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Old 04-29-2018, 08:25 AM
 
20,955 posts, read 8,601,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthSota14 View Post
So between these places, its a mish mash of why people don't go to these states to begin with. Theres nothing cool really. And the people coming here from Texas lately are more than likely arrogant too.
I've met a few of the recent TX immigrants and I don't get that sense. By definition, most Texans that move here are between lower middle and upper middle class....the "oil barons" and others don't want a house in Florida, and if they do get suckered into one, it would be on Casey Key or somewhere that you won't meet them.

Although we "Yankees" always tended to dislike Texas (outsized egos, pollution, right-wing, etc.), Texas has given us Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Ann Richards and....even the great Julie Mason was a reporter down there for a while!

In other words, there is a large population of reasonable Texans and, as far as being friendly and normal, they can't be beat (and that comes from a Philly Boy and now a Yankee).

But, yes, mish-mash is perhaps correct. A lot of midwesterners - who, as we all know, are generally reasonable characters. A lot of people from other countries now also...

Newtown is being fixed up quite quickly. Add together the stadium and a lot of the other redevelopment and it's starting to be quite nice (from the road)....in spots. Certainly an improvement.

We had first considered living in Gillespie but decided that it was a bit sketchy....didn't want to go the Park and deal with 20-30 homeless or similar in one group. Too old to wait a decade until it all settles out...so we decided to live closer to the High School and Amish area, Payne Park, etc. - we love it.

I have to agree that the "interstate area" is way off the charts in terms of development, traffic and many other negative factors. There is an easy solution for that - live a few miles from the Interstate area (toward Sarasota) and you'll hardly ever have to use it.
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Old 04-29-2018, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Free State of Florida
25,374 posts, read 12,495,362 times
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Do you realize you are replying to a post that's 13+ months old?

Regarding your comment about Texas being polluted...I looked into that a bit...

I Googled: "most polluted states in America" and read the top few search results that popped up

CNBC says Pennsylvania's more polluted than Texas. So does the Cheat Sheet's recent article.

California has something like 8 of the top 10 most polluted cities in America, all worse than Houston.

Ohio, California, and Pennsylvania are all more polluted than Texas, according to the American Lung Society.

I would agree that Houston's polluted, but Texas as a State doesn't rank near the top, & Houston's behind many Cali cities.

You mention columnist Molly Ivans. Wikipedia says she was a self-admitted plagarist. It also says she was a populist, like President Trump. She also preferred knives to guns, but when guns are taken away (like in the UK) knives replace them as the #1 murder weapon. Was she advocating murder weapons?

Jim Hightower was a Texas politician who ran against Rick Perry for Governor...and lost. Why? Because 3 of Hightower's aids were convicted of bribery while fundraising for Hightower. Jim Hightower was hiring thugs, the voters saw this, and voted for Rick Perry instead.

Ann Richards - former Democratic Governor of Texas who signed into law in 1990 a law that criminalized homosexuality in the State of Texas after formerly campaigning against it, and then shortly therafter, lost to George W. Bush by a wide margin giving rise to the Bush political dynasty that lasted for the next 12 years.

Julie Mason - Member of the mainstream media who's credibility has been in steep decline steadily since 2005, according to Gallup Polls. Her career has also been in steep decline for several years, so much so, she had to take a job on Internet Radio (SiriusXM satellite radio).

You are entitled to your opinions, but anyone considering moving here from Texas might want to look a bit deeper.

I agree, near I-75 is being over-developed, and has bad traffic, but how is that different from any other heavily populated Interstate area in the US? I have never been to Austin TX, but what does it look like along I-35? Is it mostly Greenspace?

I agree with craigiri, I've met a few Texans who moved to this area, and they dont seem egotistical to me either.

The mish mash or people being referred to, and a lot of people from other countries... moving to this area? I'm not seeing that at all. I see a lot of Candadian snow birds, but that's it.

On oil barron's not moving to Florida...Henry Flagler and Rockefeller were oil baron's, and they built homes in Florida, but not on Casey Key. They were not from Texas, and that was long ago, so I may be out of bounds bringing that up.

If you are from Texas and considering moving here, please take the time to look a bit deeper into anything you read, or are told. You are most certainly welcomed here, and I think you'll love it as much as craigiri and I do.
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Old 04-29-2018, 03:43 PM
 
20,955 posts, read 8,601,039 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beach43ofus View Post
Do you realize you are replying to a post that's 13+ months old?

I agree with craigiri, I've met a few Texans who moved to this area, and they dont seem egotistical to me either.

The mish mash or people being referred to, and a lot of people from other countries... moving to this area? I'm not seeing that at all. I see a lot of Candadian snow birds, but that's it.

On oil barron's not moving to Florida...Henry Flagler and Rockefeller were oil baron's, and they built homes in Florida, but not on Casey Key. They were not from Texas, and that was long ago, so I may be out of bounds bringing that up.

If you are from Texas and considering moving here, please take the time to look a bit deeper into anything you read, or are told. You are most certainly welcomed here, and I think you'll love it as much as craigiri and I do.
Has anything much changed in a year?

Texas is a giant place - country sized. Pollution is more likely to dilute, but plenty of it is created...Texans use almost 2.5X the energy per capita as some other (New England) states, and we all know that Energy (in general) = Pollution. This is in addition to the vast chemical and oil refineries, etc.
Fracking is occurring at such a large scale that a google earth view of many parts of the state looks like a pincushion. See enclosed for just a small area...each of those rectangles is a fracking site. Amazing!

Also, In many states (PA, for example), Pollution comes from other states to the west...(Ohio, Indiana, etc.).

As to Oil Barons, I am talking current day. Ford and friends were from the North and train lines ran to Florida. Flagler developed a lot of Florida. Not good examples. On the other hand, we have Texans buying their 6th or 7th house up in Newport, RI or Maine, etc.....again, those are people who most of us never come in contact with. Kochs have a house on the Cape...for example. Many others do also. It's not as much a put-down of Florida as it is that very wealthy Texans have "hot" nearby and where they live, so their additional houses tend to be either cooler areas (CO, Utah, RI, ME) or exotic (Caymans, etc.)....

Anyway, the point is that Texas is big...and that Texas, at various times, has been quite liberal (LBJ, etc.) and the history and present contains many VIPs. SRV.....well, he was one of my heroes and I have a pic of me bowing before his statue in Austin.

There are enough people and cultures in Texas that almost nothing is easy to nail down.

Oh, the Texas Gubment wanted to pollute a lot more, but the EPA and my daughter (attorney) helped shut them down. At a time when no one else wanted coal plants, Texas wanted to build two of the largest available....but economics, pressure from citizens and orgs and other factors stopped them...AND, closed down a lot of other plants. So you are right - thanks to others, the air is getting MUCH better there.
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ure-two-plants

Wind power is, as we speak, pulling ahead of coal in Texas....amazing!

Back to Florida - it is a crime we don't have more PV and solar of all types. On the other hand, at least they haven't yet opened the coast and land to drilling. I think unlimited development and tourism pay more than resource extraction.
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What's Sarasota really like? Possible Relocation From Austin-screen-shot-2018-04-29-5.47.15  
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Old 04-29-2018, 06:42 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
7,673 posts, read 5,399,632 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri View Post
Florida is very different than Austin. Austin is the 'hip/liberal" capital of Texas while Sarasota was Trump Central (he visited here a LOT and won big)......

This is not to make things political, but there is a big difference between the type of people and communities.
That really surprises me, that Sarasota might be so right-wing. Are you sure of that? I know one couple who live in a beachfront high rise in Sarasota proper who are wealthy but very liberal in politics (I've seen a picture of her in one of those pink knit hats and she marched to support DACA). I would say that she/they are considerably more liberal than I am, and I despise the incumbent.

I don't want to talk politics here (or wherever I live); however, it is important to know if one will be ostracized for not joining in with MAGA hats, etc. I've never been in a real-life situation where politics was discussed on a daily basis.

I have only "toured" Sarasota via YouTube, and it looked like a wonderful place.

Last edited by SFBayBoomer; 04-29-2018 at 06:50 PM..
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Old 04-30-2018, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Free State of Florida
25,374 posts, read 12,495,362 times
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SFBayBoomer,
The city of Sarasota is mostly Blue, and the rest of Sarasota County mostly Red. People tend to avoid political or religious discussions unless its with their closest friends, and we like it that way. I find this area to be very tolerant. I've seen several political protests going on in public areas, and they are very peaceful. Dissenters are respectful of opposing viewpoints. Occasionally, there's 1 jerk who acts out.

Its a wonderful area to live. It's not hyper-political...its almost apolitical. Most of us push all of that to the back burner. Life's too short. This is largely a retirement community, and we just want to have fun, enjoy life, and enjoy our friends.

The best way to understand this area is to attend the downtown farmers market Saturday morning. There's almost always some small group protesting something, and 99.9% of people just walk on by and don't say a word, or even show any facial expression. Its kind of like..whatever...did you see the size of those tomatoes...the Stone Crabs are huge this week!
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Old 04-30-2018, 04:29 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
7,673 posts, read 5,399,632 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beach43ofus View Post
SFBayBoomer,
The city of Sarasota is mostly Blue, and the rest of Sarasota County mostly Red. People tend to avoid political or religious discussions unless its with their closest friends, and we like it that way. I find this area to be very tolerant. I've seen several political protests going on in public areas, and they are very peaceful. Dissenters are respectful of opposing viewpoints. Occasionally, there's 1 jerk who acts out.

Its a wonderful area to live. It's not hyper-political...its almost apolitical. Most of us push all of that to the back burner. Life's too short. This is largely a retirement community, and we just want to have fun, enjoy life, and enjoy our friends.

The best way to understand this area is to attend the downtown farmers market Saturday morning. There's almost always some small group protesting something, and 99.9% of people just walk on by and don't say a word, or even show any facial expression. Its kind of like..whatever...did you see the size of those tomatoes...the Stone Crabs are huge this week!
Thank you for the Sarasota social information. Could you discuss the property taxes and climate regarding raising those? Here we have Prop 13 which restricts property tax raises to 2% maximum per year (2/3 majority vote statewide would be necessary to change that) on the previous year's assessed value. It's a wonderful thing, especially for retirees or others on a fixed income, especially as our market value has increased so much.
Florida has something somewhat similar, doesn't it?

I like the fact that Sarasota does not appear to be so youth-oriented. We have a lot of younger families moving in who want to raise the taxes significantly for schools, attempting to get class size down to numbers much lower than our own childhoods. In order to cirucmvent Prop 13's restriction on property tax raises, community districts get set up or bonds, etc. and those only need 55% majority to pass, so they nearly always do.

If something really important comes up, related to air or water quality or preservation of nature and parks versus overbuilding, for example, I am inclined to most often vote for that if it is fiscally responsible, but I resent having to pay for small class sizes when both my husband and I had excellent educations in larger elementary school classrooms.
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Old 04-30-2018, 04:38 PM
 
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
4,582 posts, read 7,458,993 times
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Property taxes can be confusing for buyers moving here from out of state. In FL we have the homestead exemption that reduces the assessed value of a qualifying, owner occupied residential property by up to $25,000 -- and if the property has an assessed value of more than $50,000 there is now an additional $25,000 exemption on all non-school ad valorem taxes. So if you have a home worth $150,000 the property taxes will be based on $100,000 of value if you qualified for and obtained a homestead exemption before the start of the tax year.

In FL we also have the Save Our Homes cap. If you have qualified for the homestead exemption, the value of your home for tax purposes is capped at 3% per year, regardless of the appreciation of home values in the neighborhood.

Prospective buyers need to be aware that while you can look at homes in a specific price range to get an idea of what to expect for property taxes, a buyer should not rely on the seller's current property taxes as staying the same in the year following your purchase. A sale triggers a reassessment of the property -- if the new assessed value is higher, the taxes will go up. Property taxes will typically go up the most if the property has had a Homestead Exemption for a number of years under the current homeowner.

If you plan to owner occupy the home as your main residence you will have to file for your own Homestead Exemption for that property after the purchase as the old one expires at the end of the year after the sale.


The property appraiser's website goes into a lot more detail on the Homestead exemption:
SC-PA.com - Overview for Qualifying and Applying for a Homestead Exemption
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Old 04-30-2018, 05:03 PM
 
17,486 posts, read 38,934,424 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beach43ofus View Post
SFBayBoomer,
The city of Sarasota is mostly Blue, and the rest of Sarasota County mostly Red. People tend to avoid political or religious discussions unless its with their closest friends, and we like it that way. I find this area to be very tolerant. I've seen several political protests going on in public areas, and they are very peaceful. Dissenters are respectful of opposing viewpoints. Occasionally, there's 1 jerk who acts out.

Its a wonderful area to live. It's not hyper-political...its almost apolitical. Most of us push all of that to the back burner. Life's too short. This is largely a retirement community, and we just want to have fun, enjoy life, and enjoy our friends.

The best way to understand this area is to attend the downtown farmers market Saturday morning. There's almost always some small group protesting something, and 99.9% of people just walk on by and don't say a word, or even show any facial expression. Its kind of like..whatever...did you see the size of those tomatoes...the Stone Crabs are huge this week!
I agree with all of this 100%. I am a FL native and been in Sarasota a long time now. It is a wonderful place to be if you are an active retiree. All kinds of things to do and really wonderful, friendly people here. Very tolerant. What I call live-and-let-live.
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Old 04-30-2018, 08:06 PM
 
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The main reason prop taxes are relatively low is simply that many of the owners of Real Property cost the city, county and state very very little. Some are only occupied a few months a year and very few have kids in school (the biggest part of most property taxes)....

So...I wouldn't worry about property taxes.

What is likely to cost you is insurance...and then various items of maintenance. The weather is "murder" on all types of building materials...let alone the potential for hurricanes, etc.

In fact, there is one property on Anna Maria Is. which has no one that lives there (it's about an acre near the beach) where large building material companies test their products. If they can survive there - they can survive most anywhere.

Mold, insects, heat, wind, pollen....we have it all.

Since insurance is a (largely) private market, it can go up vastly and there is little you can do about it. I know people who live near the water who have decided to self-insure after their rates passed 11K per year. They figure that their lot is already worth more than they paid for the house, so in the worst case they will still be ahead of the game.
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Old 04-30-2018, 08:36 PM
 
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
4,582 posts, read 7,458,993 times
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Insurance is definitely an important topic for FL home buyers. Here are some things that insurance agents take into consideration -- the age of the home, age of the roof (newer than 15 yrs old is better), style of roof(hip roof is best), how close the home is to a natural body of water or fire hydrant, how the roof is tied on, if the home has hurricane shutters or impact resistant glass, if the home has a Miami-Dade rated garage door, if the home is frame or block. These are just a few of the criteria they use to give an insurance quote. There are more but these are some of the biggies.

Another thing that's important to look at when talking insurance is the mysafefloridahome.com program. It's important to have a wind mitigation report done on the home, it can save you $$$ on your insurance policy.


Then there are flood zones. A property on water may not be in a designated flood zone. A home not near any obvious water (lakes, creeks, etc) may actually be located within a flood zone. So you'll want to verify the flood zone designation before making an offer on any property. ANYONE looking at purchasing a home in a flood zone should have a serious chat with some local insurance agents about flood insurance rates. Yes, if you pay cash you don't have to carry flood insurance. But if you sell later on the next buyer may be getting a mortgage and flood insurance rates will have an impact.
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