Florida is popularly referred to as the sunshine state and this is usually for a good reason. This state located at the southern end of the United States boasts of a tropical climate, gorgeous sandy beaches, and diverse wildlife. Cape Coral may not be a big city but it’s definitely a great place to live in. It’s located on the Gulf of Mexico making it the best place for you to have that peaceful beach lifestyle you have been dreaming about. The main highlight of this town is its long canals. Cape coral consists of canals that can go up to 400 miles. As a matter of fact, the canals are a part of life for the residents in this region. Many of them live along these canals and there are boats to move them from one place to another.
There is no doubt cape coral is an ideal place for living. Most people will love this town and more so those who dislike snowy regions. On the other hand, it may not be the perfect living place for everyone.
Pros:
1. Waterfront living. Cape Coral is a city that has more canals than any other in the world. There are plenty of real estate properties with beautiful waterfront views. Therefore, if you are that kind of a person who just likes being close to water; this is the city for you.
2. Affordable living. There is this notion that for you to comfortably live in Cape Coral, you have to be rich or financially stable. However, this is not true because living in this city is actually cheaper than in some other cities in the state. For instance, the sales tax rate is significantly low and goes at 6-7.5%.
3. Many job opportunities. People who have just moved to Cape Coral and don’t want to quit employment have nothing to worry about. This town apparently has a rising net employment outlook. The Cape Coral job market is positively growing and there are fewer unemployment rates.
4. Convenient location. There is no better place to live than Cape Coral. It is conveniently located and close to many great destinations. Many of the Florida attraction is just a few miles away. For instance, there is the Disney world and the everglades which are very close to the city and you only have to drive for about 3 hours.
5. Plenty of things to do. You will never run out of things to do in this city. There are lots of recreational activities that will leave you enchanted the entire year. Think of boating, sunbathing, swimming, canyoning, bird watching and various islands to explore. The list is endless. There are also several parks and museums that you can visit.
6. The ideal city for snowbirds. ‘Snowbirds’ are generally people from the north who come to this region to escape the unbearable cold winters. In fact, there are some people who have their homes in Cape Coral but live there seasonally. They mostly prefer the pleasant climate of this city.
7. A great city but comes with a small-town feel. People prefer to live in small towns because they want a more peaceful and less crowded environment. Cape Coral is a popular city in Florida but is not crowded like the other cities. This means fewer traffic jams, theft, and hassles.
8. It’s a clean city. Those who have lived in Cape Coral attest to it being a clean and well-organized city. Nobody wants to live in a place that consists of dirty streets filled with garbage in every corner. This is the best place to live when it comes to cleanliness.
9. It is safe. Aside from being clean, Cape Coral is safe. There are fewer cases of insecurity reported in this city. Well, if you just want a place that you will feel safe then Cape Coral is a good choice.
10. A home for nature fanatics. The Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve is the ideal destination for nature lovers. The wildlife, walking trails and mangrove forests are the icings on the cake.
Cons:
1. Prone to hurricanes. A hurricane is not the kind of a natural disaster that you would want to encounter. Unfortunately, cape floral experiences hurricanes that can a huge threat and even cause death.
2. The public school system is wanting. If you are moving to this city with your school-going children, then you will have to take them to private schools. The public schools here are overcrowded and only have a few teachers.
3. It may be difficult to navigate the city. The newcomers usually find it extremely hard to learn how to navigate the canals with ease. You are forced to properly learn the layout.
4. It’s hard to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Many people go bankrupt just a few months after moving in Cape Coral. Homes are expensive to own and most especially those that have access to canals.
5. Scorching heat and humidity. The summer months are extremely hot and even sitting under a shade does not help. For this reason, you will need to constantly use an air conditioner all year round.
6. Too many bugs. Bugs in this region are a great nuisance. You have to be super tidy when preparing food otherwise you will be forced to deal with roaches and fruit flies. On top of that, there are bloodthirsty mosquitoes, spider, scorpions, and even snakes.
7. The terrain is too flat. This can be discouraging for those people who have lived in areas with mountains, hills, and valleys.
8. The public transport system is lacking. For a city with many canals, alternatives for land travel are limited. Unless you have your own car, there very few buses that offer public transport.
9. Terrible drivers. This is one place that you have to drive with both your eyes very wide open. The city has amazing roads but the drivers are pretty much careless.
10. There are no real four seasons. The winter season here does consist of snow. It’s only the temperatures that drop.
Many people go bankrupt, is wording that can’t be justified by facts.
#4, I take issue with-
The common qualifier words people use are, most, many, some and few.
A large % of the people who live here have retirement income, and investments, so they won’t be as likely to go bankrupt
Just how much is many? 10%? 5%?
Based on housing vacancies and jobs, I would say a “few” people go bankrupt here. And the ones that do, I would guess brought their debts with them to the sunshine state and then found out how low paying the jobs are in Florida, which is something they should have already known about. At least they won’t freeze to death when their electricity gets shut off.
#2- public school system is wanting.
I take issue with that, too.
Compared to South Carolina, southern Mississippi and southern Alabama there are few private schools here- we do have some Charter schools- THEY are open to the public. if there is a problem with schools, it’s because they spend too much money on ESL teachers, which is a drain on resources that could be used to educate English speaking kids,Overall the schools are very good and we have school choice, so you can send your child to different school, if you don’t like the closest one! try and find that option in other states.
Now if you want to talk about the expensive utilities- go right ahead- water bills of $100-120 and electric bills of $200-250/mo are very common. If you lived here, you would know that.
I am considering in relocating (lived in Miami for 10 years many years back) but the school system I am concerned that on Zillow it states schools in Ft. Myers area 19.7 miles away and ratings are horrible. I am in the metro Raleigh area and in out school that schools are great but the county has these year around schooling phases and we had to request for a traditional school. I had to push my veteran’s status to help out but as a curtesy I was approved. Many liberals and their crap are moving more in this area from Californian, NJ, and NY/Manhattan and they will e starting their crap here too. As far as ESL, look what is happening now with this fake presidency 47 years in office and now wants to solve all of our issues. Sleepy Joe and traitor Obama did not solve immigration problems before and other Republican presidents as well did not solve those issues. Both parties are corrupt. True PATRIOT here who fought two combat tours, a 100 percent service connected disabled veteran, and a “legal” immigrant who came to America at age 8 from South America. By the way, in 3rd grade I had to take ESL. Now, I have a bachelor and master in computer systems.
You are right about the schools in Cape Coral, they are terrible. Most of the other services are also bad because the city is only about money. The city is poorly managed. They continue to build water and sewer services in the surrounding areas that has over 100,000 vacant lots that will never be built on in the foreseeable future and charge the existing homeowners. High wages for the employees and exorbitant retirement benefits are more important than providing services. The city only wants the rich people from out of state or country that are basically retired and only live there about 5 months of the year. Almost 40% of the owners of the housing in Cape Coral are owned by out of state owners. They pay higher taxes, because there are no homeowner’s exemptions for out-of-town owners, and the city doesn’t have to provide many of the normal services that normal cities provide. Property taxes are much higher than surrounding areas. On top of that, the city adds on special fire service and storm water assessments to the tax bills. You have to be stupid to buy a house in Cape Coral. I almost did but found a nice house on a canal in North Fort Myers, and really glad that I did.
There is no question that Cape Coral is a beautiful city with a lot of canals, nice scenery and clean air. But, the local government is very corrupt. The City itself is run by the City’s employees who are not public servants as they should be, but a bunch of demigods who are very rude and disrespectful to the citizens. The City Departments, water, building, code enforcement etc., are a bunch of Gestapo Agents. They even have their own Magistrate Judge who rules in the City’s favor 99.9% of the time. The City Council Members are either ex-city employees or are connected or controlled by city employees. Unfortunately, only 28-30% of the potential voters actually vote because many voters have just given up because of voter restrictions in place and they feel that their votes don’t count. The City Employees Union controls 16-17% of the voting population, and whoever they endorse is a shoe in. So, the City Council is really an arm of the city employees and does whatever the employee’s mandate. Stay away from Cape Coral. Buy and live in Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Naples, or Lee County areas.
Why don’t you decent residents get together and run for public office, hold your own meetings and try to change things. We cant let Nazi demoncrats demigod thieves ruin Florida. Go to the newspaper and complain to them and call the Public Offices and complain. There are more of you than there is of them. Call them out for their corruption. File Complaints. If you see something iillegal make a police report. Find out who the jerk city workers are and call code enforcement and every complaint office possible on them over and over and over again anonymously. Let them know what it feels like to be harrassed by code enforcement or treated like garbage and cheated by them. I guarrantee if they treat you badly while you are nice, they will be rude to code enforcement too and maybe they wont like all of the ridiculous rules and policies in place. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Good Luck . Deus vincit
I can’t think of too many things that are good in Cape Coral, but my biggest peeve is the extremely high water and sewer charges. I’m actually sorry I bought here. You would think that a city that has water, water, water everywhere, water would be cheap. 400 miles of canals and a very big river engulfs the city, but the water bills are one of the highest in the country. They charge you a flat charge and then charge you a high rate for the water you use. For every dollar you spend on water, they charge you $1.66 for it to go down the drain. It’s cheaper to go to a car wash than to wash your own car in your yard. You can’t shut off your water service when you are not here or the house is vacant. The city charges $40.00 a month for water and sewer even though you use o water and o water goes into the sewer. I pay over $300.00 a year for no water or sewer use for the 8 months I am not here. (I’m a snowbird)
Worse than that, the water in Cape Coral is very toxic. It literally eats metal plumbing. I wonder what the water does to your stomach. If you are unfortunate enough to buy a house with copper plumbing, be prepared to spend $25,000 to replace it in the near future.
My wife an I bought a house in Cape Coral in 2008 as a second vacational home. After we retired in 2011 we reside 6 months during dry season and the rest 6 months in Pennsylvania. Cape Coral population in 2008 was a little over 140 000. Now it is over 200 000 and the traffic is terrible. We are moving from this city. Council of Cape Coral is even considering when owners are allowed to put hurricane shutters for extremely stupid reason. Firefiters want it. I am not surprise because I have never seen smart one, neat her a green horse. Unfortunately this city will become worse, not better.
All Residents need to get together and run for City Commissioner positions, School Board positions, Mayor, Tax Collector..all City and County Positions ect… Even get a lower level position at these offices and be a whistle blower. Infiltrate them as they have infiltrated your public system. You all need to hold your own community meetings and organize against them get together at public events, gather parents together at ball games or school events and organize because they are organized in their corruption and need to go. Get Volunteers to help you campaign. Find out the massive rude and crooked corrupt Officials and anyone complicit with corruption and file hundreds of anonymous complaints against their corruption and whatever laws that you see broken, hundreds of police reports against them if you see a code violation, call Code Enforcement on them , Code enforcement has to come regardless and not just 1 person call on them get a ton of people to do the same thing over and over and over so that they can see how ridiculous and corrupt their policies are. Do everything legally if they are corrupt complain, if they are unlawful complain and report. Go to the local paper and news station and complain until you get them out and complain about the voting laws call and call and call bug the ever living mess out of them until they have to listen to you. Ask Ron Desantis for help and Complain to him too. Demand to know where your money is going, demand an audit. There are more of you then there is of them. Dont forget it is YOUR TAX PAYER MONEY THAT PAYS THEIR SALARY and everything that they waste money on and YOU DESERVE BETTER. They need your money and they need to SERVE YOU. Not the other way around.
God Bless You all and Good Luck!