Any thoughts on Ellenton, FL (Tampa, St. Petersburg: to rent, condo, crime)

[kamor56]

We are hoping to move to Florida by March of 2007....to be near family. My son and his family live in North Port. We have an opportunity to rent his sister-in-law's villa/condo in Ellenton.

I am in the technical support field and will be looking for employment in St. Pete, Tampa or Sarasota/Bradenton.

Any advice or thoughts on the Ellenton area or employment opportunities would be helpful.

Thanks!

[Ladywithafan]

Ellenton is east of I-75 in Manatee County...Prime Outlets is the big "outlet" mall there, lots of new developments, i.e. Super Walmarts, Applebees, chain shopping/restaurants of all kinds...lots of gated developments, some with golf courses. It's on what we, locals, call the East side, so there are pockets of neighborhoods with more crime around. Lots of development. You would do best working in Sarasota or St. Pete as it's right off I-75 which means fast travel time. You'll see the new cookie houses mixed in with the old FL cracker housing....there is a lot of condo/upscale development going on around Palmetto & the Manatee River but we just had a beautiful bar/restarurant/spa mall fail....they're trying to rope in the $$ overflow from St. Pete but it's not an easy game...most of the big money runs to Lakewood Ranch/Palmer Ranch on it's way to Sarasota...

[kamor56]

thanks for your information. it is very helpful.

is anyone familiar with palm cove villas....good or bad area?

[Floridasunshine]

I love the area, just too high to live there. Homeowners Taxes are the highest in Florida. Ellenton is high , .
Because it is close to Sarasota rich people I guess. and beaches.

Manatee county homes costs twice what a home does in Polk

but Port Charlotte is a reasonable area, at least it use to be.

My niece and her husband bought home there in Lexington, near the Prime outlet mall. She is teacher in Bradenton. They pay 6000 yr for taxes. home. I live in Lakeland Polk county I pay 2400.
Lots of average working teachers moving to Hillsborough , and driving 30 miles to work in Ellenton area. They are also moving to Polk county , Marion county, Hernando county to get cheaper places to live.


Federal Ex http://www.watkins.com/Company/default.asp (broken link) . had a communicaiton center in Lakeland . I know a computer Analyst who moved there to work from St Petersburg.

I moved to Florida at 18, 40 yrs ago never regretted it.

[speedonwater]

I just returned from Florida after spending 3 weeks trying to find a community to move to. My Realtor said NO WAY to Ellenton. Ellenton is to close to Palmetto, that is bad! I drove through it and it seemed a little depressed but not as bad as the Realtor said. Why not North Port, it's very affordable. I personally chose St Petersburg to purchase a home. Good Luck!

[ncbound07]

Originally Posted by speedonwater

I just returned from Florida after spending 3 weeks trying to find a community to move to. My Realtor said NO WAY to Ellenton. Ellenton is to close to Palmetto, that is bad! I drove through it and it seemed a little depressed but not as bad as the Realtor said. Why not North Port, it's very affordable. I personally chose St Petersburg to purchase a home. Good Luck!

Ellenton is a cute little town! There are a lot of over 55 parks and yes, even a few imigrants, but it's close to everything and is really being built up. When you compare it to the price of say, Lakewood Ranch, you get a far better deal on this side of the river. I wonder where your realtor's office is located and why she doesn't like Ellenton. And just for the record, there are a lot of wonderful areas of palmetto,too. Granted, there are several parts of PalmaGhetto I wouldn't venture into, but the same goes with Bradenton and Sarasota,too! I say if you've got a place you can rent to get the lay of the land, GO FOR IT!!

[Jon_2007]

Ok i know this thread is a year old i typed in "Ellenton florida" into google and this thread came up and i thought I should add a few thing to this,

Ellenton florida will never be built up. Simple as that. It will take years and years to finally make ellenton florida a "nice" place to live. What best describes Ellenton florida is "A truck stop off the interstate" that is all it is. And it is all it will ever be.

After living in Ellenton florida for 2 years, you begin to get Depressed, As soon as you get off the offramp for ellenton you will want to get back on the interstate, that is if you can find the on-ramp that is covered in over grown weeds

If your looking for a nice town to raise kids Ellenton/bradenton is not for you. the School's are a Joke! Trust me i know First hand what its like.The kids around this area are not the type of kids i would want my kids hanging out with

My Realtor said NO WAY to Ellenton. Ellenton is to close to Palmetto, that is bad! I drove through it and it seemed a little depressed

YES People Palmetto is that bad!!! Ellenton is the next town over to the east from palmetto. it has a nick-name, we call it "PalmGetto"

If you must move to the bradenton/sarasota area i would HIGHLY recomend sarasota or South bradenton, stay far far away from the North bradenton/ellenton/palmetto Area

Because of ellenton's proximity to the "Manatee River" (map-quest it) a very big river at that, Everytime there is rain Ellenton get's hit BIG time

there is absolutely no employment in the ellenton/pametto area, And Hardly any restaurants.

i could go on for hours on how bad this town is, like i said i know First hand.

like the poster said above take a drive threw the area you will know what i mean

I hope to anyone that reads this that it helps them out, ellenton is and never will be a good town to live in

Thank you.

[Mackeyser]

Just had to correct Jon.

Ellenton is fine. I'm buying there right now. My two high schoolers attend Manatee School for the Arts and are doing swimmingly. My youngest two go to Virgil Mills Elementary and they are also doing very well. ALL of them are excited about the new schools (dread was the feeling before school started) and like them MORE than the very highly rated CA schools they previously attended.

Ellenton is a bedroom community. There is an Prime Outlet Mall (outdoors, but decent prices) and some chain restaurants. It does NOT have the night life of Sarasota. Then again, I'm a dedicated parent raising 4 kids on disabled vet money. I don't require much in the way of multiplexes, boutiques and Chez Anything restaurants.

What I got was a lot of house for my money, GREAT schools and in under an hour, I can be in Tampa, St. Petersburg, or Sarasota. Coming from CA, that's what we call being CENTRAL.

People don't realize what Ellenton offers. To replicate the home I'm buying in Ellenton where I used to live in CA, it would run me just shy of $2 Million. Let's just say I'm paying a whole lot LESS than that. Folks are spending small fortunes to live in Allentown and Bethlehem PA to commute into Philly and New York, so why would Ellenton be any different. I've lived in Allentown (Whitehall, actually) and Easton, PA and the feel is about the same as Ellenton.

My point is that Ellenton is what it is. It's a somewhat sleepy bedroom community. It has wide roads and not too much traffic. It has easy access to I-75. It has plenty of shopping for the necessities and everything you could want within an hour, including MLB (Tampa Bay Devil Rays), NFL (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and NHL (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Busch Gardens for the roller coaster folks. It's 2 hours to Orlando and all that goes on there including that famous rodent.

None of that would matter if Ellenton were deficient in some way. It is not. While it may not be for everyone (and most assuredly, bedroom communities aren't for everyone), Ellenton does well for what it is.

[meltinjohn]

I moved out to Parrish and not by choice I will add. But this area is nothing more than a truckstop kinda place. It has a real undesirable feel to the fullest as does Manatee as a whole.

[Mackeyser]

Well, each is entitled to their own opinions, to be sure. But have any who don't like it gotten past 41 @ 301?

Truckstop? See, I don't get that. I've BEEN to big truck stops and Ellenton visibly does not look like that to me at all. You don't see multi-million dollar homes in or next to truck stops. There ARE multi-million dollar homes in Palmetto and Ellenton and many of those are NOT on the coast.

I'm not saying that Ellenton is for everyone. It isn't. That said, I'm not sure what the motivation is for those who are tearing it down. Because as a newcomer to the area without any preconceived notions, the negative hyperbole simply doesn't match my experience.

Ymmv.