Do you like where you are on the west coast of FL?

[Lawson2479]

We are looking to relocate back to FL. I was raised in WPB but looking to move from KY back towards the west coast somewhere between Naples and Tampa. I was wondering who was living down that way and your opinions on the area. We are looking for an area that would be good for a 9 and 11 yo. Not overly populated and good boating (wanting to extend my boating season from 4-5 months to almost year round). I know I'm asking for a lot. We are thinking about Sarasota/Bradenton area but nothing is set in stone. Appreciate any info from anyone living down that way.

 

[Lester]

We love the Tampa area but admittedly just started boating here. We live in the Westchase area in Northwest Hillsborough County and the schools are all "A" rated and are excellent. Being on the outskirts makes us feel as if we're close enough to everything but still far enough out. I have lived in Tampa over 7 years and have been impressed as it is a real city with a real economy that is not just based on tourism as so many areas of Florida are.

Best of all, I am only 20 minutes away from my boat that is stored in a high and dry right by Honeymoon Island. My initial impressions are that I am far enough north of the major boating areas that I can avoid the worst congestion but I am close enough that I can still head down to Egmont Key Park or that area if I want. Hope that helps.

 

[Britboater]

I'm not really qualified to offer advise as I'm not even a citizen of the US, but we were looking for a vacation home on the west/gulf coast, and I plotted a pin in between Tampa and Naples and found Fort Myers.
But it was a little to busy, so we travelled further north and came upon Punta Gorda. It has a real community and a village feel. The US41 cuts right through and most people keep going, but if you just detour off you stumble across a real gem.
We have two teachers across the way and speaking to him the schools are A1.
I've spoken to loads of people who sometime have lived in PG, but had to move for work commitments etc, but would move back at the drop of a hat if they could.

We spend about five months a year in Florida and find PG a good base to go north or south. The airport has recently had a massive investment too.

For boating, Peace river has numerous awards, mainly sailing, but the boating community is very active, and you can get to Cayo Costa, Gasparilla island and the ICW within 20 mins. Our house is in Punta Gorda isles, which is a canal community and has some very impressive homes, but without being too pricey.

 

[Lawson2479]

All info is good and you don't need to be a citizen to be qualified. Where I have been living up in south east KY for the last 25+ years. I made a comment to a patient about being one of them now. He was quick to say " If a cat has kittens in the oven, do you call them biscuits". I thought it was hilarious. I was born and raised in FL.

 

[xoomer]

I retired to Florida a couple of years ago and started boating again after a lot of years off the water. I chose Cape Coral for many reasons after looking at several cities on the east and west coasts of Florida. I ruled out the east coast fairly fast since it appeared to me that the only place to boat was in the Atlantic and the prices for homes were sky-high. Next I looked from Tampa to Naples and really liked Naples and Marco Island but the prices for homes were almost double for the equivalent in Cape Coral. Tampa I ruled out because my wife wanted the warmest place possible and a smaller city so again we looked farther south. (I also looked at Sanibel and Captiva Islands, a few minutes from Cape Coral, but I'm not a millionaire so I had to pass those places up.)

Here is what I really like about Cape Coral. First of all, it's not 11 months of boating a year, it's 12 months! This year I had to turn on the heater one night and that was because my wife complained. You can boat virtually every day of the year. Second, Cape Coral was overbuilt and when the housing market crashed a few years ago the bottom fell out of the real estate market here. I didn't buy at the absolute bottom, but I was fairly close and managed to get a home that anywhere else in the US would cost 2-5 times the price I paid. The great news is that, although the prices have risen in the past two years, there are still bargains available in this area.

As far as boating in this area, Cape Coral has more miles of canals than any other city in the world--over 400 miles of fresh water and gulf access canals. I wound up buying a house on a freshwater canal since it was half the cost of a "gulf access" canal but that's not all bad. I have a dock and lift in my back yard and can take a spin in my boat in the fresh water canal system anytime I want with my LX. In addition, I keep my new SX240 at an "indoor marina" about 12 minutes from the house and can go in salt water in a matter of minutes.

Boating, which you are most interested in, is extremely good in the Cape Coral area. There is the Caloosahatchee river on the east side of Cape Coral, and you can boat north to the restaurants of Ft. Myers, or south to the interesting spots like Picnic Island (an uninhabited island to lie on the beach and take it easy), the barrier islands--Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, and others, or in the gulf. All of these are within thirty minutes to an hour of where I keep my boat.

Now the down side. This isn't an exciting place--lots of retirees, not a lot of great restaurants, professional sports teams, or exciting things to do except enjoy the outdoors. Personally I love it but I could see how others wouldn't feel the same if they wanted more excitement.

 

[Lawson2479]

We are fine with quiet. Where we live now has nothing. No jobs, no culture, no economy except for meth labs. We don't drink but until about about 2 years ago you had to go 50 miles to by alcohol except to a bootlegger. Still no pkg stores, you can buy it by the glass at restaurants that seat 100 or more but there is not many of them and we don't go out often. No pro teams and the only sport is UK basketball. They don't recognize UK football or any other University team. The closest decent city would be Lexington or Knoxville which are 2 hours away. Our excitement is going to the lake. We scuba dive when we can but it is not often anymore because we don't go anywhere and the local lakes have no visibility. We like outdoor, warm weather activities and want to spend more time with the kids doing activities outside not stuck inside because of cold crappy weather.

 

[xoomer]

We are fine with quiet. Where we live now has nothing. No jobs, no culture, no economy except for meth labs. We don't drink but until about about 2 years ago you had to go 50 miles to by alcohol except to a bootlegger. Still no pkg stores, you can buy it by the glass at restaurants that seat 100 or more but there is not many of them and we don't go out often. No pro teams and the only sport is UK basketball. They don't recognize UK football or any other University team. The closest decent city would be Lexington or Knoxville which are 2 hours away. Our excitement is going to the lake. We scuba dive when we can but it is not often anymore because we don't go anywhere and the local lakes have no visibility. We like outdoor, warm weather activities and want to spend more time with the kids doing activities outside not stuck inside because of cold crappy weather.

@Lawson2479 You would probably like it here then, the nickname is "Cape Coma" because it is so dead. However, we are just across the river from Ft. Myers and Ft. Myers Beach where there is a bit more action if you ever decide you want a change of atmosphere. I believe there is some good diving here but I haven't tried it yet. They just sank the USS Mohawk in 2012 about 28 miles off shore and it has become a popular spot for divers: USS Mohawk

The only other thing is the lack of jobs here. This is basically a tourist/retirement area with little or no manufacturing or industries so it is best to have something lined up before coming here if you need to work. One other thing, there are two definite seasons--rainy and dry. From May through October it rains almost every afternoon for 30-45 minutes. You can go boating during these months but normally it's best to go in the mornings and not plan on staying out late in the afternoon. The rest of the year is cooler and with almost no rain--lots of blue skies and beautiful weather. If I were a kid this would be where I would want to grow up.

(There is another similar thread to this one where I'm talking a bit about Cape Coral if you are interested: Considering a house in Florida)