Port Orange or Sarasota? (Tampa, Hollywood: HOA fees, low crime, hotel)
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Please help....my husband and I are looking at moving to Florida in the next couple of years and we are trying to narrow some areas down. We are planning multiple visits and we would appreciate your insight. Schools are a big part of our decision (we have a 6 year old). We also would like to be closer to the ocean (within 20 min) and there have to be hospitals close by (we are both nurses). A nice, quaint, and friendly community with lots of activities for both children and adults are another factor in our decision. I have researched a lot of cities and came up with Port Orange and Sarasota. Can anyone tell us which one of these areas may fit us better? I know that they both have good schools according to 2 reports that I pulled up. Sarasota seems to have some bad schools too, but it is a big area with a lot of schools, mostly good though. If we did pick Sarasota, would we have to move to the zip code of the school that we like, or doesn't that matter? Living in NJ, we don't have a choice in picking our school, so the school situation in Florida is very confusing to us. We also looked at Winter Park and Lake Mary, they seem to be very nice too, but the ocean isn't close like we would prefer. Also, if there are any other areas you can recommend, please do so. Thanks so much!
I bought my house in Port Orange because of the schools. It's a really nice and well maintained city. Very affordable. Very family oriented. Great shopping. Good restaurants. And just minutes to the best beach in Florida. Spruce Creek High School is one of the top high schools in the country. Daytona State College and University Of Central Florida are just a few minutes away. Low taxes. Low crime. Visit Port Orange and you will see for yourself.
My vote is for Sarasota as well. Fantastic schools, beautiful beaches and lots for the kids to do. I have a 6 year old as well. We're always on the go.
Southside services most of the downtown area south of Main St. North of Main would be mostly Booker school district. The Palmer Ranch area is mostly Ashton school district. There are other schools in the area but these are ones that I have either had personal experience with or I have friends that have kids in the schools.
Sarasota ranks as one of the top districts in the state by a number of measures, including test scores, graduation rates and teacher compensation.
It offers distinctive programs tailored to different student needs, including Florida's only school for the gifted, the state's largest special needs school and one of a handful of career-focused high schools.
I would recommend starting your search in Southside Village or Palmer Ranch. There's always something going on in the downtown area. Southside Village, which is the area west of US 41 and just of Main St and north of Siesta Dr. It's also close to the hospital. Right over the bridge is Siesta Key Beach or if you go over the John Ringling Bridge you have Lido Beach. Southside Elementary School is the districted school for Southside Village. You can look up what people have to say about Southside on these to websites: School Accountability Report... or www.greatschools.com The only problem is that nothing comes up when you search under SouthSide village because it's kind of a locally used term for that area but in the MLS they have that area broken down into a ton of little subdivisions. I'll list some here so you can look through and see what you find. If you have a little one I would suggest visiting The Children's Garden in downtown Sarasota. It's a really cool whimsical place for the little ones that is within walking distance of the downtown area. My five year old loves it there. Also, GWIZ,Mote Marine, Selby Gardens, Jungle Gardens are all within minutes of downtown. Every Saturday they have the downtown Farmers Market. Then there's the Hollywood20 Movie theater and The Burns Court Cinema, which has some really cool foreign films. Burns Court and Towles Court are neat little villages that are great to spend the afternoon catching a bite to eat or doing a little shopping. Selby Libraryis a fantastic library right in the heart of downtown. A great little organic grocery store is Morton's Gourmet Market, Southside Village, Sarasota, Florida. Marina Jack’s is always great for an afternoon out with the kids, a picnic under the trees or a leisurely walk by the bay Welcome to Marina Jack.
Some of the downtown neighborhoods are:
The neighborhoods are:
Hyde Park
Hartland Park
Poinsettia Park
Floyd & Cameron
Riverwood Park
Ridgewood
Granada
Laurel Park
Bayview
McClellan Park
Oyster Bay Estates
Bungalow Hill
Aqualane Estates
Graham Heights
Burns Court
Hartsdale
Cherokee Park
Badger Heights
Paradise Shores
San Remo Estates
Harbor Acres
Avondale
Mandarin Park
Morton Terrace
Most of the above are known as a whole as the Southside Village neighborhood. I listed a few that are on the fringe of that area. Here's some more info on the downtown area:
Palmer Ranch one of Sarasota's most popular and largest master planned communities with over 10,000 acres. Palmer Ranch actually consists of many neighborhoods, all individually operated under their own HOA. The common areas of Palmer Ranch are maintained by a master association. The overall look and feel of PR is "green" - the roads are grass and treelined, the sidewalks wind throughout the entire community, and they have recently been able to add the Legacy Trail to the many great aspects. The Legacy Trail is a paved walking/biking trail that runs through the woods along the path of the old railroad track.
Palmer Ranch is districted for great schools, is only 10-15 minutes to the beach, and is next door to the mall, new 12-screen movie theater and a fantastic YMCA complex, including a huge waterpark. Palmer Ranch is very popular with families.
Silver Oak and Prestancia are going to be your more upscale neighborhoods. Silver Oak has a championship golf course, tennis, canoeing, nature and bike trails, clubhouse, pool/spa, exercise facility. All home sites back up to a lake or preserve. It is one of the newer neighborhoods in PR.
Prestancia has two championship golf courses, country club, etc. The boundaries for Prestancia are-Palmer Ranch Way, McIntosh and Beneva. It pretty much runs inside of those streets-it encompasses 565 acres.
Reymore St is the southern boundary for Palmer Ranch. The eastern boundary runs out to I-75, the western boundary goes to Beneva and the northern boundary runs nearly to Clark Rd. This tells a little more about Palmer Ranch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Ranch Within Palmer Ranch is CJ Lofino YMCA Complex. It has a full aquatic center, gym/fitness, basketball, swimming, tennis, and water park for the kids.
My vote is for Sarasota as well. Fantastic schools, beautiful beaches and lots for the kids to do. I have a 6 year old as well. We're always on the go.
Southside services most of the downtown area south of Main St. North of Main would be mostly Booker school district. The Palmer Ranch area is mostly Ashton school district. There are other schools in the area but these are ones that I have either had personal experience with or I have friends that have kids in the schools.
Sarasota ranks as one of the top districts in the state by a number of measures, including test scores, graduation rates and teacher compensation.
It offers distinctive programs tailored to different student needs, including Florida's only school for the gifted, the state's largest special needs school and one of a handful of career-focused high schools.
I would recommend starting your search in Southside Village or Palmer Ranch. There's always something going on in the downtown area. Southside Village, which is the area west of US 41 and just of Main St and north of Siesta Dr. It's also close to the hospital. Right over the bridge is Siesta Key Beach or if you go over the John Ringling Bridge you have Lido Beach. Southside Elementary School is the districted school for Southside Village. You can look up what people have to say about Southside on these to websites: School Accountability Report... or www.greatschools.com The only problem is that nothing comes up when you search under SouthSide village because it's kind of a locally used term for that area but in the MLS they have that area broken down into a ton of little subdivisions. I'll list some here so you can look through and see what you find. If you have a little one I would suggest visiting The Children's Garden in downtown Sarasota. It's a really cool whimsical place for the little ones that is within walking distance of the downtown area. My five year old loves it there. Also, GWIZ,Mote Marine, Selby Gardens, Jungle Gardens are all within minutes of downtown. Every Saturday they have the downtown Farmers Market. Then there's the Hollywood20 Movie theater and The Burns Court Cinema, which has some really cool foreign films. Burns Court and Towles Court are neat little villages that are great to spend the afternoon catching a bite to eat or doing a little shopping. Selby Libraryis a fantastic library right in the heart of downtown. A great little organic grocery store is Morton's Gourmet Market, Southside Village, Sarasota, Florida. Marina Jack’s is always great for an afternoon out with the kids, a picnic under the trees or a leisurely walk by the bay Welcome to Marina Jack.
Some of the downtown neighborhoods are:
The neighborhoods are:
Hyde Park
Hartland Park
Poinsettia Park
Floyd & Cameron
Riverwood Park
Ridgewood
Granada
Laurel Park
Bayview
McClellan Park
Oyster Bay Estates
Bungalow Hill
Aqualane Estates
Graham Heights
Burns Court
Hartsdale
Cherokee Park
Badger Heights
Paradise Shores
San Remo Estates
Harbor Acres
Avondale
Mandarin Park
Morton Terrace
Most of the above are known as a whole as the Southside Village neighborhood. I listed a few that are on the fringe of that area. Here's some more info on the downtown area:
Palmer Ranch one of Sarasota's most popular and largest master planned communities with over 10,000 acres. Palmer Ranch actually consists of many neighborhoods, all individually operated under their own HOA. The common areas of Palmer Ranch are maintained by a master association. The overall look and feel of PR is "green" - the roads are grass and treelined, the sidewalks wind throughout the entire community, and they have recently been able to add the Legacy Trail to the many great aspects. The Legacy Trail is a paved walking/biking trail that runs through the woods along the path of the old railroad track.
Palmer Ranch is districted for great schools, is only 10-15 minutes to the beach, and is next door to the mall, new 12-screen movie theater and a fantastic YMCA complex, including a huge waterpark. Palmer Ranch is very popular with families.
Silver Oak and Prestancia are going to be your more upscale neighborhoods. Silver Oak has a championship golf course, tennis, canoeing, nature and bike trails, clubhouse, pool/spa, exercise facility. All home sites back up to a lake or preserve. It is one of the newer neighborhoods in PR.
Prestancia has two championship golf courses, country club, etc. The boundaries for Prestancia are-Palmer Ranch Way, McIntosh and Beneva. It pretty much runs inside of those streets-it encompasses 565 acres.
Reymore St is the southern boundary for Palmer Ranch. The eastern boundary runs out to I-75, the western boundary goes to Beneva and the northern boundary runs nearly to Clark Rd. This tells a little more about Palmer Ranch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Ranch Within Palmer Ranch is CJ Lofino YMCA Complex. It has a full aquatic center, gym/fitness, basketball, swimming, tennis, and water park for the kids.
Good luck with your search
Your post is interesting but the link to the best schools in America doesn't show any Sarasota schools.
Thanks for the information so far!
SoFlGal: I looked at Sarasota properties on the internet and could not find any of the neighborhoods you mentioned, with the exception of a couple in Palmer Ranch. Also, a lot of properties are older compared with other areas I've looked at. I read somewhere that the older the home, the greater chances of it not complying with current building codes for weather proofing. Do you know what year the building codes changed? Also, does Palmer Ranch have ccd fees? I heard that Lakewood Ranch had them but I wasn't sure of Palmer Ranch. There seems to be HOA fees associated with all of the homes I looked at. Is that typical of Florida? Would it be safe to look at neighborhoods that are associated with the better schools that you mentioned since I could not find any homes in the neighborhoods you mentioned?
Thanks so much!!!
I'm a Florida native, living in Sarasota. From your list of wants, Sarasota really fills the bill. This is a fantastic small city, with big city amenities, great schools, best beaches, a nice airport and also within an easy drive of the Tampa/St. Pete metro. You owe it to yourselves to give this place a close look!
ETA: I have never even heard of over half the neighborhoods on SoFLGals list either! lol! Must be the obscure names for the really old neighborhoods in town.
Which areas of Palmer Ranch would you recommend for families?
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