Cape Coral/Fort Myers Move (Naples, Estero: real estate, for rent, high crime)

[eeberlien]

My wife and I want to move to Florida. We are in our 40's, we have three young children and one 20 year old son that may or may not come with us. I am retired from the U.S Air Force. My skill set includes fixing aircraft, working on commuter trains, and some administrative stuff. I have heard a mixed bag of stuff about living in this area. I've read it's a good place to raise a family, the beaches are awesome, and the cost of living is dirt cheap. At the same time I've also read that the job situation is horrible, it's incredibly hot in the summer. So, we are looking to relocate to Florida in about 9 months, Cape Coral/Fort Meyers is one of the locations on our "potential places" list. Am I wasting my time looking into this area because of the unemployment issue? Or should I keep it on my list?

[Kim in FL]

I 'll give one piece of advice...do not come here without having a job already lined up unless you have cash to buy a home and money to live on. In fact, I wouldn't buy, I'd rent the first couple years so you can get a feel for the place.

Personally, I prefer Fort Myers over Cape Coral; I grew up on CC and spent more than enough time there. You have to go to Fort Myers for any decent shopping anyway, so why not just live there?


Oh, and Cape Coral and Fort Myers do NOT have awesome beaches.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by eeberlien

My wife and I want to move to Florida. We are in our 40's, we have three young children and one 20 year old son that may or may not come with us. I am retired from the U.S Air Force. My skill set includes fixing aircraft, working on commuter trains, and some administrative stuff. I have heard a mixed bag of stuff about living in this area. I've read it's a good place to raise a family, the beaches are awesome, and the cost of living is dirt cheap. At the same time I've also read that the job situation is horrible, it's incredibly hot in the summer. So, we are looking to relocate to Florida in about 9 months, Cape Coral/Fort Meyers is one of the locations on our "potential places" list. Am I wasting my time looking into this area because of the unemployment issue? Or should I keep it on my list?

I can guarantee you won't find a job working on commuter trains. There aren't any here. Housing and taxes are cheap. There are nice beaches nearby.
Shelling and Beaches on Sanibel Island
https://www.google.com/search?q=fort...d=0CJgBENUCKAU
I agree to line up a job first and rent first if you are not familiar with the area.

[hiknapster]

Sounds like the area isn't for you. It's mostly service jobs. Think: "You want fries with that?" Further, there is busing in Lee County which means no matter where you live, your kid could be going to school in another area. Fort Myers and Cape Coral do not have good beaches. Cape Coral doesn't have much of a beach to speak of as it is. And lately, the water is disgusting thanks to the Lake O releases. Even beautiful areas like Sanibel are now affected.

[crystaljdecker]

I'm a native of SW Florida. I was born in Naples and Sanibel and Captiva are approx. 30 minutes from Cape Coral and Fort Myers. I've traveled all over the world and can personally say that if you want white sand beaches, Captiva and Sanibel are it. Yes, we have "red tide" and it effects the beaches during the year, but people continually travel from all over the world to visit. You should definitely have a job lined up. Definitely come down for the weekend and see for yourself. Real Estate has improved 20% from last year and our economy is on the rise.

[meekocat]

I just want to throw out there that my husband and I moved here from Denver after selling our house in June. That gave us enough money to pre-pay 6 months of rent which is more than enough time to a) find a job and b) decide if CC is the place we want to live. My husband got a job with 10 days of moving here and I found one networking with a hair stylist within 5 weeks. I'm in IT and there's not a lot of technology jobs here. My current job is not a really good fit for my skills so I continue to look for one that is while working in north FM. I'm only 20 minutes from work, I have great benefits. Pay is 10k lower than Denver, I can't really comment on the cost of living being cheaper when you take the cost of water and electricity into consideration which is 3 - 4 times more than Denver was even in the winter when the furnace is on all the time. There may be no state taxes but it looks like the politicians have all found a way to tax you on everything else and that makes up for it. Also the pay is a lot lower because companies think it's "cheap" to live here. I don't call $1300 a month for rent "cheap".

[Sweetbottoms]

Rent is a sticker shock to most, go even further south where I am in naples and in some places rent can double. Don't move without a job , even tho its picked up some its still mostly hospitality type jobs and they're seasonal. We don't have commuter trains or any major transportation other than just some buses to speak of. Summers are very hot and very long. We had a heat index of 98 yesterday and most years expect to either have A/c till Christmas or even on all 12 months. Ft. Myers and Cape Coral have a lot of less than desirable places and more crime than most places in SWFL. Cape Coral doesn't have a beach so much to speak of and it's pretty slow out there (it's dubbed Cape Coma). Many l,aces in . Ft. Myers aren't as close to the beach as other places . IMO if you are dead set on here then go with Estero. Family friendly, closer to Naples without the sticker shock and closer to beaches. Also it will give you more work options. It's wedged between Ft. Myers and Naples.

[nhkev]

Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms

Rent is a sticker shock to most, go even further south where I am in naples and in some places rent can double. Don't move without a job , even tho its picked up some its still mostly hospitality type jobs and they're seasonal. We don't have commuter trains or any major transportation other than just some buses to speak of. Summers are very hot and very long. We had a heat index of 98 yesterday and most years expect to either have A/c till Christmas or even on all 12 months. Ft. Myers and Cape Coral have a lot of less than desirable places and more crime than most places in SWFL. Cape Coral doesn't have a beach so much to speak of and it's pretty slow out there (it's dubbed Cape Coma). Many l,aces in . Ft. Myers aren't as close to the beach as other places . IMO if you are dead set on here then go with Estero. Family friendly, closer to Naples without the sticker shock and closer to beaches. Also it will give you more work options. It's wedged between Ft. Myers and Naples.

just to correct you when you say cape coral has more crime than most places is completely false. It is the 2nd safest city in florida and it's crime is well below the national average
ft myers is double the national average and usually shows up on the countries top 100 high crime cities but you should separate the two

[Sweetbottoms]

I ment ft. Myers ... Forgot its well known by locals, not northerns

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by meekocat

I just want to throw out there that my husband and I moved here from Denver after selling our house in June. That gave us enough money to pre-pay 6 months of rent which is more than enough time to a) find a job and b) decide if CC is the place we want to live. My husband got a job with 10 days of moving here and I found one networking with a hair stylist within 5 weeks. I'm in IT and there's not a lot of technology jobs here. My current job is not a really good fit for my skills so I continue to look for one that is while working in north FM. I'm only 20 minutes from work, I have great benefits. Pay is 10k lower than Denver, I can't really comment on the cost of living being cheaper when you take the cost of water and electricity into consideration which is 3 - 4 times more than Denver was even in the winter when the furnace is on all the time. There may be no state taxes but it looks like the politicians have all found a way to tax you on everything else and that makes up for it. Also the pay is a lot lower because companies think it's "cheap" to live here. I don't call $1300 a month for rent "cheap".

Colorado is 32nd in tax burden and Florida is 27th. That's almost a lateral move.

I moved from the northeast to Florida and because of the cost of living vs. wages my lot in life did not improve. I now live in an area with a far, far better ratio and one of the best tax burdens in the country.

State and Local Tax Burdens: All States, One Year, 1977 - 2010 | Tax Foundation

Originally Posted by nhkev

just to correct you when you say cape coral has more crime than most places is completely false. It is the 2nd safest city in florida and it's crime is well below the national average
ft myers is double the national average and usually shows up on the countries top 100 high crime cities but you should separate the two

Just to reiterate, Cape Coral has the second best crime stats in Florida, per capita.

And yes, Fort Myers has some of the worst crime, almost on par with Chicago and about double that of Boston and NYC. But hey, its far better than Detroit which accounts for its appeal among Midwesterners.