Possible move from Cali to SW FL...Need Advice! (Kissimmee: winter, offer)

[allenk893]

Palm Springs to SW FL? Whoa. Prepare for cultural shock. They are probably as opposite as opposite can get. Fort Myers isn't that bad. As long as you have money, you'll do and live fine. Your going to love the beach. However, the ONE thing I recommend you do before anything at all - come down and VISIT! I cannot stress that enough. You need to visit first and see if you could stand it for 3 years!

[elston]

Originally Posted by allenk893

Palm Springs to SW FL? Whoa. Prepare for cultural shock. They are probably as opposite as opposite can get. Fort Myers isn't that bad. As long as you have money, you'll do and live fine. Your going to love the beach. However, the ONE thing I recommend you do before anything at all - come down and VISIT! I cannot stress that enough. You need to visit first and see if you could stand it for 3 years!

If you are going to base a decision on a visit.....you need to do a visit in the middle of summer.....right now ... the weather is nearly perfect.....not a test of your tolerance for high humidity. It didnt discourage us....but it is something different.

[espizarro]

I lived in Fort Myers (now live in Tampa), the area is generally nice, halfway between Tampa and Miami and 2.5 hours from Orlando (southern suburbs), so it is not a bad area, but there are some places that are not very very good, like Lehigh Acres and everything west of I-75 north of Colonial and east of Downtown. Estero and Bonita Springs are the most expensive areas but they are beautiful, still closer to Miami. No hills nearby anywhere, just in case you like mountains or at least hills. But there are good beaches and Fort Myers Beach has some life in the nights.

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by espizarro

I lived in Fort Myers (now live in Tampa), the area is generally nice, halfway between Tampa and Miami and 2.5 hours from Orlando (southern suburbs), so it is not a bad area, but there are some places that are not very very good, like Lehigh Acres and everything west of I-75 north of Colonial and east of Downtown. Estero and Bonita Springs are the most expensive areas but they are beautiful, still closer to Miami. No hills nearby anywhere, just in case you like mountains or at least hills. But there are good beaches and Fort Myers Beach has some life in the nights.

Just a couple quick shots of reality. Orlando is every bit of 3 and half hours and that is traffic free. Right now they are doing construction on I-4 and the traffic is nasty. Everything surrounding downtown Fort Myers is bad area, not just East. Estero is expensive and some parts of Bonita are as well, but there are also some older, slummy parts of Bonita Springs, just like there are in Naples (North/East Naples). Most of Estero is gated communities of single families and condo/townhouses. And their respective distances to Miami are minute at best seeing Bonita is only 10 minutes from Fort Myers. Lastly, to say that everything West of 75 and North of Colonial is not very good is an extreme over exaggeration, there are multimillion dollar homes in this area.

[espizarro]

Originally Posted by Billythepokerkid

Just a couple quick shots of reality. Orlando is every bit of 3 and half hours and that is traffic free. Right now they are doing construction on I-4 and the traffic is nasty. Everything surrounding downtown Fort Myers is bad area, not just East. Estero is expensive and some parts of Bonita are as well, but there are also some older, slummy parts of Bonita Springs, just like there are in Naples (North/East Naples). Most of Estero is gated communities of single families and condo/townhouses. And their respective distances to Miami are minute at best seeing Bonita is only 10 minutes from Fort Myers. Lastly, to say that everything West of 75 and North of Colonial is not very good is an extreme over exaggeration, there are multimillion dollar homes in this area.

Disney World can be reached in 2.5 hours. Unless you take the entire I-75 all the way to Tampa and then take I-4 which is a huge waste of time considering the much shorter US-17 from Punta Gorda to Lake Alfred and then taking Polk CR 557 to I-4 in exit 48; saving you nearly 45 miles. Depending on traffic, other areas like Universal may take the three hours, that why I said the southern suburbs, those who are in East Polk and Western Osceola. For those in Fort Myers that don't know, the way to Orlando is NOT I-75/I-4. After you pass exit 164, I-75 turns completely westward (like the Alligator Alley from Miami) all the way to Sarasota, and then continues NW to Tampa, therefore you are going backwards for a significative length of time.

If would like to know where are the mansions west of I-75 and north of Colonial (east of downtown, just in case) because it is a huge slum over there. Sorry, it is. It is also the most dangerous area in Fort Myers.

[Compression]

Originally Posted by Billythepokerkid

Right now they are doing construction on I-4 and the traffic is nasty. Everything surrounding downtown Fort Myers is bad area, not just East.

I've been here going on 22 years, I cant remember any time that I travelled I 4 and they werent doing construction, on I 4 it is perpetual. Except that one time I went thru at about 4-5 a.m., the traffic is always attrocious.

Yes, everything directly around the downtown area is kinda nasty. But the west side heading down McGregor from Centennial park, past the Edison/Ford estates is kept pretty decent. And the area keeps improving as you move west toward the islands. It is after all one of the tourist attractions, and there are some rather nice, large, expensive homes in that area. The farther off of McGregor, toward US 41 you go, the more the area slides downhill(IMHO). Head east out the downtown area, and it just keeps getting worse til you get past I 75, where it still isnt great, but it starts to improve a bit.

YC.......

[elston]

I guess its because I am still new here....but I dont find anywhere I go in Ft Myer "nasty". I know there are areas of poverty and all that goes with institutionalized poverty.....and I feel badly about that.....but I dont go there. I go about my daily life in Ft Myers....finding beauty and friendly people and I just love it!

There are areas that I like more than others.....but even in Lehigh Acres (that gets a bad wrap on the forum)...I see neighborhoods, well kept yards and tidy little houses. I do see some properties that are abandoned and not maintained.....but I dont find it nasty.
I see people trying to do their best with what they have....too often too little.

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by espizarro

Disney World can be reached in 2.5 hours. Unless you take the entire I-75 all the way to Tampa and then take I-4 which is a huge waste of time considering the much shorter US-17 from Punta Gorda to Lake Alfred and then taking Polk CR 557 to I-4 in exit 48; saving you nearly 45 miles. Depending on traffic, other areas like Universal may take the three hours, that why I said the southern suburbs, those who are in East Polk and Western Osceola. For those in Fort Myers that don't know, the way to Orlando is NOT I-75/I-4. After you pass exit 164, I-75 turns completely westward (like the Alligator Alley from Miami) all the way to Sarasota, and then continues NW to Tampa, therefore you are going backwards for a significative length of time.

If would like to know where are the mansions west of I-75 and north of Colonial (east of downtown, just in case) because it is a huge slum over there. Sorry, it is. It is also the most dangerous area in Fort Myers.

I am talking about taking 17, I travel up that way weekly. No matter what you do, you HAVE to take I-4 unless you like traveling at 15 miles an hour and hitting 900 stop lights. Unless you hit I-4 at 4 am in the middle of a summer week, and are traveling at 90 mph, you aren't getting to Disney World in 2.5 hours. It's almost 150 miles, 120 of which are not on a highway.

If you are including everything West of 75 and North of Colonial they are between McGregor and the river. I think you mean everything in between 41 or McGregor and 75 and North of Colonial. And just and FYI Pine Manor, Harlem Heights, Argyle, Horizons, and Suntree are all South of Colonial and are some of the worst 'Hoods' in Fort Myers.

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by elston

I guess its because I am still new here....but I dont find anywhere I go in Ft Myer "nasty". I know there are areas of poverty and all that goes with institutionalized poverty.....and I feel badly about that.....but I dont go there. I go about my daily life in Ft Myers....finding beauty and friendly people and I just love it!

There are areas that I like more than others.....but even in Lehigh Acres (that gets a bad wrap on the forum)...I see neighborhoods, well kept yards and tidy little houses. I do see some properties that are abandoned and not maintained.....but I dont find it nasty.
I see people trying to do their best with what they have....too often too little.

It's probably because you are avoiding the areas that you most definitely should be avoiding.

[espizarro]

Originally Posted by Billythepokerkid

I am talking about taking 17, I travel up that way weekly. No matter what you do, you HAVE to take I-4 unless you like traveling at 15 miles an hour and hitting 900 stop lights. Unless you hit I-4 at 4 am in the middle of a summer week, and are traveling at 90 mph, you aren't getting to Disney World in 2.5 hours. It's almost 150 miles, 120 of which are not on a highway.

If you are including everything West of 75 and North of Colonial they are between McGregor and the river. I think you mean everything in between 41 or McGregor and 75 and North of Colonial. And just and FYI Pine Manor, Harlem Heights, Argyle, Horizons, and Suntree are all South of Colonial and are some of the worst 'Hoods' in Fort Myers.

I have been able to hit Disney from Ft. Myers in 2.5 hours. Do you take Polk Co. Road 557 in Lake Alfred north? Or you continue US-17 all the way to Kissimmee?