Relocating to Naples
 

Trying to find out more about the area. My husband has a job offer, and we've been down once for the weekend.

Commuting times are a concern: I don't think the realtor I'm working with is being realistic. His office is near the Ritz Carlton on Vanderbilt Beach. How far north (his clients are mainly north of Naples, so we don't want to go south) can we go, and stay within a 30-40 minute commute during rush hour, year round? Our housing budget is $600k-$700k.

We have a 1-year-old baby, but are considering private school. My concern is more--are there a lot of families around with young children? Or is it mainly retirees? Ideally, I'd like a mixed-age neighborhood, with mainly year-round residents.

Based on what I've seen, there's really nowhere, within our budget, that we can live in an older, established neighborhood within walking distance of shopping and restaurants. If anyone can tell me otherwise, I would GREATLY appreciate it.

It would be useful to know the part of the country you would be coming from, but you are basically right: there is no place where you can have all three things you list (1)established neihborhood (2) within walking distance of shops and restaurants (3) within your budget of $600-$700k.

The thing that will have to go first is walking to shops. You can do this in Old Naples, but it isn't in your price range. You can get a very nice house in your price range but not within walking distance of anything but a strip mall. This isn't the problem it would be in New England, for example, because there is tons of parking everywhere, all or almost all free. Go to the beach or town to walk, use the car to run errands. I could tell you lots more, but I don't want to be a bore.

Topping for Ann41.

Ann, you can find all your past posts by just clicking on your name, either in a post or at the top of the page -- it's a link that will automatically search for you.

ackislander--thanks for the info. And go ahead and bore me! I need all of the info I can get.

I had tried everything to find this original post, and it simply would not come up for me until this morning.

As a realtor in the South Ft Myers area, I'd have to agree with some of this. Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs and Naples are not really "walk to the store" towns. There are a few locations, but unfortunately, we drive every where.

But yes, you can find a nice house in your price range, especially around Bonita Springs. We have many neighborhoods that have families. It isn't like how it was when we moved here 20 years ago. Many families with kids.

Don't know the situation with your Realtor, but you need to trust them. They are probably telling you the truth, but if you don't trust them, find someone you do trust. That's a lot of money to spend.

Unfortunately our traffic situation is only getting worse. Depends on the day, you could live 10 miles from the office and still not be within 30 minutes. Kind of kidding, but it's getting that way.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me [email protected]
welcome down,
Duane

I believe most of the traffic there is tourist related, although Hwy. 41 is also a nightmare. I'm not sure there is a rush hour relating to people who work in Naples.

The big problem that Florida is having now is that we have a huge retirement base but very little new job growth. Not good unless you work with the elderly.

Hi

We live in Naples and have a 7 month old. There are MANY young families here and more and more all the time. THe median age keeps dropping so don't worry abou that. I know you mentioned private but The schools in Naples are excellent from what I have heard(North Naples, expecially) If you go North into Bonita you will be in the Lee county school disctrict which is not rated as good as Collier (Naples). As far as housing with family neighborhoods N. Naples has a lot to choose from . In your price range there are a few neighborhoods off Orange Blossom Road which is near Goodlette and Vanderbilt - ask you realtor about Monterey, Autumn Woods and Mill Run. Also, Audubon is off 41 further North. On Vanderbilt Beach Rd - further east - away from the beach there are alot of family communities - Wilshire Lakes, the Orchards. Anything too close to the beach will have more retirees. Naples is a great area for kids and there is tons to do. Get a copy of Neopolitan (that's what we're called) family magazine at the library + other places. There are lots of claaes for kids (My Gym, dance, etc) you just have to look for it. Fleischmann Park (near the Mall) has a lot of kids stuff, too.
We moved here 3 years ago and love it - feel free to ask me anything else!

Okay, if it won't bore you, more good stuff about the Naples area. 1.it is genuinely beautiful. Even strip malls in Collier County can be very attractive. 2. the beaches are fantastic and wide open. All beaches are public and you can walk south from Naples Pier and picnic in front of a $25 million mansion. 3. there are tons of good casual places to eat in all price ranges. Ditto shopping. 4. Collier County spends a lot of money on schools, and I think public elementary schools at least are a no brainer, though I am not as knowledgeable about this as many of you. 5. CC has a fantastic public library system, one of the best in the country. 6. Traffic. Everyone whines, but if you are from NY, Boston, Chicago, or Jersey, you will wonder why the fuss. If you study the map, there are good alternate routes to almost everything except the airport, and that has just gotten better, but a wreck on I-75 probably means you miss your plane. 6. The summer can be either a bummer or a pleasure depending on your personal taste. I partly grew up in Florida before air conditioning so a lot of complaints are only whine, but it does get hotand humid. You will not save on utilities: what you spent on heat, you will spend on air conditioning. There are generally big thunderstorms late in the afternoon in the summer, then things clear a bit, but they can be spectacular as far as lightning is concerned -- again either a bug or a feature, depending on your point of view. But then there aren't many tourists in summer, so you can enjoy thingsat your leisure.

In sum, I think it might be a nice place to raise a young family within these limits.

travelingirl and ackislander, you've both made me feel a lot better about the move. We currently live in Richmond, Virginia, and there is a ton of things for children, and we were worried that Naples would be mainly geared toward retirees. I'll check out the neighborhoods you mentioned, and let you know if I have any specific questions. Thanks!

topping for myself, in case anyone has anything to add.

I would only add that you should choose your home location carefully due to very strict zoning by the schools, if schools are important right now. Not all schools in Collier County get high marks. The best elementary schools are Seagate, Pelican Marsh, and the Vineyards. Middle Schools that fill from these are also considered good as well as the high schools. However, this is Florida and generally speaking, we do not compare well nationally with our education rankings. Almost to the bottom I believe....there is HUGE emphasis on state testing here. It's called the FCAT and the schools receive bonus money based on their scores and so they tend to "teach the test" rather than stick to teaching the subjects on the test. (In my opinion...) The weeks leading up to FCAT are very stressful for the kids, there is so much emphasis and planning....some even have "pep rallies" to get them all charged up. We ended up taking our children out of the public system after a few years. Don't get me wrong, for Florida schools, Naples probably has the best, but I know that there are other areas of the country that do a much better job. The school board has also made some really dumb decisions lately, they've taken a lot of flack for "flip-flopping" on policy, schedules, hurricane make-up days, etc...It's not a very well run district at times. Sorry if this got too long. You'll love living here and there is a large, younger population with more families moving in all the time. The trick is to be able to afford it. Our house cost $300K 10years ago, now it would go for almost $1 million and it is in one of the neighborhoods Travelingirl recommended....Good Luck!

The good news is that the highly over-priced surge in sales is coming to an end in Naples (at least temporarily). It is actually being called a switch to a buyer's market here, something we haven't seen in a number of years.

Don't get me wrong, housing isn't cheap, but those wanting to sell are now starting to lower their expectations and their asking prices.