Can't decide!! Where to rent a house/condo for 1-3 years.. part time living in FL and part time in NJ.. (Tampa: rentals, townhouse) - Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area - Florida -Manatee and Sarasota Counties - City-Data Forum

downthrust · 01-16-2012, 11:43 AM

I am currently living in NJ.. I own a home up here. I am in my 30's.. getting married soon and my fiance and I are looking for a second place for vacationing too mainly.. we want to rent first in Florida and then after getting to know the areas better we will look to buy a single family home in 2-4 years.

I have been to the Sarasota down to Naples areas... spent some time in Fort Myers/Lehigh Acres as well.

I'm wondering a couple things...

1.) what would be the best place for a young couple like ourselves? We would like to be someplace close to the water so we can do fishing, beaches, etc.

2.) Since we are first looking to rent something for a year or two.. would it be better to rent a condo/townhouse or rent a single family home? What are the average price ranges for rentals to consider? we are looking for something around 1,200 square foot.. 2 bedrooms.. 2 bathrooms and possibly a garage?

3.) Being that we would only be down at the florida home sporatically throughout the year we need to make sure it's a safe area that we don't have to worry about not being there that it might get broken into, vandalized, etc. What areas would be best?

4.) And lastly I worry about the prices of flights to/from Florida. I normally fly out of EWR (Newark, NJ airport)... I have flown into RSW (Fort Myers, FL) airport.. and I usually can find pretty cheap non-stop flights there. But I don't know about the Sarasota/Bradenton airport... is it just as nice of an airport as RSW.. are flights about the same price from NJ ?

Thanks everybody for your help.. I really appreciate it!

mr&mrssunshine · 01-16-2012, 05:05 PM

SRQ is smaller than RSW. still very nice and user friendly. there are less flights to it. price just depends on too many variables. Jet Blue use both I believe and are an excellent airline

downthrust · 01-17-2012, 01:17 PM

yeah I have to check out if Jetblue flies direct into there

WantPalmerRanch · 01-18-2012, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by downthrust

I am currently living in NJ.. I own a home up here. I am in my 30's.. getting married soon and my fiance and I are looking for a second place for vacationing too mainly.. we want to rent first in Florida and then after getting to know the areas better we will look to buy a single family home in 2-4 years.

I have been to the Sarasota down to Naples areas... spent some time in Fort Myers/Lehigh Acres as well.

I'm wondering a couple things...

1.) what would be the best place for a young couple like ourselves? We would like to be someplace close to the water so we can do fishing, beaches, etc.

2.) Since we are first looking to rent something for a year or two.. would it be better to rent a condo/townhouse or rent a single family home? What are the average price ranges for rentals to consider? we are looking for something around 1,200 square foot.. 2 bedrooms.. 2 bathrooms and possibly a garage?

3.) Being that we would only be down at the florida home sporatically throughout the year we need to make sure it's a safe area that we don't have to worry about not being there that it might get broken into, vandalized, etc. What areas would be best?

4.) And lastly I worry about the prices of flights to/from Florida. I normally fly out of EWR (Newark, NJ airport)... I have flown into RSW (Fort Myers, FL) airport.. and I usually can find pretty cheap non-stop flights there. But I don't know about the Sarasota/Bradenton airport... is it just as nice of an airport as RSW.. are flights about the same price from NJ ?

Thanks everybody for your help.. I really appreciate it!

We were exactly in your same situation a few short years ago - living and owning a home in NJ, in our 30's, getting married soon and planned to vacation and buy in SWF. If we did it, the both of you can too. Here is how we did it.

1,2,and3) We targeted Palmer Ranch since it is a large community close to the USA's best beach with nice landscaping throughout with lots of nearby shopping. We put an ad in Craigslist married couple looking to share a home and do home chores in Palmer Ranch in addition to paying $1,000 a month.
We had good response and lived in Village Walk with a widower who needed mostly car rides here and there and ate meals with us. It worked out well. And we ended up buying in Palmer Ranch.

4) In most cases the Tampa Airport had best pricing. SRQ was usually the priciest.

downthrust · 01-18-2012, 09:43 AM

very interesting.. you sound exactly like us!!!

where in NJ were you living?

I hate this state!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by WantPalmerRanch

We were exactly in your same situation a few short years ago - living and owning a home in NJ, in our 30's, getting married soon and planned to vacation and buy in SWF. If we did it, the both of you can too. Here is how we did it.

1,2,and3) We targeted Palmer Ranch since it is a large community close to the USA's best beach with nice landscaping throughout with lots of nearby shopping. We put an ad in Craigslist married couple looking to share a home and do home chores in Palmer Ranch in addition to paying $1,000 a month.
We had good response and lived in Village Walk with a widower who needed mostly car rides here and there and ate meals with us. It worked out well. And we ended up buying in Palmer Ranch.

4) In most cases the Tampa Airport had best pricing. SRQ was usually the priciest.

WantPalmerRanch · 01-18-2012, 10:08 AM

We lived in Essex County and hated having to go to Newark for important documents.
Living in Morris county would have been better.

NJ has a lot of work. You can learn, work and gain lots of knowledge/experience. And then after being through this apply your entrepreneur skills here in Sarasota.

Life is is short. You have the right idea start enjoying the healthy lifestyle here way before you officially retire.

I think a lot of people have it backwards retiring here at 65+ when they should have come here years ago.

siestachica · 01-19-2012, 12:21 AM

How funny I thought the same way, I'm 35 and thought why not just make the move now as Sarasota ticks so many boxes now, it's not a town reserved for the over 65's, this place is buzzing with a young set as well...good luck with your move, somebody did tell me today though that 'Cougar Town' is based on Sarasota, so lock up your husbands!!!!!!

Obrero · 01-19-2012, 06:42 AM

Jet Blue doesn't fly to Sarasota airport from Newark (I wish). They fly from JFK to Sarasota..but from NJ it's easier to fly from Newark to Tampa.

Avalon08 · 01-19-2012, 11:53 PM

Going to visit my Mom in Bradenton, I fly out of Philly and it's always cheaper going into Tampa, not to mention there are no direct flights from PHL to SRQ. And it's not that much of a hassle driving from TPA to Bradenton, only about 45 mins. or so.

vacoder · 01-20-2012, 07:57 AM

Not sure where in NJ you live but you could also look into flying out of smaller airports on regionals. Allegient flys out of Allentown, PA and Spirit flys out of Atlantic City for instance.

On a side point curious why you seem to be looking for a long term lease on a place you will only use sporadically. There are a lot of rentals where the owners barely use their place and are looking to rent out. If you are capable of scheduling your trips for say a year out I would contact a realtor that does rentals and see what price I could work out with scheduled stays.