Considering a move to Fort Myers w/3 small children. Any advice, suggestions, ratings, reviews? (Tampa: real estate, apartments)

[HeatherRenee04]

My husband and I are considering relocating from Pittsburgh, PA to Florida. We have located two apartments in the Fort Myers area. The Westchase Apartments and Westwood apartments. Both are located off of Metro Parkway. Is anyone familiar with the area, the crime, what parts of Fort Myers or surrounding areas are not super expensive yet safe to raise children? I worry about moving into a neighborhood or complex that consists of drugs and violence. This is certainly not something I want to subject my children to. Any advice or knowledge on these apartments or the area would be greatly appriciated.

[Cobalt502]

I would read the sticky above for newbies and do a search, there is a ton of great info on this subject...enough to keep you busy for days!

Best of luck on the move!

[nhkev]

See if you can direct message hiknapster or chris070 they are both very knowledgable of specific neighborhoods

[justNancy]

Here is a link to a thread with posts about that area.

[URL]//www.city-data.com/forum/fort-myers-cape-coral-area/970778-ft-myers-ghetto.html[/URL]


I don't know anything about Westchase, but there was a shooting there on Friday and police found a body in the parking lot. It was on the local news this past weekend.

Edit: I posted a link to the story, but it isn't working.

[hiknapster]

According to many on this forum, stay far, far, far away from those housing complexes. No, no, and no, again.

[1flguynow]

Watch this - web site for a few weeks ( or months ), BEFORE you move.

Lee County, FL Crime Map - Showing Crimes in Lee County - Crime Statistics, Alerts and Reports - Crime Stops Here

[nhkev]

yes the SW section is one of the safer areas but that particular crime map does not seem to capture the crimes in those areas. Capecops.com has their own crime map put in individual zip codes and you'll see there are plenty in those sections as well.

[dmacias1]

If you look at that crime map you will notice the area east of I-75 in between Daniels Parkway and Colonial has two crime reports when I checked (One is a 911 hang up call). I think it is a great area for families to move to and has a lot of new activity happening around it, in regards to new jobs and the Boston Red Sox Spring Training stadium (Which is reported to be bringing commercial, retail, and restaurants as well). You may be able to rent a condo or townhome for the price of a 3 bedroom apartment. Of course I am biased to the area because I sell real estate there, but it is filled with families, soccer fields, dog parks, playgrounds, bike and jogging paths. There are some subdivisions that are very aged but then there are some subdivisions that are very family friendly.


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[CCRESI]

Having experience living as a party of 5, I would suggest renting a house. Living in apartment with 3 kids will be tough. I'm not sure what your budget is for rent, but explore your options.
Also, check out Cape Coral if it's within a reasonable commute. My husband works down in Ft. Myers beach and we live here. I like it.

You came to the right place to get info! Good luck! There are a lot of friendly helpful people on here.

[td1026]

Lee County in general is very nice and suburban, but can be also be dangerous. Much more crime occurs in Ft Myers (certain areas, crime is not widesprea) than in Cape Coral. Cape Coral is actually very safe. Better housing deals can be found in Cape Coral, but the town is very dead, nothing much to do on the weekend. Cape Coral consists mostly of houses, strip malls, and restaurants. I am very unsure of whether or not you would like the area. Driving around Cape Coral can be confusing as many canals cause the streets to lead to dead ends. I suggest trying Tampa/St Pete or Orlando if you want more things to do on the weekend. If you are interested in the beach, you might enjoy Sarasota or Bradenton more as the water is much more clear and colorful. Ft. Myers Beach has powder white sand, but the water is very murky and almost brown. Not nice at all. Captiva and Sanibel are very nice islands, but the toll costs $6 which can be irritating. The best thing about Lee County is definitely the weather. Very tropical. The town of Ft. Myers has been renovated recently and is very clean and beautiful. I was rather impressed with how well kept it looked. If you don't mind living in a small and uneventful town, then by all means, make the move! I just know of too many people who do not like it. Young people usually call Cape Coral "Cape Coma" and Ft. Myers "Ft. Misery". I don't think Ft. Myers is miserable at all, but I would consider Cape Coral to be comatose! If you do make the move, look into Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs, or Estero. All three are very nice, well kept towns. Cape Coral, not so much. It's starting to look rather rundown as many establishments and houses were abandoned after the housing bust. I am in no way trying to dissuade you from making the move, rather just helping you to make an informed decision. Good luck and happy house hunting!