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Old 12-09-2013, 02:45 PM
 
14 posts, read 87,723 times
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My wife and I (early sixties) are looking to move to the Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda area within the next 2 years.
We currently think we would like to live on a canal front home (with Gulf access) in Port Charlotte or Punta Gorda.
We have questions about the cost of homeowners insurance and/or if flood insurance is needed. Also the pros and cons of each area.
We like to boat/fish so a canal home with a dock would be our first choice but if the home cost/insurance premiums are considerably higher we would opt for a non waterfront home.
If that were the case are there numerous boat landings available in that area that are not constantly crowded and jammed?
We are open to any area between Sarasota and Fort Myers and would appreciate any input from anyone in this area.
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Old 12-09-2013, 02:54 PM
 
Location: sittin happy in the sun :-)
3,645 posts, read 7,147,419 times
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regarding insurance, its a bit of a grey area .

HO maybe someone who lives there can help (like HH or Bog House)

Flood, you only HAVE to have it if you have a mortgage........if you do , steer clear of pre 74 homes and also do a check on the elevation...it can be costly
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Old 12-09-2013, 04:29 PM
 
Location: Sunny FLA
700 posts, read 1,818,146 times
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Good info about pre 74 homes. We are in a 1700+ sq ft home, pool w/cage, 9' above sea level with dock on a PC canal 2 miles from the harbor. Built '83, CBS, Hip roof with hurricane windows and shutters (don't get a discount now as our front door isn't shuttered). Just got our ins for next year. $2200 with 10K cage protection. Don't need flood if we had a mortgage but we still carry it. $300 for flood.
If I remember correctly we are insurred for between $220 and 250.
YMMV
Awesome place though!
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Old 12-09-2013, 05:20 PM
 
Location: Port Charlotte, FL
3,979 posts, read 10,545,164 times
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It would largely depend on your price range for areas of recommendation. Are you looking for direct gulf access or bridges? Do you need sailboat access? Punta Gorda is typically higher priced than Port Charlotte. Are you looking to be in a deed restricted area or non-deed restricted. Punta Gorda Isles is deeded restricted. Most of Port Charlotte is not. If you decide to purchase a home that is not gulf access, then there are boat launches in several different areas or you could keep your boat in a marina.

What age and style of home are you looking for? Insurance rates vary by age of home, size of home, conditions of home, and location of home. You can get discounts the home qualifies for by having a wind mitigation inspection done at the same time as your home inspection. Discounts are available for building features that reduce damage during high wind events. Overall discounts include things such as age of home, style of roof, how close the home is to a body of water, how close to a fire hydrant, how the roof is tied down, if the home has hurricane shutters or impact resistant windows, frame or block home, etc. If the home is in a flood zone, the insurance company will require a flood elevation certificate. That can be obtained by paying a survey company to prepare it. To check Flood Zones go to Flood Insurance | Flood Maps | Flood Risk | FloodSmart and type in the address of the home.

Port Charlotte is an older town with a lot of amenities - Town Center mall, shopping, medical facilities, hospitals, schools, restaurants, library, cultural center and more. Punta Gorda is a smaller town and is very quaint with a lot of downtown restaurants and parks and has been voted one of the prettiest cities.

Here are some links to learn more about the two different cities:
Charlotte County - Charlotte County BCC
City of Punta Gorda - City of Punta Gorda Florida
Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce - Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce || Port Charlotte, Florida
Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce - Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce: Home Page
Charlotte County New Resident Information - http://www.charlottecountychamber.or...nformation.pdf
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Old 12-09-2013, 06:30 PM
 
Location: Punta Gorda Isles
55 posts, read 235,364 times
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Take Port Charlotte off of your list....you'd be way better off buying an older waterfront home in Punta Gorda than a newer waterfront in Port Charlotte. Without sounding snooty (we are just a middle class working family)...Pt. Charlotte is filled with criminals and trashy people compared to Punta Gorda. To narrow down your decision, visit the supermarkets like Winn Dixie and Publix in Port Charlotte and than shoot across to the Publix's in Punta Gorda. The difference in people is night and day. If you have a lot of tattoos on your face and neck and enjoy cooking meth in your shed, than Port Charlotte would be the better choice. Also, before we were able to save for a canal front home in Punta Gorda...we always launched our boat out of Ponce De Leon park in Punta Gorda and loved it. It's a clean, fairly uncrowded ramp (except for snowbird season) and always has places to park. I know that everyone's taste is different...but Port Charlotte is not a nice area and has a lot of crime. The only plus size is that you can get a huge house on the water compared to what you can get in any other area. Our second choice next to Punta Gorda would be Venice which is absolutely beautiful. ABSOLUTELY stay out of Fort Myers and Sarasota........lots of traffic, extremely high per capita crime rates, and the water is ten times as busy with boats.
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Old 12-09-2013, 06:43 PM
 
14 posts, read 87,723 times
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Thanks for the comments, here is more information on what we hope to find.

We would probably lean towards deed restricted but could go either way. We don't need sailboat access but would want gulf access. We would also want a new/newer home built to the most current hurricane codes.

Canal home with a dock is first choice but cost and insurance are important. Our budget allows for 400K MAX but would like to come in well under if possible. Large square footage is not high on our wish list, smaller with upgrades would be our preference and a pool is mandatory.

The right community with amenities (clubhouse...pool...boat launch) could change our thoughts on above.

We are headed down in January for a preliminary search and are looking for suggestions from current residents.
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Old 12-09-2013, 06:57 PM
 
Location: Punta Gorda Isles
55 posts, read 235,364 times
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Stick with Burnt Store Isles (part of the city of Punta Gorda) or Punta Gorda Isles. The entire area is gulf access on a beautiful canal system. We live on a canal approximately 1 mile from the harbor and pay $1,200 a year in homeowners insurance and $500 a year in flood. Our house was built in 2003....something to consider since most of the newer built homes will be significantly lower in both homeowners and flood insurance. The absolute best way to search...in my opinion...is to go to Zillow and zoom in starting the Punta Gorda Isles area. It lets you zoom in and get the street view. I am telling you that you will be sold on the area. It's a perfect mix of deed restrictions to protect your investment with well kept homes and beautiful city maintained canals. We have twice had our seawall wash out after heavy rains and the City has been there the next day to fix it. If we lived in Cape Coral, it would still be washed out because we wouldn't have $5,000 plus to fix it. Just another benefit to the area. If you come down in January, feel free to message me and I will also take you out on the boat throughout the canals if you'd like. The under $400K houses are fading quickly, so if you are serious try not to wait to long and start your search now. We waited in 2004 in building our first house and watched prices jump by almost a 100K while waiting to finally sign a contract and have kicked ourselves ever since. A really nice house around the corner from us on Deborah Drive has been on the market for a while and is at $399K. It is an absolute steal.... 2848 Deborah Dr, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 is For Sale - Zillow

We had actually looked at it when we were buying in 2010 and ended up getting a lower priced home down the street, but always liked this one. I believe it has a boat lift installed as well which is certainly a huge thing to consider if you will be boating.
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Old 12-09-2013, 07:02 PM
 
14 posts, read 87,723 times
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Redfish

Thanks for your comments. One reason for wanting a dock is where we live now it is a nightmare at the launch... especially on weekends. Are there adequate public boat ramps in the area if you are not on the water?

Is Venice real estate more expensive? Taxes?
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Old 12-10-2013, 05:21 AM
 
Location: Port Charlotte
252 posts, read 388,302 times
Reputation: 91
PC and PG are both nice towns with the average age being higher than most other areas.There are a few nice boat launch sites in both towns so one should take into consideration their location when purchasing a home.When we decided to move here the flood insurance and cost of living on a canal caused us to not do so and sold my boat and bought a condo.After living here and getting to know the area better wish I had bought in a canal so I could have had a boat.
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Old 12-10-2013, 06:28 AM
 
Location: Lemon Bay, Englewood, FL
3,179 posts, read 5,999,012 times
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First you need to decide what kind of boating you want to do. If it's a little cruising of the harbor and some fishing, then get a house on a canal so the boat is in the backyard on a lift. If you want to do more anchoring at the beach & socializing at the sandbars, then you'll either want to live closer to Placida/Englewood/Nokomis/Laurel/Osprey/Venice or trailer the boat out there. I see it all the time (and we're examples as well). Folks fall in love with the awesome sandbars lining the gulf and barrier islands, but traveling south through the harbor, then north up to Placida or Englewood is time consuming and burns $100's in fuel ($200-400 depending on type of boat), so you end up doing a lot of trailering to get to the fun spots. The harbor has no sandbars or beaches where people gather.
We are actually considering moving out that way since we spend 85% of our recreational time out there.
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