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My daughter moved to Ft Myers from Boston in December. She is 23. SW FL is not at all what she was looking for but the job was worth it.
She lives in a condo in Gateway (2BR $1,100/mo.) Golf course view. It's a quiet community of mixed ages. Very few children but some young professionals. The condo has monthly social events and one of them was to discuss "end of life". They invited a crematorium, traditional funeral home and a place that composts your body. Yup, population is old, haha!
Pros:
1. She walks to work every day.
2. She can walk to a shopping plaza with a grocery store, restaurants, hair salon etc... Being able to walk places was very high on her list and she goes days without using her car.
3. She can walk to Fort Myers Brewery (although there are no sidewalks). They have a very well attended Trivia Night. She loves going there! Good food trucks on certain nights. Average age here is prob 35+, but a good mix of young and old. Not uncommon to see families here.
4. Norman Love Chocolates. Divine!
5. Naples is ~40 mins away and they have some nice (non-chain) restaurants. That's where we usually go when I visit.
6. She has never felt unsafe in Ft Myers but doesn't venture into high crime neighborhoods. As stated above, she walks as much as possible so she feels very comfortable.
7. Super cheap flights! She flies a lot to visit friends in other parts of the country and the airfare is much less than what I pay from Boston.
8. Drive over the bridge to Sanibel and you are 1,000 miles away.
Cons:
1. Population is old. I'm 52 and I feel young when I visit.
2. Everything is a chain. Not a lot of mom and pop establishments. Downtown Ft Myers has some non-chain restaurants but that is ~30 min drive. Same with Ft Myers Beach.
3. Almost all communities are gated and separated by highways. If your friend lives 0.5 mile away you'll probably have to drive there. My daughter is lucky she lives in one of the more walkable areas.
4. Sometimes the rules are a bit old-fashioned. For instance, the gym in her condo closes at 8pm even though you access it with a FOB and there are no attendants.
My daughter doesn't love FL and only plans to stay for 2 years but she's making it work. Home is where you make it. Good luck!!
Its not about being a fan.. its about reality of the area.. Its not for young professionals or families. There are parts just south of Fort Myers in Estero/Bonita actually fighting to NOT have schools put in. No schools= no families and that's exactly how the retirees like it. The median age there is 61. Exactly how much young entertainment do you think there is to offer with that being the majority of the population?
The average home price is just under $400,000. The median rent is $2500. Naples is even more expensive than Fort Myers. By a long long shot. The youngest "area" in the region is by FGCU.. So if you wanna be 30 hanging out with 19 year old college kids then that's your best bet..Two of us have warned you on this board. Clearly you don't want to hear it. We see this on this board over and over and despite the warnings we see the "Florida is boring" " Florida is too hot" " Florida is too expensive" "Florida isn't for young people" threads over and over.... and we all just shake our heads like.... yah.... we know but no one listens.
My son is a young, gay professional and him and his partner find plenty to do. They go to the dog beach, the dog park, parties, etc. They are renting a luxury 2 bedroom apartment for $1700 a month. For $2500 a month you could probably get a nice house with a pool.
My biggest complaint with this area is the long, very long, hot and humid summers. I could deal with it much better if it wasn't so long. Even in the winter you may still need a/c because we don't hit fall or winter and the temperature suddenly stays below 80. But I have a house with great cross ventilation so as long as it's not humid I leave my windows open a lot during our winter & spring.
However I remember well the long, dreary winters up north when everything looked so dreary and depressing and it got dark at 4:30 p.m. I also remember this past winter, right here in Florida, walking the dog after work when it was in the 40's and saying to myself "I will never complain about the heat again after this cold snap". Well, we all see how that went.
What I find funny is that so many of you have negative things to say about this area, but you continue to stay and people are moving in and staying every day of the week.
Like I mentioned, I have lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, and now Florida, and each area had pluses and minuses, just the way it is. But, for all the negatives here, there are certainly a lot of positives. If it wasn't such a great area, our population wouldn't swell to triple or more every season. Must be some things people find attractive about being here.
I very much appreciate your opinion and thoughts...I am not dismissing anyones feelings on the area. We just got a great career opportunity and trying to make the best of moving to a new area. I can tell you are passionate about this topic. Would you mind where the article that lists Ft, Myers as one of the most dangerous cities in America? I would really like to see that as we make our final decision. I have done alot of research on the area, I looked at Forbes, US News, CBS News and MSNBC but none or them list Ft. Myers in the top 20 most dangerous cities. I have also look at multiple sources and they primarily list the average home cost in Ft. Myers at closer to $200,000 and the average rent at closer to $1,000..but trying to do as much research into the area as possible.
To give you some context...I currently live in Jersey City, which in 2017 was ranked the fifth most expensive city to live in the country. I pay $2,000 to live in a 690 sqft apartment in a building that has had multiple break-ins and car thefts in the last year (but I am close to NYC so the area demands the price). My current view from my apartment is an abandon warehouse. An average dinner out here is about $200 and that is modest. The cost of living in JC is 7% higher then the national average while the cost of living in Ft. Myers is 4% lower then the national average. The area I live is extremely industrial and in the VERY early stages of gentrification...I work at 2 miles away from work and most days typically takes me 45min to a hour one way. I share this just to say, its all relative, one man's dump is another man's oasis.
From my original post, you can see I wasn't looking for folks to dissuade me from making the move but recommendation on where to live in the area. I have no expectation for Ft. Myers to be our forever home but think for the next 3-5 years would be a great place to live close to family and get our foot in the door in FL. In terms of entertainment, we are fine with one movie theater, one restaurant with good seafood and one bar with good drinks. While we would love to live near other young professionals we also have no problem being the youngest couple in a group of retirees!
I think that from my initial post you may have made alot of snap judgments...I am well aware FT. Myers isn't perfect! I appreciate your perspective but please know this isn't a frivolous decision...again to each his own, if your not into the area, more power to you.
Wow. Lots of misinformation in some of these posts.
First, understand that the City of Fort Myers is very small. About 20% the size of Jersey City. Most of the high crime areas are within the small geographical city limits (largely north of Colonial) but that skews the crime rates upward since the population base within the city (which is what the crime stats are based on) is so small (about 65K). But, the broader area that is called Fort Myers where people have Fort Myers addresses but do not live within the Fort Myers city limits, or even near the city limits, is much larger and mostly very safe. So be careful when looking at crime statistics for "Fort Myers" because those stats relate only to a small part of the much larger area. For example, one of the largest, if not the largest employer in the area is Gartner. It has a Fort Myers address, but is not in Fort Myers. It is located in an area called Gateway, which is where our house is located and where several posters on this thread have commented. Gateway is very safe and all homes have Fort Myers addresses but none are within the Fort Myers city limits. Most of the 30 or so communities in Gateway are gated, but none are 55+. There are many families and people of all ages there. In our community, you could rent a smaller house (1,600-1,800 sq. ft.) for $1,800. Our fitness center is open past midnight and opens before dawn. The HOA would not restrict your dog, but the landlord might. There is a dog park nearby that is walkable. Like the crime stats, I think the average price and rent stats you cite are from within the city limits only. They are pretty low for one of the nicer areas. So know how the stats are compiled and what specific area is covered. $1,000/month rent in this area probably puts you in a place where you do not want to be, but there could be exceptions. Same for a $200K house (though there could be distressed property sales here and there in nicer areas).
To add to the confusion, the City of Fort Myers has been aggressively annexing very nice and new areas to the south near Gateway. Many are still under construction. So as the city itself adds population in higher end communities, crime rate stats decline. New/newer developments like Marina Bay, Plantation, Arborwood, Pelican Preserve (but that one is 55+) are all within the city limits, but are far from the crime ridden neighborhoods. I am from the Chicago area, and one would think it is an open war zone based on news stories. Something like 60 shot and 11 killed last weekend. But that activity is largely contained to certain areas on the south and west sides within the city limits. Just don't go there! Same thing in Fort Myers but on a much smaller scale. You are from a large metro area, so you know what I mean. You can't extrapolate crime stats from a neighborhood to an entire metro area.
The best thing to do is spend some time down here and see for yourself.
I agree. I am totally comfortable walking anywhere near where I live at night, and will go out without worrying about what might happen. However, there are areas of town where I would not venture, even in broad daylight. Every city in America has those same types of areas, it is just a fact of life.
But you can not judge an entire area by one part of it.
I am more concerned with meeting a bear or alligator than a mugger where I live.......I am not afraid to walk anywhere I might have business. I wouldnt be foolish and go to a high crime area after dark.....but really I feel safe. Very safe.
I've never felt unsafe in either Fort Myers or now in Cape Coral. I just stay out of the high crime areas and don't go to the Edison Mall especially at night. My family moved down here in 1960 and nobody has been the victim of any type of a crime.
I loved Gateway; if I didn't have an opportunity to buy my late aunt's house in Cape Coral I would still be there. I might even move back in a few years when it would be worth it for me to sell this single family house and go to a 55+ development.
I love it here in Gateway....and as the city is moving up Daniels.....there are more places to shop and eat. It really is a wonderful place to live. It could (but wont stop growing now).....everyone wants to be here. I can't blame them.
SW FL is very retirement oriented, which can obviously be good or bad depending on your situation. But, as you would expect, employment opportunities will be limited. There are no real “downtowns” so the population is very spread out. There are some young professionals, but not very many. It could be hard to meet people, therefore. But it is very cheap and some areas are very beautiful.
And as others have mentioned, they have been working on fort Myers’ riverfront downtown for a while and it is quite nice. There are a few bars that can get some young people. But again, if being around young professionals is a must, then that will be hard in Fort Myers. It may be best to visit first to get a feel for it.
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