Moving from Las Vegas to Ft. Myers... Bad Plan??? (Cape Coral: crime, homes)

[equalrightsforeveryone]

There you go, I think every hellhole should look like that.

[TeamGray]

As a person familiar with both locations - Ft. Myers is the clear choice. You can get a job anywhere depending on what you are willing to settle for.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by TeamGray

As a person familiar with both locations - Ft. Myers is the clear choice. You can get a job anywhere depending on what you are willing to settle for.

That doesn't mean you''ll be able to pay your bills. I guess by "depending on what you are willing to settle for" also means lifestyle.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by kroeran

are you refering to the municipality of Fort Myers specifically, or the region?

That's right. Show this out-of-stater all the good parts of Fort Myers and leave out the bad. Just leave out the part about how broke Fort Myers is and how hard it is to get a job. Leave out how nasty and barren everything is east and north of Fort Myers.

[stahltkd]

Originally Posted by allenk893

That's right. Show this out-of-stater all the good parts of Fort Myers and leave out the bad. Just leave out the part about how broke Fort Myers is and how hard it is to get a job. Leave out how nasty and barren everything is east and north of Fort Myers.

It depends on your field and your level of expectation of living is. Within 3 weeks of moving to SWFL - I put in 3 job applications and went on 1 phone interview and 2 regular interviews and got hired by all 3. (I just moved here in the middle of October)

If people do their homework, this is "paradise" to many people. Where else in the country or pretty much any country in the world can you get real estate as cheap as SWFL? You'll get a lot more bang for the buck here than anywhere else.

Is it really any worse or better than anywhere else when all things are considered? I don't think so. Paradise is an attitude, not materialistic things that people think looks beautiful. You can be in the most beautiful place and be miserable, just as you can be in a worse looking area and be happy.

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by allenk893

That's right. Show this out-of-stater all the good parts of Fort Myers and leave out the bad. Just leave out the part about how broke Fort Myers is and how hard it is to get a job. Leave out how nasty and barren everything is east and north of Fort Myers.

Valid sentiment, but the subject under discussion is whether Fort Myers is a hell hole or not, not the Cape or Lehigh. We were not talking about the state of finances of the Fort Myers Municipal government either, but maybe we should, but this is not an issue if you rent. The job thing has already been beaten to death in this thread, and the FAQ goes into that in detail as well.

Where I am going with this is that you have to think in terms of neighbourhoods, and not generalizations or artificial geographical areas that have a wide range of diversity within them. I won't get into the possibility that what may appear to be a hell hole from a white middle class point of view is actually someone's often happy home, and they may be doing just fine according to their preferences and priorities. I can tell you for a fact that behind the gates of many SWF mansions is a social/psychological hell hole.

Whereas the Cape and Lehigh have a unique general feeling (which I don't personally care for) based on their history, Fort Myers is a real city, with old section, a poorer section, a millionaires row along the river on McGregor, an authentic downtown strip, a beach town area (which is technically a separate municipality), and newer shinier suburbs, and it is where most of the so called culture and evening-out stuff is situated.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by kroeran

Valid sentiment, but the subject under discussion is whether Fort Myers is a hell hole or not,

Well, as many people have written for years on every board on City-Data, it depends on too many things to make one general statement. I just got a rep point (thank you, whoever you are) for a 2007 post. It is so interesting to go back 3 years and read a comment I made about life in Florida. Anyway, in it I used the common expression "it's all relative" since every person moving here has a different lifestyle, different occupation (professional, laborer, retired, self-employed, and so on) different financial portfolio (broke, going broke, comfortable, rich, filthy rich) different health situation (healthy, sick, disabled) different family situation (kids/no kids) and many more I can list.

One example is the huge difference between part-time visitors who bought property here as an investment or for retirement. You live in Canada and visit Fort Myers for a few weeks at a time. I can't name the number of places where I vacationed for a couple of weeks and thought were beautiful, where nobody had a care in the world. Haiti is one of them. (although it's been many years) No, this isn't Haiti, but I'm just trying to make a point. How many people from the north have left their miserable jobs for a couple of weeks to travel to a pretty, tropical place after shoveling their way out of 10 feet of snow and thought they landed in Paradise?

[kroeran]

My side of it is that these generalizations like "Fort Myers is a hell hole" have no meaning. If people need to vent their frustrations, I say knock themselves out - I empathize

If they want to participate in a constructive way, we need to parse out which neighbourhoods we are talking about and are we talking jobs or schools or play, though I can appreciate how frustrating this logical cold approach must be to hear, given your circumstances.

I think the key is to fill in the picture brutally realistically for newcomers, ... rather than be primarily an emotional venting post for frustrated full timers, but maybe that is too ambitious.

I am the first one to point younger folk away from the area, and I have done so with this particular case, but there is the issue of the dad. As always, the facts.

Do the unhappy full-timers really want to get into a pissing match regarding personal credibility?

Can you not argue your points on their own merit without regressing to questioning the right of second homers to speak to these issues?

that being said...I know there is a mountain of pain out there - but chasing people away unnecessarily won't help the situation

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by kroeran

My side of it is that these generalizations like "Fort Myers is a hell hole" have no meaning.

I agree - there are a lot of nice neighborhoods in Fort Myers and it has beautiful beaches nearby. There are many positive things to say about Fort Myers. Again, it depends on what's happening in your life.

[kroeran]

as far as the working side of things, I have been arguing with the spouse that we should move down full time (she is pro-snowbirding for our next phase), which would reduce our living expenses by about 75%, and then figure something out to keep me busy and maybe bring in some money (without relying on that)

after hanging out in this forum awhile, I am starting to see the value of making a living in an ugly location, and I am more open to extending our full time worklife and then snowbird phase indefinitly, and then looking into some sort of post retirement commission job that is internet/phone/email based but operating in Canada. Your postings have been particularly helpful in shaping my views in this regard.

can anyone answer this question- do 100% commission sales contract jobs require a green card in the US?