Advice (Tampa, Cape Coral, Sarasota: fit in, real estate, low crime)

[ckinler75]

I'm a newby to this forum and have some questions I'm hoping you can answer. I'm from Louisiana I moved to Florida, in your opinion is the best area to purchase a home out of Manatee County, Pinellas County, Tampa and why? Thank you!

[bbronston]

I would expect that most of the people living in Pinellas will say Pinellas, most in Tampa will say Tampa, and most in Manatee will say Manatee. That won't help you much. There are properties of every type and price in all three locations, all three have their higher crime areas, all three have great venues and cultural attractions.

You should write the things that are important to you and ask for opinions on the best place to find those things, IMO.

[hemjem]

Originally Posted by ckinler75

I'm a newby to this forum and have some questions I'm hoping you can answer. I'm from Louisiana I moved to Florida, in your opinion is the best area to purchase a home out of Manatee County, Pinellas County, Tampa and why? Thank you!

I'm not in the real estate business, thus don't have an axe to grind, but I've lived in Pinellas (north), Tampa (northwest), Sarasota County (meadows), and Manatee (south county-University). I lived and was born in Grand Isle, and in a host of other states. There are many good things about each county. It depends what you seek and the lifestyle you want to pursue. If I had to simply choose with some sort of finality I would choose Manatee/Sarasota in the current economic and social milieu. There are lots and lots of variables to consider and no place is pure perfection. My coming from and growing up in LA, I find Manatee and some parts of SRQ a bit more appealing. That's just a personal assessment having lived in various parts of the region as a whole. The advice you're going to get on sites such as this is mostly going to come from migrants who have only lived say in NY, IL, Canada, mid Atlantic, and the Midwest. For the most part FLorida is their only experience living in the South. Your experience coming from Louisiana is largely a different perspective - but closer to mine no doubt.

[Old Gal]

When we decided to move to Florida I started checking the demographics of the cities we were interested in, i.e. fairly close to a major city but not in a major city, low crime, proximity to the beach, etc. After that I started checking real estate prices and what we were willing to pay. Once I had it narrowed down to several cities I started checking activities for seniors, etc. I found that by reading about the cities I was interested in on CD I was able to figure out the basic "personalities" of those cities. When we started seriously looking at houses I knew that Venice was where we would most likely be the happiest. It will probably be very difficult for someone who doesn't know you very well to make recommendations. What I found in my search was that each of the smaller cities, i.e., Venice, Englewood, Punta Gorda have quite different personalities, not anything bad that I could find just different.

[ckinler75]

Originally Posted by hemjem

I'm not in the real estate business, thus don't have an axe to grind, but I've lived in Pinellas (north), Tampa (northwest), Sarasota County (meadows), and Manatee (south county-University). I lived and was born in Grand Isle, and in a host of other states. There are many good things about each county. It depends what you seek and the lifestyle you want to pursue. If I had to simply choose with some sort of finality I would choose Manatee/Sarasota in the current economic and social milieu. There are lots and lots of variables to consider and no place is pure perfection. My coming from and growing up in LA, I find Manatee and some parts of SRQ a bit more appealing. That's just a personal assessment having lived in various parts of the region as a whole. The advice you're going to get on sites such as this is mostly going to come from migrants who have only lived say in NY, IL, Canada, mid Atlantic, and the Midwest. For the most part FLorida is their only experience living in the South. Your experience coming from Louisiana is largely a different perspective - but closer to mine no doubt.

Thank you for your insight! I guess I should have asked my question better. I really would love buy a home with a dock or on the water to drop my boat in more so than a golf course. I haven't found a lot of homes with bigger lots other than Parish, Lutz, Myakka etc. I would like to be closer to shopping, dining, hospitals. Thank you for your response. I hope I'm putting this reply in the right area! 😜

[davery5872]

I've lived in both Pinellas and Sarasota counties. Pinellas is a pretty small county surrounded on three sides by water. As such, it has a much denser population than Sarasota County. In Sarasota, if you want a bit of space, you go east of I 75. In Pinellas County there is no place to go. Because of this the traffic is much worse in Pinellas. Also, because of the population density the neighborhoods are much more inconsistent. You may have a really nice area right next to a really bad area. The exception is the northern part of Pinellas, which is quite nice. Housing costs and living costs in general will be cheaper in Pinellas, but Sarasota has more cultural opportunities with a thriving arts scene.

[karenkellywriter]

If you want to buy a house with a dock many parts of Englewood (Charlotte County, next to Venice) has many canal front homes (that lead to open ocean) with boat lifts. From my experience many 1700-2200 sq foot canal front homes built between 1989-2006 can be found for between 199K-300K, depending on other amenities such as a pool, newer age of home, ceiling height, landscaping, etc. Parts of Englewood, especially on canals are pretty while parts of Rotunda seems very desolate (how I think of Cape Coral, somewhat depressing). Canal front homes in Englewood can also be close to the beaches and fishing. There are also canal front homes in Venice that lead directly to the open ocean, and they can sometimes be more expensive than Englewood, but they're are also less expensive older homes (built in the 70's) on canals in Venice that are in the price range I mentioned.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by karenkellywriter

If you want to buy a house with a dock many parts of Englewood (Charlotte County, next to Venice) has many canal front homes (that lead to open ocean) with boat lifts. From my experience many 1700-2200 sq foot canal front homes built between 1989-2006 can be found for between 199K-300K, depending on other amenities such as a pool, newer age of home, ceiling height, landscaping, etc. Parts of Englewood, especially on canals are pretty while parts of Rotunda seems very desolate (how I think of Cape Coral, somewhat depressing). Canal front homes in Englewood can also be close to the beaches and fishing. There are also canal front homes in Venice that lead directly to the open ocean, and they can sometimes be more expensive than Englewood, but they're are also less expensive older homes (built in the 70's) on canals in Venice that are in the price range I mentioned.

I totally agree with this 100%. You're not going to get a better bang for you buck then in the South Gulf Cove/Englewood area if you're looking for waterfront. There are brand new homes with a dock, a pool and gulf access for under $350k in South Gulf Cove. It's close to Boca Grande and Englewood beaches. Has a quaint downtown area. You really should check it out if you're looking at waterfront.

[FLHfan]

Originally Posted by karenkellywriter

If you want to buy a house with a dock many parts of Englewood (Charlotte County, next to Venice) has many canal front homes (that lead to open ocean) with boat lifts. From my experience many 1700-2200 sq foot canal front homes built between 1989-2006 can be found for between 199K-300K, depending on other amenities such as a pool, newer age of home, ceiling height, landscaping, etc. Parts of Englewood, especially on canals are pretty while parts of Rotunda seems very desolate (how I think of Cape Coral, somewhat depressing). Canal front homes in Englewood can also be close to the beaches and fishing. There are also canal front homes in Venice that lead directly to the open ocean, and they can sometimes be more expensive than Englewood, but they're are also less expensive older homes (built in the 70's) on canals in Venice that are in the price range I mentioned.

What do you find depressing about Rotonda? Have you ever been there and do you even know the meaning of desolate?

There are five grocery stores, seven banks, a Wal Mart, home improvement and hardware stores, too many restaurants to count, marinas, yacht clubs and Englewood beach all within minutes of Rotonda. And that doesn't even scratch the surface. You call that desolate?

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by FLHfan

What do you find depressing about Rotonda? Have you ever been there and do you even know the meaning of desolate?

There are five grocery stores, seven banks, a Wal Mart, home improvement and hardware stores, too many restaurants to count, marinas, yacht clubs and Englewood beach all within minutes of Rotonda. And that doesn't even scratch the surface. You call that desolate?

I missed the desolate part of the post. I agree 100% with the affordable waterfront but as you said FLHFAN, Rotonda/Englewood IMO doesn't fit in the desolate category.