Naples, The Good, Bad and Ugly? (Tampa, Wildwood: find a job, schools, inspection)

[RMD3819]

TAN is right on target. I read your other posts and will incorporate some of your other questions here.

Naples is a wealthy retirement community run by wealthy retirees. The political machine reflects this. "Fuddy-duddy" as you mentioned in your other post describes Naples-very conservative.

That said, there are plenty of families here. North Naples is a good area as TAN stated. I live in Golden Gate Estates which has many families, few retirees and almost no snowbirds. It is probably too far from the beach for your liking. I'm not qualified to comment on the schools out here. There are a lot of immigrant families here, and that diversity brings good as well as bad to the area.

The beach-you are not going to get the crystal blue Caribbean waters here. The beaches are nice, but parking can be a problem.

Housing-What is your housing budget? To live on the beach in a single family home you will need substantial resources. Also, the further west (closer to the beach) the more expensive the properties AND the quantity of retirees and snowbirds increases dramatically.

Southern hospitality-This is not Naples. I don't find the people rude or inhospitable, but it does not fit that stereotype at all. Everyone here is a transplanted northerner, and the culture reflects that. Anyone here over the age of 35 that graduated high school in Naples is an oddity.

[Audreyonthebeach]

First of all, JMadison, sorry to you if it was rude for me to ask on your post-- just joined yesterday, trying to figure this site out.

TANaples, thank you for your input I've gotten the impression you just don't like Florida altogether? Please correct me if I am wrong. I've just heard so many people come here and complain. I guess I'm looking for other people like me that came to Fl. on purpose... I've also had bad experiences here, but am optimistic I'll find my perfect little spot. Thank you so much for your reply.

LewLew, thank you We'll do some research on Estero and South Fort Myers, but St. John's Co. is north of us, and we're trying to go farther south Thank you Thank you!

RMD3819, wow, thank you for researching my other posts, very thoughtful. Yes, we are beach people! We are directly on it here, so that's awesome, but are not willing to go unless we can find a great place on or very near the beach- walking distance. This is why I'm looking so far in advance, not going anywhere until the end of June. Our budget is pretty good, but we do not intend to buy anywhere right away. We will definitely try before we buy! I don't want to be stuck...

I'm just looking for a laid back pace, but still want to have some stuff to do. Nice people and beauty. It's been tough so far...

Anybody with info on Marco Island? Or is this pretty much the same as Naples? I've got so many places whirling in my head, east and west side... I'm getting dizzy, lol.

Thanks everybody!

[RMD3819]

There are mostly condos directly on the beach. The single family homes on the beach are in Port Royal , a very few in Vanderbilt Beach, and Bay Colony. You will need at least 6 million to get into these neighborhoods.

Look here: John R. Wood - Naples Florida Real Estate - Bonita Springs and SW Florida Real Estate (http://www.johnrwood.com/SearchResults.aspx?&c=&a=naples&z=&ratings=&rld=&w ft=gulf&commids=&isgolfing=&haspool=&hasgarage=&is foreclosure=&searchid=&types=&asmap=&minprice=&max price=&minsqfeet=&maxsqfeet=&t=single&beds=&orderb y=pricedesc - broken link)

The last one is definitely not on the beach and the one above that may not be-if not it would be walking distance.

You could get walking distance in Old Naples but it is full of retirees and snowbirds.

Marco Island-way, way opposite of what you are looking for. It is beautiful and upscale. It is a ghost town in the summer and insane with people and traffic in the winter. Snowbirds and tourists concentrated on one small island.

Beachfront is almost all condos except for an area called Hideaway Beach (again a few million minimum). There would be plenty of homes within walking distance but there are very, very few beach access points. That is always a political hot topic on Marco.

Children are practically illegal on Marco. There is one grade school and a charter middle school. If you don't go to the charter school, or are in high school, you will be bussed to Manatee Middle and Lely High. These schools are about 10 and 15 miles off Marco in Naples. Both schools have HUGE immigrant populations and poor reputations. Lely High got beat up in the paper recently for having a dismal graduation rate. Lely is very diverse-kids from 37 countries. Marco wants their own high school, but there are only about 100 kids that age-not enough to support one.

Marco residents renew push for high school on the island : Education : Naples Daily News

Three Collier schools called ‘dropout factories’ : Education : Naples Daily News

[Kuota]

Try Craig's list SW Florida. There are some homes available on Marco in addition to other areas in SW Florida.

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Audreyonthebeach

First of all, JMadison, sorry to you if it was rude for me to ask on your post-- just joined yesterday, trying to figure this site out.

TANaples, thank you for your input I've gotten the impression you just don't like Florida altogether? Please correct me if I am wrong. I've just heard so many people come here and complain. I guess I'm looking for other people like me that came to Fl. on purpose... I've also had bad experiences here, but am optimistic I'll find my perfect little spot. Thank you so much for your reply.

LewLew, thank you We'll do some research on Estero and South Fort Myers, but St. John's Co. is north of us, and we're trying to go farther south Thank you Thank you!

RMD3819, wow, thank you for researching my other posts, very thoughtful. Yes, we are beach people! We are directly on it here, so that's awesome, but are not willing to go unless we can find a great place on or very near the beach- walking distance. This is why I'm looking so far in advance, not going anywhere until the end of June. Our budget is pretty good, but we do not intend to buy anywhere right away. We will definitely try before we buy! I don't want to be stuck...

I'm just looking for a laid back pace, but still want to have some stuff to do. Nice people and beauty. It's been tough so far...

Anybody with info on Marco Island? Or is this pretty much the same as Naples? I've got so many places whirling in my head, east and west side... I'm getting dizzy, lol.

Thanks everybody!

but I have also said that if you want to move to Florida, there are probably much better places than Naples if you are young and have a family.

I have only lived in one other place in Florida and that was 30 years ago, but even today in driving through Gainesville (more built up), you would be better off if you are young living there, though there is no beach. Even when I lived there a long time ago, I saw young, working families. It is not a tourist, snowbird, retiree spot like Naples. That is just my opinion on particular places I have lived. It has nothing to do with my dislike of the Florida weather.

[jlawr]

Hello again, Im sure people have asked this somewhere thru these forums, but Ill take a shot and ask: Were going to be looking at aprox 15 houses in Golden Gate 1st week of April....Now this is purely geographical. Is there an area of this community that tends to have flood problems? If any? I am going to put a call in to fema tomorrow & ask on specific addresses, but I thought Id check here.

[janp]

Regarding flooding problems, go to link above and there is a place to enter address of property.

Floodsmart.gov: Your premier resource for flood insurance information

[jlawr]

I tried that site, but nothing comes up after the address entry except ads. Not sure why it doesnt bring up any info.

[jlawr]

Well I did receive a call from the Fema director in Naples. I was reading his site correctly. It seems that 14 out of the 15 properties were coming to look at are in a zone D, which he said is undetermined but will prob be considered a flood zone within 2yrs. I asked if the zones rated somehow, he said no. He even said it doesnt mean it will flood, just that flood ins is required. So I guess one takes their chances.
Is anyone on the forums here residing in Golden Gate??

[RMD3819]

Originally Posted by jlawr

Well I did receive a call from the Fema director in Naples. I was reading his site correctly. It seems that 14 out of the 15 properties were coming to look at are in a zone D, which he said is undetermined but will prob be considered a flood zone within 2yrs. I asked if the zones rated somehow, he said no. He even said it doesnt mean it will flood, just that flood ins is required. So I guess one takes their chances.
Is anyone on the forums here residing in Golden Gate??

I live in the Estates. I am not an expert on this but I will give you my opinion.

Yes, you take your chances to some extent. If you can, I would ask the neighbors. I live on the closed end of a dead end street. The neighbor on one side driveway floods before me, then my driveway, but the neighbor on the other side has NEVER flooded-and they are directly on a canal.

An actual home flooding is very, very rare. They are required to have a certain elevation. Often this requires massive amount of fill dirt. The bigger problem may be your driveway, or worse, your access roads flooding. There are many dead end streets and few access points which leaves you with little or no option.

Do I worry about this? Absolutely not! Flooding is rare. It happens with a hurricane, major tropical storm, or days and days of heavy rain. These are all uncommon events.