Communities without a lot of small kids (Tampa, Sarasota: insurance, crime rates)

[Sunshine Rules]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

My agent has been adamant about avoiding Bradenton and Manatee county. Anyone have the same feelings about this? Is Manatee county really a bad place to consider moving to?

I live in south Manatee county, have been here for 9 years and love it. Apparently a lot of other people agree with me as there are 9 new home communities within 4 miles of my home. Most of Lakewood Ranch, one of the most popular master planned communities in the country is located within Manatee county, as are a number of other golf and country club communities such as University Park, Palm Aire, Tara, Rosedale, River Club and Waterlefe. As I mentioned previously, 2 large 55+ communities are in the area, Cascades and Lakeridge Falls. Many of these communities have clubhouses, community activities that may appeal to you.

If your agent is telling you to avoid Manatee county, it must be for one of two reasons: (1) the agent isn't familiar with the neighborhoods there and doesn't want to do their homework to become familiar or (2) the agent may unintentionally be commiting a possible violation of the Fair Housing Act. Our job as agents is to match the buyer's list of features that they say they want to available properties. Unless you specifically said you don't want to live in Manatee county, your agent should not avoid showing you properties there.

[DragonflyMom]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

Thanks for this information. It looks incredible. I will have to check into it a bit more. I like that there is a singles group (hopefully older singles!) and a ladies luncheon group. I really didn't pay attention to IslandWalk when I was there in March, from the satellite map it appeared to be mostly undeveloped. That's the problem with searching online, not everything that is available to use is up to date.

Yes, if you look at it online I can see how you would think it is under-developed. In fact there is a well established portion that seems to have been there for years, and now they are starting construction on the other half. They open up two or three streets at a time, build these out, then move to the next streets and start again, I think our street will be almost built out by the time we move in.

We did a of of research online and then visited in person for a week, as I described in that other post. We have been 100% satisfied with the experience with IslandWalk so far. Once they got the lot cleared, they did a phone "pre-construction" meeting to be sure that all the structural changes we requested (increase the lanai space, add a door out to lanai from master, change a tub to a shower) were accounted for.

We went back down there early this month, just to see how things are going, and we were impressed with the quality of the work. The sales rep posts online photos so we can see the house grow, and we are having a phone "pre-Sheetrock" meeting next week with pics to be sure everything is correct up to thus point. Short of being there to check up on it in person, that's about as good as it gets.

I agree with you about the ladies group. One of the reasons we are moving is that our little town is just kinda dead, with nothing much to do, and our neighborhood has no planned activities at all. We have no social contacts to speak of. I am looking forward to the water aerobics, yoga, and the planned group activities. My husband and want to check out pickle ball and bocce ball too.

I also can recommend a nice lady we found online who has small, clean rental houses in South Venice only a mile or so from the big intersection of Hwy 41 and Jacaranda. Very convenient. She has a membership to a neighborhood association that gets you access to a private beach on Mansota Key via neighborhood ferry. Very nice. Her prices are reasonable too. We stayed in one of her houses two different weeks while we were house hunting. Much better than a hotel.

One more thing...use that link to the newsletter and look at some prior newsletters. There are pics from some of the activities, where you can see the ages of the residents. I'd say 55 and up is exactly right.

Good luck with the house search!

[bbronston]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

My agent has been adamant about avoiding Bradenton and Manatee county. Anyone have the same feelings about this? Is Manatee county really a bad place to consider moving to?

If you really want to see what fits you in Sarasota and Manatee, and your agent doesn't want to show those properties to you, the best thing your agent can do for you (in my opinion) is to refer you to another agent up this way who he/she knows or has researched for you. I can understand an agent having a comfort zone--it's better than trying to be all things to all people-- but the professional thing to do is to refer a customer to another agent who can help.

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

... I like that there is a singles group (hopefully older singles!) ...

If you are in your 50s, you are going to fall into the category of "younger".

[dpbarr2000]

I agree with the other posters. Go with a 55+ community, or there are some, such as Village Walk in Sarasota, Island Walk in Venice, and Grand Palm in Venice, that are new or newer communities with fewer children.

[SoFLGal]

I would say that Venice might be a good place to start with an average of 68, it might appeal to you. Have you checked out the island of Venice?

I agree with some of the other agents on the board. I think you should explore all areas that might appeal to you so can investigate them more or rule them out.

[jclarkx2]

I'm not sure about 55+ communities since I'm not quite 55 yet and from what I've seen online about these communities, they don't offer homes the size I want. I really like Venice and that is the area I looked in when I visited in March. My fear about Venice is that I have been told by insurance agents that insurance rates in Venice are higher than other areas such as Sarasota.

I'm also concerned about flood zones. I can't seem to get info from my agent about what I've been reading concerning new flood maps taking affect in 2015 and whether this will affect the places I've been looking at in Venice.

When I was in Venice in March, I did look at Venetian Golf and River Club. It seemed quite nice. I was a bit turned off by the CDD fees. They seemed kind of high and I'm concerned that they would affect resale. CDD fees are not something we have where I live, so I really am not familiar with them. The other concern I had was that there appears to be some sort of mining company that borders the community. I worry about noise and dust.

What I would really like to do is come back to Florida and look at neighborhoods myself without an agent. Only problem is, many are gated communities. Does anyone know if it's possible to look at gated communities without having an agent with you? I really don't want to waste an agents time just exploring communities.

I do appreciate all the suggestions I've been given. I'm glad I stumbled onto this forum.

[Sunshine Rules]

If you come here for a weekend you can get access to a number of the gated communities where agents are holding open houses. However, you may want to wait until after the Labor Day weekend. You will probably find more open houses going on after the big holiday weekend.

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

I'm also concerned about flood zones. I can't seem to get info from my agent about what I've been reading concerning new flood maps taking affect in 2015 and whether this will affect the places I've been looking at in Venice.

I thought someone posted this link earlier in this thread, but I guess not. Flood insurance is on a house by house basis, not based on an area. This website allows you to enter the address and determine the flood zone to that particular house. Zones V or A, you will have to have insurance to get a mortgage.

Florida DEM Disaster Preparedness Maps


If you have not already done so, you will want to do a search here on the city data forum using the advance search option. Search on the words "flood insurance" and select a search of "titles" as opposed to all threads. Specify the location as "Sarasota". There have been some lively discussions on the topic here.

[bbronston]

If you are going to look at gated communities where there is still active construction going on, you won't have any problem getting in. Just let them know you are there to see the models. If you are looking at re-sales, you can still drive up to the gate and tell them you are interested in seeing the community. Some will not let you in without an agent but most will ask for your name, take your plate number, and let you in.