Should You Buy New Construction or a Resale Home in WildBlue, Fort Myers?

It depends on which matters more to you: choosing the house, or choosing the exact spot on the water. A new build in WildBlue lets you pick the plan, the finishes and the systems, but you take the lots and timelines a builder has open. A resale lets you see a finished home on a finished street, often on a lake lot that is no longer for sale from any builder, and you take on someone else's choices and the age of what is in the house.

I am Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, and I help buyers and sellers across Fort Myers and eight other Southwest Florida markets. WildBlue is a gated, master-planned lake community of roughly 3,500 acres off Corkscrew Road in southern Fort Myers, built around three deep freshwater lakes that were once limestone quarries. Several builders have worked there, including Lennar, Pulte, Stock Development and WCI, and that mix is what makes the new versus resale question here more specific than it is in most communities.

Because WildBlue is not one builder's product. Homes range from single-family plans to custom estates, and each builder brings its own floor plans, its own included features, its own contract and its own warranty. Two new homes a short drive apart inside the same gate can come with very different paperwork.

So the first comparison on a new build is often builder against builder, before it is new against resale. Ask each one for the current contract, the warranty document itself rather than the brochure, the standard features list and the list of options with their prices. My article on what to ask about a builder's warranty was written for Estero, and every question in it applies to a builder in WildBlue too.

On a resale, the builder still matters. Find out who built the home and when, because that tells you which warranty may still have time left on it, which plans share the same layout, and what the original construction record should show.

More than anything else in WildBlue. The lakes cover over 800 acres, and residents use them for powerboating, water skiing, wakeboarding, kayaking and paddleboarding. Lakefront homeowners can build a private boat dock; homeowners off the lake use the community boat ramp and marina instead. That makes the lot, not the house, the decision a lot of buyers here are really making.

A builder can only sell you the lakefront lots it still controls, and which ones are open changes over time. If you have a particular lake, a particular view or a particular stretch of shoreline in mind, a resale may be the way to get it. If you want a new home and the lot matters less than the plan, an off-lake or preserve-view lot from a builder may suit you well. My article on lakefront versus off-lake homes in WildBlue goes through that choice in detail.

One fact to keep straight on either side: WildBlue's lakes are freshwater and inland. The docks and the marina serve the lakes, not the Gulf, so a WildBlue dock is for the lakes themselves.

Ask before you sign, because the answer is different on a new build and a resale. On a new lakefront home, ask whether the builder offers a dock as part of the build, whether it has to be added by you after closing, and what approvals it needs from the association's architectural review and from any permitting office. Ask what the approved dock designs and materials are, and whether a boat lift is allowed.

On a resale with a dock already in place, ask for the approval and any permit behind it, the date it was built, and whether it matches what the association allows today. Have it looked at during your inspection period. On a resale lakefront home without a dock, the same approval questions apply as for a new build, so get them answered before you assume you can add one.

A finished picture. You can walk the street, look at the landscaping as it has grown in, see where the morning and evening light fall on the lanai, and hear how busy or calm that part of the lake is on a weekend. You are buying what you have seen rather than a plan.

You also get a standard resale negotiation with an owner who has one home to sell, a closing date you can plan around, and the chance to inspect a house that has already been through Florida summers. Ask for the permit history, the age of the roof and the air conditioning, and any insurance claims on the home, and read my article on flood insurance in a lake community like WildBlue before you request quotes.

A house nobody has lived in, with a roof, air handler, water heater and appliances that start their lives with you. Those are the parts an insurer and an inspector look at first, so new systems help on both counts. You also get to make the selections yourself at the design center, which is almost always simpler than changing someone else's choices after closing.

The trade is time and paperwork. A new home closes when it is finished, so plan for where you will live in the meantime. The builder's contract is the builder's own document, and its terms on delays, substitutions and deposits deserve a careful read. Builder sales staff represent the builder, so bring your own agent to the first visit, because some builders will not recognize representation if you register on your own first.

The same fees usually apply to both, so compare total carrying cost rather than the price alone. Ask for the current association budget and dues, and ask whether the address carries a Community Development District assessment on the property tax bill alongside the association fees. My article on how CDD fees and HOA fees differ explains how the two are billed.

On a resale, the estoppel certificate at closing confirms what is owed and lists any assessment already approved. On a new build, ask whether the association is still under developer control, because the budget can change when control passes to the homeowners.

Put a new build and a resale on one page and count the same things for each: the price, the lot premium and the options you would actually choose on the new home, the dues and any district assessment, an insurance quote, the dock or the cost of adding one, and on the resale, anything in the house close to the end of its life. Then put the timelines beside them, because a new build's closing date and a resale's closing date are rarely the same kind of date.

My step-by-step buying process shows where each of these questions fits, and my Fort Myers new construction page covers new homes across the city. If you have a WildBlue new build and a resale you are weighing, send me both and I will lay them out side by side. Get in touch or call (239) 300-1427.

This article is a general overview and is not legal, insurance or construction advice about any particular property. Confirm the specifics with the builder, the association, your home inspector, your insurance agent and the permitting office for the address.