Living on Marco Island
Marco Island is a great place to live in sunny Southwest Florida. The largest of Florida’s legendary Ten Thousand Islands chain going from Everglades City to Flamingo, the 6800 acre island has an impressive array of historically significant places to keep residents enamored with the peaceful community for a lifetime.
Part of the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway, Marco Island’s varied animal life alone is astounding. There are hills of sand, forests of pine trees, fields and pristine sandy beaches, and a swamp of salt-water-friendly mangrove trees. Burrowing owls inhabit the island–in fact, nature lovers say that the island is the only one in the Ten Thousand Islands eco-system to host these owls.
The City of Marco Island provides a full range of services, with an excellent school system and utilities infrastructure. Residents and tourists can find numerous things to do on Marco Island, including snorkeling, kayaking, jet skiing, fishing, and more. There are even archaeological excavations that are over 2000 years old from indian tribes, such as the Calusa Indian burial mound and the famous “Marco Cat” found at the Frank Cushing Archaeological Site.
The island was home to 14,879 residents in the 2000 census, but new population data from the 2010 census to be released on December 21, 2010 is expected to show some growth. The boom in real estate in the new millennium led to growth from the Naples, Florida metro area, with many gorgeous homes popping up during that period. With the subsequent housing sector pullback in prices, many exclusive parcels of Marco Island real estate can be found that are priced very attractively. In fact, Marco Island condos and foreclosures represent some of the best priced listings on the market.
Prices on Marco Island homes at the time of this writing range from about $70,000 for a 460 s.f. condo to $10.5 million for a 12,000 s.f. luxurious waterfront estate. There are plenty of choices in water front properties, many with private docks for easy access to the pristine Gulf waters.