North Port, Fl (Cape Coral, Daytona Beach, Sarasota: mortgage, loans, relocation)

[safe123]

Hi,
I am relocation to Sarasota, FL from Atlanta, Ga.
I be working in Sarasota, I will like to be able to commute at least 30miles or less from home to work
I am looking for a very good high school and technical school for my kids.
I was told the town of North Port, Fl will be a good place to relocate.
I am looking to rent a (3 bedroom )apartment, house or townhouse in nice quiet area where I can rise my kids in a safe neighborhood. Could someone please give me some suggestion. Thanks

[Audacious]

There was long thread about NorthPort a few weeks ago. It was all positive. NorthPort is booming in both population and commercial development. There have been several new schools built and more o the way. There is also a huge shopping mall going up at the corner of Price and Sumter Blvd. approx 250,000 SF .

One thong to be careful about if you are renting or buying make SURE that the house has city water, The water down here stinks both literally and physically. You have to hold your nose to take a shower.

Good Luck

[MrTudo]

Here's some "booming" news about northport.

Property Values Are Melting Like Ice Cream In Florida

The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. “The first thing you notice as you drive the hundreds of miles of crumbling roads in this once rapidly growing city is the enormous number of ‘For Sale’ signs. Every 9th or 10th house is either listed for sale or will be as soon as foreclosure proceedings are concluded.”

“All told, as many as 2,000 of North Port’s 20,600 homes hang over the market, grossly distorting any semblance of balance between supply and demand, data from the Sarasota County MLS, RealtyTrac.com and Port Charlotte property appraiser Dennis Black shows.”

“‘Drive any block in North Port and you will see four or five ‘For Sale’ signs in every direction,’ said Michael Tenn, a Daytona Beach resident still trying to sell the house his grandmother moved out of last year. ‘Everybody is trying to get rid of property.’”

“Now that the boom is over, North Port is suffering more than any other place in Southwest Florida. Its economy is based on home building and real estate sales, and those industries are now at a virtual standstill.”

“The homes that are on the market, or soon will be, represent a 4.7-year supply given the current pace of sales.”

“In all, builders have constructed 9,700 homes in North Port since 2002. Convinced that wave after wave of retiring baby boomers would continue to spur growth for years to come, builders kept building.”

“Today, all that has come to screeching halt. As of mid-June, there were a total of 885 homes for sale in North Port, according to the Sarasota County MLS.”

“There also were nearly 200 FSBOs and 400 houses that builders erected on speculation and are holding in inventory, according to statistics. In addition, another 195 homes have been foreclosed on by banks, while 305 more waiting to go through that same process, statistics show. It is possible that lenders who took possession of those 195 homes also might have put them on the market for sale.”

“Ray Martin, spent nearly $740,000 buying six homes in North Port three years ago, is in a different predicament. He was able to sell one at a $100,000 profit before the boom ended, but is still sitting on the other five and paying interest on nearly $500,000 in loans.”

“‘We’ve come way down on price,’ Martin said. ‘We’re just about where we were three years ago, and I don’t see any upswing.’”

“In the meantime, he is trying to rent the houses to cover his expenses. But rents have also plunged. ‘I have one house on a deep water canal that I’m renting for $895, and I used to get $1,100. The others I used to rent for $1,000 and I’m now getting only $800.’”

“Roger Clyne, an agent with Exit Realty, did not try to sugarcoat the situation. ‘There’s a tremendous supply of homes on the market and demand is way down,’ Clyne said. ‘Property values are melting like ice cream, and no one knows how far they will drop. The only way to attract buyers is to keep moving the asking price below the rest of the pack.’”

“Traditionally, about 85 percent of the 20,000 homes in the city were homesteaded, which means they were bought by people who intended to live in them. By 2005, that figure had dropped to 67 percent.”

“Black checked the addresses of all the non-homesteaded buyers and found that two-thirds of them live in Florida, suggesting that they were speculators and not snowbirds. With all those empty homes hanging over the market, it is no surprise that prices have dropped.”

“A 1,600-square-foot home built in 2004 that might have commanded $203,000 during the boom is now worth $60,000 less, Black said. An acre of land that went for $50,000 two years ago can now be had for $10,000.”

“North Port was the epicenter of the housing boom and is now at the heart of the downturn, a phenomenon that is hurting everyone who catered to those in the construction trade.”

“‘A lot of the local guys are hurting, they’re not working,’ said Ray Behren, (owner of) Chicago Pizza & Pub. ‘A lot of guys are still working, but they’re just not getting paid.’”

“Behrens does not put up dry wall or cement cinderblocks or show homes to prospective buyers, but like nearly every business in formerly fast-growing North Port, Chicago Pizza & Subs has been hit hard by the real estate downturn.”

“‘North Port’s economy was so front-loaded on building,’ said John Pitzer, who works at the Boca Grande Waste Water Treatment Plant, but lives in North Port. ‘Their livelihoods were based on construction. Now they are trying to fall back on something else. There’s a lot of guys out there working for peanuts right now.’”

“Pitzer, too, got caught up in the real estate bubble. Tired of sweltering summer temperatures and the insects that come with it, he and his wife were considering a move to Wyoming. ‘We were talking about it,’ Pitzer said. ‘At first, my wife wasn’t sure she wanted to do it. Then all of a sudden, the bottom falls out. Now we can’t.’”

“Last year…Everett Newton, a molding technician who has been in the industry for 13 years, brought home about $1,200 per week. Now, he clears about $400. ‘They’ve cut back big time,’ Newton said. ‘Last year wasn’t the greatest. But this year, the real estate economy has just crashed.’”

“Though the work has slowed dramatically, his mortgage payments have not. His neighborhood was once growing, a home to speculators, newly arriving families and scores of construction crews. Now it is half-built homes, vacancies and ‘For Sale’ signs.”

“‘I would say in a four-block radius of my house, there are 10 homes for sale,’ Newton said. ‘They’ve been up for sale for a year. They aren’t selling. A lot of stuff is going up for sale. I think they are trying to sell and get out before things get worse.’”

[Louieva]

"Rent To Own" Sweet Deal
Great home at a Great price...

[SIZE=-1]$157,000. MLS # 670973
3 Bed 2 Bath 1198 living 1818 total Sq Ft[/SIZE]


House for Sale or for Rent in North Port Florida. $750.00 per month to rent. Call Lou at (703) 231-7888

Homes For Sale

[paradiddle]

North Port may be a good town someday but you have to be careful at the moment. Like anything in Fla. I would rent first......

I have some good friends in North Port and some nice houses.

Better yet , fly down and drive around for 2-4 days

Water issues- we don't have city water but we do have a water system which removes sulfer smell etc. not that big a deal

[kmtjss]

I work there some times and at the school. Great sports and lot to do. Construction has picked up and you can get a home for about 50 to 100 K cheaper there than in Sarasota. The schools are new and the people there are very nice. You should rent because they are still dropping there priced. Englewood is also nice ut a little more quite.

[ambi007]

I agree with paradiddle - Everyone is so excited to see how cheap rent or buying is in NPort. But be careful, crime is rising due to the influx of renters/lower income families - per sun-herald.com. And it can be seen just by walking into some restaurants or grocery stores.

We moved back there due to the low costs, but became increasingly uncomfortable with having to raise my children there. I'm sure in the future the town will return to normal. Living in a gated commmunity is your best bet . Have you looked into Venice? There is a much nicer and cleaner crowd there.
North Port Schools

Of course not everyone is going to dislike living there - we all have different priorities. But have the people who told you to move been living there for a few years? I worked in a place where I came into contact with many newcomers, and most I talked to seemed quite disappointed within months but weren't able to sell or rent their houses to leave. (Very scientific survey, I know!)

[ambi007]

Also - very important - use a national sex offender database, such as familywatchdog.com to map the nearest offenders to the home you're planning on living in.

[121804]

Ambi007- Agree with you completely.

The paper just had an article on Monday on how Port Charlotte saw an increase in school enrollment, the first in 4 years, & state is has to do with low cost of homes in the area. Nothing to do with jobs or the quality of the area, just that it was cheap to live there.

That is not always a good thing.

North Port will one day hoepfully be a nice place. It is trying. Lots of growing pains it appears. But it has also been hit hard by the reality of the housing market, overconstruction & lack of professional economy. Way too much negativity coming out of there right now to make a move there. We also wondered when it would see the Cape Coral effect & everyone would be charged an assessment for city water & sewer since most of the city is on septic/well, etc.

We were FLOORED when we looked up the sex offenders for Port Charlotte & North Port. Amazed at the numbers.

I think anyone who is moving to the area with a young, school age family, really, really needs to research the area. This may be an ok place for retirees & those who live here half time, but families face a completely different set of issues that can be avoided, to an extent, in other areas.