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Just a short tidbit about me and my family is we're currently living in North Jersey for more than 20 years, I'm retired, and my my wife is currently an officer manager and certified medical biller and coder for one of the top cardiovascular surgeons in the world. She has over 10 years of experience in office managment and billing and coding.
We have three kids who would be moving with us, who are 23 (college graduate), 20 (finishing up a 2 year degree for Law Enforcement) and an 18 year old just starting college. So pre college/university schooling is not really needed.
We are set on Florida, and around a 250k max budget, and below is what we're looking for.
Where is your employment and the hours you will be working. The only one working career wise would be my wife working a 9-5 office management / billing and coding job.
What is your budget for housing. Do you want to rent or buy? $250,000, we'd like to buy a home, and it needs to have at least 4 bedrooms, and 2+ car garage. I won't bore you with the details about a preferable pool, 3+ bath etc.
Are schools a concern? Reasonable commute to university and colleges are a must.
What is an acceptable commute time? Preferably within 15-25 minutes of our home to jobs and university / college , and preferably within a few miles from local shopping / restaurants etc (we're from the city, we're not use to commuting at all and it's less than desirable :P)
What else is important to you? Must be close to a major hospital. It has to be a friendly and nice neighborhood,and safe. We can't stress the importance of a nice part of the city you could go out in and feel right at home. Low crime surrounding areas. Reasonable 15-25 min commute to work, and minimal distance to shopping, etc. Being relatively close to other cities, or beaches would be nice but is obviously not a must, we just don't want to drive an unreasonable amount of timeto get to a Best Buy or Wal Mart IF possible.
So in short we have NO idea, where to look, and know very little about Sarasota and Florida in general, we just know the homes in Sarasota and surrounding areas are gorgeous and we could live a much nicer beginning of our retirement down there than up here, and our short times we've spent vacationing in Florida is a place we desire to retire in. But with our children coming it would have to be a place they could start families in. We'd even be open to other city ideas depending on if they fit our criteria.
We also posted this in the Tampa forum, so feel free to give a wide range of feedback!
Let us know if you have any other questions to help us!
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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Hi,
By the way, very helpful, informative post.
My first question would be regarding your wife and employment. Sarasota has 2 major hospitals and a number of cardiovascular medical centers and physicians. However, the pay scales you will find here for many jobs will be below what you find in the northeast. Is your wife willing to take a cut in salary to work a similar job in Sarasota? If income is a concern, I would recommend checking into the employment aspect first.
As to housing:
You will be able to find 4 bedroom homes in a number of Sarasota neighborhoods that would fit into your criteria and needs. Some of the neighborhoods will have older homes, built in the 1980's or 1990's, others will have newer homes build after 2000. However, newer 4 bedroom homes in that price range in Sarasota are in demand so inventory is low.
Some of the older, more established neighborhoods that come to mind are: The Meadows (34235), Greystone (34232), Forest Lakes (34239), Forest Lakes South (34233), Lake Estates (34232), Tamaron (34232), Country Manor (34233), Beneva Pines 934233), Greenfield (34233), Emerald Gardens (34233), Southfield (34233), Country Place (34233), Green Tree (34233), Gulf Gate East (34238), Gulf Gate Woods (34231)
If you are willing to consider south Manatee county, there are a number of both older and new or newer neighborhoods that would fit into your criteria.
Of the older neighborhoods (1970's thru 1990's):
Desoto Lakes Country Club in Palm Aire (34243) (Palm Aire is located just north of University Parkway), Palm Aire (34243), Quail Run (34243), Vintage Creek (34243), Garden Lakes Estates (34203), Tara (34203) - golf community, some parts require country club membership, others do not
Next to Palm Aire is Mote Ranch, which has a number of newer home neighborhoods (34201, 34243) such as: Chapparal, Mote Ranch, Carlyle, Arbor Lakes, Copper Ridge, Longpond at Mote Ranch
Other newer neighborhoods in this same south Manatee county area include (mostly 34203):
The Trails, Riomar, Barrington Ridge, Regal Oaks, Mandalay - gated, Woodbrook (34243) (new construction - gated), River Place - gated (34203), Greyhawk Landing - gated (34212), Heritage Harbour - gated (34212),
Lakewood Ranch (34202 and 34211) has several neighborhoods that may have a 4 bedroom home in your price range, including Summerfield, Greenbrook and Central Park At LWR (new construction). Lakewood Ranch is a well maintained, award winning master planned community with great outdoor recreational options, a large recreation center and it's own Main Street shopping center built to mimic a small city main street from eras past. Lakewood Ranch has a great web site: Florida Homes - Florida Real Estate | Lakewood Ranch
Sarasota itself is a fairly large metro area of about 200,000+ people. Sarasota is known for it's cultural activities (performing arts, ballet, opera, dance, etc) but is also known for it's beaches and variety of things to do. We currently have 3 shopping malls with another in the plans and 1 outlet mall. You'll find people living here from all over the US and many foreign countries. We have several colleges in our area: Ringling College of Art & Design, New College, FSU, Argosy and Keiser. So while Sarasota is home to a number of retirees, it also has a good mix of younger people too. I think your children will not lack for things to do in Sarasota.
My suggestion would be do some research on both jobs and neighborhoods/homes in the Sarasota - Bradenton area, then take a trip to check it out in person to see if what looks good on paper actually meets your expectations.
So far in terms of looking at employment oppurtinies, (here in NJ her annual income is around $75,000), and from what little we've read and researched on locations we estimate she'd take about a $20,000 loss if she only makes average for this field in Florida, that being $55,000 in this particular field.
We're going to begin looking into employment opportunities in that general area, to see what we could actual expect with her vast experience in the field.
But we've also took a rough estimate of what we'd be able to sell our home for in this current market, and purchase a home down there (taking in to consideration, mortgage, home owners tax, insurance, down payment, equity etc) and we could easily see a $12.5k - $16k per year subtraction in owning a home fitting our criteria and price down there. (That's not including other 'sub-bills' such as electricity, heating, food. That's just for the home). So while reasonably expecting a $20k lower annual income we can reasonably expect around a $15k average give or take lower home owner payments.
We'd preferably be interested in a new modern style home, (if that makes sense) due to building codes for hurricanes, weather in general, plumbing, heating, sheet rock etc.
The only thing that worries me about buying is how much the market could (rise?) in the next year on homes we're looking at.
We definitely love the idea of being in reasonable commute to shopping districts, malls, jobs, and family oriented places in general. The retiree lifestyle and young people for younger adults is definitely desirable also.
A community college in the neighbor would be a must, and we like the general assortment of hospitals and universities around.
More input is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!
Just a short tidbit about me and my family is we're currently living in North Jersey for more than 20 years, I'm retired, and my my wife is currently an officer manager and certified medical biller and coder for one of the top cardiovascular surgeons in the world. She has over 10 years of experience in office managment and billing and coding.
We have three kids who would be moving with us, who are 23 (college graduate), 20 (finishing up a 2 year degree for Law Enforcement) and an 18 year old just starting college. So pre college/university schooling is not really needed.
We are set on Florida, and around a 250k max budget, and below is what we're looking for.
Where is your employment and the hours you will be working. The only one working career wise would be my wife working a 9-5 office management / billing and coding job.
What is your budget for housing. Do you want to rent or buy? $250,000, we'd like to buy a home, and it needs to have at least 4 bedrooms, and 2+ car garage. I won't bore you with the details about a preferable pool, 3+ bath etc.
Are schools a concern? Reasonable commute to university and colleges are a must.
What is an acceptable commute time? Preferably within 15-25 minutes of our home to jobs and university / college , and preferably within a few miles from local shopping / restaurants etc (we're from the city, we're not use to commuting at all and it's less than desirable :P)
What else is important to you? Must be close to a major hospital. It has to be a friendly and nice neighborhood,and safe. We can't stress the importance of a nice part of the city you could go out in and feel right at home. Low crime surrounding areas. Reasonable 15-25 min commute to work, and minimal distance to shopping, etc. Being relatively close to other cities, or beaches would be nice but is obviously not a must, we just don't want to drive an unreasonable amount of timeto get to a Best Buy or Wal Mart IF possible.
So in short we have NO idea, where to look, and know very little about Sarasota and Florida in general, we just know the homes in Sarasota and surrounding areas are gorgeous and we could live a much nicer beginning of our retirement down there than up here, and our short times we've spent vacationing in Florida is a place we desire to retire in. But with our children coming it would have to be a place they could start families in. We'd even be open to other city ideas depending on if they fit our criteria.
We also posted this in the Tampa forum, so feel free to give a wide range of feedback!
Let us know if you have any other questions to help us!
Thank you!
Real simple answer -->34238 The only one you can't lose on. Read my myriad of other posts for smart investment reasons.
Real simple answer -->34238 The only one you can't lose on. Read my myriad of other posts for smart investment reasons.
Sorry, but that didn't exactly tell me anything about that area, and I searched that area on a few websites, and theres not a single home fitting my criteria / price range.
Also I looked through your other post, and found countless post of you just say that zipcode FOLLOWED by you saying read your other post on why.
We moved from South Jersey 16 months ago and purchased a short sale (built in 2008) in Heritage Harbour (East Manatee). Couldn't be happier. Sarasota housing was too old and we we did not want to do "updating" renovations. Also, due to the panache, SRQ is more expensive. Manatee Hospital is 15 minutes away and Sarasota Memorial is 40 minutes from HH. Good luck in your search. I'm confident you will love the Gulf Coast.
Having lived in NYC and north NJ, I'd put a vote in for the University area. Lots of shopping, restaurants, movies, fitness centers and bars which might be attractive to your kids. Beaches are about 20 mins to Lido and 25-30 mins to Siesta. Downtown Sarasota is about 15 mins away. I'm in the Meadows where you might be able to get a 4 bedroom or 3 bedroom w. a den. The Meadows has miles of biking and walking trails. Each subdivision has 1-2 heated community pools. There is also a country club w. 3 golf courses, 17 har-tru courts, fitness center and a jr olympic pool. North NJ costs vs Sarasota: real estate taxes $12,000 vs $2300, gas and electric $450/mo vs $60-70 for this time of year, gas about the same. We are only 2 people tho vs your larger family (more water and electric consumption).Most of the University and Lakewood Ranch areas would require cars, otherwise your kids would feel stranded. There is a decent public bus line SCAT which services most of the county and appears to be widely used.
Sorry, but that didn't exactly tell me anything about that area, and I searched that area on a few websites, and theres not a single home fitting my criteria / price range.
Also I looked through your other post, and found countless post of you just say that zipcode FOLLOWED by you saying read your other post on why.
Sorry, all you did was confuse me
Don't tap the glass.
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