Buying a lake community home in the winter

[Couple of Lakers]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

I have a different experience. The SF house in Florida I had built in 2007 was 2570 Sq Ft in an HOA with 1890 Homes. The monthly condo fee was $220 and included cable, lawn mowing, fertilizing, and irrigation maintenance. You couldn't buy those services yourself for that. The irrigation was fed by ponds in the community so irrigation water was not something that was on my water bill. It had a resort style pool and the community was gated. Insurance was about 1,800. I closed on the current SW Florida house in May, 2021. It is a little larger and the insurance is about $2,200. Recently, 11 insurance companies announced they are returning or entering the Florida market so that may help create competition and hold down price increases. I am fortunate to be able to summer in Gilford and winter in Florida. After over 50 years spending some or all of every summer on Winnipesaukee it would be a tough decision if I had to pick one place to be year round. I hope it doesn't come to that but who knows what life will throw at you.

That sounds like a wonderful place! Can we ask where it is? We were looking at the Englewood and Punta Gorda area. From what we have seen it's more old school Florida with an average age about us and pretty laid back. We have friends that have moved there and they love it.

[Biggd]

Originally Posted by Couple of Lakers

That sounds like a wonderful place! Can we ask where it is? We were looking at the Englewood and Punta Gorda area. From what we have seen it's more old school Florida with an average age about us and pretty laid back. We have friends that have moved there and they love it.

I had some friends that had a home in Punta Gorda, they moved because they said the residents were too old for their lifestyle, they are in their 50's.

[TiltonBB]

Originally Posted by Couple of Lakers

That sounds like a wonderful place! Can we ask where it is? We were looking at the Englewood and Punta Gorda area. From what we have seen it's more old school Florida with an average age about us and pretty laid back. We have friends that have moved there and they love it.

The old neighborhood (2007 to 2020) was Bella Terra in Estero. It was nice and my house was about 1 1/2 miles from the front gate. It was mostly younger working families with young children so not a great match for me.

The new neighborhood, Wild Blue, is actually across the street from the old neighborhood and is mostly older retired people. The HOA fee is about $650 per month. There is a large clubhouse, restaurant, and beach bar that is great socially. It is a little more expensive, but,............ there are no luggage racks on a hearse!