Returning to Livin Floridays (Tampa, Sarasota: best neighborhoods, home search, neighborhoods)

[ScooterPilot]

[SIZE=3]I am a long time reader and occasional poster to this forum. I’ve found it very useful in the past. I am now seeking some opinions that can speak to the Sarasota area of Florida. We used to live in the Tampa area, but moved out of state about 7 years ago, and we now miss our life in Florida. We’ve come to realize that we’ve been the happiest there…so we are hoping to return within the next few years. This time we hope to stay indefinitely, throwing out our anchor, and raising our young family consisting of 4 kids.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]That being said, we’d appreciate your opinion on the best area(s) in and around Sarasota that are most conducive to raising kids. We are vaguely familiar with the area, having lived near there before…but understand that things were much different 7 years ago than they are now. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Thanks to this forum, we’ve been able to sort where most of the better schools are located at…but, we’ve yet to sort out which are the best neighborhoods for family life.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Any information or opinion(s) that you can kindly pass onto us in this forum would be greatly appreciated.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Kind Regards,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]ScooterPilot[/SIZE]

[SoFLGal]

There are many areas that fit the bill. It just depends on what type of neighborhood you are looking for. In Sarasota's Palmer Ranch you might want to investigate-Turtle Rock, Deer Creek, The Hamptons or Stonebridge. Ashton would be the elementary for this area. They have an excellent gifted program, IMO.

Serenoa is also another good option. If you look a little farther south you might want to investigate Rivendell. It backs up to Pine View School, which is the highest ranked school in the county.

If you're not into gated communities then you might want to look over by the Sarasota Hospital in Southside Village. The kids in this area go to Southside Elementary, ranked the 2nd best school in the county according to recent test scores.

[ScooterPilot]

[SIZE=3]Thanks for your help SoFLGal. I was glad to see you respond. I’ve read some of your previous posts, and found them all to be excellent detailed sources of information about the Sarasota area. If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your brain some more privately …possibly down the road when we get serious about our home search. You sound like you’d make a great buyers agent.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Best,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]ScooterPilot[/SIZE]

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by ScooterPilot

[SIZE=3]Thanks for your help SoFLGal. I was glad to see you respond. I’ve read some of your previous posts, and found them all to be excellent detailed sources of information about the Sarasota area. If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your brain some more privately …possibly down the road when we get serious about our home search. You sound like you’d make a great buyers agent.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Best,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]ScooterPilot[/SIZE]

Sure no problem, look forward to hearing from you.