where to live in Ft Myers area?
 

Anyone live in the Ft Myers, Cape Coral, San Carlos or Lehigh Acres area of Florida? What are your impressions of this region? I may be looking to move to the West Coast of Florida.

We have relatives(thirties and 40's)that live in Cape Coral. They love it. They have a preteen and enjoy the entire area. We love visiting them. It's a great area. There is a newspaper that he sent us put out by the Cape Coral chamber of commerce. Try to search & e-mail them to get one mailed to you. It was very informative. Hope this helps. we can't wait to retire to the area. It's near Sanibel and Captiva and a short distance to Fort Myers. It's a great location.

My parents just moved from NY to Cape Coral, and seem to like it a lot. The area is full of transplants, mainly from the Midwest (so I've heard). I also bought some property down there, because prices are CHEAP. In a few years, they won't be, though. This area is growing like crazy! <BR>

Depends on what you are looking for...expensive or medium or? Busy, or more open, countrylike, or condos or homes or apt?<BR>We moved from SW OH last summer to Lehigh Acres and are happy with our choice of where to live. We rented here last winter, then again this year while we had a house built. We looked in Ft. Myers (have kids there), but couldn't find anything we liked that we could afford. Also did some looking in the Cape Coral area, but I wasn't too impressed with the Cape. Cape Coral is at least twice as large as Ft. Myers (CC is over 100,000)and growing rapidly. Some affordable housing, some is getting very, very expensive. Many waterfront lots/homes available at the right price. Understand there are many restrictions there. Also toll bridges to get into Ft. Myers. Some free ones, but not in the populated areas. Traffic can get pretty heavy at rush hour going back and forth. <BR>Ft. Myers traffic "in season" is very heavy on all of the main streets. Lots of tourists and 'snowbirds.'<BR>Lehigh has very affordable lots, and some lakefront lots a little more expensive, unless you get out of the main part of town like we did, some nice 'developements', 5 golf courses, and many retirees and snowbirds. It is a mix of races, and ages. More middle class, I feel. <BR>I can get into the Mall or my doctor's in less than 45 minutes..usually 30, and to the airport in about 15-20, without much hassle. Takes us about 30 to get to the kids in S. Ft. Myers (that area is growing fast and has some lovely developements in it)and probably 45 to get to the beach if we want to go. <BR>There are several theaters, Barbara B. Mann @ Edison College has some great headliners.<BR>Would be happy to answer questions at the above email address.

Thank you Jersey, Suzanne and JoAnn for your very helpful comments. JoAnn, I will be e-mailing you with more specific questions. I really appreciate the feedback!

Happy to help Fred. We knew a lot about Lehigh before we moved here. Rented a house here last year, and had visited it a couple of times prior to that. Helped us make up our minds.

I have lived in Florida 22 years and in Ft. Myers the last 12 of those years. I am a young professional raising a family of three daughters. Ft. Myers is clearly my choice over Cape Coral and Lehigh. I would only live in Cape Coral if I lived on a canal leading to the river. Lehigh has nothing going for it.

Jeff..you are right..Lehigh doesn't have much going for it BUT, we are retired, so Lehigh is cheaper for us. We like the less traffic and less people. We built a house on a small lake in Lehigh that we couldn't have afforded to build or buy in Ft. Myers, Our daughter bought in S. Ft. Myers in a wonderful neighborhood...but she is like you, young and has an excellent job/salary. The whole thing comes down to what you want, and what you can afford. If I had my "druthers", I'd really like to live in Ft. Myers, but I'm close enough to enjoy all it has to offer with out the price tag. JMHO

Hi Fred, we are moving to Cape Coral in June, and we are building a house on a canal lot. It was one of the few truly affordable water front lots. We checxked out many other places like Sarasota, Venice and Naples. They were wayyyy too pricey for us. <BR>FYI, Judy