Here are some pictures of the park. Tomorrow Huli and I are going to visit another park in Fort Myers to see if we want to go there next year. I don't think we will find a more beautiful park than the one we are currently in but we are going to look. Another nice thing about this park is that it is totally controlled by board of directors representing the 319 people who own the lots. The manager of the park reports to this six member board. This is why when they say the pool is heated it is truly heated to a consistently fantastic temperature day in and day out. The owners don't want to cut corners on these kinds of things to save money and you can see this in many things as compared to other for profit parks we have been in. One downside for us in this park is it is not the friendliest park we have been to for pet owners which is very important to us. Since Tanner can't walk that far especially in the hot weather we have to go a fairly long way to reach an area that is for walking pets. We have a golf cart for this and running around the park or that would be a real pain in the butt.
Since being here we have learned that about 80 of the 319 lots are for sale by the owners. Many were purchased in 2005 starting at a low of $75,000 for an unimproved lot and going up from there. Today they seem to sell for any where from $85,000 to $200,000. In addition to the lot you would also have to pay home owner association fees and taxes amounting to about $3500 per year. Many people have lost money on the lots they purchased. I was looking into the lots as an investment possibility but the numbers don't work out based on the rent you could earn. In the Dec - Mar time frame you could almost be guaranteed to be able to rent your lot (we were told there is an 88 person waiting list this year) but the rest of the year would be up in the air. Also the amount you could rent the lot for goes down considerably in the non peak months. When I made the reservations earlier this year they kept going back and forth with me as to whether or not a lot would be available for January through March. When I then said I would be also interested in December they immediately gave us a confirmation for the lot we are on. One thing great about being this far south is the weather. So far this year we could be in the pool every day.
This is the entrance to the park.
At night there are three rows of palm trees lit up that make this a very nice place to walk the dogs. We walk them up one side of the road and then cross the median in front of the park and go down the other. You get no hassle from anyone walking them up here.
The park is gated so you don't have to worry much about leaving things outside the motorhome.
This is the office where you check in
This is the building where the mail room, restrooms, showers, and laundry is located.
This is the pool area with the Tiki Bar on the pool side and the club house on the other side.
Another nice thing about this park is the space between our motorhome (seen below) and our neighbors. In Florida things are usually pretty tight.
This is the front of our unit taken from the other side of the lake that is in front of the motorhome.
This is Jason on our patio area getting ready to head down to the pool on his last day in Florida before flying out that evening. The visor attached to the front of the awning helps hold down the awning in windy conditions and also gives us more privacy when sitting outside.
The red solo cup patio lights haven't gotten us tossed out yet.
This is the road in front of our motorhome. You have plenty of room for parking and still have a lot of room in front of the motorhome for lounging. On the right side the motorhomes pull in forward like ours since we face the lake. The ones on the left side back into those sites.
This is fairly typical of what the sites around us look like. Most have been "improved" by having paving bricks added to extend the hard space on the lot
This is the area between the sites that aren't on the lake and back up to one another. Again this is a real plus for Florida. The part that sucks is you can't walk your dogs in that area because it is not a "common" area. I believe the little white sign there tells you that. We can let our dogs out directly in front of our motorhome but we can't walk them around the lake on adjacent properties.
Ten years ago this area was described as a wide open field. The park planted plants and trees in the common areas and then the lots were sold and the lot owners planted the rest of the plants and trees. It is very pretty.
Another thing about the park is they don't let any permanent park model type mobile homes on the lots. All of the units are either motorhomes or fifth wheels for the most part. There are a few travel trailers in the park however. You can live here year round but you can't leave your unit on the lot unattended even if you own the lot. There is also a large disparity between units. On one lot you have a $1.5 million 45 foot Prevost motorhome with a trailer in the back that is painted to match the motorhome that carries a new Corvette, a 1955 Chevy station wagon, a golf cart, and a motorcycle (the trailer is double decker). On the lot beside it there is an older very modest fifth wheel but everyone seems to get along.
