Move from the midwest to Manatee/Sarasota County (Miami, Tampa: rentals, HOA fees)

[katig]

My long-term boyfriend and I are looking to move to the Bradenton/Sarasota area from Iowa. We are 24 & 26 with no children, but we would like to have children in the future, and therefore want to move to a family friendly area. My boyfriend is from Florida (Clermont), so we are aware of the weather, bugs, price differences in car insurance, no state income tax, etc. We have visited the Sarasota/Bradenton area twice, and I fell in love with the area - I know that we want to be on the SW gulf coast and I also like that the area has many healthcare facilities. I am a nurse so I don't foresee finding a job before the move being a problem. We currently own a home in Iowa, and are hoping to go straight into purchasing a home in the area when we make the move (rentals are expensive in the area, we have two large dogs, etc). We are looking to move probably sometime in 2020, as we are currently working on fixing up our current house to maximize profit when selling, and saving up sufficient funds for the move.

I have a couple questions, however:

Can anybody recommend nice neighborhoods in either town (or if you prefer one town over the other, and why) in a budget range of $250,000-$275,000? I know the budget isn't super high for the area, but we don't need or expect to get a huge/fancy house. We do however want a family friendly, safe, walkable neighborhood in an area that has good schools in the case that we stay in the house long term. We would be plenty willing to look into other close towns such as Parrish, etc. We also want to find a home the has a fenced in yard or at least the ability to do so... do many of the neighborhoods have rules regarding fence vs no fence or is it usually personal choice/preference?

We are traveling to Florida and spending time in the Orlando and Miami areas visiting his family in June and November of this year, but I would like to make a day trip to the area to check out neighborhoods and "attractions" in the area to get a feel of what living there would be like. Does anybody have any suggestions of things to see and/or do while there for a day checking places out that would help us get a feel for living in there?

Outside of Bradenton/Sarasota, are there any nice towns on/near the gulf coast that you'd recommend that are good for families/have good schools/etc?

Also, do only the newest neighborhoods being built have CDD fees/stewardship fees, or do a lot of neighborhoods in the area have those fees? I know that many neighborhoods have HOA fees, but I don't want to get caught up in a bunch of other fees that I'm not expecting outside of the HOA fees. (Being from Iowa we have barely ANY neighborhoods that even have HOAs... some of those hefty HOA fees are already a hard pill to swallow haha)

Lastly, when is the best time to buy in Florida? I assume summertime during "off season" but wasn't exactly sure.

Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance for any information!!

[blueherons]

What does your boyfriend do for a living? As a nurse you should not have any problems getting employment but make sure you have a nursing BS instead of an associates degree. They don't pay very well and CNAs barely make minimum wage.

If his career is more specialized, let him get a job first and that will dictate where you live.

Keep in mind skilled positions here that may pay well in the midwest don't pay at all in Sarasota.

[Tommygphotos]

I'll make one comment...."long term couple" at 24/26????

Other than that, take. Leap of faith....you'll love it and figure it out. Not hating...at all just thinking of how I thought my life would be at your age and where it is now.

Best wishes...

[katig]

He does fiber optic splicing/pulling/installations. It seems there are a decent number of positions in that field online but with a wide range in pay. I have my BSN and am certified in pediatrics, I will have 3+ years in my current position by the time we move so I am hoping to get a job at the All Children’s Hospital in St. Pete. I currently work day shift so my hope is that if my bf finds a job that pays less than his position here that I can go back to night shift for a while to bridge the gap in pay with shift differential until we settle in completely.

Yes, long term couple. We have known each other for about 6 years and currently own a house and have two dogs. We can’t predict the future of course but we are happy and committed to our life together. but yes, I think we just need to take a leap of faith. I’m excited at the idea of doing new things and exploring new places after being cooped up half of the year for 24 years during Iowa winters!

[kombuchaluchador]

Are you wanting to be around people your age? Sarasota has some opportunities especially in the medical field. But there's a demographic problem for people in their 20s.

Gulf Gate is really nice though. Check out areas off of Cattleman and east of 75.

Sarasota has good schools for Florida but I know that Iowa is known for their education system.

Are y'all wanting to be in St Pete? You hinted at getting a job up that way.

[CapnTrips]

Originally Posted by katig

Can anybody recommend nice neighborhoods in either town (or if you prefer one town over the other, and why) in a budget range of $250,000-$275,000? I know the budget isn't super high for the area, but we don't need or expect to get a huge/fancy house. We do however want a family friendly, safe, walkable neighborhood in an area that has good schools in the case that we stay in the house long term.

I don't think you will find all that in Sarasota for that price, at least not west of I 75. Not sure about Bradenton.

[FLKitties]

I agree with CapnTrips. It's going to be tough to check all the boxes. When you say "walkable" do you mean that you can literally walk around your neighborhood and feel safe or that you can easily walk to shops and restaurants from your home? If the former, you might want to check out east Manatee County - Bradenton postal addresses but east of I-75 and also Parrish, Ellenton, etc.) I'm not super familiar with Sarasota itself so I don't know about that area but there is definitely a huge section of Bradenton you don't want to end up in. Ever. I'd say Palma Sola is nicer than the bad parts of Bradenton but it's still pretty run down over that way. The benefit of that area is that it's closer to the beaches but that's about all I can say about that area.

Eastern Manatee county as mentioned above will definitely have some things available in your price point with better schools but it's definitely not walkable to shops/restaurants but it's nice and safe. Former farm properties that were bought up and being developed. Mill Creek is non-deed restricted so you can have fences of any size out there. Other communities might just not allow a privacy fence and limit you to a certain style & height which are good for dog containment. I think there are communities in Ellenton and Parrish which also allow 6' privacy fences if that's more your style.

As far as crime, I'd recommend looking with a crime overlay to get an idea about which areas to generally avoid in your search.

[katig]

As far as wanting to be around people our age, we would like to, but it’s not necessarily at the top of our list for wants/needs either. The education system in Iowa is fantastic, and I know that there will be some give and take, so I’m not necessarily expecting schools as great as those here as much as I’m wanting to find schools that are great in comparison to other schools there.

Ideally I’d like to work in St. Pete, but I’m less familiar with housing there. When I did a home search there it definitely seemed to have a different vibe, older homes, etc. but we’re not against living there. We’re not dead set on Sarasota/Bradenton necessarily and are willing to look at other areas in that vicinity and in SW Florida, I just liked that area when visiting and that it’s close to Tampa/st Pete and therefore the larger hospitals, which is my preference. I’m willing to look into other hospital jobs though and potentially specialty clinic jobs if we find a different area. My bf really doesn’t have much of an opinion regarding specific location - as long as there’s no “winter” he’s happy.

I have looked into homes in Parrish, North Port, etc and those areas look nice. North Port seems to have a lot of nice homes in our price range, many of them updated and even having pools, so if anybody has any thoughts on that area I’d love to hear them! We’ve also been directed by a woman who moved from here to Naples to look at the Naples/fort Myers area but I’ve seemed to read that that area is even more expensive. With that being said, thank you for the recommendations, I will definitely look into gulf gate, eastern manatee county, and the other recs as potential areas to relocate.

As far as wanting a walkable neighborhood, I just meant as far as safety. Walking the dogs by myself, children playing outside, etc. We aren’t particular about the type of fence either, just the ability to have one for dog containment.

[beach43ofus]

Don't the invisible dog fences work?

[FLKitties]

Most communities would be walkable by that definition then. Not super high-crime in most areas save for that huge section of Bradenton (see attached image - pulled houses in whole area under $300K with crime map overlay). That's why I think a lot of people just outright say to avoid Bradenton and/or Sarasota and point people in the direction of Lakewood Ranch but really the only problems in Bradenton seem to be focused in that one section of town.

When we first moved to Florida (Cape Coral) we thought that North Port was this terrible place because of the Baby Chance thing that was on the news around that time. It seemed that nothing good ever happened in North Port. However, when we actually went through that area, it seemed really nice and up and coming. So you really have a wide variety of people living in any area of a town and it seems like each town just has good and bad. There's a whole stretch of US-41 with lots of new shops and restaurants and lots of new houses being built. The fact that the Braves are moving their spring training there has really helped it develop over the past year or two.

As far as Fort Myers/Naples goes, Fort Myers still has a lot of reasonably priced properties. Naples is more expensive than Fort Myers and they aren't really that close. It's kind of like Bradenton and Sarasota in that they are stacked over each other with Fort Myers actually being the cheaper place (like Bradenton) to Sarasota which has more stuff. For example, a lot of the larger chains will have stores in Sarasota and in Naples and then nothing in between until you get to Tampa to the north and the Miami area in the south. I think Bradenton/Sarasota area is actually a lot pricier than Fort Myers/Cape Coral. Naples is it's own thing. A lot of money down there so I don't know where you read about that, but if you search property listings, you can get a better idea of all areas based on what you get for the money.