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Hubby and I are looking to move (retiring early!) to the Sarasota area in a few years. I am starting to investigate locations. We are interested in properties that are newer than 1995 and under $200K in the Sarasota downtown area as well as southward as far as Nokomis.
I am an avid vegetable container gardener. We currently live in a townhouse in Alabama, and I am able to grow tons of veggies on our back deck, which is about 5' X 11'. Our HOA is mellow and our deck faces the back of the property, so we haven't had any problem doing this. I would love to find a similar set-up in FL. I have read other threads, though, and it sounds like the HOA's can be very strict in rules regarding gardening.
Are there any such similar communities in the Sarasota area? A small home with a small lot/yard out back would be even better. However, it seems like all the newer properties are so much bigger and more expensive than we need. I suspect I may be asking for too much for the money.
We don't need all the other amenties of a pool, etc.
I think your budget is a bit low for Sarasota and Nokomis if you're looking for a SFH with land to garden. The real estate agents that frequent this board can give you an idea of what will fit your needs, but I think you'll have to up the budget.
If you can't up your budget, you might try Englewood, Rotunda, down to Placida. Those towns are south of Venice. And North Port to the east of Venice.
You're not going to get anything in Sarasota west of the trail under $200K, not even a lot, unfortunately.
There's a little area just south of Albee Farm Rd and north of Dona Bay in Nokomis. It's also west of the trail and you might be able to find a little bungalow there in your range. It's right behind the fire station. The locals call it Baypoint Park.
I agree with Macrodome, the Englewood area would probably be a good fit for you.
I Love the downtown Englewood area with the Farmers Market every Weds on Dearborn St: Welcome to the Englewood Farmers Market Mango's Bistro on Dearborn usually has Swinging Bridge there on Friday night. They are a great little bluegrass band. Vino Loco is another great restaurant which serves tapas. Probably my favorite restaurant in Englewood is Beach Road Bistro they have great Ahi Tuna. Heading out toward the beach is Lock n' Key. The Zombie University plays there on occasion. They are a really fun band.
If you're driving down the main drag in Englewood, you'll see The Sno Queen Sno Cone Shop. My father and mother-in-law own that. They serve New Orleans Sno Cones.
Farlows in Englewood is being remodeled right now but they are another great place to grab something to eat. Oh and Flatbread Pizza is the best pizza place in town, if you're looking for that.
Getting back to the downtown area, there's always something going on--Every year in the beginning of Sept we have the Englewood Pioneer Days. This has been happening ever since I was a kid. My mom used to dress me up in pioneer dress and we'd march in the parade. They also have music, a pie and watermelon eating contest, a beard contest and a car show. It's really a great time.
Every holiday the downtown area puts something on-They have the Firecracker Fest on the 4th of July, for Halloween the vendors on Dearborn St pass out candy and prizes to the kids and at Christmas they light up the street with Christmas displays and lights.
Then there's car shows, and art shows, and gallery walks and wine tastings, and music festivals. The cardboard Boat Races are fun. The kids make boats out of cardboard and race them across the harbor.
This November they are talking about having a new festival called The Waterfest, which was just featured in the local paper.
The Earth Day Fest is always in April and at that festival they have yoga, educational demonstrations, arts and crafts, plants, drumming and live music.
Joanne over at The Art Alliance of Lemon Bay teaches some really great painting classes.
Robert and Lata over at the Englewood Yoga Center have great morning and sunset FREE yoga classes everyday on the beach, On-going Classes Every Sunday, an hour before sunset they have the drum circle out on the beach. That's always fun to go to.
The Englewood Event Center regularly brings in top acts like Charlie Daniels and some older bands like Whitesnake and various comedy shows. It's a pretty small venue and a great place to see events.
When I was a kid we lived on Leach St over in the Bay Vista area. Then we moved out onto Little Gasparilla Island in the Englewood/Placida area, which is only accessible by boat. Then we moved back to the downtown area of Englewood. I currently live on Palm Island, in the Englewood/Placida area. The Bay vista area would also be a good area to investigate.
If you're OK with an older community then Englewood Isles might be to your liking.
Really what it boils down to is getting here and looking through a few communities and deciding what areas mesh with what you're looking for. Buyers usually know within a day or so what style and type of community they like and then you match them up with similar areas and communities.
Thanks so much everyone for the advice and input. I had a feeling I was expecting too much based upon what I was finding with my Zillow searches.
In terms of further south, I want to stay near my best friend who lives in Sarasota. So I don't want to go any farther south than just north of Venice.
And yes, the container gardening ability + location is most important to me. Either I am going to have to try to up the budget, go with an older home, or be lucky enough to find a foreclosure that is decent. We bought our current townhome as a foreclosure (bank-owned through a realtor), so I am familiar with that process. It turned out to be one of the best deals we've ever made.
There is a contradiction between wanting a place that is newer that 1995 and wanting to be near downtown. Cities start to grow at the center so older homes are near the center. Newer homes are further out.
I don't think it is going to be so hard to find something under $200k if you get slightly further out.
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by simple girl
Thanks so much everyone for the advice and input. I had a feeling I was expecting too much based upon what I was finding with my Zillow searches.
In terms of further south, I want to stay near my best friend who lives in Sarasota. So I don't want to go any farther south than just north of Venice.
And yes, the container gardening ability + location is most important to me. Either I am going to have to try to up the budget, go with an older home, or be lucky enough to find a foreclosure that is decent. We bought our current townhome as a foreclosure (bank-owned through a realtor), so I am familiar with that process. It turned out to be one of the best deals we've ever made.
Back to the drawing board!
You mentioned you are looking a few years out. Prices have been increasing on an annual basis for the past 5 years and predictions are that they will continue to increase. Therefore the areas priced under $200k that you are researching now may be over your budget when the time comes for you to actively begin your home search. You may want to stick to properties/neighborhoods priced in the $180k and under range.
I live in south Manatee county, work in both Sarasota and Bradenton, so know the local market. Finding a 1990's or newer home priced under $200k will be difficult unless you are willing to look much further away from downtown Sarasota. Places like Parrish, Ellenton (NE Manatee county) or even further away, North Port, Englewood (south Sarasota county).
West Bradenton has quite a few small neighborhoods of 1960's to 1980's ranch style homes in well kept neighborhoods that would be priced in the $180k and under range. You would be fairly close to Anna Maria Island but again, a longer commute to downtown Sarasota. There are also a number of villa communities that were built pre 1990 but well maintained, more affordable than Sarasota, in that area.
If you are willing to consider older single family homes there are some neighborhoods east of US41 but still fairly close to downtown Sarasota that I can suggest.
Closer to downtown Sarasota, Alta Vista and Paver Park are popular neighborhoods with buyers. Zip codes mainly 34237 but also 34239. Paver Park homes were built mainly in the late 50's and early 60's by the Paver brothers, Stanley and Paul. Many of the homes in this neighborhood are now being renovated. Alta Vista means "high view" and the Alta Vista neighborhood (south of Ringling and north of Bahia Vista, west of Tuttle & east of US301) is not in a flood or evacuation zone. The neighborhood is rated one of the 10 most walkable in Sarasota. These 2 neighborhoods are also close to Payne Park, which offers playing fields for sports, walking paths and a skateboarding park. Alta Vista has quite a mixture of living options, from modest bungalows to higher end homes and duplexes.
The South Gate area is partially in the city, partially in the county, nearer to Siesta Key Drive. It's a mixture of 1960's and 70's ranch style homes, 50's bungalows and cottages. It's also near Arlington Park which has great recreational facilities, including a community pool. The actual South Gate community has a voluntary HOA and if you join, you can pay just under $100 extra each year to use the South Gate community pool and center, which is on the Tuttle roundabout just south of Webber St. The South Gate area zip codes are 34231 and 34239. Also in that same general area is the neighborhood Forest Lakes Country Club, which has nice 1960's - 80's ranch homes.
Newer townhomes are already selling for more than $200k, so not many options there. And those that are available are generally not set up to give you container gardening options. Again, if you are willing to consider something built in the 70's - 80's, there are villa options in both The Meadows (34235) and Palm Aire (34243) that might work. A lot of the Meadows villas have private patio areas that may work for container gardening, but you would have to consult with the condo boards on what is and isn't allowed.
If you are a little more flexible on the year built, there are, as I mentioned here, a number of options open to you.
You mentioned you are looking a few years out. Prices have been increasing on an annual basis for the past 5 years and predictions are that they will continue to increase. Therefore the areas priced under $200k that you are researching now may be over your budget when the time comes for you to actively begin your home search. You may want to stick to properties/neighborhoods priced in the $180k and under range.
Actually, yes indeed we are looking to move to Florida in 2018, BUT, we may end up buying something this year. We have a rental property here in Alabama. Our tenant is sounding like she may be moving out at the earliest 3 months from now, at the latest 6 months from now (although we aren't 100% sure, she is asking for a shorter lease, so we are reading between the lines).
Rather than pay our property management company to re-lease it, we are thinking if she moves out we may try to buy something in Florida that we could get a renter into until we are ready to move south ourselves. My friend did tell me about the prices increasing, so it behooves us to buy earlier if our tenant moves out. So...I'm researching our options now, just in case. And if something "perfect" presents itself we may buy in FL and rent it out even if our local renter doesn't move out. So, I'm "kind of" in the market right now...for the right property.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunshine Rules
If you are willing to consider older single family homes there are some neighborhoods east of US41 but still fairly close to downtown Sarasota that I can suggest.
That would be great. My main concerns with older homes are (1) needing more repairs (2) being out of date - I don't want to have to do renovations. So if I could find something that was already renovated and has had major maintenance done already (roof, etc.), I'd be more willing to look at older homes to get the features we want and location. I realize something has to give! I also just spoke with hubby, and we are considering increasing the budget to $250K. I'm hoping that will increase our options for a slightly newer property in the area I mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunshine Rules
Closer to downtown Sarasota, Alta Vista and Paver Park are popular neighborhoods with buyers. Zip codes mainly 34237 but also 34239. Paver Park homes were built mainly in the late 50's and early 60's by the Paver brothers, Stanley and Paul. Many of the homes in this neighborhood are now being renovated. Alta Vista means "high view" and the Alta Vista neighborhood (south of Ringling and north of Bahia Vista, west of Tuttle & east of US301) is not in a flood or evacuation zone. The neighborhood is rated one of the 10 most walkable in Sarasota. These 2 neighborhoods are also close to Payne Park, which offers playing fields for sports, walking paths and a skateboarding park. Alta Vista has quite a mixture of living options, from modest bungalows to higher end homes and duplexes.
This sounds great. We'd love to be in a walkable neighborhood. We would also like to be near where the Legacy Trail is going to come up through. My husband is an avid biker. I discovered it is planned to come right up to Payne Park, and then will continue on to downtown Sarasota. But I wasn't sure of those neighborhoods and also was wary of the older homes. But, as someone pointed out earlier, if we want to be closer to downtown or to the beach, we need to look at older homes as people built there first and the city expanded out. This is a learning process for me - I'm identifying how far our money will/won't go, and then adjusting our expectations and/or budget as needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunshine Rules
The South Gate area is partially in the city, partially in the county, nearer to Siesta Key Drive. It's a mixture of 1960's and 70's ranch style homes, 50's bungalows and cottages. It's also near Arlington Park which has great recreational facilities, including a community pool. The actual South Gate community has a voluntary HOA and if you join, you can pay just under $100 extra each year to use the South Gate community pool and center, which is on the Tuttle roundabout just south of Webber St. The South Gate area zip codes are 34231 and 34239. Also in that same general area is the neighborhood Forest Lakes Country Club, which has nice 1960's - 80's ranch homes.
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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If you are willing to bump up your budget as indicated, there are a number of neighborhoods just north of University Parkway, in south Manatee county that have listings from time to time that are built 1990s and newer -- Quail Run, Briarwood, Regal Oaks, Lionshead, Garden Lakes, Sabal Harbour, perhaps Mote Ranch are a few suggestions (zip codes 34243/eastern portion & 34203).
Lake Sarasota (34241), just east of I-75 off of Bee Ridge has homes built in the 1980's to 2000's. It is not deed restricted so container gardening is not a problem.
There are a few neighborhoods off of Proctor Road, east of Beneva that may have something from time to time priced under $250k and 1990's or newer, but those are getting harder and harder to find.
All of these are going to put you further from downtown Sarasota. So it's a trade off between newer vs closer.
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