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Old 04-12-2012, 10:55 AM
 
Location: New Mexico
140 posts, read 400,312 times
Reputation: 56

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I'm beginning my search for an inexpensive retirement home and it seems like the San Carlos or SE Cape Coral areas will fit my needs best, at least from a distance,

I'm looking for a calm quiet area with reasonable priced pool homes within 30 minutes of a beach and a "downtown" area. (not malls)

Can I get opinions, pros and cons from each area?


(equalrightsforeveryone please do NOT reply)
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Old 04-12-2012, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Cape Coral, FL
964 posts, read 2,065,788 times
Reputation: 591
Chuck, do a search on this board for San Carlos Park and it'll be quite easy to determine the best path for you. I live in SE CC as do a lot of us here - we love it, but we are biased....



Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck12020123 View Post
I'm beginning my search for an inexpensive retirement home and it seems like the San Carlos or SE Cape Coral areas will fit my needs best, at least from a distance,

I'm looking for a calm quiet area with reasonable priced pool homes within 30 minutes of a beach and a "downtown" area. (not malls)

Can I get opinions, pros and cons from each area?


(equalrightsforeveryone please do NOT reply)
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Old 04-12-2012, 06:41 PM
 
Location: Cape Coral, Florida
693 posts, read 2,014,021 times
Reputation: 371
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck12020123 View Post
I'm beginning my search for an inexpensive retirement home and it seems like the San Carlos or SE Cape Coral areas will fit my needs best, at least from a distance,

I'm looking for a calm quiet area with reasonable priced pool homes within 30 minutes of a beach and a "downtown" area. (not malls)

Can I get opinions, pros and cons from each area?


(equalrightsforeveryone please do NOT reply)
Not San Carlos, that is all. There will be people that swear there are some good parts of San Carlos, but trust me it's not a place you want to live. The SE Cape will give you reasonable priced pool homes, the "downtown" area is close, and contrary to popular belief there is a fair amount to do down there in the way of restaurants, shops, etc. The beach is about a 25 minute drive from May to November. From December until April it can and will take you the better part of an hour or more to get to Ft. Myers Beach, with Jan-Apr being by far the worst. I would recommend Sanibel during season, yes you pay to park but you do that on FMB too and the toll is $6, but if you like sitting in traffic for an hour to get to a beach that provides no room to spread out as it is literally elbow to elbow many days and would rather do that then spend 6 bucks that's on you.
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Old 04-13-2012, 04:29 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 26,036,935 times
Reputation: 16033
Go to Cape Coma...San Carlos is becoming a dump just like Lehigh.
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Old 04-18-2012, 04:36 PM
 
515 posts, read 1,591,491 times
Reputation: 218
I wouldn't live in either if I could help it. But, I do own a home or two in "the park" that I rent out, and their in the nicer sections as mentioned. Lots of nice houses around them. Cape Coma is so over populated, the traffic sucks, the cops love ticketing you for everything, the city workers are corrupt, they are hitting all of the home owners with a 15 to $20,000 fee for sewers. You gotta pay a toll every day to get to civilization. There slums right next to mansions. you too far from everything........... the canals take you hours (it seems) of idle, no wake time to get out to the open water.....

WHERE EVER YOU MOVE TO, PLEASE RENT FIRST FOR A YEAR TO MAKE SURE YOU LOVE IT!
Move to Estero, you can't go wrong.

I forgot to mention about all of the LAWS AND RULES OF WHAT YOU CAN'T DO ON YOUR PROPERTY. they love to fine homeowners for EVERYTHING over there. Even the cops are corrupt, lying about their schooling so they can get the extra bonus in their pay.
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Old 04-18-2012, 06:10 PM
 
Location: Meredith NH
1,563 posts, read 2,876,480 times
Reputation: 2883
Wow...tjstrain has been sipping koolade with equalrights...hates everything about CC.....even uses that stupid cliche "cape coma"
Hates the police,city employees,traffic,tolls,restaurants,stores and burrowing owls.
Sorry to disagree....we love it here in SE.....nice neighbors,close to beaches,boat in my back yard,walk or bike to stores and restaurants,reasonable taxes (compared to up north) fair prices for pool and lawn service.......I say again....we love Cape Coral.
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Old 04-18-2012, 08:00 PM
 
Location: Cape Coral, Florida
693 posts, read 2,014,021 times
Reputation: 371
Quote:
Originally Posted by tjstrain View Post
I wouldn't live in either if I could help it. But, I do own a home or two in "the park" that I rent out, and their in the nicer sections as mentioned. Lots of nice houses around them. Cape Coma is so over populated, the traffic sucks, the cops love ticketing you for everything, the city workers are corrupt, they are hitting all of the home owners with a 15 to $20,000 fee for sewers. You gotta pay a toll every day to get to civilization. There slums right next to mansions. you too far from everything........... the canals take you hours (it seems) of idle, no wake time to get out to the open water.....

WHERE EVER YOU MOVE TO, PLEASE RENT FIRST FOR A YEAR TO MAKE SURE YOU LOVE IT!
Move to Estero, you can't go wrong.

I forgot to mention about all of the LAWS AND RULES OF WHAT YOU CAN'T DO ON YOUR PROPERTY. they love to fine homeowners for EVERYTHING over there. Even the cops are corrupt, lying about their schooling so they can get the extra bonus in their pay.
Nothing in this post is true except the idea to rent before you buy.
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Old 04-18-2012, 08:20 PM
 
13 posts, read 20,840 times
Reputation: 12
Bought a short sale last year in San Carlos Park and have been quite happy with it. My street is quiet, my neighbors have been here for years and have had no safety concerns. Do agree that there are both good and bad parts to the area. Avoided streets with duplexes (rentals) like the plague. I can be in Bonita, North Naples, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach in under 30 minutes barring traffic.
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Old 04-19-2012, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Florida Space Coast
2,356 posts, read 5,095,443 times
Reputation: 1572
Quote:
Originally Posted by tjstrain View Post
I wouldn't live in either if I could help it. But, I do own a home or two in "the park" that I rent out, and their in the nicer sections as mentioned. Lots of nice houses around them. Cape Coma is so over populated, the traffic sucks, the cops love ticketing you for everything, the city workers are corrupt, they are hitting all of the home owners with a 15 to $20,000 fee for sewers. You gotta pay a toll every day to get to civilization. There slums right next to mansions. you too far from everything........... the canals take you hours (it seems) of idle, no wake time to get out to the open water.....

WHERE EVER YOU MOVE TO, PLEASE RENT FIRST FOR A YEAR TO MAKE SURE YOU LOVE IT!
Move to Estero, you can't go wrong.

I forgot to mention about all of the LAWS AND RULES OF WHAT YOU CAN'T DO ON YOUR PROPERTY. they love to fine homeowners for EVERYTHING over there. Even the cops are corrupt, lying about their schooling so they can get the extra bonus in their pay.
Saying over populated and heavy traffic kinda contradicts coma. As far as boat canal times it depends what you mean by open water. I was timing everything this week and i was rather surprised how long it took. Partially because it was pretty choppy due to the wind. As far as no wake zone it took me 22 mins to get to the matlacha bridge. If i go north you can travel at 25 mph in the channel which is about 5 mins to charlotte harbor. From there i can be on cayo costa in about 20 mins to 30 mins depending on conditions. Fastest i have made from dock to shore was 45 mins.
Going south under matlacha bridge took me an hour to get to picnic island. The channel speed was 25 mph virtually the whole way. I have never gone this way before and it was not a straight shot the channel zigs and zags a lot and i took it much slower as i had to look for the markers and potential obstructions.

The no wake zone part doesn't bother me as it takes a little while for everyone to get situated and there's always things to see.
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Old 04-19-2012, 08:06 AM
 
584 posts, read 1,689,457 times
Reputation: 201
Estero is nice and that's where The Coconut Point Mall is located, it's only minutes to SWF international airport, pretty convenient !

There's a Gateway area also just North of SWF international airport. There are lots of single homes, some town houses and condos in that area. It looks nice to me too !

I think both Estero and the Gateway are convenient in all directions (Naples, FMB). There are also outlet malls along I75 near Estero and the Gateway.

Yes, driving to FMB is elbow to elbow during in season, the traffic begins to slowdown when one's approaching the bridge or even way before the bridge. The water is too cold to swim during the winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) but it's a nice day out though.
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