Punta Gorda Isles is an awesome area with beautiful canals that go to our Gulf of Mexico through our Charlotte Harbor but Punta Gorda Isles is not gated. There are gated communities in our area but some of them are not waterfront/canal homes. Please view my website at your leisure and call or email me if you have any questions. I look forward to assisting you in your real estate needs. My website is http://www.loriannmertens.com, Email: loriannmertens@yahoo.com, Phone is 941-457-7072. Please contact me when you are ready to come down and I will plan on showing you some homes. You might want to check with your mortgage person and get qualified because 95% of all the transaction are requiring a letter from the bank before the contracts are written. Have a safe trip and see you soon.

Lor

Now is a great time to buy waterfront property in Punta Gorda. I would recomend a Deed restricted area because the homes are kept up better and hold there value in the long run. Also because of the association there are people who look out for there neighbors.

If you need financing please feel free to contact me

Christopher Lyon
Mortgage Broker
941-412-1511

Hi Lor!

You are smart to be thinking about buying right now; you may have heard on the news that Punta Gorda (and Southwest Florida in general) is one of the areas that has been most affected by the negative housing market. As a result, homes are selling for half (or less!) than they were purchased for. It is a very sad situation for homeowners, but a wonderful opportunity for those like yourself, looking to own your own piece of paradise.

Once you buy a home down here, I would recommend having the home's exterior/lawn/pool maintained during the parts of the year that you are not here. To do so, you can either purchase a home that is in a community that already provides these things, or you can simply hire a reputable company to take care of it for you for the months that you are gone. Since Southwest Florida is a haven for part-time residents who live in northern states 50% to 75% of the year, you won't have a problem finding a company to do this for you. It's very common down here and can give you peace of mind when you're home in Warminster.

As far as the safety of the home is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most Southwest Florida communities and towns have a very neighborly feel to them; the homes are close together, and people tend to look out for one another. I would suspect that having a home in a gated/guarded community would certainly ease your worries when you're not here, but you would PAY for it! All of the gated/guarded communities that I can think of associate hefty fees - which may or may not be a problem for you. I personally know several people who only live here 4 to 6 months out of the year and they simply pay a lawn/pool maintenance company to maintain the home weekly. If anything is out of place, vandalized or broken the company calls the owners and informs them...but nothing like that has happened, and these homes are not in gated or guarded communities.

When you come down, you may very well fall in love with a home that is in a gated community...that home might even be well below your price range, which would make additional association fees not sting as much. However, don't be afraid of homes that are not in gated communities. I think you'll find that the fees associated with lawn/pool maintenance are much less and that your home is just as safe. Most of the homes that get vandalized/burglarized are in areas with a LOT of foreclosed homes (vandals know that nobody is home in the entire neighborhood when the grass is up to their knees!). If you are looking at a home and the street it is on has several homes with overgrown vegetation and the diseased "foreclosed" look, beware! There are some areas that are better than others as far as crime rate is concerned and any good real estate agent should be able to pull neighborhood/area crime statistics figures for you. Otherwise, I think that most homes you choose will be just fine.

Good luck in your buying process and I hope that you find your dream vacation/retirement home!

Lor,

There are many great waterfront opportunities in the Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte area. Our recommendation is to begin by previewing some short sale and foreclosure properties before you make your trip to Florida. It will help you get a feel for where the lower level market activity is as well as what's available in this area of the market.

Your search can always be broadened to include regular sale homes but to get a true reflection of the current market, it would be beneficial to begin here.

We would be happy to support your preliminary interests in this market and would love to hear from you.

Good luck with your search.
Susan & Bill Eckler

Michael Saunders & Company
billeckler@michaelsaunders.com
941-408-5363

I'm not in that area, but my folks are in Fort Myers. Seeing your question, one thought comes into my mind - consider not only a gated community, but one with a homeowners association that is responsible for the maintanance of the grounds. There's nothing worse that screams "nobody's living here" like and overgrown lawn/yard. If I were you, I'd look for a guard gated community where landscaping is included in the fee. That way you can be sure it will be taken care of, rather than rely on an outsider who can slack, knowing you're not around. Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in! And although I'm an agent, it is still a good time to buy since interest rates are very low, prices are down, there's a lot of inventory to choose from and some very motivated sellers, especially those trying to save themselves from foreclosure! There's a lot of doom and gloom out there about real estate, but there are also a lot of investors out buying property right now. After this past winter, won't it be nice to be in Florida for a change? Best of luck with your home search!

Wow. NO reason to buy now.

Hello, Lor -

We moved into our home in Punta Gorda Isles after owning it for about 10 months while we were still living in MN. During that time we had a landscaping service and a pool service, both of which were on-site every week. Some of our neighbors were full-time residents and they were usually around their homes (not going to work every day).

There are a number of "housewatch" services available, but we opted not to hire one because of the above circumstances - we were also fortunate enough to be able to come down every other month ourselves, Another point that we considered was that there are a limited number of routes in and out of our community making it generally unattractive to those who might engage in vandalism or burglary, Couple this with the performance and presence of the City's police force, and it becomes less and less of an issue.

We're certainly not trying to dismiss your concerns, but from our own experience as well as those of other people we know who are snowbirds and have been for years, the record pretty much speaks for itself.

Please feel free to give us a call should you have any additional questions after considering these responses.

Regards,

Ken & Karen

Hello Lor,
I live in Punta Gorda and love it. Please do give me a call and I would love to show you property and find you exactly what you are looking for. We have a large snow bird population and neighbors keep an eye on neighbor properties. Punta Gorda Isles was deed restricted but the deed restrictions have expired. Burnt Store Isles is Deed restricted and has an active Homeowners association and Neighborhood watch.
When you visit Punta Gorda do contact me and I would be happy to give you more information.

See the link below. Here are some waterfront properties for you to look at. It includes single family homes and Condos.
http://mfr.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1807951935&…

For crime info go to http://www.city-data.com/city/Punta-Gorda-Florida.html

Good luck.

Thank you

Genny

I am very familiar with the water front properties. Most neighbors help watch over homes around them. You could have people checking on it for you. We do not hear of many break ins.I would be happy to send or show you around .We could look at different areas to see what you like best.Please call with any questions .
1-800-490-5087 Sandy