Naples Condo Saga

The Naples Condo Saga – Part One

It all started with an email from a realtor we met last year. Tina and I were here in Naples a year ago in the RV. Tina’s niece Laura was down from Virginia visiting for a week. We had gone for a drive to see the area and decided to check out a listing from the local paper in Bonita Springs, about fifteen miles north of Naples.

We drove into the condo community and went to the sales office where we met Carmen Baden. Carmen was one of the agents on site. After getting information from us we went and looked at several units. We weren’t impressed for the price and thanked her for her time. Since then we would periodically get an email with listings to look at.

Then, a month ago, we got a listing for a unit in an older complex that was being rehabbed and put on the market. A two bedroom, two bathroom unit, tile floors, new fixtures, washer/dryer combo unit, dishwasher, fridge and stove, two blocks from the Naples Botanical Gardens on Bayshore Drive, less than three miles from downtown and all for $59,900. I was pretty excited as we both really like Naples and the surrounding area.

I showed the ad to Tina and we kinda laughed at the idea and that’s where it stood for a week. Then we decided to get serious and started crunching numbers. We finally concluded that we at least ought to go down to Naples and take a look at it. So Tina made our travel arrangements and we notified Carmen that we were coming down.

We arrived on a Tuesday with plans to return home Saturday evening. Meeting Carmen the next morning we went to look at the unit. It turns out that an investor group had bought 28 units at the back of the complex and were totally refinishing the units. There were several ground floor units with a model unit set up to show off the possibilities. We were very impressed but had some reservations.

So we did some on-line research and found a half dozen similar units for sale in the Naples area. Thursday we took another look at the unit then asked Carmen if she would show us some of the other ones we found. She agreed and we set up a time to meet.

The rest of the morning we drove around and checked out the areas the condos were in, allowing us to scratch a few off the list. We really didn’t want to be too far from town because we enjoy bicycling to the beach and shopping, and oh yes, lunches on the bay. We met Carmen at 2:00 pm and went out and looked at six different places. Only one met our criteria. So we thanked Carmen and went back to the hotel to talk about it.

Friday morning we talked to Carmen again and asked to see six more units. After assuring her we would do the legwork and scratch any that weren’t right, she agreed to set up viewings for us. We ended up narrowing the list down to two units and after checking them out we were down to two, the original unit and one other.

We met with Carmen Saturday morning and put an offer in on the second unit. It was a little farther from town (about five miles) but was in a well established complex, with a nice swimming pool, gym and club house with a common area. The unit was fully furnished, move-in ready and very appealing. All we could do was wait for the sellers to respond.

That afternoon we flew home and before we arrived we had an email notifying us that our offer had been accepted. After some back and forth emailing, funds transfers and faxing of forms we decided it would be nice to fly down for closing and spend a couple of weeks at out new winter retreat. So Tina made all the arrangements for the trip, we notified everyone of our schedule and got ready to leave.

The Naples Condo Saga – Part Two

Then it happened. The weather started to change. We were scheduled to fly out of SeaTac at 12:50 am on Thursday morning, so our plan was to drive to Marni’s and spend the evening with them, then we’d leave our car there and Marni would take us to the airport around 11:00 pm for check-in. Monday, the weather report was for snow starting Tuesday with more coming on Wednesday and Thursday, not letting up until Friday.

From experience we know this can be a problem, as we live at about 450’ elevation and when it snows we really get a lot which makes it impossible to get out of our community due to the steepness of the hill we live on. So when we woke up Tuesday morning and there was already snow on the ground with more coming down, we decided to leave early Tuesday and spend the day hanging out down south.

Tina packed our bag, we called Lori about the dogs, closed up the house and by 10:30 am there was almost four inches of snow on the ground. We eased out of our driveway and made it to the top of the big hill. With the car in first gear we slowly made our way down to the main road. Half an hour later and we might not have made it out. The road to Freeland was bad and traffic was crawling along at 25mph. We made it to Lori’s and dropped of the dogs, said goodbye, and keep us informed. We’d do the same.

From Lori’s we slowly made our way out to SR 525 and headed for the Ferry at Clinton. It was snowing all the way and the roads were really slippery. We lost traction several times before reaching the ferry line. Once we got on the ferry and made it across to Mukilteo the roads were mostly bare and wet. By the time we reached I-5, the sun was shining and from Edmonds south there wasn’t any sign of snow.

Even so, the weather reports kept saying that it was coming. We spent most of the day hanging out at the Red Lion Inn waiting for the snow to set in. Nada. Zilch. Do you know how hard it is to do nothing except read and watch TV for two days? When we woke up Wednesday morning, the sun was shining and it looked like we might have panicked a little early. But talking to Lori, it was a good thing we left when we did. They ended up with about 6 inches at her place in Freeland – which means there was probably a foot at our house.

So we tried to figure out something to do to use up some of our time. The best bet would have been to go down to Lakewood and visit Mom but the reports we were getting from Mom and Shanda were that it was snowing down there. And with the local forecast for another big dump, we really didn’t want to get stuck down there and miss our flight, so we ended up putting the car in storage and taking the shuttle to the airport around 2:00 pm, eleven hours before our flight.

After checking in we thought we’d go through security and out to our gate. That way we’d have a better choice of food and entertainment while we waited. So we got in line and after having our boarding passes stamped, we got called back by security. It seems that since our flight wasn’t until the next day, we weren’t supposed to pass security until after midnight. Not wanting to argue the point we headed back to the main concourse where we met a NW Airlines representative who managed to help us get out to the gate early. What a hassle!

By now it’s 3:00 pm and we still have nine hours to kill. Read, watch TV, eat, read, walk around, listen to the news, work on the computer, we did all of that and slowly time passed. Oh, by the way, it finally started to snow around 7:00 pm and it was piling up fast.

After watching the snow pile up we went to our gate and boarded the plane, an older 757 with six across seating. Like being in a cattle call. Then, there were a couple of late passengers. And not enough de-icing equipment and after getting de-iced, a long taxi out to the take-off runway. Finally we got airborne on the way to Minneapolis. About an hour late – not too bad, at least we were staying with the plane for the leg to Fort Myers.

The plane arrived in Minneapolis at 7:00 am central time and that’s when we were notified we had to change planes, but no one knew which gate we were supposed to go to. Only that someone would help us once we got off the plane. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:30 am. We were directed to a gate a quarter mile away to get our information. After finally getting there and wasting some more time, we were told to go to gate G-22 another quarter mile away.

Now we heard the final boarding call for our flight and I got nervous. We’d been moving at a pretty good clip but now it was time to beat feet. So here I am with the big laptop hanging from my shoulder, running down the concourse towards our gate. And it’s a long way. Sure enough, I hear our names being called to get to the gate, they were holding the plane for us. Now I’m out of shape, so this wasn’t a full tilt run but it might just as well have been. By the time I reached the gate I could hardly speak. I think Tina tried to run most of the way too before someone took pity on her and gave her a lift.

So now we’re trying to get our boarding passes out. Tina has hers, I don’t have mine. Since we were supposed to stay on the original plane I threw it in the trash bag when the attendants came down the aisle. Finally they waved us through and we could quit worrying. We’d made it.

Unfortunately, I’m just recovering from a cold and running through the airport had left me with a coughing fit that lasted half an hour. I finally got a glass of water and with cough drops finally stopped hacking. Then there was another long delay at the terminal while maintenance replaced the lid on the 1st class toilet. Seems we didn’t have to do all that running after all. Oh well, we were on board and finally headed south.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Our baggage arrived when it was supposed to, we breezed through the paperwork to get our car and being familiar with the area, found a nice place for lunch before heading into Naples and our room at the Bayshore Inn, same place we stayed a month ago.

After checking in we retired to our room for naps and showers. By 7:00 pm we head out to a restaurant for dinner. There are several within waling distance, but between long waiting lines and pricy menus we ended up on the deck at our hotel. We had a nice light dinner and by 8:30 we returned to our room to relax and settle in.

Tomorrow we meet with Carmen at 10:00 am to do a walk through, then go over to Naples Title to do closing.

To see photos of our condo go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski