoods are deed restricted. You can't park trucks in your driveway, your mailboxes have to match, trees must be places in a certain place so many feet from the road, your house has to be set back so many feet, you can't paint your house whatver color you want, it has to be okayed by the community, some places don't let you run businesses out of your house, kids can't play here, of ride their bikes here, grass must be cut and clean at all time and the list goes on.. I lived in one and believe me there's always the on person in the neighborhood will report you for every wrong step you take. Have fun with that

You're going to have severe water restrictions come Oct- June at least, no watering you lawns, they're gonna ask you to not flush your toilet unless necessary etc. Everything is gonna turn brown, and then you can deal with all the massive brush fires.
Then in the summer right as you THINK you can go to the beach, in rolls Red Tide. Forget about getting within 10 miles of the beach.. Your eyes will burn, you'll cough, have trouble breathing. Its lots of fun. You can bet on that one every single years, and its lasts for months sometimes. Oh and thats if you can get to the beach from all the tourists taking up the spots, and then once you get there, forget walking on the sand.. Your feet will melt, and if by chance you make it to the water its gonna be really refreshing when the water is 87 degrees and its 95 out. Esentally its like going in a hot tub outside inthe summer. Lots of fun.
Then just when things start to kick up , here comes hurricane season. You'll be told to evacuate, then stores will run out of supplies, you'll loose power in mid August, when temps can reach 100 degrees and humidty will be close to that. The bugs will be out full force, so will national guard. You'll have a cerfew, no gas in town, no food, no work, no power and lots of clean up...

Phew and once that nonesense is over here comes the best one.. Season.. Your commute to work that once took you 15 mins, will easily jump to 45 mins.. On a good day. The snowbirds will come in, they'll tell you how its done up north and how thats the way its suppose to be everywhere. They'll complain to the paper about every petty thing, they won't use their turn signals, and they'll run reds in hopes of getting through the intersection only to make it half way across and cause gridlock.
Stores will be packed beyond belief and the snowbirds will insist on being on the road at the same time you have to be to work to catch their tee time, and finish their golf day right about the time you're off of work. Resturants will require days advance reservations becasue they're impossible to get into. Oh but thats right, the resturants don't take reservations down there.
Ft. Myers is a crap hole overrun with illegals and criminals. You'll hear everynight on the news about a shooting that took places or a stabbing or a robbery in Ft. Myers. Housing is overprices and unless you're will to shuck out a million bucks for a 2 bedroom house built in 1970 don't think you're gonna even smell a seabreeze.

Phew but hey , the palm trees are nice and weather is good for like a week out of the year so thats the only reason people should live there right?

[homeCMGrown]

hey tarastomsgirl...if you can read i said POSITIVE OR UPLIFTING WORDS OF WISDOM...you sound like a real downer and need a new place to live...anyone else with something NICE they can say regarding the fort myers and surrounding area? man...

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by homeCMGrown

hey tarastomsgirl...if you can read i said POSITIVE OR UPLIFTING WORDS OF WISDOM...you sound like a real downer and need a new place to live...anyone else with something NICE they can say regarding the fort myers and surrounding area? man...

hey you want honest or should I sugar coat it for you.. Thats how life is there , its not like you see on the commercials two people running on a sandywhite beach then eating at a great resturant wateside at the end of the day. Sorry I see the commericals all the time now that I moved away and my husband and I just laugh our butts off at how decieving it is. People have to work, take their kids to school, shop for food they dont have time to get stuck behind you because you feel th need to go 25 mph because you see a coconut in a tree. Yah its happen, people have pulled off of a MAIN ROAD to stop and take pictures of coconuts and effectivly held up traffic or slowed it down. As far as something nice.. Sure it was WONDERFUL before the snowbirds found the place. Great fishing, friendly people, no traffic, low housing. You can have it now,, its for the birds

Why dont' you take a look at the letters to the editor on The Naples Daily News. Click on Opinion then letters to the editor.. Consider yourself lucky if you find more than 1 letter saying something positive about the town. Naples Daily News The people there are miserable and they'll drag you down with em. Everyone is moving out cause they found out very quickly after what we call down there the "honeymoon phase" between 6-8 months that hey its not all its cracked up to be and they hightail it out of there faster than you can blink. People are moving back to the northeast and carolinas in droves and droves! They're loosing teachers, firefighers, police and all types of workers every day. $3000 sign on bonuses aren't even enough to get people to go there. Crime is out of control and good lucky if you can find someone who speaky english in Target, Mcdonalds, or Publix to help you. I literally had a girl look me square in the face and say no habla engles in Target where she WORKED!! I mean wtf is that about. You can fill out the application but you can't help me find a pencil!

[homeCMGrown]

i'm a friendly open minded person who isn't easily influenced by others opinions, attitudes, outlooks, what have you. i was just looking for someone to tell me something nice about the area...something to look forward to. but i'm not worried i have a grat time anywhere i go and at least i have the balls to travel try something new 1,000 miles from where i've grown up whether it be for a "honeymoon stage" or the rest of my life. it's all about what you make of the experience and i'm ready to live it up.

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by homeCMGrown

i'm a friendly open minded person who isn't easily influenced by others opinions, attitudes, outlooks, what have you. i was just looking for someone to tell me something nice about the area...something to look forward to. but i'm not worried i have a grat time anywhere i go and at least i have the balls to travel try something new 1,000 miles from where i've grown up whether it be for a "honeymoon stage" or the rest of my life. it's all about what you make of the experience and i'm ready to live it up.

hey thats all find and dany, lord knows I moved away from Naples as fast a I could once I was out of my parents house, but also look at all the posts about Naples and Ft. Myers. I'm not the only one. There comes a time where you have to look at it and go hmmm people aren't really happy down here, something must be going on. I'm not the only one, most posts you see about this area are negative. Everyone is soooo blinded by it being "Florida" ahhh the weather weather weather, and beaches and palm trees. Thats not what florida is about. You're not going to be lying on the beach with a cocktail in hand. We'll firstly they won't allow it and secondly thats just NOT how life is down there. You're a couple mins from the Everglades so you're going to contend with bugs, heat, rains, swamps, critters that bite and sting etc. If you're dream is to contend with this yearly then please by all means be my guest. Or if you enjoy your sky looking like this for days on end from the brushfires once again please by all means, enjoy your smoke scarred lungs . Maybe this view is the dream you've always wanted There are two seasons in south florida. Hot and damn hot. So now think about snow, year round, cold and damn cold. Frightening just thinking about it. We'll thats south florida. You have to look at most northerners on here saying don't do it. They did it, with exaggerated dreams of paradise, and fun and look most of em were either fullbacks or halfbacks withing the first year. So look at what people are saying. REALLY REALLY think about it. When you got the majority saying this place is bad, its not what you think it is then really consider your options about it and save yourself the misery that just might follow. Visit Florida, middle of August, get in your car at 2 in the afternoon after its been sitting outside all day and after you've successfully melted your hands to the steering wheel and scarred yourself on the seat belt buckle, drive to the beach, try and and find a spot, take a walk outside, or a bike ride in july or August, or play with your kids outside.. and ask yourself can I stand this year round? Can I stand this when I don't have power for weeks and weeks on end , can I stand to put up and take down and put up and take down shutters 5-6 times a year on my house, can I stand the possiblity that I might loose my house, can I handle the stress of evacuations and tropical storms and illegals, can I stand this when I have cerfews, and brushfires and in season when the population triples is size. If you have any doubts whatsoever, you'll regret it.