North Port?? (Venice, Englewood, Siesta Key: short sale, mortgages, big house)

[rapril2000]

I'm sitting here laughing because you are so stuck on comparing North Port to say... Parrish... how does a city of 50,000+ people compare to a city with 8000 people??? LMAO... I don't see North Port as a bedroom community anymore, and I've lived here for 15 years. Do you even live or drive through North Port??

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by rapril2000

I'm sitting here laughing because you are so stuck on comparing North Port to say... Parrish... how does a city of 50,000+ people compare to a city with 8000 people??? LMAO... I don't see North Port as a bedroom community anymore, and I've lived here for 15 years. Do you even live or drive through North Port??

Exactly what I was thinking but I was tired of arguing.

[Carbondated]

My point that I was making is that how can North Port have one of the best ratios regarding sexual predators when it can't even beat neighboring Venice (population approximately 45,000)?

Parrish is safer than North Port when it comes to the number of sexual predators per person. Neighboring Venice (Pop. 42,967 in 2000) has better numbers than North Port.

Sorry if that fact is too harsh for you to accept.

North Port is a bedroom community. As everyone has previously stated, most people who live there either drive to Sarasota or Fort Myers for work.

BTW, I have been to North Port often, over the past 20 years.

Unlike Bradenton residents, North Port residents seem to have to deny, defend or act like everyone is picking on them in order to deal with the statistics and facts.

Now that is funny!

[Flight23]

My fiance and I just moved to North Port a little over a year ago. Because of his job, we're not sure how long we're going to be here so we're renting a home. We would LOVE to buy a home here if we were sure that his job was going to let us stay here for a while; I've fallen in love with the community.

I don't feel unsafe at all, and that says a lot considering that we live in an area of nothing but spec homes that are either sitting vacant or being rented out.

Incidentally, my fiance is in law enforcement, and he spends most of his time further west in Englewood and that area (there's a lot of homeless people out there for some reason?). According to him, North Port stays pretty quiet as far as drugs/theft/fights etc...

But then again, we've only been here a year and change and you guys talk from years of experience in the area, so what do I know?

[hdzup3]

Originally Posted by Flight23

My fiance and I just moved to North Port a little over a year ago. Because of his job, we're not sure how long we're going to be here so we're renting a home. We would LOVE to buy a home here if we were sure that his job was going to let us stay here for a while; I've fallen in love with the community.

I don't feel unsafe at all, and that says a lot considering that we live in an area of nothing but spec homes that are either sitting vacant or being rented out.

Incidentally, my fiance is in law enforcement, and he spends most of his time further west in Englewood and that area (there's a lot of homeless people out there for some reason?). According to him, North Port stays pretty quiet as far as drugs/theft/fights etc...

But then again, we've only been here a year and change and you guys talk from years of experience in the area, so what do I know?

thankyou!!!

[Elijahbull]

Thanks for the post. It was a great help. What about the safety issue? I mean, would it be equivalent to any other place? Also, what type of growth are you talking about? Is it just a general growth in everything? Thanks.

Originally Posted by rapril2000

MominNY... I grew up in south venice, my grandparents lived and died on the island of Venice, and now I have lived in North Port for the last 14 years. I would HIGHLY recommend taking a drive through all of these areas before you make a decision on where to move. THe island of Venice is nice, but it's dead around 5 pm because all residents are in their 80's, hit up the early bird specials at 4, and go home to bed. I'm not sure of your age but Venice is deaths waiting room and that IS a local joke about it. South Venice is a mix of young and old... but residentially speaking (the structures) is an old (many homes built in the 50's-70's) community unless you go south of Jacaranda (which due to annexation is practically North Port anyway) or up Venice Ave off the island.

I love North Port, and personally don't think you can beat it. Once you get past the older section (stay away from the Biscayne/Pan American/41 area...every town and city has it's older, don't go there area) it's absolutely beautiful. They are finishing the 4 laning of Sumter right now, and it's GORGEOUS! Winding sidewalks, sitting areas, landscaping... If you do venture down to North Port take a drive up Sumter down Price and go check out the new businesses and areas going up along Toledo Blade. I won't lie.. the road infrastructure is crappy right now but it's getting better... They are starting to four lane Toledo Blade and I have high hopes that it's going to be beautiful like Sumter. Also go up Sumter past the light at Price and check out the new city hall, police Department, and George Mullen community center (which always has some activity going on). I live off of North Cranberry.. there are PLENTY of children around here, and it's a new community with good neighbors and filled with lots of wooded lots still, so there is a great element of privacy.

I can't speak for the job market as my husband and I both have very stable county and city jobs, but we are homeowners and right now is the time to BUY. We bought in 2005 (thank god we were locked into an early 2004 price with our builder) and I can tell you that buying a home back then was a BAD idea.... but prices have gotten down to a manageable amount again. We did make the mistake of refinancing back then and we are probably not in a good place if we wanted to sell our home, but that was our mistake... no one elses. Most of the foreclosures are from investors. My sister did foreclose on her home, but that was due to her husband passing away from medical problems.... bad things happen to good people sometimes.

Essentially North Port is a growing city. I've been here for a long time, and I have to tell you that it's been exciting being part of the birth of a true city so far and it's only going to expand. I remember when major intersections now were only four way stops... it's absolutely amazing!
My main message to you is to make sure you actually take good long drives through the whole area before you make a decision... and GOOD LUCK!!

[Rockyr]

What are the property taxes like around Punta Gorda -- Deep Creek

[dgkpdk]

My point that I was making is that how can North Port have one of the best ratios regarding sexual predators when it can't even beat neighboring Venice (population approximately 45,000)?

Every deviant in the country eventually ends up in Florida. North Port is a city with a relatively young, vibrant, family oriented population while Sarasota is a city with an older population full of retirees and Venice is where their parents live! Venice is Deaths Waiting Room. There are fewer children to exploit. It seems like there is a cop on every corner in North Port. When you take everything into consideration, North Port is hands down, the best, young, affordable, relatively safe, family oriented place in Southwest Florida!

[Mike Toronto]

I have just bought a place at Sable trace, Looking forward to coming down in the next little while, any info on things to do would be great. How far to the beach.........

[Mike Toronto]

give me the low down on things to do, see, watch....anything would be helpful