Looking to relocate . (Orlando, Sarasota, Bradenton: for sale, HOA fees, townhomes)

[MINNIEMEME]

My hubby and I live in Orlando were ready to retire we been to N.GA nice area but not for us. ST.Augustine but not for us we were in Bradenton and Sarasota last weekend and like the area we went to Espanade and it looked nice but not sure about the stewart district they don't have it in Orlando area at this time. We could not find the main street to really get a feel of the area we then moved on to Sarasota nice areas were in our 60's looking for a place to call home where is there a nice area for homes in the mid 300.000 for us to look any info would help us. Thank you in advance .

[Sunshine Rules]

Esplanade and Central Park at Lakewood Ranch (just north of Esplanade) are in stewardship districts vs CDD (community development districts) in Lakewood Ranch. Both serve a similar purpose, which is to finance infrastructure and improvements to the Lakewood Ranch communities and common areas that would not necessarily be possible under county budgets such as roads, landscape maintenance, nature preserves, etc. These special taxing district fees show up as a separate item on the property tax bills. The current annual stewardship district assessments for Esplanade, per the builder, run $1098 for a 45 ft wide lot, $1223 for a 52 ft wide lot and $1401 for a 62 ft wide lot.

Of the other newer communities in Lakewood Ranch, you will find CDD fees that typically run in the $1300 to $1600 per year range for a typical home of around $300,000.

Were you asking about the Main Street shopping center for Lakewood Ranch or downtown Sarasota? The Lakewood Ranch Main Street shopping area is at the south end of the master community, off of University Parkway, just west of Lakewood Ranch Blvd. Esplanade is located on the north end of Lakewood Ranch, off of SR70.

There are a number of communities without CDD or stewardship districts that will have homes in your designated price range, many are in south Manatee county near Lakewood Ranch. Others can be found in Sarasota but especially in another master planned community, Palmer Ranch.

If you want brand new construction nearer to Esplanade, Medallion Homes has a new subdivision, Riva Trace, on Honore Ave just north of University Parkway. It is a gated community with access to the Braden River for kayaking and small boats. (The Braden River does not go out to the bay on the south end.) They do not have CDD fees.

Rosedale is a gated, country club community (country club membership optional with several tiers available), also on SR70 near Lakewood Ranch that would not have the CDD fees either.

Also in the same area as Rosedale, next to Lakewood Ranch is River Club, a gated, golf club community without CDD fees. The lots are large compared to Lakewood Ranch and annual HOA fees run in the $455 to $715 range for most homes.

Cascades on Lockwood Ridge Road in south Manatee county is a gated, 55+ community of single family homes with a fantastic 250,000 sq ft clubhouse with indoor/outdoor pool, spa, fitness center, media rooms tennis and a great social program with lots of available activities and groups for homeowners to take advantage of.

Lakeridge Falls is another gated, 55+ community with clubhouse, tennis and community pool. It offers both single family homes and paired villas. Lakeridge Falls is on Tuttle Ave just north of University Parkway.

Mote Ranch (zip code 34201, 34243) has several neighborhoods that are also in the Honore area just north of University Parkway. Mote Ranch does not have CDD fees either. Mote Ranch has a community recreational center with pool and offers a dock & kayak/canoe launching place on the Braden River. River Park at Mote Ranch has it's own neighborhood community pool and includes yard maintenance in the HOA fees, but most of the neighborhoods require the homeowner to provide their own yard maintenance. As a tradeoff, the annual HOA fees are typically around $600 year. Some other neighborhoods to check out would include Grand Point, Longpond at Mote Ranch, Arbor Lakes, Misty Lake at Mote Ranch and possibly Chaparral.

The University Parkway area, near the south end of Lakewood Ranch has been growing steadily in both new construction homes and retail stores and restaurants. There is an outlet mall and shopping center located just west of the I-75 exchange at University, with plans by the Benderson company to begin construction soon on an upscale mall next to their current shopping center on the south side, directly across the road from the outlet mall.


In south Sarasota, within the Palmer Ranch (zip code 34238) master planned community you will find 2 newer construction neighborhoods: Village Walk and The Isles. All of the other Palmer Ranch neighborhoods will be older, built mainly in the 1990's to early 2000's. Palmer Ranch does not have CDD or stewardship district fees. It does not have it's own shopping centers or a large recreation center like Lakewood Ranch, but it is next door to one of the larger Sarasota shopping malls at the south end at US41 and Beneva Rd and is next door to both Potter Park (public, with tennis courts, picnic area and playground) and a YMCA. Palmer Ranch is approximately 10,000 acres with over 9000 residences. It also has wildlife and nature preserves similar to Lakewood Ranch.

Village Walk is guard gated, with townhomes and single family homes. There's a large clubhouse, 2 community pools, fitness center, tennis courts, walking trails and a small community center area with some shops, a beauty salan, a little pub/sandwhich shop and convenience store where you can buy gas and a post office. Village Walk has 1177 residences on 516 acres.

The Isles off of Honore in Palmer Ranch has new construction and offers both single family homes and villas. HOA fees cover lawn maintenance. It offers a large community rec center with fitness, pool, basketball and tennis courts, playground and an activities director.

Of the older Palmer Ranch communities, you will not find as many community amenities as the newer ones have. Turtle Rock, which is gated & offers both homes and villas, is probably going to have the most to offer of the somewhat older neighborhoods. It has a rec center with pool, tennis & basketball courts and playground.

The Hamptons has 3 subidivisions within it's gated community, along with a community pool and gas street lights.

Deer Creek is also gated and offers both homes and villas. It does not have a community pool in the single family homes neighborhood but there is one in the villas.

The Country Club off of Beneva is guard gated and offers access to tennis and golf (optional membership required for those).

Marabella is a gated neighborhood with both homes and villas, along with a community pool.

Mira Lago is also gated and offers both homes and villas that are Mediterranean style. They have a salt water community pool.


Many of the neighborhoods listed above have their own neighborhood association websites. Lakewood Ranch has a community website.

[TamRE]

You gave the price range you were looking for, but not really any other type of criteria. Do you want to be in a 55+ community or not? What type of amenities are you looking for within a community - pool, tennis, golf, fitness, clubhouse, etc? How close to the beaches do you want to be? Do you even want to be in a deed-restricted community with homeowner association fees? If so, how high of HOA fees do you want to pay? There are a lot of options within your price range.

[MINNIEMEME]

I like to be in a new home or only a few yrs old ok with hoa's up to 250.000 a month pool we don't golf so we don't need that. I guess I could do a 55 community .I don't need to be to close to beach 30 min's away is ok . Thank you We gotta come back down sometime soon

[TamRE]

Visiting is the best idea. Come down and view some of the developments and homes. There are a lot of communities that would meet your criteria. The main thing will be to look out for the HOA fees. Some of the communities are very high. You can use this web site to search for homes. I would narrow down some of the communities before you come because it can be quite overwhelming if you try to look at too many.
Florida Homes for Sale direct from MLS

[Sunshine Rules]

Most of the newer home construction in the Sarasota - Bradenton area is going to be found in south Manatee county. There are also some newer construction neighborhoods (late 1990's to mid 2000's) in both south and eastern Sarasota, but many of the neighborhoods closer to the beaches will be older construction.

The brand new construction neighborhoods such as Woodbrook (Neal Communities) and Riva Trace ( Medallion Homes) in south Manatee county may have a home or two listed in the MLS, but you will find more information on their available models and upcoming inventory at the actual builder web sites.

Not all newer home communities have high HOA fees. There are a number of communities in our area that have HOA fees of less than $650 per year.

[COOKIESRUBY]

Hi does anyone live or know anything about the quality of homes here? Woodbrook
6574 Pine Breeze Run
Sarasota, FL 34243 Thanks

[Sunshine Rules]

Woodbrook is by builder Neal Communities. They are well known in our area, they build a lot of homes in Lakewood Ranch. They are now in the final phase of construction in this community. The homes are nice, the lots are narrow. HOA fees cover the community pool What other questions do you have?

[RUBYRED7]

Thanks for responding do you live there? Is it a Sarasota address?

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by RUBYRED7

Thanks for responding do you live there? Is it a Sarasota address?

You should be able to find all the info you are looking for on this website: Welcome to Woodbrook

Woodbrook is located between Honore Ave and Whitfield Ave off of 45th St E. From I-75 take exit 213 (University Parkway) west to Honore Avenue. Turn right onto Honore Avenue and continue 4.7 miles. Entrance to Woodbrook is on the left.