Is San Carlos Park going downhill??? (Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres: live, pine, areas)

[Donna-501]

Originally Posted by claycassden

LOL @ going downhill. In my 23 years living in Fort Myers, San Carlos Park has ALWAYS been "downhill."

That is what I was thinking. In the early 90's a Realtor showed us around there and we said "no thank you".

[claycassden]

Right? I remember my dad talking about living around here in the 70s and 80s and that is when that area was somewhat respectable but quickly deteriorated. It's funny because where I'm staying (Provincetown Condominiums) back then were pretty rough and Pine Manor was the new nice area and now it's totally changed around. He lived around here when there was nothing in South Fort Myers except for Cypress High School. Daniels was a dirt road... they used to water ski down the ditches from a car with a rope. The police would pull them over then tell them to do it again.

Huuuuuge difference these days haha.

[hiknapster]

SCP was always lower middle-class with pockets of nice areas, especially Three Oaks. Miami, Albany and some parts of Constitution have almost always been iffy. But I figured when the recession hit that SCP would go a bit downhill. Whenever you have a lot of empty houses and more renters you are going to have new issues.

However, there are areas of SCP that are no worse than some areas of Cape Coral. There are definitely many more much nicer areas in CC but there are pockets that can resemble SCP, too.

Bonita Springs has some even nastier areas, as does Lehigh and a major portion of Fort Myers.

By the way, Pine Hills was already deteriorating by the early 80s.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Bonita Springs has some even nastier areas, as does Lehigh and a major portion of Fort Myers.

By the way, Pine Hills was already deteriorating by the early 80s.

I miss living in Bonita Springs sometimes, since I lived so close to Barefoot Beach and North Naples. You're probably referring to some sections east of 41 like Rosemary Park.

However, I agree that there are a lot of nasty areas. For years I lived off of Bonita Beach Road close to million dollar homes and in-between there was a mix of apartments, duplexes, condos and mobile homes. I rented 1/2 of a duplex and I always thought of it as a very safe area. One day I was taking a walk and my neighbor pointed out the crack house down the road that was busted and the grow house on the other side (also busted) and I asked "Have I been in a coma for the past 13 years?"

Can someone explain the video in this ad/web site (http://www.flcriminalattorney.com/Drug-Crimes/Marijuana-Grow-Houses.shtml - broken link)to me?

It's just so weird to see a firm saying they're dedicated to defending grow houses in SWFL. I really must be old.

SCP was always "iffy" to me. Once my car was broken down on 41 near the "San Carlos Park" sign and a cop stopped to tell me it wasn't a safe area. I was waiting for AAA. Nice of him to stop and then take off.

[hiknapster]

I'm sorry but six years ago you could walk around SCP at dark and you would be fine, and that is probably still the case. I have no idea why a cop would say that but he didn't seem too concerned. Like you said, he drove away. But I would not be afraid if my car broke down there. I wouldn't want to buy a house in there, though, but for completely different reasons.

It's just almost always been lower-middle class. Let's face it, Fort Myers does not attract a huge well-to-do demographic. There's some, but not a lot. I know I like to talk about the nouveau riche of Naples, but there isn't even much of that in Fort Myers. Unless you are talking Sanibel and Captiva. That's an entirely different group of people. Mostly old money that have made sure the integrity of the area has stayed the same.

Bonita is very spotty. There are some very, very nice homes and then crappy ones right down the street. True. That place has always had a huge disparity of people.

It's pretty lucrative to defend the owner of grow houses. That is going to be a client that has some money.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I'm sorry but six years ago you could walk around SCP at dark and you would be fine, and that is probably still the case. I have no idea why a cop would say that but he didn't seem too concerned. Like you said, he drove away. But I would not be afraid if my car broke down there. I wouldn't want to buy a house in there, though, but for completely different reasons.

I have no idea why he said that to me, Hiknapster. I was only writing about a personal experience.

I guess like Port Charlotte, it's easy to say an area isn't too safe when many of its residents aren't wealthy, especially in SWFL. Yet I find Port Charlotte to be very safe. I suppose a lot depends on the neighborhood.

I never felt unsafe in Bonita and would often drive to Walgreen's or Sweetbay late at night. As I wrote before, sometimes I miss Bonita. It was very convenient and close to the beach, but the "nicer" sections were expensive. This thread isn't about Bonita or Port Charlotte, so I don't want to elaborate too much and get my hands slapped.

[Izmack]

Funny story:

When we first went down to Cape Coral and looked at houses, we had very little idea about the area, but we had BIG ideas on what we thought 60K would buy in 2010. Keep in mind we wanted a move-in ready property with assessments paid in a nice neighborhood with mature landscaping. The realtor didn't do short sales nor did we have the patience to deal with them.

After the first 10 houses at 60K or less (all foreclosures which were each worse than the one before) I think at one point our realtor got quite frustrated with us and asked that we drive down to SCP for a day and take a look around there to see if anything looked good to us. She gave a few listings in our unrealistic 60K price range. After we drove around for about 30 minutes, we couldn't wait to get the heck out of there.

She was a wise realtor....

[Capt Longhammer]

If you decide to get a place in SCP I strongly encourage you to stay as close as possible to three oaks blvd.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Capt Longhammer

If you decide to get a place in SCP I strongly encourage you to stay as close as possible to three oaks blvd.

Meh. Yes and no. Three Oaks is great, but Miami is just down the street. I've seen shenanigans on Bartow, Murcott, Tangerine, Winged Foot.

[Lakitteh]

My daughters lived in SCP, on Winged Foot, for a year. The area was "ok" but not great. SCP is a very mixed area... it varies from block to block. You are better off looking in the Estero area, though it is costlier.

Stay away from Lehigh Acres, Pine Manor, and the Lee Memorial Hospital area for sure.