Reasons to retire in Naples FL
68Love the gulf coast, but where to nest?
This year my parents turned 60 and began to look for a retirement home along the Gulf Coast of Florida. For years they had been vacationing on Sanibel island, Fort Myers beach and Cape Coral, but now that they were ready to make the big decision we had some research to do.
Our first choice was actually Fort Myer Beach, where some of our best family vacations had been held. Unfortunately, we found out that just because the area was a great place to enjoy a two or three week vacation, did not mean it was a good place to retire. FMB is really cut into two halves, the northern half is just full of traffic during the winter season, but the southern half really has no entertainment to speak of, unless you want to drive down to Bonita. There is no doubt that property value will be increasing on the beach over the next few years, but my parents were just about priced out of the market already!
Next up was Cape Coral, a nice area just north of FMB and Sanibel island. The Cape, as its known locally, has some really great property values right now, but thats all. Its laid out like a grid, but whoever designed the area forgot to leave room for things like a downtown or entertainment section. Again, just a lack of stuff going on.
Sanibel Island got a quick once-over, but was way expensive, even with its pristine beaches. After one last day checking out Fort Myers Beach, we ended up taking a look at some Naples FL homes. We had been to Naples before, but were surprised at how reasonable home prices were. As it turns out, there were some great deals in Naples Park, which is close to a lot of shopping and entertainment, like the Mercado and the Naples Philharmonic. We also got some good info from a site called bestnaplesflhomes.com.
Mom and Dad arn't ready for retirement yet, but until then they'll be able to rent their house, so they can take advantage of the current downturn, and not have to worry about having an empty property in the meantime. When they're finally ready, we know they'll enjoy the house they buy in the Naples area.
