Info on buying in Cape Coral
 

We currently live at LOTO and got down here early last Saturday morning and are down here the whole month of February looking to buy a home.
We have a REA already and have spent the last few days driving around and looking at houses.
I think we've narrowed the area down to East of Chiquita and South of Cape Coral Pkwy, trying to get direct access with no locks or bridges.
We've got three good prospects and was just wanting to know if there's any gotcha we should be worried about;

know about the drywall
the owls
locks and bridges
we're going to get a home inspection
taxes and homeowners insurance
any unpaid assessments

What am I missing, would appreciate any help that would help us stay out of trouble.

We're looking to keep our house at LOTO and go back only for the Summer and make CC our permanent home staying here 8 months out of the year.

Thanks for any suggestions or help, Jim

Owls?

We just purcahsed a new home on the water in Cape Coral (we closed March 1st). And this is what we learned. Look for a house in CC11,CC12, CC14 (Any Realitor will know this. I would look around Delprado and Country Club. House house we just purchased is off of Everest Ave.

Owls are not that big of deal, just see if they have started making holes, if not then they are not there. Get an inspection, and try to get a house 10ft above sea level that way your insurance will be lower.

Any questions let me know.
Don
239-699-0716

I had a home there and loved it.

Thanks for the responces guys, Don, I might give you a shout out over the weekend to talk about the area, definitely looking of a house with direct access and less than 30 minutes out.


Any other info that anyone might have, thanks, Jim

I just bought my house. Direct access. On plane 25 mins from dock. Just north of midpoint bridge. Southern exposure. Love every minute of it. Also same weekend added a formula 272 sr1. Love the boat more than the house I think. Haha. My whole goal when looking was east of delprado as the run from midpoint to cape coral pkwy is only a few minutes and some better deals on newer homes around mid point. Good luck on your search. If I can be of any help let me know as I have lived and Boated in the area for a year and a half now.

Drywall?

Drywall is the Chinese drywall. Don't know all the specifics of it but it's bad news. Just something to check on before purchase.

need to watch out for velocity wind zone

We live in SW Cape and love it, near Tarpon Point.

Mmm Rum Runners..... cant wait to be down there in April. Nice area.

We had to go home a little early to LOTO, the wife gall bladder went on the fritz, but we're still buying down in your neighborhood, we've been looking at house all around tarpon Point, great location.

Maybe beers soon.

We rented a house for the whole month of Feb. to make sure what area we wanted to buy in and have decided to buy in CC somewhere South of Cape Coral Pkwy and between Cape Harbour (Rumrunners) and Tarpon Point, I don't think we can go wrong in that area.

Looking to buy in the next few weeks or month.

The area is amazing for boating. I live in Jersey and we usually tow down my 26PC for the week and do some island hopping. Cabbage Key... North Captiva... Lemon Bay... Stump Pass etc. Im actually getting married at South Seas at the end of April so we are all towing our boats down. So if you see a 26PC, 312Fastech and a 271SR1 cruising around the area you will know who it is lol.

We usually stay by Boca Grande, this time at Captiva. Any spots I havent listed that I should check out in the Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area?

Congrats on the marriage thing, you'll love getting married down their.
Since you'll be in Captiva, there's a marina/bar called Tween Waters, check it out, it's usually pretty fun, if we get down that area at the end of April I'll PM you and buy you and the new Wife a few cocktails.
Be safe and have fun, Jim (aka joey)

Very smart on....
 

on your part. I loved the Cape when I lived there.
I ended up there after spending a week in rental on a canal.
Was hilarious that I ended up there too as I only picked that town after finding that rental on e-bay when I was still living in Ohio.

Great time to buy too.

We've heard nothing but great things about the area, only that it's better to stay in the SW or SE part of town, that works for us anyway because I only want direct access to the river with (no locks/no bridges) so that kind of narrows it down a bit.
Definitely on the intercoastal and under 30 minutes to open water.
Can't wait to boat in the Winter, I've been shoveling snow during the Winter my whole life (except on vacation) and I'm about through with that here real soon.

just got off the water went to lunch at lazy flamago the ruff life

You're killing "ME", I'll down that way soon joining you, save some beer for me.

That's what I did.
 

Spent the first 45 yrs of my life in Ohio and boating on Lake Erie. Good seasons you got 6 - 9 mnths in. The other 99% of the time you got 3!
Be prepared though cuz once you can boat all yr, you see how much gas really costs and you start breaking things you never thought possible and spend way more time working on the boat.
A friend was down from Ohio for 3 mnths and put 50 hrs on his boat.
I've had 50 hr SEASONS up north :helmet:
Also agree on the areas in the Cape. I was in SW and loved it.
You'll also love the idea of only being a couple hrs from the Key's too.

Yea, I'm already figuring on doubling my boat fuel budget, on a normally boating season I've been going through 1K gal of fuel, about $4,000 bucks, but what i'm really looking forward to is boating to KW for the weekend.
I've got to get some more ocean time under my belt and go with someone that I trust whose do it before.
The Ft. Myers PBC looks like there's a bunch of nice guys in it, I know they head down that way occasionally.

There is another run comin up . The FMO runs will give you a great intro to the waters around here.
SW Cape Coral is the place to be.

This is for all the guys who used to boat in fresh water now in salt . I'm super fussy about every detail on my boat and heard the salt in that area is the worst , what have you've found ?


Larry

Thanks for the info, I've been checking their web-site out occasionally.

I'm pretty picky myself Larry and I've boated my whole life in fresh water (had six diff boats), but I'm going to be finding out soon, I just don't know if I want to take my Formula down with us or sell it up here at LOTO and get something different in Florida, I'll just hate to see it get all ate up from the salt, but I think it's pretty much going to do it to any type of boat.

As long as you rinse/ flush the engines and wash the boat after each use you will be fine. I have ran my motion for the last 4 years in salt and it looks no different than when I use to live in Minnesota.

Don,

I'll be giving you a call soon (I've got your #) to hopefully get a little more CC info, we had to come home early when we were down in CC in February, we got home and three days later the wife had her gall bladder taken out.

Can't wait to get down and get our boat in the water, whatever it is.

Not as bad as every one thinks.
 

I was a Great Lakes boater before moving down here. I've had my Sonic to the Keys twice so far and left it in the water for a week each time and saw no signs of corrosion when pulling it out.
I even use a steel trailer ; ) As already said, the key is to flush everything when you pull it out.
Although my trailer sat down there both times, the entire week w/o being flushed.
About the only thing I see is the salt residue (on hull and my O/B cowlings) from the spray once it evaporates.
As long as all of your hardware is stainless your fine.
Most guys only know what they hear.
Long term, yep it's nasty. Short term it's been ZERO issue for me.

Um I am in Ocala and have been down for the last three months trying to find a house..I skipped cc because I got scared away..WHERE ARE YOU KEEPING YOUR TRAILERS???I have heard horror stories about cc and boat trailers..There is even videos on youtube and even a show on TRU tv with the cc code enforcement.I have been looking in Port Charlotte because of this..But I know for a fact that the deals on houses are much better in cc..You all seem happy.Now I'm torn.I just figured that if their is so much trouble keeping your trailer on your property in a world record holding homes with canals than something is wrong.Can some one shed some light for me?I am moving down with one boat and my Drag car.The car will always be garaged but It needs to be trailered.this is the reason I am in Ocala I have two ares here but the fuel trailering my boats and cars south is killing me so we agreed to move south and close to the water.Not on it.Am i missing something?

china drywall was used on 90% of the houses in the area from 2003 though 2006...Look under the sinks at the water valves the copper will turn black.if it is take a swtich plate off the wall and look at the ground wire.if its black RUN!!!!...Take a flash light to the mirror or look real close they turn black(little spots) and the lighting fixtures will have minute surface rust on them..oh the air conditioning will not be working.The sulfur eats the a coils and any thing copper.Nasty stuff sick kids dogs with seizures.And the worst part is the last house I made a bid on the realtor would not disclose the fact that it had china drywall.I talked to my attorney and he said they are getting away with as is..BE CAREFUL

Boats/trailers in the Cape...

I heard the same stories before moving there. I took the risk and bought.
Although I was only there a short time, I had ZERO issues. The entire time there I had a 24' Sonic AND a 17' Hydrostream in my back yard. The yard was fenced but just w/link so you could clearly see both boats from our street and the one behind us.
Many of my neighbors had same.
A buddy, a mile north of me had 2 and 3 boats in his the entire (I think 2 yrs) time he lived there as did his neighbors. He even kept his in the side yard.
We were both in the S.W. so may have been specific to there but seemed like every other house had at least one. Drive around and look.
I'd think as bad as the Cape got hit in the crash, they'd be a bit lenient on people still living there and paying their taxes.
I'd think worst case you build a privacy fence and tell them to piss off.

If you put a 6ft fence around your property you will not have any issues. I have gates on both side of my house and have room for 3 boats that are behind the fence. been in this house for 7 years and no issues ever. Also I have had one of the boats in the driveway (working on it) for up to 10 days and new had an issue,

Don I can't believe I saw the motion for sale. Whats up with that? I know you are not slowing down(:

Looking for something newer and faster...... Not in a big hurry to sell. So if it does not sell I will wait for the warranties to run out and then start building these motors up.

Thnaks for your help Don, I think we'll be bringing the Formula down sometime of the end of Summer.