Cape Coral (Miami, Tampa, Orlando: transplants, to rent, houses)

[Lisa Allen]

Anybody have info on Cape Coral?? We are planning on relocating from RI to FL. Keep seeing LOTS of nice houses in Cape Coral. And for some reason a bit more affordable than other towns nearby. What's the catch? What's the good, the bad and the ugly about living in Cape Coral?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

[gunnert]

traffic is crazy even if you work on the cape...I've been there often since living in naples and I really think traffic is worse than Naples. I hear there are good places and bad so do your homework...we have considered a move there as well, because housing is a little more reasonable but the jobs are not!!! they don't pay. If you are educated or have experience naples will pay you, but you'll have to drive and it can get crazy...my husband works with people.. who work in naples because of pay and live on the cape sometimes drive 1-1/2 - 2 hours one way!!

we are currently living in Naples and it's a great place, and we would love to stay if they housing works out we are currently renting and pay 975.00 for 2 beds but its considered "affordable housing" so they will let anyone in here if you know what I mean, but all in all its been great!!

[watriff]

Hi Lisa,

I've lived in SWFL now for 29 years. My parents moved us to Cape Coral from Massachusetts when I was 14 and I now live in Naples. They chose Cape Coral by closing their eyes and pointing at a place on the Florida map. After a few stabs in the Gulf of Mexico, the finger landed on Cape Coral and that's where we moved to.

Cape Coral was designed in the 1950's by a big development company called GAC. They leveled the whole place and dug canals throughout the city. It was a pre-planned community with the hundreds of miles of roads. Most of them were in the "boondocks".......just roads and canals as far as you could see. As teenagers we used to go out to the northern section where there were no homes to party and target practice. It was the perfect place to learn how to drive. One big Drivers Ed course.........just roads, canals, and flat land.

Over the years, Cape Coral has boomed as predicted. The main reason for the lower prices in Cape Coral is that ther is hardly anywhere to work vs. Fort Myers and Naples. The majority of residents have to commute to Fort Myers/Naples to work and the traffic is really bad.

Recently, a local news station did an experiment. They took two drivers who started out at 3 PM in Bonita Springs (between Fort Myers and Naples). One driver went to The Sawgrass Mills Mall in Fort Lauderdale. The other driver went to Pine Island (NW of Cape Coral). According to Yahoo Maps, the trip to Lauderdale ia approximately 120 miles and should take about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The trip to Pine Island is approximatley 40 miles and should have taken 38 minutes. The result was that it only took 15 minutes longer to get to Ft. Lauderdale. The trip from Bonita to Pine Island took over 2 hours. In the late 70's you could have gotten from Bonita Springs to Pine Island in about an hour.

There are allot of construction projects going on in SWFL and the roads can't keep up with the traffic. We often see a road freshly widened to four lanes and then have to tear everything up again to widen it to six or eight lanes.

Naples is the biggest employer since the population is mostly older wealthy retirees who need to be serviced. The working class can't afford homes here, so they live in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Golden Gate, etc. (basically anywhere North or West of Naples).

That causes the daily commute to be a nightmare. The only 2 main north/south arteries are I-75 and US41. In the morning, everyone is going South toward Naples, and in the evening everyone is heading north toward their homes outside of Naples. One accident on I-75 or US41 can cause
hours of headaches and it happens on a daily basis. It's no fun being in traffic with cement trucks, dump trucks, school buses, plumbers, insulators, electricians, sodlayers, landscapers, pool cleaners, pest sprayers, old people trying to get to their golf game or early bird breakfast, and the rest of "us" who are just trying to get to work. I keep my radio tunes to the traffic station at all times to avoid the messes as best as possible.

The roads used to be almost empty after "the season" and it was something we year-rounders looked forward to. So many people have moved here permanently that traffic's bad all year round. It's "get off the roads by 5:00" or you're stuck in traffic no matter what time of year it is.

We got lucky since we bought in Naples before the prices surged. We bought our house for $195,000 and now it's worth $575,000. If we just moved here, there would be now way we could afford the current prices.

My advice (as far as Cape Coral goes) would be to find employment in Cape Coral or as close to the Cape as possible. Regarding the environment of Cape Coral, you'd also have to like/tolerate living in a "cookie-cutter community". Besides some of the main commercial streets and a couple of industrial areas, it's all houses next to each other for blocks and miles. It's also difficult to navigate since 90% of the city's streets are all numbered (SE 44th Place, NE 12th Terrace, NW 16th Street, etc.). You'll be driving down a street and it'll stop at a canal, only to find that the street continues on the other side of the canal, forcing you to drive all the way around. I don't see how the police, taxis, and pizza delivery people do it!

Why do I stay here? Family, friends, beaches, weather, etc. and the fact that we bought a small getaway in North Carolina to escape to when we;ve had enough or a hurricane threatens the area.

Sorry if I seem negative, but I just wanted to be honest!

[Lisa Allen]

Thank you for taking the time and effort to write me that honest reply. I have been hearing similar things. You're narrative does paint a clearer picture for me.

[watriff]

No Problem Lisa,

If there's anything else you'd like to know or if there's any way I can further help, just let me know.

[schoenberger]

I also hate to be negative about southwest florida but I have a really bad taste in my mouth about it right now. We bought a great house there 5 years ago and have spent 5 winters there and now we are selling and looking to go farther north in florida, willing to sacrifice the great warm weather for a slower pace with friendlier people. We are retired and found absolutely no one to hang out with and have fun. We couldn't justify the cost of owning a home in Naples with the lack of fun factor for us. The traffic is absolutely horrendous. For us it was out in the morning by 10 and hopes of being back home by noon. Wrecks are everywhere all the time, we were rear ended this year by a very elderly gentleman on oxygen who rammed us 4 times in the rear and pushed us around a corner and up on a curb because he got mixed up between gas and brake! Anyway it depends on what you want to do when you get there, if you are going to work, you still may not be able to afford to live there and if you want to play, prepared to encounter rude people and have them honk their horns at you if you don't get your boat in the water fast enough, the whole place seems to be built around golf, shopping. And if you are hispanic or haitian, be prepared to be lower than the bottom of a shoe, if you don't want to witness that kind of treatment of people, don't go there! I better stop, don't want to get on a soapbox!

[SCHNABELTIER]

I lived in Cape Coral for ±8 years (I am now in Orlando), and i found it to be a calm place. A lot of what the people are saying about Cape Coral may be true, but i think they have exagerated a bit. Cape Coral is a bit of a "slow pace" town...granted it has grown and a lot of people from up north have moved there. Is great fro retirement, and it has some decent schools. Housing is still affordable and it is close to big cities like Miami, Naples, and Tampa (±2.5 hours). My mother loves it there and still lives there, but she is selling her place now only because she wants to move close to me. For the younger generation it may take a while to get used to, but for the rest, it is a great place.

[Elzejb]

I have lived in Cape Coral for 3 years and it has been great. It has grown a lot. As for the traffic, it's like anywhere else...work with it. My employer provides 4 extended day weeks. That way I get to work right before 'rush' hour and leave right after it. Ft. Myers Beach is my daily commute to Bonita Springs. There are restaurants, shopping, boating, fishing, biking, & whatever other outdoor activities you like. Our community has been extremely friendly as we are all mostly transplants. I live in a middle class $200-$300k area with a variety of ethnicities. I am married, late 20s no kids.

[jackie8689]

I've been researching my brains out for the Ft Myers area, the Cape being one of them and have visited a couple of times. So far, my decision is to rent first, hopefully a house with option, if I like it I can buy and if not, have the option to move. My feeling is you are not going to really know if you really like an area until you live there, yourself. The posts all over this board have been very helpful to me but hasn't disuaded my decision for this area. Each time I've come down, I don't want to leave, I just love it there. The Cape has alot of issues right now. Homeowners are being taxed up the wazoo for road expansions, water and other things, so the exchange may be a cheaper house for higher taxes and the commute. If you can live with that, then it's worth it. When I lived in Jersey, this was the normal way of life, especially if you worked in NYC, you just have to adjust your timing to get to work and budget to cover your expenses, etc.
I'm moving in about 3 weeks from north east PA and am looking forward to the weather, especially during the winter when I won't be buried in snow!
You can read more on the area by looking at the local paper online, The News-Press. I hit it everyday but as much as you can research online, it's best to get there and visit the area and scope things out yourself. Good Luck!!

[aljl28]

Originally Posted by Lisa Allen

Anybody have info on Cape Coral?? We are planning on relocating from RI to FL. Keep seeing LOTS of nice houses in Cape Coral. And for some reason a bit more affordable than other towns nearby. What's the catch? What's the good, the bad and the ugly about living in Cape Coral?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi Lisa, i don't live in cape coral but i do go there every year for vacation & also have many friends that live there. What i see the problem is that it's building up so fast and there's no place to make good money. Friend of mine just built there house 2 years ago, at that time they were the only people on the street. now there street is full along with the surrounding streets. and because of that taxes, has went through the roof. and now with all the hurricans coming in insrances on the house has went up to. well a friend of mine paid 150 thousand for there house. and there payments are 1600 a mounth. & there house is only a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1 story house. it is a beautiful place but i'd never live there. My husband was from there he move here in ohio 12 years ago. and has never looked back!!!