Well, I live in Golden Gate Estates -- waaaaay deep inside too.
   There's a number of foreclosed homes out here, mostly due to
   people who came from Hilaeh (sp?) and couldn't afford the 3 or 5
   year ARM bubble loans -- their mortgages jumped from $500 /month
   to $2000+ / month and they couldn't keep up. Making those loans
   available was probably one of the few mistakes that Alan
   Greenspan made. Then again, if he didn't do it, we would have
   been in this recession four years ago. I guess it was a stop-gap
   measure. Back to Golden Gate Estates, we picked up a piece of
   property via auction for under $10,000 (even after all fees,
   etc) - dry land, nearby. We had wanted that property for a long
   time, too. What happened is that the prior owner overpaid and
   couldn't "flip" like he thought he could. Bank took it over.
   That bank sold it to another bank, who didn't want to deal with
   it. It went to auction and boom, we were right there, and we got
   lucky. The properties got overpriced out here. Is there to be
   future growth in Naples, Collier County and in SWFLA in general?
   ABSOLUTELY! But it's a 20-30 year plan, not a 2-5 year plan.
   People got discouraged, realized that easy money ain't so easy
   and ended up screwing themselves by wanting to make a quick buck
   during the height of the property values. We're now in the
   underside of the property valuations. Whereas two and a half
   years ago, this area was "overvalued" by 70% (over what was
   considered the national average of upped prices). Now it's
   fallen BELOW what it's intrinsically worth. Living here, I can
   say that it's virtually crime free - at least that I've seen in
   seven years time. Not everybody wants 1 1/4 or 2 1/2 acres to
   call their own. Most people want to WALK to places (heck, we'd
   like that too). But we can have chickens in our backyard, a goat
   - and if we wanted more animals, we could do that. We have it
   quiet out here. No police sirens. It's not the life for
   everybody. But it's the life for some. The smart buyers are
   coming in from Germany and England and France and snapping up
   properties left and right. People in the US are still scared
   rabbits. I'm no real estate agent -- just a business owner
   (animal trapping / nuisance animal pest control and webmaster)
   who pays attention to things going on around here. If you don't
   mind driving to town, or buying in bulk so that you DON'T have
   to go to town every day, if you work from home (as I do) and you
   like the quiet and wildlife - this is the place to be. (and grow
   houses? Yeah, they're out here. But you wouldn't know it. People
   leave each other alone here, that I've seen). Kenneth Udut,
   Golden Gate Estates, Naples, Florida Webmaster of [1]Naples FL
   News, Jobs, For Sale, Business Directory -
   http://free.naplesplus.us Owner of NeighborHelp Referrals'
   Affordable Trapping 239-465-9291
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