Possible move to Naples area (Jacksonville, Bonita Springs: apartment, rental, condos) - Florida (FL) -Collier County - City-Data Forum

Detroiter · 10-19-2006, 04:26 PM

I am considering moving from Royal Oak, MI to the Naples area for work. I have two children and education is very important to me. I am looking for any feedback on areas to live. Is Naples family oriented?? If so what area??
Thanks, I am not familiar with Naples and want to make sure this will be the right move for the family.

JoanneJax · 10-19-2006, 05:12 PM

I moved down here from Traverse City MI and have been here since July (2006) . I also have two children and the schools down here differ in quality very much! I hear Mandarin schools are the best - that's in Jacksonville. Unfortunately I moved on the wrong side of the cut-off line and my kids go to Wolfson and they had to put a police sub-station next to it because of the problems they have had at that High School. You can go online and research it - search Florida schools at google.com If it's "A" rated then it's a good school. If it's below a C, then look for a place to live in a different neighborhood and find out BEFORE you commit to a neighborhood what school your kids will go to. You can find out by contacting the schools, they go by address of course.

Mrs.Bewitched · 10-19-2006, 05:39 PM

Hi! I am originally from Philadelphia, but now live IN Naples. I am also a public school teacher in Naples, and was a public school teacher in Philly too. Are you coming to Naples, or Naples area (like Bonita Springs, etc..)? Naples is Collier County. If you go onto the district website, it will tell you grade rating for each school (A, B,and so on). Collier County has many A rated schools for elementary, middle, and high. Even if a school is not a high rated school, it may only be becuase of the amount of ESOL students the school has (english as a second language), not because of behavior, or violence, or crime or whathaveyou...unlike the schools in Philly!
When I lived in Philadelphia, I put my two children in private schools...that's what I thought of public schools, and I was a teacher! It really wasn't the school teachers themselves...but the children that went there! Here in Naples, my children go to the public schools. I was in for a shock when I came here.
It also is very family oriented. There are many county parks, and each park offers many social events for the children as well as organized events or team sports. Feel free to ask for anything else!

mmccool719 · 11-16-2006, 09:45 PM

If education/family is important to you....then stay North. Off Immokalee Rd you will find several family oriented communities.....Saturnia Lakes, Laurel Lakes, Pebblebrooke Lakes, Indigo Lakes and their school district is pretty good. Seagate, Pelican Marsh also are great districts if you are lucky to afford living in that district. Collier County has a very generous parks and recreations program with some of the best parks, dog parks and water parks I have ever been to. Our roads are pitifully overcrowded, even after major road widening efforts took place, so prepare yourself for lots of car time. For land mass, Collier County is the third largest county in all of USA and you better believe they are building on every bit of it they are allowed to. Personally, I have no desire to raise my children here, and am moving away very soon, but some people love it. To each his own I guess.

lonelychicagoan · 11-16-2006, 10:42 PM

isn't it true that houses in naples are overly expensive?

Mrs.Bewitched · 11-17-2006, 05:22 AM

If you consider being able to look at maybe...5 in the high 200K range (check realtor.com, I do!), and those ones are usually run down and/or in the Manor (most people do NOT want to live in there), but then nothing else in that range and now it is starting to be in the 300K for a 1300 square foot home....then it is your opinion if they are overpriced or not

gunnert · 11-18-2006, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detroiter

I am considering moving from Royal Oak, MI to the Naples area for work. I have two children and education is very important to me. I am looking for any feedback on areas to live. Is Naples family oriented?? If so what area??
Thanks, I am not familiar with Naples and want to make sure this will be the right move for the family.

I have lived with my family in Naples for almost two years..we have two boys and we live in a rental communiity. I do NOT anticipate buying a home here they are VERY OVERPRICED..granted they are coming down BUT you cannot even purchase a single family home for under 300,000 in the area it would probaqbly be a townhome or villa anyways single family will get you out into golden gate estates but communte time, traffic right now and allot of flooding I do not recommend that area either. Condos are coming down and you can get a 1100-1200 for low 2's right now if you look. I do not prefer to purchase a condo I would rather just rent..oh yah rent is high too here expect to pay 1000-1500+ for a 2 bed room place. I suggest to stay in the north naples area NOT really any further south than golden gate parkway for the schooling and safety factor. If you decide to go north say bonita springs the houses are a little less there, good luck finding a nice community though and I have really not heard positive things about the schooing there. Estero is a little more north and is growing retail wise and the housing is affordable but if you commute to fort myers or naples expect a good drive of 45 minutes depending on where... bad days your looking at about an hour to 1-1/2 commute from these areas north of naples. We could purchase a home there but we both work in naples and we choose not to be that far away from kids for communiting times. The area in general is not totally kid freindly you have to get creative in things to do, because alot of "family oriented functions are not planned" we stay busy on the weekends so I guess its not the worst part of naples. If I had to say the worst thing in naples is the housing it is overpriced right now and with over 5000 greety realtors in Collier county we have them to blame on the high prices for middle income families. We could afford a home with and 80,000 a year income but we choose not to right now because we would like to get a really good savings which we are having luck at currently. We do not know the outcome of our stay here, we continue to renew our lease and we make a decent income, but it's tough with two growing boys to rent an apartment and keep everyone happy...for the most part just be prepared for the housing market and traffic (they are improving but a VERY VERY slow process) all in all I would give naples a 7 out of 10 for living here. Although I have never lived in other florida cities I am looking around and searching the state for alternatives to live. Feel free to PM me if you need info on a specific area in naples...good luck to you and your family

Nancy Lynne · 11-18-2006, 05:58 PM

Again I am from NJ --- I was lured by the thought of living in Naples because of the truly tropical weather, and I am an environmentalist (at heart) and wanted to be near the Everglades, natural wildlife, etc. I spent a week there just trying to experience "the lifestyle", and get a gut feel. I, too, have a 10 year old boy and my foremost decision, however, would be based on schools and overall quality of life for him as a single parent.

What I personally felt and learned from my trip and indepth research: 1. I was shocked by the massive amount of high rises lined up all along the beachfront.
2. It was in June that I visited and those highrises were absolutely empty --- there were virutally no lights on -- during that time. To me, that meant Naples must be filled with a majority of snowbirds, and I would guess that not only would they be "rather elderly", but the prices indicated that it was for the VERY wealthy. 3. I didn't want to engage a realtor at that point, and as such, was not able to "see" hardly any neighborhoods, as they were all gated. 4. I looked at private schools, and even against NE standards, the bests ones were charging upwards of $15K a year.

It IS beautiful there...from what I could "see" - which wasn't much. If my impressions were wrong, please do let me know.

What I LOVED THE MOST...THE SOUNDS OF THE BULLFROGS AND OTHER CRITTERS DURING THE NIGHT!!!!

Thanks!

NorthernIL815 · 11-22-2006, 08:02 PM

My wife is most likely taking a job in Naples after the first of the year and we will be moving from N.Illinois. She has been down for interviews and we as a family are heading down to look at the area the second week of December. A realtor showed her homes in Estero= Stoneybrook and Bellaterra. Ive read about the commute to Naples but weve been there before here in IL so thats nothing new. My questions are...
How good are the schools in or near Estero for education and sports. Is there a "best" school for both..in your opinion? We have a 14yr old son and 13yr old daughter who are active in school sports. They are going to a private school here but no way we'll afford that down there.
My other question is crime. Do you feel safe there?

Thanks in advance. pm if you like.

NorthernIL815 · 11-24-2006, 08:34 AM

Aslo, now that Im reading more of these postings..... whats the deal with all the gated communities? Why are there so many? Is crime really that bad or is it just a piece of mind thing?
Dont get me wrong, I dont see a problem with them, just curious as to why you think there are so many in Fla.