Punta Gorda vs. Cape Coral (quality of life not real estate) (Christmas: leasing, insurance)

[josephp732]

I use Gator Creek Marina also. I am hoping that whom ever purchases the marina will keep it open and continue to provide high quality services. Here is the listing: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/5000...a-FL/13753666/

[Jjwoll]

Originally Posted by escrowdog

I'm here! :-) I won't leave you hanging! We've sold and have been moving from our primary residence in KC the last few months, to another home in KC. Planning another trip to CC/PG in May to get down to business on finding a house. So nothing yet. I do appreciate all the feedback and responses! Looking forward to exploring more around PG and PC this trip.

Anyone recommend a dry dock facility in a convenient location? I may go ahead and store a boat there.

Ah, fun! I'll be checking your progress . We hope to visit PG this summer!

Happy planning

[Pau Hana Daz]

Originally Posted by escrowdog

Anyone recommend a dry dock facility in a convenient location? I may go ahead and store a boat there.

What size boat - Trailer/forklift or Travelift launch?

[escrowdog]

Originally Posted by daFrogMan

Good hearing back from you 'dog.
If you settle on PG, https://floridagatorcreekmarine.com/ has a high and dry. Not real busy, closed on Sundays but will float your boat on Sat. They have a floating dock to tie up to. Close to the harbor. Family run (marina is listed for sale at this time). Good folks. I deal with them for Volvo Penta parts and have been impressed so far.
Cheers!

Great info! Thank you!!

[hpotterfan77]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone in this form own any annual rental properties in Englewood, PG or PC? I'm not ready to move quite yet but in another 9 - 10 months or so, we're becoming FL residents...lol I'm so tired of seeming vacation rentals all over the place but little annual rentals...or at least for what we are looking for.

[FLKitties]

Have you checked Zillow for annual rentals? There are quite a few in the area and it's nice to be able to search based on various criteria along with keywords to help narrow things down.

Also, a number of realtors and mortgage companies have started groups on Facebook where people can post listings/vacancies and also make inquiries about properties coming available. They can be found using the search tool and typing in "[city name] homes" and it should start to auto-populate a variety of choices likes "homes for sale and rent" or "homes for sale" or "homes for rent" - the downside of these is that you get a lot of garbage posts in there and there's generally not one, centralized group that covers everything, but the one with the most members would generally be the best bet due to volume.

[hpotterfan77]

Originally Posted by FLKitties

Have you checked Zillow for annual rentals? There are quite a few in the area and it's nice to be able to search based on various criteria along with keywords to help narrow things down.

Also, a number of realtors and mortgage companies have started groups on Facebook where people can post listings/vacancies and also make inquiries about properties coming available. They can be found using the search tool and typing in "[city name] homes" and it should start to auto-populate a variety of choices likes "homes for sale and rent" or "homes for sale" or "homes for rent" - the downside of these is that you get a lot of garbage posts in there and there's generally not one, centralized group that covers everything, but the one with the most members would generally be the best bet due to volume.

Oh yes, I have the groups set on FB as well as in my favorites to search when ready but I'm always interested in trying to rent from an actual human instead of a management company. It's such a change from CT. Up here, management companies are not the norm other than for corporate condos or apartment buildings. I prefer a more personal connection if you know what I mean. I will try to find a person to rent from if I can and if not, well, I'll go the route that gets me into the house I like the most...lol

[FLKitties]

Originally Posted by hpotterfan77

It's such a change from CT. Up here, management companies are not the norm other than for corporate condos or apartment buildings. I prefer a more personal connection if you know what I mean.

Some of the Zillow rentals are posted by the actual owners but overall it is totally different here as you're finding out. A large number of the privately-owned rentals seem to be owned by people living elsewhere who don't really want to bother with being a out-of-state landlord so they task the usual landlord responsibilities to property management companies. When we came to FL for our house hunting trip several years back our agent told us about her other clients who were building a rental portfolio in the area and scooping up several houses with their million dollar budget. This particular agent also offered property management services and would handle all the responsibilities with leasing the properties out. In our house hunting in a different market we also viewed one listing where the listing agent was the owner of the home and he had several local properties that he owned and rented out. So there are property management groups around here that are run in a more personal way than what one would typically think of when they of think a large property management company (i.e., those in larger cities with possibly thousands of units) but usually it's not going to be a situation where your landlord is just a few doors down from you.

I've also begun to see where people and/or agents working on behalf of their clients will post inquiries on Nextdoor asking for upcoming rentals or stating what they have coming available. Definitely see more of it with seasonal rental inquiries but I've noticed a handful of annual rentals. The problem with that site is that not all areas are as active as another.

[hpotterfan77]

Originally Posted by FLKitties

Some of the Zillow rentals are posted by the actual owners but overall it is totally different here as you're finding out. A large number of the privately-owned rentals seem to be owned by people living elsewhere who don't really want to bother with being a out-of-state landlord so they task the usual landlord responsibilities to property management companies. When we came to FL for our house hunting trip several years back our agent told us about her other clients who were building a rental portfolio in the area and scooping up several houses with their million dollar budget. This particular agent also offered property management services and would handle all the responsibilities with leasing the properties out. In our house hunting in a different market we also viewed one listing where the listing agent was the owner of the home and he had several local properties that he owned and rented out. So there are property management groups around here that are run in a more personal way than what one would typically think of when they of think a large property management company (i.e., those in larger cities with possibly thousands of units) but usually it's not going to be a situation where your landlord is just a few doors down from you.

I've also begun to see where people and/or agents working on behalf of their clients will post inquiries on Nextdoor asking for upcoming rentals or stating what they have coming available. Definitely see more of it with seasonal rental inquiries but I've noticed a handful of annual rentals. The problem with that site is that not all areas are as active as another.

I did check out Nextdoor but it appears you need to input an address or neighborhood to be able to join and log in. Since I am not sure where we'll land yet, I'm not sure I'd be able to scope that out. I definitely want a place I can rent for at least 2 - 3 year while the boys finish school. I still have a little while so when the time comes, I'll be trying to set up as many houses to look at it that I can in a long weekend.

[FLKitties]

Originally Posted by hpotterfan77

Since I am not sure where we'll land yet, I'm not sure I'd be able to scope that out.

Yeah, in order to best utilize Nextdoor without actually living in the neighborhood, you'd need to find an agent who lives in your desired neighborhood or has friends that do as it only covers a very small area of any given town. From what I've seen it's only within a couple of miles in most cases.