Naples, Florida is my La La Land!

I am a very lucky person to be married to a wonderful husband who was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and is an avid skier. While I on the other hand, was exposed to water and boats my whole life and was partial to the warm climate. Over the years we had conversations about purchasing a second home. We dreamt about where would it be.  However, I still did not know if push came to shove which direction I would prefer to go, East - warm or West cold. 

Fate has its way and here is our story. My husband is a workaholic and due to his profession never took off work during the final weeks in December. That is until we attended a Pam Shriver tennis auction held in our hometown that was raising money for Cystic Fibrosis (which I happen to have). While enjoying cocktails before the live auction, my husband ran into a professional acquaintance he knows and appropriately introduced them to me. We spoke for a while before the live auction got underway. We took our seats which were located fairly close to the front of the room when a trip to Naples, Florida for a family of four for one week with tennis lessons, condo accommodations and airfare was announced. All I can say is that my ears perked up. I gave that puppy look to my husband (not really knowing anything about Naples, Florida). I just knew it was a Florida vacation and we lived in Owings Mill, Maryland and I was sure it would be much warmer in Florida in December. He quickly thought about it and the next thing I knew he was bidding on the trip. There was a major problem as we were not the only people aggressively bidding on the trip. The price kept escalating. Before long, I was being summoned by someone at the end of our row. Lo and behold it was the couple my husband had just introduced me to prior to the auction. It drew attention to the auctioneer and they stopped the auction. Fortunately, the family donating the condo agreed with the auctioneer to stop the bidding and offered two trips - one for each family. I was elated.

The other couple reported on their trip to Naples and indicated they had a fabulous time. I was very happy to hear that. Next was our turn. We started to prepare for our trip which again I was told would include a week of tennis lessons for our family at The Naples Bath and Tennis Resort. 

We arrived Christmas week on Saturday with plans to depart the following Saturday. However, our plans took a turn for the better if you can believe that. We arrived at a second story walk-up that consisted of a two bedroom, two bath, furnished condo with towel service. Every morning we would grab a quick breakfast and head to the tennis courts. The lessons were great and a lot of fun. The only problem was they ended on Wednesday (mid-week). Now what were we to do.

We are a family on the go so what was next? Well my husband had a great suggestion, let’s check out the Ritz on the beach (Christmas week). With no hesitation we got into our car and drove to the Ritz. We walked up to the front desk and requested two rooms for the duration of our trip (Wednesday - Saturday which was extended until Sunday). That is another story. We lucked out and moved right in. We now had access to concierge services and that was just what our family needed. We were introduced to restaurants, shopping etc. Now we were in business. That night we went to 5th Avenue, a quaint shopping street in Downtown Naples with great restaurants and real estate offices that are open late. Yes, you guessed it. We walked in one of the real estate offices after a great dinner at Chops.  And again, yes the very next day we had an appointment to see some local real estate in Naples, Florida.

What were we thinking? This was not in our plans. We just went with the flow. We were taken to a development the realtor was promoting closer to downtown - Grey Oaks which has golf, tennis, etc. We were shown some magnificent homes. It gave us a perspective as to the caliber of homes we could expect.

Meanwhile, we were still on vacation and my husband offered me to go have a facial and then my hair done back at the Ritz. Of course, I agreed. My conversation with anyone I could talk to was about real estate in Naples. As it turned out the husband of the beautician doing my hair was a home inspector (how coincidental). I proceeded to pry her for information on quality neighborhoods in Naples with reputable builders and she suggested Mediterra in North Naples (Collier and Lee Counties). 

We took a drive to see the development the next day and hooked up with their salespeople who gave us a tour of the entire development. There was one villa in particular we were shown that I just knew the second we walked in (if we were going to buy in Florida this was the one we should buy). That quick I was “bitten by the bug”. I did not need to visit the East coast of Florida, or visit Naples five more times as suggested by my friends. They could not understand how someone could purchase a second home so impulsively. We followed our gut purchased the home in 1994 and can honestly say it was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Naples is “La La Land” or “Paradise”. The sunsets are exquisite the whole area is meticulously maintained and the flowers are beautiful.

You have to come and visit to experience Naples for yourself. There really are no words to describe it. Please come down take a look and let me know what you think and if you get “bitten by the bug” like we did in a big way.

- Elisa Schwartz