Retiring Full Time to Naples - Community Advice (Pine Ridge, Vineyards: sale, real estate)

[bbtondo]

Thank you NaplesNest for the information. Now I know why the taxes are high because of the CDD fee. Social membership doesn't seem too bad. It may be a bit further east than we'd like, but I think we'll add it to our list!

Babs

[movin1]

Have you seen this?

Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island Real Estate Map Property Search

Overwhelming number of communities here. You should find a good realtor and get some professional help to narrow down your search and get a chance to see inside the gated communities.

Lots of "hidden" fees in some of these places. You need to make sure you know what all the monthly and annual fees are in addition to property taxes.

[bbtondo]

Movin1: Great map! We definitely will get a professional realtor next spring when we are ready to buy. In the meantime, we are getting into the communities at the open houses they hold on Sunday and meeting a lot of realtors. We are very interested in the fees and "hidden costs" in the various communities we are looking at. That will be a big deciding factor for us. Less fees and costs equals a better lifestyle for us. More travel money, eating out, etc.

Adventure Guy:I appreciate your advice. We have owned a condo in Naples for six years and are well aware of the costs
to live there. There are good and bad things about Naples for sure. The good outweigh the bad for us. We have worked hard all our lives and are now ready to put work behind us and enjoy our retirement. We sure won't be dining at the Turtle Club every night, but once and a while is good for us!

One of our biggest wants is that we live in a community that is a mix of various people, but where there are more young (lol) retired people than families with young children. We are at a different point in our lives now. A lot of these communities are very family friendly which is fine, but it is not what we want. I know a lot of people like Riverstone, but they are advertised as one of the best family communities in Naples. Saturnia Lakes is also known to be a very family friendly community from what I understand. So that gives us pause about living there. That's why it is good to hear from people that live in these communities so we can get the real story.

Again, I appreciate everyone's advice.

Babs

[movin1]

Babs,

I think you also need to consider the house as well as the community you will live in. We looked at a lot of homes for sale in our price range (not much more than yours) and could not find anything that was fairly new, in good shape, a bit more contemporary rather than Old World/Tuscan that had a good floor plan.

Reasons we chose Riverstone was the lot on a preserve was beautiful, the floor plan of the house we built was ideal and the finish work/interior decor options were very nice and suited our taste.

There are hassles with new construction, but GL Homes is making everything right (the warranty service has been excellent) and the house is well built and looks great. It is our taste because we "designed" it (within the parameters of what they offered).

We rented a Stock Development home in Black Bear Ridge while we waited for our home in Riverstone to be built.

It was the same square footage as the house we had built, but the floor plan was not nearly as good and the interior decor was all Tuscan (as were most of the houses in Black Bear).

If you are considering new construction, be sure to look at the design centers and see what your options are. We were told that many of these communities don't offer many options and the design appointment takes a few hours. We spent a full 8 hour day at Riverstone doing the interior of our house and revised several things before construction began.

[blu_lem0n]

Babs have you considered Bonita Springs? My parents live in Spring Run in the Brooks development and honestly their place is hopping! It's all retirees...and the NICEST people. It is super social there...they are always having events, etc. Lots of great communities around there to share golf clubs, but Spring Run has the lowest fees (and in my opinion the greatest group of people!) My husband and I love going to visit. They have a better social life than we do! You can get a gorgeous place there for a great price, and you are close to EVERYTHING. Coconut Point Mall, etc. They also belong to a great beach club that is only offered to those who live in the Brooks communities. It is SO FANTASTIC. We valet the car...watch sunset...enjoy the gorgeous setting. It's like paradise. If we had an opportunity to retire and didn't have to worry about schools, without question, we would go there.

Just throwing it out there - good luck!

Originally Posted by bbtondo

Movin1: Great map! We definitely will get a professional realtor next spring when we are ready to buy. In the meantime, we are getting into the communities at the open houses they hold on Sunday and meeting a lot of realtors. We are very interested in the fees and "hidden costs" in the various communities we are looking at. That will be a big deciding factor for us. Less fees and costs equals a better lifestyle for us. More travel money, eating out, etc.

Adventure Guy:I appreciate your advice. We have owned a condo in Naples for six years and are well aware of the costs
to live there. There are good and bad things about Naples for sure. The good outweigh the bad for us. We have worked hard all our lives and are now ready to put work behind us and enjoy our retirement. We sure won't be dining at the Turtle Club every night, but once and a while is good for us!

One of our biggest wants is that we live in a community that is a mix of various people, but where there are more young (lol) retired people than families with young children. We are at a different point in our lives now. A lot of these communities are very family friendly which is fine, but it is not what we want. I know a lot of people like Riverstone, but they are advertised as one of the best family communities in Naples. Saturnia Lakes is also known to be a very family friendly community from what I understand. So that gives us pause about living there. That's why it is good to hear from people that live in these communities so we can get the real story.

Again, I appreciate everyone's advice.

Babs

[bbtondo]

Naplesnest: I've read a little about what CDDs are today. It sounds a little concerning to me that you have to pay this extra fee for quite a while. It also seems like at any time they can increase them? Is a community without these fees a better financial choice?

movin1: We definitely are considering the house too. Of course we want it all! LOL A great community that has what we like along with a great house. Our thought was to choose a community that we like first, then look at houses within that community. What good is the perfect house if the community doesn't have what we like? Or if everyone in the community is jetting off to Paris every week. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!). We would like a community that fits our lifestyle and where we have something in common with most of the residents.

We are being drawn to communities that are already established. We don't think we'd build a new house. We like to see what we're getting and don't want to go through the building process.

blu lemon: Really appreciate your suggestion about the Brooks development. Just took a quick look online and it looks really nice. At this point, we prefer to buy in Naples. Time will tell...

We like Long Shore Lakes due to the houses being different and it's an established beautiful community. We like the fact that it has a clubhouse with a restaurant. I've read their monthly newsletter and although they have some activities I'm not sure if there would be enough to do there as compared to Village or Island Walk. The "Walk" newsletters list more activities: trips and golf dates, luncheons, etc. But we're concerned the Walks may be too large for us and the homes all look alike.

So many things to consider!

Babs

[movin1]

Be aware of the property tax difference in Lee vs Collier County. 2% in Lee vs 1.25% in Collier.

Bonita Springs is lovely, but your property taxes will be higher.

[bbtondo]

Movin1: Thanks again for taking the time to respond. Love the lower taxes in Collier County! What is your opinion on CDD fees? Are they bad? Should we stay away from communities that have these extra "taxes"?

Babs

[movin1]

Florida Community Development Districts

No way would I pay these fees. When we first moved here and heard about this, I thought they must be crazy. Some communities we looked were higher priced for the basic home, the lot upgrades, the HOA and they also charged CDD fees. The monthly expenses were way more than Riverstone.

You have to do your homework and decide what the real value of your home, land and community are.

I guess it's all built in somewhere in the price of what you are buying. Make sure you don't get ripped off and pay too much for what you are getting. Comparison price shopping is very important in this current real estate market. Somebody's making a lot of money selling houses here.

[bbtondo]

Movin1: Some more great advice! What a great link! I am not surprised to see Fiddler's Creek on the list. The taxes listed on their real estate for sale is way way too high for what we want to pay.

I've been watching the Naples real estate prices since we purchased our condo six years ago. Prices are up from even a year ago. We wish we could of bought a retirement home 2 years ago, but the timing just wasn't right.

I look at prices in various communities and see a lot of people "fishing" with a crazy asking price for their home. It seems to me that most of the homes that have been sold, had lower prices. I have been looking at not only what is for sale, but what has sold and for what price. The earliest we could buy a home is next spring and hope that we can afford the communities that we are looking at now. I think the market will quickly tell you what a home is worth.

One of the reasons we looked at Village and Island Walk in Naples, are the taxes and HOA fees seem reasonable for what we want to spend and they are established communities. Although the cost of the house we buy is certainly important, it's the ongoing fees and taxes we are carefully looking at. We are trying to have no debt, and low bills in retirement so we can be as financially secure as possible while still enjoying a great lifestyle. The American Dream!

We look forward to looking at some more open houses on our next trip to Naples.

Babs