Within an hour's drive time of virtually anywhere in Southwest Florida, you are likely to pass exclusive gated communities, beachfront cottages and mansions, turn-of-the-century agricultural and fishing towns, growing downtowns and sprawling ranches, some still raising citrus and tomatoes; others waiting for development to convert them into tidy palm-lined streets with new houses. Collier and Lee counties provide a different personality around each corner, offering a variety of possibilities, especially when it comes to deciding where you want to live, from older homes built around the time of Lee County's most famous resident, Thomas Edison, to brand-new high-rise condos towering above the Gulf of Mexico or Caloosahatchee River, to everything in between.

Deciding where you want to live, of course, depends on what you're willing to pay. But you also want a neighborhood that fits your personality. To help simplify the buying process we've detailed many of the Gulfshore's individual neighborhoods, Read on, and find your special place along the Gulfshore.

The message this past fall and early winter has been one of low inventory and rising prices, especially in desirable, in-town mid-priced enclaves in Collier County. Buyers, say local realtors, need to act quickly. It's not the buyers' market it was a year or so ago. "Demand is exceeding supply, and that's after the storms," said Kim Case, one of many realtors who report only a temporary slowdown after the hurricanes that crisscrossed Florida.

Homes under $1 million are being snapped up within days and weeks, and finding a home in some areas is a challenge. Neighborhoods that once had several dozen homes on the market have a handful, if any. Buyers, say realtors, are locking into neighborhoods-and prices-before they soar out of reach. Bidding wars, sales without official listings and an influx of investors opting for real estate over stock market are pumping up prices. Combine that with a growing number of new full-time residents and an influx of younger pre-retirees and you've got one red-hot market-the fifth fastest-growing in terms of the number of building permits pulled from July 2003 to June 2004 per 1,000 residents, according to Naples real estate broker Ross W. McIntosh and Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.

Though buyers can be a little standoffish in the ultra-high range ($5 million and above), they're snapping up one-time starter homes in areas like Naples Park, where modest three-bedroom, two-bath homes with a carport have pushed well into the $300,000s and are predicted to go for no less than $500,000 in five years, according to one realtor's prognostication.

"Medium-priced homes-those at $250,000 to $450,000-are hot right now," says David Gallus, broker and owner of Independent Brokers Realty. "We can't keep them on the market."

With starter homes priced under $150,000 still available in some working-class neighborhoods, and sprawling mansions and penthouses sometimes commanding prices well over the $20 million mark, Collier County has grown beyond its once humble beginnings, when farmers, fishermen and squatters arrived in the late 1800s via wagon mule, ox cart and sailboat. Collier County's cachet increased with the 1928 completion of the Tampa-to-Miami trail by Barron Gift Collier, a Memphis millionaire bent on helping wealthy Northerners and sportsmen discover his county namesake. Thanks to air-conditioning, Interstate 75 and a soon-to-be expanded international airport, Collier County is now one of the richest communities in the country, as well as a world-class resort destination and popular seasonal and second-home area. Today, it is home to more than 300,000 people who live in neighborhoods of grand estates and resorts, cozy cottages and modest homes. A few still even dwell on tomato and vegetable farms reaching back to the county's early agrarian roots.