Where Does Mike Ditka Live in Florida? The Naples Home He Sold in 2025

Where does Mike Ditka live? The Chicago Bears legend no longer lives in Florida. He and his wife Diana owned a custom home in the Wilshire Lakes community of North Naples for more than 20 years. But they moved back to the Chicago area in late 2024. The house sold on February 6, 2025 for $1.195 million. Crain's Chicago Business and the Naples Daily News both covered the sale. Here is what public reporting says about the home, the price and the reason for the move. We also cover what a similar home costs on our coast.

Key takeaways

• Wilshire Lakes in North Naples was the Ditkas' Florida home from 2002 until early 2025.
• They bought the lot for $70,000 in 2002 and built a 3,436-square-foot house on it, per the Naples Daily News.
• It sold for $1.195 million in February 2025, under contract in 12 days after listing at $1.375 million.
• The Ditkas now live in the Chicago area, where Diana told the Sun-Times he needed more daily care.

Where does Mike Ditka live in Florida?

The honest answer is that he does not, not since early 2025. For two decades, though, Ditka had a Florida home in Naples, the Gulf Coast city in Collier County. Naples is on the opposite side of the state from the counties Pure Equity serves. We cover it because the search interest is real. The Ditka sale is also a clean example of how a modest celebrity home trades.

The neighborhood was Wilshire Lakes, a gated community off Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples. It is not a golf club and not on the water. Homes sit on small lakes a few miles inland from the beach, and most were built in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Wilshire Lakes is the kind of place a retired coach could live quietly, which is what the Ditkas did.

Pure Equity does not publish private addresses. The community name is the one the press used, and since the home has sold, the new owners deserve their privacy.

Inside the reported Wilshire Lakes home

The Naples Daily News reported that the Ditkas bought an empty lot in Wilshire Lakes in 2002 for $70,000 and built the house themselves. It has 3,436 square feet with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. Homes.com described a craftsman-style design with a grand foyer, a den, an open floor plan and wood detailing throughout.

The back of the house faces a lake. Listing coverage mentioned a screened lanai with a private pool and spa and lake views. That layout, a pool under a screen cage looking at water, is standard for Naples and for Florida generally. It is what most buyers in that price range expect.

The Ditkas built rather than bought, which tells you something about their plans in 2002. A custom build on a $70,000 lot is a long-term decision, and they kept the house for 23 years. Few celebrity homes on this blog have been held that long.

For a Hall of Fame coach, it was a modest house. At about $1.2 million it sold for less than a tenth of the prices that make headlines on this blog. That is partly a reflection of Naples inland prices and partly of the man. Ditka was known for a plain style, and his Florida home matched it.

The sale in February 2025

The Ditkas listed the house in early December 2024 at $1.375 million. Crain's Chicago Business reported that it went under contract in 12 days, which local radio stations picked up as a headline. It closed on February 6, 2025 at $1.195 million, about 13 percent below the asking price. The buyers were a family from Ohio, according to the Naples Daily News.

The gap between list and sale is worth a note for sellers. A famous name gets a listing seen fast, and it did here. But the buyer pool for a 2002 house in an inland gated community does not pay a premium for the name on the deed. The house sold for what a comparable home in Wilshire Lakes would bring. It sold quickly because the price was set near that number.

Why Mike Ditka chose Naples

Naples has been a Chicago winter town for generations, and Ditka followed that path. Interstate 75 runs from Chicago straight to Naples, and the city is full of Bears fans. He owned restaurants and did television work through the 2000s and 2010s. So a part-time home he could reach on a direct flight made sense. Reporting describes the Naples house as mostly a part-time residence.

Golf was part of it too. Ditka played often in Naples. In 2018 he had a heart attack on a golf course there, which the Sun-Times and others reported at the time. He recovered and kept the house for six more years. The move back to Chicago came in November 2024 after what the couple called a brief stint in Florida, per the Sun-Times.

Where else does Mike Ditka live?

Chicago is home again. The Ditkas told the Chicago Sun-Times they returned in November 2024. Diana Ditka said her husband, then 85, needed daily caretakers and had memory loss. Being near family and doctors in Chicago made more sense. That is the plain reason for the move, and it is why the Naples house went on the market within weeks.

Ditka has lived in the Chicago suburbs for most of his adult life. He was a Bears tight end in the 1960s and then head coach from 1982 to 1992. Reporting over the years has placed the couple in the northern suburbs, though we did not find current coverage of a specific home. No other residence appears in the public record.

What a home like Mike Ditka's costs in South Florida

Wilshire Lakes is a gated, non-golf lake community with homes around $1 million. On our coast the closest match is Parkland in northern Broward County, a city of gated lake neighborhoods built from the 1990s onward. Our MLS feed as of September 2026 shows about 220 active listings in Parkland at a median asking price near $1.25 million. Homes there average about 75 days on market, one of the fastest paces in the region.

Weston Hills in Weston is another fit, with gated lakefront sections of similar age. Weston as a whole has about 490 listings at a median around $750,000 and an average of 90 days on market. Across Broward County, a 3,400-square-foot pool home on a lake in a gated community typically lists between $900,000 and $1.5 million. Our gated communities and pool homes pages sort the current inventory.

For the Gulf side, the Collier County page shows current Naples listings from the same feed. The Ditka sale at $1.195 million is now a comp for Wilshire Lakes and the other gated communities along Vanderbilt Beach Road.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Mike Ditka live now?

In the Chicago area. He and Diana moved back from Naples in November 2024 and sold the Florida home in February 2025. Diana told the Chicago Sun-Times that his need for daily care drove the decision.

Where in Naples does Mike Ditka live?

He no longer lives there. From 2002 to 2025 the home was in Wilshire Lakes, a gated lake community off Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples. We do not publish street addresses.

Where does Mike Ditka live full time?

Chicago, as of late 2024. Even during the Naples years, reporting described the Florida house as a part-time home. Anyone asking where does Mike Ditka live today should look to the Chicago suburbs, not Florida.

How much did Mike Ditka pay for the Naples home?

The Ditkas paid $70,000 for the empty lot in 2002 and built the house, according to the Naples Daily News. The construction cost was not reported. They sold the finished home for $1.195 million in 2025.

Does Mike Ditka still own the Naples home?

No. The sale closed on February 6, 2025 to a family from Ohio, per the Naples Daily News. Crain's Chicago Business and Homes.com also reported the sale.

Is Naples part of South Florida?

Not as the term is usually used. Naples is in Collier County on the Gulf Coast. South Florida generally means the Atlantic side: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Pure Equity serves that side and the Treasure Coast, not Naples.

If you own a home in a gated community in Parkland, Weston or anywhere in Broward or Palm Beach County, get a free valuation from Pure Equity. It shows what a fast, well-priced sale looks like in your neighborhood. Buyers can browse Parkland listings or see luxury homes across South Florida. For more Naples stories, read where Larry Bird lives in Naples and where Judge Judy lived in Naples before she sold.

Sources

• Naples Daily News via Yahoo, Home owned by legendary football coach Mike Ditka in North Naples sells for $1.195 million
• Crain's Chicago Business, Mike Ditka of Chicago Bears fame sells Florida house
• Crain's Chicago Business, Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka lands buyer for Florida home
• Homes.com, Former Chicago Bears coach sells Florida home

Based on publicly reported information; details may change and are not independently verified by Pure Equity. We do not publish private addresses.