I am looking at buying a vacation home in Cape Coral. I am amazed at the prices for water front properties, ie in the canals. You can buy a pretty much brand new home that is anywhere from 1500 to 2000 sq ft for 150k easily. I am talking all the bells and whistles as well.

I have learned in life that anything that is too good to be true simply isnt true! Is there something wrong with this area?

Thanks alot.

 

Dere's gators in dem canals, for one thing.

But seriously, Florida is one of the areas worst hit by the mortgage crisis. Prices have declined substantially and the market is depressed. That means you won't get your money back on your property if you have to sell anytime soon, and you might even seen the value of your $150k property decline even further. And that's not to mention, that given such a market, if you need a mortgage a lender is going to be very reluctant to lend.
In many areas there are numerous defaulted homes. This leads to all sorts of problems. Some neighborhoods, once occupied by owners, are now dominated by renters. They care less about how the properties are kept. Renters, being more transient, also may bring some other problems with them. There are defaulted homes even in developments in which new construction is taking place. All these things add up to making neighborhoods less desireable and they work to keep prices depressed.

So, if you can buy a bargain and tough it out for a couple of years, you'll do well.
Also keep in mind that Florida property taxes are not cheap. Florida doesn't have an income tax. So, more of the tax burden is shifted onto property owners.

 

Crack dealers...

 

^^helpful tks

 

silly question but it is important...what about bugs? it looks to me like its basically part of the ever glades and they filled it in for housing! is it posible to sit in your yard and not get eaten alive?

also on these canals can u get thru them to reach the Gulf....if so how long? how long tio gulf and how long till sound.

Tks alot.

 

Cape Coral is cheap. It is the less desired area around the area. I personally dont like cape coral as much as fort myers. I grew up in Fort Myers on Mcgregor blvd. But you get what you paid for.

 

if you came from the north would u own a vacation home there considering the cost? we would buy a boat.

Sure fort meers may be nicer but is it double the cost?

 

The more North you go, the cheaper it is to buy property. I live in Naples and love it here. I have family in the Cape and I am always telling them to move to Naples. To each there own.

 

I do a lot of work down here in Cape Coral/Ft Myers/Naples. And I can tell you that Ft Myers has really exploded this past year. We are doing tons of new construction jobs down here. On the other hand Cape Coral is kind of not so great. Naples is good to but about 2x-3x more expensive than living in Cape Coral.

 

but isnt naples 4 times the price.

 

Bugs and 'skeeters not much of a problem really. They must have sprayed enough pesticide and drained enough swamps back in the 50's and 60's that, for the most part, bugs are less thick than they are in some places in the Northeast.

The worst problem is the Love Bugs. When they swarm one or two times a year, watch out! These black bugs will splatter all over your car, especially the front of an FD. And they're damn hard to get off. Don't let 'em sit. Wipe them off each day or else they really stick.

 

Rotarybuddha...are you in the construction field? I am a local architect in Atlanta area. Things are really slow up here right now due to this messy economy, but glad things are still moving down south.

 

Yeah we had a record profit this year. I heard about Atlanta getting slow, I know some people in construction up their. It got so bad they started working in Texas instead.

 

I grew up in Fort Myers and live there now, so I know the area very well. I also am licensed under a Real Estate brokerage firm so if you're seriously interested in buying a property down here, I have a lot of resources at my disposal and could help you get any information you need. I don't mean to pitch myself here in public (I actually do commercial real estate for a living, not residential) but I'd love to help you out if you have any questions about the area or the local market here. E-mail me if you'd like to at BKinsey@kinseysells.com