Nearly Giving Up on Sarasota (Tallahassee, Tamiami: appointed, section 8, short sales)

[touretteboy65]

And so, my experience thus far in Sarasota has not been good. Although I am employed with good income, I am having an incredibly hard time in finding a home that is reasonably priced and not in a state of disrepair. In other words, what the heck has gone on in the last few months beside sellers who continue to pad their listing prices, selling homes that are junk, and walking away from potential contracts with reasonable offers? I am a reasonable person, but personally, I am offended by the prices homes are selling for that are built I the 1950s, 60s, & 70s that haven't been updated since day one and are demanding prices in the upwards of $200K and $300K. Immediately, I walk into these homes and discover they'll need $50-$60K in renovations to bring them into the 21st century. I'm not into ambiance, I'm not buying, "chic," I'm buying a home to suit them needs of my family. Personally, I'm disgusted by the homes I've seen, homes that have obvious mold issues, cracked pool foundations, kitchens from the '70s, demanding a price of $325K, all on a lot of a whopping .17 acre. I visit neighborhoods and no sooner that I turn a corner out of them, am met with an industrial complex or run down apartment complexes home to Section 8 housing. Yeah, an incredibly safe environment to raise my kids. Schools? Lucking if you find a home in an area that's zoned for Ashton Elementary, Sarasota MS, and Riverview HS in the $450Ks, you won't find it. Lakewood Ranch? Sure....$4K in taxes and $1500K in CDDs. No thanks. If I need toilet paper, I'll reach under my bathroom sink for a new roll rather than reaching out to my neighbor's house 6 feet away. Keep your beaches, I could care less. Big disappointment. Call me during your soon to come housing bubble....I'll listen to your whining and tell you I told you so. Peace & Adios.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by touretteboy65

And so, my experience thus far in Sarasota has not been good. Although I am employed with good income, I am having an incredibly hard time in finding a home that is reasonably priced and not in a state of disrepair. In other words, what the heck has gone on in the last few months beside sellers who continue to pad their listing prices, selling homes that are junk, and walking away from potential contracts with reasonable offers? I am a reasonable person, but personally, I am offended by the prices homes are selling for that are built I the 1950s, 60s, & 70s that haven't been updated since day one and are demanding prices in the upwards of $200K and $300K. Immediately, I walk into these homes and discover they'll need $50-$60K in renovations to bring them into the 21st century. I'm not into ambiance, I'm not buying, "chic," I'm buying a home to suit them needs of my family. Personally, I'm disgusted by the homes I've seen, homes that have obvious mold issues, cracked pool foundations, kitchens from the '70s, demanding a price of $325K, all on a lot of a whopping .17 acre. I visit neighborhoods and no sooner that I turn a corner out of them, am met with an industrial complex or run down apartment complexes home to Section 8 housing. Yeah, an incredibly safe environment to raise my kids. Schools? Lucking if you find a home in an area that's zoned for Ashton Elementary, Sarasota MS, and Riverview HS in the $450Ks, you won't find it. Lakewood Ranch? Sure....$4K in taxes and $1500K in CDDs. No thanks. If I need toilet paper, I'll reach under my bathroom sink for a new roll rather than reaching out to my neighbor's house 6 feet away. Keep your beaches, I could care less. Big disappointment. Call me during your soon to come housing bubble....I'll listen to your whining and tell you I told you so. Peace & Adios.

Wow - quite a diatribe there - all I can say is, supply and demand. There are plenty of people paying the price to live here. Not everyone is so picky as you, I guess.

[Luby162]

Taxes are only 4k and an extra 1500 or so for amenities.....where do I sign up ??? We are coming from the east coast so those numbers are actuall a third of what I pay here for nothing...oh, wait, they pick up my garbage.....and snow plow...sometimes...we are actually looking into LWR to build, why don't you just build something ?? You can build for 200-300 k....good luck to you either way...see you on the beach....

[HarborRat]

I'm guessing you have a realtor, I'm guessing you want to finance with relatively little down? Realtors are pretty busy with cash offers on nice houses so they don't want to deal with some mortgage buyers...you get to see what they wouldn't dare show investors or cash buyers that know what they want and have the means to close asap. The market is going up and swinging from a buyers to a sellers market (albeit slowly).

I think you need to be more proactive, look at the MLS and only look at the houses you want and stop wasting your time on junk the realtor shows you. If you still can't find something you are either too picky or looking over your price range. The houses are selling, so if you don't like the prices go up north...but they are much worse.

[TD*]

tourette, you should consider Tallahassee.

[jean-ji]

It's a disappointing market now compared to just two years ago. We started looking at houses when our first grandchild was born four years ago. It was just a dream at that time, but we've kept an eye on prices throughout that time. It seems like the bottom of the market was somewhere around the winter/spring of 2011. 3/2/2's with a pool were plentiful and at great prices then. Now 3/2/2 are tougher to find and won't have a pool for that same price. Prices have steadily been climbing since that low. We bought last year, wishing we had caught the bottom, but glad we bought then instead of this year.

[StepHome941]

You can look at nicer and newer homes for less money down in North Port. There's a reason our population tripled over the past decade from 20,000 to 60,000 residents. For the same price as a 2/1 1960's fixer upper in Sarasota you can buy a 3/2 2006 built in North Port, on a larger lot of land. There's a bunch of new stores that have opened in North Port with more stuff on the way, and Sarasota is not that far a drive.

[nphomeowner]

I was also going to suggest North Port, more bang for your buck and close to mostly everything.

[touretteboy65]

Thanks for the suggestions and comments, but unfortunately, I've done all that I could. I have been working with three realtors, initially providing them our criteria for the home we wanted to buy. Since our search began, we have been disappointed over and over again with the houses available. I have realtor access to the MLS and have been scouring it everyday, all to find little to no activity and listings of homes built in the stone age. Lakewood Ranch might as well be called, "Lakewood Townhomes." Houses are on top of each other. Give me a break! Palmer Ranch? Back the dump truck loaded with cash to buy at closing. Other parts of Sarasota? Many of the homes are older and have seen little to no improvements/updates. I have every ability to improve upon a home, however, for a seller to command such a high price for a home needing an immediate $40-$50K in improvements is ridiculous. How can I justify a 30 year mortgage anywhere between $1700-$2000K a month when I'm dumping an additional $50K into? For those of you moving from the Northeast and laughing at the "low" taxes and CDDs, it's all relative. Count on your vehicle insurance to TRIPLE upon moving to Florida. Count on your homeowner's insurance to at least DOUBLE. Florida's insurance situation, especially homeowners, is quite unstable and costly. I know this being a resident of Florida for over 40 years. We have gradually lowered our criteria to match a more affordable house, but those houses are in such deplorable condition and located in terrible neighborhoods that I wouldn't think twice about moving into with our children. Lack of "ownership pride" is quite obvious in neighborhoods we have visited, and I have searched throughout much of Sarasota and Manatee counties. North Port is a disaster, don't fool yourself. It's full of short sales, foreclosures, and abandoned homes. The retail and commercial development promised years ago for that area during the housing boom has all but vanished and been abandoned. Venice is for geriatrics and too far away. Bradenton is, well, Bradenton; Manatee schools are a joke (ranked 47th out of 66 counties in Florida, way to go!). Thugs, gangs, and dying dumpy subdivisions are prevalent all throughout that county. Why should I put 20% down on a home (our intention from the beginning) on a home that I know is in such poor condition? I refuse to settle on a home simply because, "that's all there is available." Thanks, but no thanks.

[CTC]

Originally Posted by touretteboy65

North Port is a disaster, don't fool yourself. It's full of short sales, foreclosures, and abandoned homes. The retail and commercial development promised years ago for that area during the housing boom has all but vanished and been abandoned. .

This is untrue-there is a brand new large retail center which was just completed off of Tamiami (Cocoplum Village Shops). It is anchored by a large Publix and has a very nice selection of shops(the new Panera is great). It is actually visually appealing with nice landscaping (this coming from a strip mall hater).

Growth at Cocoplum Village Shops in North Port signals city's recovering economy | HeraldTribune.com

The other end town of has growing retail as well. (near I-75 Sumpter/Price). Things are very much looking up in North Port.