We are leaving ASAP.
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9/13/2006
We moved here 6 years ago. Bought a nice house for $249,900. It was to be our retirement home. We thought we were smart about moving to our retirement area early and settle in before my husband stopped working. Well - in the past 6 years, our homeowner's insurance has gone from $800/yr. to $6750.00/yr. Our Real Estate taxes are $6300/yr. Our Homeowner's Association fee has gone from $50/yr. to $1600+ a year. This was after we were told by the developer upon buying that it would never go up as future buyers would make up any needed increases. So - needless to say, unless you have deep pockets and don't mind spending a small fortune for housing, you better check out this area VERY CAREFULLY before moving here. Middle class people are priced out of this area. Teachers, firefighters, police, etc. cannot afford housing here unless they are willing to live in the undesireable areas. Also, there are far better places in Florida to live than here. It is impossible to get to the beaches here, unlike Clearwater or St. Pete where there are several approaches. So, now our retirement income we planned on is not going to give us the lifestyle we want. We are leaving. I refuse to pay more than $6700/yr for homeowner's insurance just to live in this area. If I want Florida - I'll come here on vacation. Oh, by the way - to prove my point. My $249,900 house is now worth more than $600,000. At least I will get my money back to move elsewhere.
Carol | Fort Myers, FL