Moving to Naples

Moving to Naples, Florida

I help people moving into Naples find the neighborhood that actually fits their life, and I tell them what a house will really cost to own here before they write an offer.

Most people relocating here are not short on listings. They are short on the things a listing does not say. What insurance actually runs on that house. Whether the community carries a CDD on top of the HOA. What the flood zone means for the loan. Those answers change the monthly payment, and they are the reason a budget that worked in another state stops working in Collier County.

Run the real Naples payment before you tour anything

The pre-approval just never priced Naples.

Somebody calls me thrilled, pre-approved for a number, and we find a house that fits it perfectly. Then the insurance quote lands, and the payment is four hundred dollars a month higher than the one they budgeted for. Nothing went wrong. Nobody lied. The number was simply built somewhere else.

So we build the real one first.

• The full payment. Principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA and CDD. Before touring, not after.
• The FEMA flood determination, pulled before the first showing. Not during inspection week, when it is already expensive to learn.
• A local lender. One who does not work Collier regularly underestimates the insurance escrow, misses a CDD assessment, and gets surprised by a condo reserve study.
• Needs separated from wants, plus the Naples need nobody puts on their list: beach access.

Run your number with a real Naples payment and you get to shop with your shoulders down.

The neighborhood, not the listing

My buyers do not have an inventory problem. What they say is that they want the right location. That is not something a search website can answer for you.

When I tell you a neighborhood is right for your family, it is because I know what a Tuesday feels like there.

I have lived in the Naples area more than thirty years. Two questions do most of the work early on.

• The beach club question. It is the single biggest quality of life difference between two homes at the same price.
• The HOA and CDD question, asked before anyone tours anything. Two homes at the same price can carry a $900 a month difference.

And sometimes the answer is no. A couple moving from Michigan wanted mature trees at a number that did not buy mature trees, and I said so. Three months after closing, the wife called to thank me for the neighborhood.

The Naples Four, checked at the showing

Four items decide whether a home is insurable here and what the premium will be, and they can quietly disqualify a house you have already fallen for. I check them at the showing, not at inspection.

• Roof age. Florida insurers will not renew past insurable life, typically fifteen to twenty five years for asphalt shingle. A roof past that can kill the loan at underwriting after a clean inspection.
• Plumbing. Polybutylene, roughly 1978 to 1995, gray or blue plastic pipe. A widespread reason for non renewal here.
• Electrical panel. Challenger, Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, Zinsco, Sylvania. Documented fire risks, often uninsurable.
• Windows and doors. Impact rated or not. The single biggest wind mitigation credit in Naples.

The order that keeps the payment honest

Inspection first, then wind mitigation and four point in the same visit, then insurance quotes on the actual reports. Doing it that way means the insurance number you get is real, not an estimate off the listing. That is why my clients rarely get a payment surprise between contract and closing.

In this market, the terms decide it

Naples in 2026 is not a market where you have to blow past asking to get a house. It is a market where the terms decide it.

• Ask for the buydown, not the discount. A seller paid 2-1 buydown often costs the seller less than a $25,000 price cut and saves you more in the first two years. Sellers protect their number emotionally, and many say yes to a credit that leaves the price intact.
• Match the closing date to their problem. Some sellers need speed, some need to stay through the school year. Giving them their date costs you nothing and is often worth thousands.
• Shorten the inspection period, never waive it. Waiving it here is reckless, because insurability is decided by things you cannot see. Seven days reads far stronger than fourteen.
• Put the insurance paperwork in the contract. Ask for the wind mitigation, four point and elevation certificate. It costs the seller nothing, saves you hundreds, and tells you instantly whether they have maintained the house.

And if the numbers do not work, they do not work. There will be another house, and no offer strategy fixes buying a home you cannot comfortably carry.