thinking of buying waterfront in FL

Bill1565 · Feb 29, 2012

chiefaponte said:
so far I have found lots in Port Charlotte (canal lots),
I ask if you have suggestions or PROS/CONS please shoot them my way.

Be very careful in Port Charlotte, Many of the canals are not routinely dredged, and even though your mast can get in and out, Your keel may not.

Anywhere in Florida, if it seems to good to be true, it is. Newcomer dollars are widely sought by Florida residents skilled in separating people from their money.

PSTEVEN · Feb 29, 2012

We bought a place in Apollo beach on the south side of Tampa bay on a canal about a year ago. I think however that the 50k you mentioned is a little low for canal or waterfront it would probably work as a downpayment especially on a fixer upper. In the area around us there are quite a few places for sale, many from distressed owners or owned by families of deceased owners that are ready to sell.

I would mention that one thing to check into before you buy is the insurance cost. Florida is terrible this way especially for flood insurance.
Also many of the realtors are unhelpful and unknowledgable about what sailors need or want in a property. One even showed us a mobile home on a closed lake and was surprised when we got upset about the waste of time. By the way you need to put "Canal front" into your searches. When we started we used the term waterfront and got virtually no hits.

If you want I can give you the name of our realtor. The good one we finally found. He worked really hard for us. He even found an insurance agent that got our cost cut in half. He works out of Brandon.

Merlin Clark · Feb 29, 2012

If, like Bill and PSteven wrote, the canel is deep enough to accomodate your draft (and then some, more on this below), has no low bridges between it and your sailing grounds and the canal actually goes somewhere, canals are great places to keep a boat.
We've lived on a canal for going on 9 years now and been through 4 hurricanes and a passal of other severe storms and our boats (at least 2, 3 at most) have ridden it all out with nothing more than a couple of scratches. During the first hurricane I had our GS41 tied off with double clove hitches backed by double half hitches and the force of the wind on the boat actually rotated the dock piling by about 2 inches. I was amazed it didn't break and after that I tied my doubled to the same piling but laid the clove hitches around the opposite way and no problem for the next 3.
On the water depth, around here when a canal silts up, the neighborhood has to pitch in to pay for dredging, not something the public takes care off. One of the causes of the silting is vegetation, including yard clippings. With a West wind (we're on the East and dead end of ours) everything blows down this way an we see a lot of grass and yard debris. I've never seen a yard service blows this crap into a canal but have witnessed stupid home owners doing it.
When the wind is a little too high or there is none, the canals offer a nice and sheltered place to play water tourist.
We lived directly on the Indian River Lagoon for a number of years and loved the view and the breeze but now really enjoy the shelter of the canals, lower cost and taxes.
We're not on the flood plane so are not made to purchase flood insurance. When TS Faye stalled over our coast, we had 32 inches of rain in one 24 hour period and no problems at all.

Roy10289 · Feb 29, 2012

You might want to check out Cape Coral also. It has 400 miles of canals,more than Venice in Europe.

Benny17441 · Feb 29, 2012

I was going to suggest Cape Coral myself as they had very affordable waterfront lots a few years ago. I have not been following the real estate market down there but would think that with the present market there should still be some good deals.

Bill1565 · Mar 1, 2012

Roy10289 said:
You might want to check out Cape Coral also. It has 400 miles of canals,more than Venice in Europe.

Careful. Many of those miles are freshwater storm drains only, no salt water access.

Kettlewell · Mar 1, 2012

My two cents would be to check out some areas by car first so you can get a feel for the region where the lots are located. You can cover a lot of territory by car quickly. Some of those canals in Cape Coral are very nice, and others not so much. Canal depths are highly variable, so see if there are some sailboats in there around the size you want to have. Some of the canals have old construction debris on the bottom--I've hit hard in there a few times. The sailing in the southwestern part of Florida is much better than in some other areas, and the Keys are an overnighter away. Port Charlotte would be interesting, but there are some bridges up there so check your height. I've heard good things about the Panhandle up around Apalachicola, but it does get much cooler there in the winter. The St. Johns River on the east coast has some sleepier towns upriver, but again check the charts for the bridges. There is a 45 footer at Green Cove Springs.

Leroy7908 · Mar 20, 2012

Anywhere in Florida, if it seems to good to be true, it is. Newcomer dollars are widely sought by Florida residents skilled in separating people from their money.

robertsapp · Mar 21, 2012

If your intention is to buy a lot and build a home, heed the previous advice and check on home owners insurance rates. If you can find a company to write it at all, it can be extremely expensive. People near the water can often pay $4 to $6 thousand dollars a year, and $8 to $10 thousand isn't out of the question. We pay "only" about $2 thousand a year, but we're miles from the water. We have USAA, and they've told us that if we ever sell and move, they won't write a policy for us at our new home, because they have dropped coverage for this area. They wouldn't insure our current home if we weren't grandfathered in.

reworb · Mar 25, 2012

Pensacola is a little cool in the winter, at least for me. we bought our boat there last December and I nearly froze to death on the sea trial in January

When we first moved to FL we lived in Punta Gorda Isles, the city maintains the canals and the seawalls. I don't think you would be able to find a lot for your price, never hurts to look you never know. They were a lot of flippers who got caught and may just want out. Port Charlotte is not as nice and many parts are down right funky, also what was said above about the canals. We moved from Punta Gorda as it was too much of a small town for us, check that out before you buy in either Punta Gorda or Port Charlotte. Both my wife and I thought we would like a small town when we moved to Fl., we did not care for it at all.

Cape Coral has lots of canals and lots of lots waiting to be sold. "The Cape" is a big place and not all is suitable for for sailboats (even if there are no bridges), some parts are a long way up the river. The southeast Cape is best for sailboats. Car traffic is heavy in the Cape and the city government is dysfunctional at its best.

We live in Fort Myers Beach on a canal that goes into Estero Bay we are not on Estero Island but on the mainland. In a sailboat we are in the Gulf in about 45 minutes. It is very shallow down here, hence the just bought Beneteau 311 with a centerboard. If we were right on Estero Bay anything less than 5 foot draft would be ok, but you always have to keep an eye on depth. Unfortunately here the lots are way more than you want to spend.

Insurance rates are high but they are not too bad for homes built post 2002, if you are building new expect to pay a couple of thousand a year for homeowners that includes wind. Flood is additional and that will depend on elevation of the lot and the house and the zone the house is in. If you buy a used home and want affordable insurance do not buy anything built before 1996 unless you put on a new roof, including strapping the trusses, and install shutters all the way around, otherwise your insurance will be very very expensive.