LAmbiance – Pelican Bay – Naples, FL – Don and I returned from our evacuation odyssey on September 17th. It thrilled us to see our unit was intact and there was no major damage to LAmbiance. Our property manager Chris, took a bunch of photos after the storm. He e-mailed these to photos to owners who have their e-mails registered with Eagle Property Management. I have posted these photos on our community FaceBook page at: LAmbiance in Pelican Bay. If you haven’t joined our FaceBook page, please do so. Just click on the above link. Once on the page, click on the JOIN tab.
The day Irma hit Naples found Don, myself and our friend Rosa in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The three of us along with other Irma evacuees stayed glued to the TV set in the lobby tracking Irma. I became so stressed out listening to the Weather Channel, I went to our hotel room and listened to local WINK news on my tablet. It was so much more reassuring to me to hear our local meteorologists, Robert Van Winkle and Jim Farrell, reporting on Irma.
Don and I stayed in LAmbiance for Charlie and Irma. I took one look at Irma and told Mr. Wilber, “We are OUT of here!” A normal 6 hour drive to Gainesville took 9 hours and the normal 8 hour drive to Hattiesburg took 13 hours. Here’s some things I learned in our travels:
- Pack toilet paper! Do not assume that ANY rest area will have toilet paper.
- Pack Wet Ones or hand sanitizer.
- Scan all your important papers NOW! (Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Diplomas, House insurance policies, auto insurance policies, medical information, health insurance cards etc.) I did it the day before we left and I was brain-dead by the time we got in the car.
- Pack sandwiches. If we had tried to get off I-75 to eat, it would have taken forever to get back on again.
- A Coscto bag fits well in the back seat of a car.
- Pack enough clothes to last you a week.
- Plan multiple evacuation routes.
- Make multiple hotel reservations along your evacuation locations so you will have a place to sleep. It took us over FOUR hours to find the hotel room in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
At one of our stops along the way to Hattiesburg, Rosa and I left the car to use the restroom at a Quickie-Mart. The restroom was FILTHY with no toilet paper. I left to get our toilet paper from the car, while Rosa went to tell the owner of the store they were out of toilet paper in the restroom. The owner of the store told Rosa, “There is toilet paper on the back shelf. Buy some and take it in with you.” You just gotta love that owner!
We spent five days in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We met some wonderful people there. This was my first visit to Mississippi. Everyone we met was incredibly nice. A number of people we met had lost their homes during Katrina. A tornado had passed through Hattiesburg in January of this year and a number of people lost their homes during the tornado. When the check engine light went on in my car, Martin at the Toyota dealership in Hattiesburg got us into service right away, had the problem diagnosed and fixed so we could leave the next day. Martin lost his home in the tornado and almost lost his life. When it came time to pay our bill, Martin told us our guardian angel had paid the bill for us and refused to take any money from us. I still am thinking about that act of kindness.
The day the Irma landed, I was kept busy with e-mails, phone calls, text messages, FaceBook messages and Tweets asking me about the conditions in Pelican Bay and LAmbiance. Our LAmbiance FaceBook community page really came in handy as I could update it with photos and reports from our neighbor, Jim Stahley. While Jim doesn’t use FaceBook, he was able to text photos to me that I was able to post on our FaceBook page so neighbors could see what was actually taking place in LAmbiance. Yea Jim!
LAmbiance fared well. Thank goodness we had our roofs replaced a few years back! We are all very lucky that LAmbiance didn’t see major damage. Pelican Bay like LAmbiance had a LOT of tree damage. All day Friday I could hear chain saws at work in Pelican Bay. The piles of debris on Pelican Bay BLVD remind me of the drifts that used to form on street corners after a bad snow storm. When I looked at the Marker36 and Sandbar pavilions, they were in good condition with workers busily fixing what needed to be fixed.
Don and I came back once electricity was restored. I can not imagine what our neighbors in LAmbiance and all of Naples went through before the electric came back on and the air conditioning worked. By the time we returned we only had to go through a few days before the boil water notice was lifted and the sewerage lifts were working. While we were evacuating Naples, we could see power trucks headed South. Thanks to all the utility workers who braved our horrible heat to bring us power, water and working sewers!
The day after the hurricane, we saw a rainbow from a parking lot in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. While the rainbow wasn’t over our Marker36 beach, I felt it was a harbinger of good luck.
People keep asking me if I think Irma will affect real estate prices in Naples. My crystal ball is always cloudy. I will say that those Buyers who are looking for their “steal” will more than likely use Irma as a talking point to lower a unit’s value. When I searched active low-rise listings in Pelican Bay today, there were only 28 listings on the market. Our inventory is low which may help stabilize prices. I ran across a very interesting article, The CRE 2017-18 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate, I hope you’ll take the time to read. #10 poses some compelling discussion on climate change and flooding.
Do you have a story you would like to share about your Hurricane Irma experience? Feel free to do so by clicking on COMMENTS or share your story on our neighborhood FaceBook page, LAmbaince in Pelican Bay.
If you are thinking about selling your L’Ambiance unit, please call me before you decide to do any major remodeling. I’d be happy to discuss current market conditions and give you selling tips. I have a list of buyers who are looking for specific units in LAmbiance. I’d be happy to discuss not only the pricing in LAmbiance but the pricing for low-rises in Pelican Bay and low-rises in Naples to see how your unit fits into the equation.
Would you like to subscribe to LAmbiance updates? E-mail me atLynn@NaplesBuys.com and I will add you to the subscription list. Please know that I will keep your e-mail address private.
Please note that I receive no compensation for mention of any businesses or events.
About the author:
Lynn Wilber is a Real Estate Professional who lives in Pelican Bay. Her 39 years of real estate experience and her area expertise have been valuable resources to LAmbiance Sellers and Buyers. For more information, please contact Lynn Wilber via e-mail atLynn@NaplesBuys.com or call 239-594-2780.
YouTube | LinkedIn | Twitter | FaceBook |Reviews
Like this:
Like Loading...
L'Ambiance at Pelican Bay in Naples FL Weblog 
Recent Comments