Hey both Coasts are nice, I really think you would be better off taking a couple of long weekend trips to look around. That's what we are doing. The DING specials on Southwest have great last minute fares. We are looking at the Sarasota to Cape Coral Stretch.

PS: You would be surprised at how much the prices have dropped in the past year.

They will drop another 24% this year and 6-8% next year. Wait until the beginning of 2010 and any home you see down there this month will have dropped by a third.

I moved from the East coast to the West.

THe boating on the West coast is nicer. More small islands, better sea conditions, less performance boating however.
People are different, from coast to coast. YOu can buy or rent my house. :). I plan to go to Ft. Myers Beach/Cape Coral area. I'm in the hunt for something also.

Man, if both of you are right, I know where I'll be moving in two years!

We just spent two weeks in Florida. Went down the east coast, all the way to key west, then back up the west. We loved the keys, but man, it's a long way down there and not the easiest place to get in and out of. Figure in the prices for everything we saw, and it isn't possible for us to consider it. We liked the west coast more than the east, and I liked the area south of Tampa better just based on the winter weather. We're just int he earliest stages of thinking about a winter home down there, figure if the numbers worked out, we would buy a place and rent it out for a while first. If it really goes that cheap, I'd be tempted to move down there find enough work to get by till retirement time!:drink:

I respectfully disagree on E. Coast Fl Waterfront.

I show it every day and the nice properties ARE selling. I showed a point lot TEAR DOWN today and there were 3 buyers looking at the same time. :cool:

Deep water/ ocean access is steady, swampy canal/lake water out west maybe will get cheaper....

Prices have seemed to have declined to 2003-04 levels for now....so if you are a buyer you are starting back when things were still reasonable before the total insanity started.

I have a house in Englewood Fla. Sarosota County. Englewood Isles. cannal to intercoastal. 3 bed room, pool,two car garage. . 2 free county boat ramps within 2 miles of house. for sale right in your price range asking
199K. Was going to spend winters there but plans have changed. If you like more info e-mail at
[email protected]. and I will sent you a link for pictures of house.

The boating is a little (lots) easier on the West side. We were staying at the Mariott overlooking Palm Beach inlet, and some pretty large rigs getting tossed about. I love the East coast for the lively action, great wave watching, and better business climate for me. But the West coast has the better beaches, loved that sand at Ft. Myers beach. But getting off that beach and heading North? Took me an hour Tuesday morning. The area between Ft. Myers beach and Bonita Springs made me wishing I had a helicopter just to get away from the long single line of traffic.

One day I'll have to make the decision, and in retirement, south is better. Compared to 2-3 years ago, the prices I saw last week were almost free by comparison.

yes
the west coast is nice for visiting grandparents and going to bed by 8pm

Comparison story between East and West.......

My uncle (53, from north shore Mass.) went to visit friends in Naples and Punta Gorda. Both guys have been lifelong buddies and retired wealthy. Naples guy spent 2mm on a house, bought a 55 Searay lives a country club lifestyle. Punta Gorda guy bought a house in an older community on the water (older as in neighbors are all 80 and houses are 25 years old). He bought a Grady White, has a 40 minute ride to get to good water. Both guys lived good up north, fast cars, new Harleys every year yet both got to FL and became "old men."

My uncle lived in Lauderdale in the 80's and loved it but it almost killed him in the process. Likes the east coast, came into town and we went to a couple strip clubs, did a poker run and had a blast.

He couldn't believe the difference between the two coasts and what it had done to his buddies in a matter of a couple years! He joked that one of them will have the Ted Knight yachting uniform (from Caddyshack) and will be driving a white walled Caddy by the next time he comes down!