Moving to Sarasota area-seeking advice please (Tampa, Palm Harbor: sales, rentals, HOA) - Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area - Florida (FL) -Manatee and Sarasota Counties - City-Data Forum

NHwoods14 · 03-17-2021, 07:33 AM

Hello, My husband & I are looking to move to Florida this Spring from New Hampshire. For us this will be a very big change & I’d be grateful for some help on where to look.
Some info: 40-yr old couple, no kids, yes to pets, & we both work from home so we don’t need to worry about schools or jobs. We like to go out for dinner, see local shows etc but don’t need a huge night life scene.

My aging parents live in Palm Harbor so I’d like to be relatively close to there (originally hoping for an hour or less drive), but finding homes we can afford in Palm Harbor or Tarpon Springs is proving harder than we expected (North of there seems to get mixed reviews on sketchiness & west is Tampa, so...we go South!) Budget is $350-$500k.
We are both from small towns in New England & our biggest concern is safety wherever we live since this will already be a culture shock for us, but we’d also like to be within a 30-min drive to the beach.
We are hoping to rent first in the area we’d like to buy to get used to it, but the rental will be all done online. We don’t have the option to visit & look around first.

My search has led me to the Sarasota/Bradenton area even though I know it’s over an hour away from Palm Harbor, but there are a lot more options in our budget. Since the home rental will be sight unseen, can anyone suggest areas we should look at OR avoid from a safety standpoint? (I think we’d prefer quieter more “boring” areas rather than city/downtown).

My thanks to you in advance for the input!

rfomd129 · 03-17-2021, 07:49 AM

I can't help you with the area you're looking to move to but I can offer some advice about renting/buying sight unseen. The photos on line can be so incredibly different from reality so I would recommend that you work with an agent who is willing to FaceTime or Skype with you while walking through the property.

We were able to visit from out of state and actually see the house we eventually bought. However, prior to our visit I had seen another house online and I was ready to buy it right then and there from across the country without stepping foot into it. My husband wisely cooled my engines and when we did come to visit and saw the house I had been so ready to buy, the difference between the pictures and reality was startling.

Ladywithafan · 03-17-2021, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHwoods14

Hello, My husband & I are looking to move to Florida this Spring from New Hampshire. For us this will be a very big change & I’d be grateful for some help on where to look.
Some info: 40-yr old couple, no kids, yes to pets, & we both work from home so we don’t need to worry about schools or jobs. We like to go out for dinner, see local shows etc but don’t need a huge night life scene.

My aging parents live in Palm Harbor so I’d like to be relatively close to there (originally hoping for an hour or less drive), but finding homes we can afford in Palm Harbor or Tarpon Springs is proving harder than we expected (North of there seems to get mixed reviews on sketchiness & west is Tampa, so...we go South!) Budget is $350-$500k.
We are both from small towns in New England & our biggest concern is safety wherever we live since this will already be a culture shock for us, but we’d also like to be within a 30-min drive to the beach.
We are hoping to rent first in the area we’d like to buy to get used to it, but the rental will be all done online. We don’t have the option to visit & look around first.

My search has led me to the Sarasota/Bradenton area even though I know it’s over an hour away from Palm Harbor, but there are a lot more options in our budget. Since the home rental will be sight unseen, can anyone suggest areas we should look at OR avoid from a safety standpoint? (I think we’d prefer quieter more “boring” areas rather than city/downtown).

My thanks to you in advance for the input!

If your aging parents live in Palm Harbor, you want to be within a half hour from their home. The commute from the Sarasota/Bradenton area is too much.

CC42024 · 03-17-2021, 06:38 PM

I am also moving to the Sarasota/Bradenton area, from California. I agree with rfomd129 that you should at least get someone to do a Skype or FaceTime walk through for you. I will be relying on my family to do just that. You can find rentals and sales on zillow.com, and there are a lot of agents on the rentals. This may or may not cost you a fee, but in my opinion, paying a fee is better han ending up in a bad situation.

Yukenbo · 03-17-2021, 06:50 PM

IMHO - my reaction would be start looking in the greater Tampa area. I think for your age range and activities it would be more attractive. Then of course, there is the distance to Palm Harbor.

We bought a place in Sarasota when I was 46 and my wife was 39. We're looking to "grow into it". I like the area (towards Osprey) and we tend to get along with all ages, but it is very slow compared to a large city and quite a bit grayer. I grew up in a very small town near the beach in New Jersey, so it sort of feels familiar. When you read the posts and see the videos on Sarasota it can come off as being really lively and a city, but to me it's sort of a town. Maybe go rent a place for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.

My roommate from college lives in greater Tampa about 20 minutes from the airport. It's nice and not expensive but I don't know your tastes of course and it could be too quiet. Check out Country White Circle. It's right in between Tampa and Palm Harbor - 20 min drive either way.

And...no way you are going to want to take too many drives from Sarasota up to Palm Harbor. It's not a fun and relaxing drive.

Lillie767 · 03-17-2021, 07:17 PM

I would not exclude all of Tampa. The northern parts of Tampa, near Oldsmar and Westchase are quite nice. And an easy drive to Palm Harbor. BTW, Country White Circle mentioned above is Tampa. This is in the general area I would recommend. The closest beach is Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, it's a state park that's about 30 minutes away.

Check out https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...54146767_zpid/

One of the major differences I found between CT and Florida, is that the zoning seemed strange to me. In Florida, there would be a sub-division with houses selling $850k+ and next door would be a trailer park. The other side of the street had a strip mall. I was more used to being able to determine desirability by town; in Florida you have to look at the actual street and sub-division. And boy, was I surprised to see most homes within sub-divisions with HOA restrictions. Nothing like that at all in CT.

gypsychic · 03-17-2021, 07:22 PM

Sarasota is WAY too far from Palm Harbor. With traffic could be a two hour drive. Try looking around in cities in Pinellas County.

lovetotravel15 · 03-18-2021, 04:38 AM

Would never rent before making a trip and looking around an area. Pictures are not a tell tale at all. For someone moving out of state, can’t understand the reason to not make a house hunting trip before choosing. Much too risky!

NHwoods14 · 03-18-2021, 06:01 AM

Believe me, I’m not happy about it either. We’ve visited all over Pinellas county where we had planned to move, only to find that there are very few places to buy (or even rent there currently).
Our house just sold (much faster than expected) & we don’t have the luxury of an additional visit to Sarasota before moving. That’s why I have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

NHwoods14 · 03-18-2021, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yukenbo

IMHO - my reaction would be start looking in the greater Tampa area. I think for your age range and activities it would be more attractive. Then of course, there is the distance to Palm Harbor.

We bought a place in Sarasota when I was 46 and my wife was 39. We're looking to "grow into it". I like the area (towards Osprey) and we tend to get along with all ages, but it is very slow compared to a large city and quite a bit grayer. I grew up in a very small town near the beach in New Jersey, so it sort of feels familiar. When you read the posts and see the videos on Sarasota it can come off as being really lively and a city, but to me it's sort of a town. Maybe go rent a place for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.

My roommate from college lives in greater Tampa about 20 minutes from the airport. It's nice and not expensive but I don't know your tastes of course and it could be too quiet. Check out Country White Circle. It's right in between Tampa and Palm Harbor - 20 min drive either way.

And...no way you are going to want to take too many drives from Sarasota up to Palm Harbor. It's not a fun and relaxing drive.

Thank you for the tips. We’ll check out Tampa a bit more.