Calusa Lakes and/or Prestancia - family friendly? (Sarasota, Bradenton: homes, neighborhoods)

[junonia]

My family is moving to Sarasota this summer, and am wondering about these 2 neighborhoods. We'd like "family friendly", as we have a rising 2nd grader.

Is Calusa Lakes more retirement-oriented? Or are there many families with young children there? How about Prestancia?

We do not want to live in Lakewood Ranch, it's too far from the beach and boating.

We do play golf, but probably would not join a club, rather golf at different courses in the area.

Any insight is appreciated.

[SoFLGal]

IMO, there are much better choices for you. If you're looking in that area I would suggest looking at Turtle Rock, Deer Creek or The Hammocks.

Alternatively and an even better option would be to check out Rivendell, Park Trace or Willowbend. My daughter, who is fourth grade, has many friends in those neighborhoods. My older girls, 22 and 11th grade also have friends in the above neighborhoods. Also Southbay Yacht Club is another great option. If you're willing to go into Venice you might want to check out Stoneybrook or the brand new Grand Palm. One of my agents is having a home built in Grand Palm and he loves it.

To get an idea of the neighborhood, take a spin by the neighborhood pool on the weekend. Also stop and talk to people who many be outside while you're there. I've found neighbors are pretty unbiased and you'll usually get the straight scoop, whether good or bad. Also read the minutes from the community meetings. It will give you an idea on what they are talking about in the community. If there is a community calendar, pull that up and check out the scheduled events.

There are plenty of golf courses in the area that are close to all of these developments. For your situation I wouldn't recommend living in a golfing community. I would recommend you play the various local courses.

You can go here to check out how the state ranks our local schools them: School Accountability Report .

[Nancy in Nokomis]

If I remember correctly - when I was home shopping Calusa Lakes does not let you leave your car parked in your driveway at night - so when your children become teens - where will they park? Also no basketball hoops. I say Calusa is more for retired people - just my opinion.

[Sunshine Rules]

Hi,

Can you expand on your definition for "family friendly" as it's one of those terms that you can talk to five people and may each give a different interpretation as to what the words mean.


If you are looking for demographics of the two areas in general, for Palmer Ranch you'll find that age 0 - 18 makes up 13% of the population in zip code 34238 and that the median age is 62.

For zip code 34275 where Calusa Lakes is located, the demographics break down to 15% of the population within the zip code is ages 0 - 18, 72% are age 40 and older.

As someone else mentioned, visiting various communities and their community amenities on the weekend is a good way to get a better feel for whether the neighborhood does or doesn't fit your personal needs.


Golfing communities where the golf course and related amenities are equity owned by the residents can get expensive, both the up front buy in and the annual fees. The other option is a golfing community (such as Calusa Lakes or Prestancia) where the golf membership is optional and the golf course and it's amenities are outside owned. However, several golfing communities in our area (2 in Sarasota, 1 in Bradenton and 1 recently in North Port) have run into financial problems. Three of those four have either sold or have arrangements to sell the golf course land off to developers for new housing construction. Homeowners in each of those communities bought with the understanding that they were buying in a golfing community, they did not expect to lose their golf course views to new construction homes or villas.


While Grand Palm is a lovely new community by Neal Communities with a south Venice address, the physical location is in the southeast area closer to North Port. That does put it somewhat of a commute to Sarasota and further from the Venice beaches. There are several new construction communities in the immediate area surrounding Grand Palm as well if you are open to looking towards south Sarasota county.

If you can give us a little more information as to the specifics of what you are seeking, it would be easier to suggest some neighborhoods.

[junonia]

Thank you all for your feedback to my question. I have read this board for several months in preparation for our move to get a better idea of neighborhoods, so I really appreciate the time you take to answer my questions.

We are "older" parents of a rising 2nd grader. My husband will be retiring in about 12 years. We both like to golf, hence the interest in a golf community. I will say, we don't have a whole lot of time right now to golf because of work and our son's activities, so that's why playing local courses would probably fit us better. We also like to boat, and being somewhat close to the Intracoastal would be nice.

We have my in-laws in the area at 80 & 86 (in good health), who might move in with us some day if they need help. I have a cousin in the area, and also 2 aunts and uncles, so we have family. My husband works from home so no problem with a job there.

My main concerns with choosing a neighborhood are 1) good schools and 2) having the potential for friends in the neighborhood for our son. Ashton and Laurel Nokomis Elementary schools look good, and I've tried to stay within their boundaries on my search. I know about Pine View. Our son is at a Gifted school currently, but is on the more "talented" side than "gifted" side. I just don't know if it would be the right fit without visiting. A year of 2nd grade will help us figure that out.

I think a community pool where kids could get together would be nice. (Don't really know if that is done in FL, when most people have their own pools.)

I'd rather be closer to the Venice and Nokomis beaches than Siesta Key. My cousin lives in Osprey, so it would be nice to be somewhat close to her.

We have 2 dogs, so it would be hard to find a rental. Plus, I don't like the idea of moving twice, and would rather try to narrow down our search beforehand.

We will be in town in mid-June to look at homes and neighborhoods. In the meantime, my cousin will go out and look at homes for us. We'd like to make a decision in June and buy a home then to be in by the end of July.

Hopefully this discussion will help narrow down our search. Looks like I should stick with Rivendell, Turtle Rock, Deer Creek. I wasn't sure how many kids were in Southbay, but that looks interesting too. I haven't looked too closely at Park Trace or Willowbend or The Hammocks - I'll check them out. Stoneybrook and Grand Palm look further out than I'd like, just offhand.

Many thanks!

[SoFLGal]

Thanks for giving a more detailed account of your situation.

Taking into consideration the fact that you have a 2nd grader and giving that the most weight, I stand by my original recommendations for communities. It looks like you have done your research regarding schools in the areas that I mentioned. As you pointed out, if you do decide to go the Pine View route then you would be close by if you purchase in one of the communities I mentioned.

Yes, if there is a community pool many people use that as a place to socialize and bring their kids (if they have them). That's why I suggested you check out the pool on the weekend to get a better idea of the make up of the community. I've found that many of the online stats are not accurate or just out of date. Talk to people in the desired communities.

Personally, I prefer Nokomis Beach to the surrounding beaches. It's just less crowded, not as much traffic, etc.