Marco Island- age? snowbirds? nightlife? (Miami, Fort Myers: fit in, spring break, rent)

[flgafl]

I'm seeking a place in south Florida to retire comfortably. In a townhome for approx. 250K. We are early 50's and would like activities, nightlife with music, restaurants, beach bars to eat, and very good medical care. I found Marco by research and can't gather a lot of info online. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and comments.
1-How old are most the people on the island?
2-Is the island inundated with snowbirds in the winter?
3-Is it crowded in the summer with families?
4-Any nightlife, beach bars, dog parks, BKING sidewalks?
5-Medical care?
6-How close is a Home Depot?
7-Is the island well maintained and groomed? (no vehicles on blocks, overgrown grass, maintanance overall)
8-Friendly residents or old grumpy b-tards?

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by flgafl

I'm seeking a place in south Florida to retire comfortably. In a townhome for approx. 250K. We are early 50's and would like activities, nightlife with music, restaurants, beach bars to eat, and very good medical care. I found Marco by research and can't gather a lot of info online. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and comments.
1-How old are most the people on the island?
2-Is the island inundated with snowbirds in the winter?
3-Is it crowded in the summer with families?
4-Any nightlife, beach bars, dog parks, BKING sidewalks?
5-Medical care?
6-How close is a Home Depot?
7-Is the island well maintained and groomed? (no vehicles on blocks, overgrown grass, maintanance overall)
8-Friendly residents or old grumpy b-tards?

I'll give some educated guesses-

1. 60+
2. Yes. It is unbelievable how jam packed it is.
3. No. It is a ghost town.
4. No nightlife if you are thinking anything outside a few bars/clubs. Beach bars at the hotels.
5. No medical care except two walk in clinics and some private offices. I read in your other post your need for medical services. I would think long and hard about this. Marco is isolated and if you need specialists this will mean going to Naples.
6. There is a Lowe's about 9 miles off the island towards Naples.
7. Yes. It is well maintained and beautiful.
8. Depends. i think overall friendly but some snowbirds can be cranky.

On your other posts you asked about medical care-

I think health care in Naples is good. All places are jammed during the winter so you need patience and advanced planning/appointments-sometimes WAY in advance-to get things done. You will need to go to Naples for almost everything so plan accordingly. If you need some super speciality you might need Fort Myers or Miami. This assumes you have insurance-if not you will have a difficult time.

[flgafl]

Thank you so very much. If it weren't for the snowbirds and medical care it looks beautiful. I live at a tourist destination in NWFL and we're so tired of the snowbirds. Then the vacationers in the summer for three months. I don't want to deal with that again. I thought I found a piece of paradise there.....my search continues!

[Sandsam]

Originally Posted by flgafl

Thank you so very much. If it weren't for the snowbirds and medical care it looks beautiful. I live at a tourist destination in NWFL and we're so tired of the snowbirds. Then the vacationers in the summer for three months. I don't want to deal with that again. I thought I found a piece of paradise there.....my search continues!

If you are trying to get away from snowbirds, you don't want to be anywhere near Naples/Marco.

[flgafl]

So summer is dead?
How long is the season for snowbirds? (my gosh I would have thought they would stop much farther north than Marco)...
Are there many roads under 25 MPH to drive a street legal golf cart around and to the beach?
Is the residents beach very crowded?
Mostly over 60 years old...what do the younger active people around 40-50 (empty nesters) do at night?
So it's difficult to get into private doctors on the island?
No outpatient care facilities?
People that are relocating to the area are mostly from what region?
Thanks again.................

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by flgafl

So summer is dead?
How long is the season for snowbirds? (my gosh I would have thought they would stop much farther north than Marco)...
Are there many roads under 25 MPH to drive a street legal golf cart around and to the beach?
Is the residents beach very crowded?
Mostly over 60 years old...what do the younger active people around 40-50 (empty nesters) do at night?
So it's difficult to get into private doctors on the island?
No outpatient care facilities?
People that are relocating to the area are mostly from what region?
Thanks again.................

Summer is dead.
Season is Thanksgiving to Easter.
Driving a golf cart on the street would be suicide. It would be OK on some dead end side streets but to drive to a store or the beach would be crazy.
Don't know about Resident's beach.
Nightlife? None except restaurants. Go to Naples or Fort Myers if you want any sort of cultural stuff.
Doctor's appointments-can't say for sure but I would assume it is like Naples, maybe worse. For example, just yesterday my wife tried to make an appointment with a specialist. First appointment-June, and this is in Naples off season.
Outpatient care-none that I know of.
Michigan and the midwest.

Marco is a beautiful upscale retirement and vacation destination. The economy and political machine reflect that. If you don't fit into either of those categories you have to accept it for what it is-and what it isn't.

[flgafl]

Wow, that's a long season of tourist! Especially snowbirds. I don't like that there are no walk in clinics except for Naples..that's just insane as it appears the population warrants those and a hospital. Disappointing about the golf carts. It appears the prices are increasing there too. I guess I'll keep it as an option and continue my search.
Thank you for the detailed info, your contributions have helped me a lot.
Have a great day!

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by flgafl

Wow, that's a long season of tourist! Especially snowbirds. I don't like that there are no walk in clinics except for Naples..that's just insane as it appears the population warrants those and a hospital. Disappointing about the golf carts. It appears the prices are increasing there too. I guess I'll keep it as an option and continue my search.
Thank you for the detailed info, your contributions have helped me a lot.
Have a great day!

Just to be clear-there are two walk in clinics on Marco, each owned by one of the two hospital systems. Neither is open 24 hours. I though you were referring to outpatient surgery centers and the like.

[MarcoIsland1980]

1-How old are most the people on the island?

60+ but there are 35-50 yr olds with families (a minority)

2-Is the island inundated with snowbirds in the winter?

Yes. It is bad February and March. I will rent out those months going forward (moved to Marco in early '15).

3-Is it crowded in the summer with families?

Nope. The Marriott and Hilton are moderately half-busy with families, the rest of the island is very quiet. 80%+ of housing units are vacant.

4-Any nightlife, beach bars, dog parks, BKING sidewalks?

Sidewalks are all 'multi-use trails' with bikes, walkers, and joggers sharing them. Different than up north.

5-Medical care?

There is one prominent medical center but major hospital you'll have to go up to Naples.

6-How close is a Home Depot?

If I imply correctly, Lowe's is 15 minutes up 951. Don't know about Home Depots being anywhere local.

7-Is the island well maintained and groomed? (no vehicles on blocks, overgrown grass, maintanance overall)

Excellently well-maintained and groomed. As good or better than anywhere else in America. Great perk of the city.

8-Friendly residents or old grumpy b-tards?

Mostly friendly. February and March, it gets tough. Gotta say those months annoy the hell out of me. So damn crowded everywhere.

So summer is dead?

Mostly, yes. I love summer there. Hotels maybe 1/3-1/2 full as per above.

How long is the season for snowbirds? (my gosh I would have thought they would stop much farther north than Marco)...

Yes it's technically November through April, but I have found that November and December are not bad at all - just moderately busy, January it is quite busy but not unpleasantly so....February 1st hits, and look out. (Can you tell I hate February and March there? Haha.).

Are there many roads under 25 MPH to drive a street legal golf cart around and to the beach?

Not in Marco. Goodland, yes. Marco it just doesn't happen at all.

Is the residents beach very crowded?

Only in February and March. Still, even then, beach is wide enough that you won't be that crowded if you space out a bit from the crowd.

Mostly over 60 years old...what do the younger active people around 40-50 (empty nesters) do at night?

Plenty of bars. Several are open til 2. I'm mid-30s and haven't even been able to hit every bar yet! Great variety of places. Only complaint would be that most live music caters to boomers who want to hear 'Sweet Caroline' type stuff. But there are some decent piano guys and blues/classic rock cover bands (Bistro Soleil, Old Marco Pub, etc).

So it's difficult to get into private doctors on the island?

Yes. There are a couple of doctors, but you'd likely head up to Naples for that.

No outpatient care facilities?

Not really 'outpatient care'. If you need medical attention though, there's at least one prominent clinic. I don't think it's 24/7.

People that are relocating to the area are mostly from what region

Go to the Apollo on a Sunday afternoon in the fall/early winter. NFL ticket. You'll get your answer! Lions, Bears, Eagles fans in spades. Some Browns, some Patriots, some Jets/Giants.

[flgafl]

Thank you all for the excellent detailed information. I have a good picture of the island in my mind. I don't think I'll be able to escape the snowbirds or older folks on any part of the west coast of Florida. We have snowbirds here Jan-March, they annoy all of us here too. Then we have college spring break two weeks, then family spring break from March-April then the end of May hits it's families until end of August. The traffic is killer and some leave their trash on beach and don't care of other people's properties.
When you say the summer months it's fairly empty on the island, do most residents return north?
Thank you again, I'm going to continue my search and not rule this out.
P.S. I'm so tired of hearing the 'Sweet Caroline and Jimmy Bufett"....lol...It's time to change the music.