Single, Retired , Best community? (Sarasota, Bradenton: mortgage, houses, living)

[SeaBirdie]

Originally Posted by miruca

SeaBirdie - I hear it is spring back there in upstate NY - meanwhile it is still snowing here and the snowbanks above my eye level still need to melt. Bird Bay Village is on the list for a look/see on our house hunting trip in Florida. BTW - I love Chittanago Falls - I went to Cazenovia when it was a woman's college ... and my daughter graduated from there as well. Beautiful area....it's own version of an Oz. I do know who L. Frank Baum is .

See, we’ve already been neighbors and didn’t know it. Yes it is starting to look like spring up here, but I did hear that word “snow” in the forecast this morning. There’s a good possibility that “I’ll be wilen’ away the hours, conferrin’ with the flowers, consulting with the rain …” down in Venice by sometime this summer instead of this fall as planned. Enjoy your “Florida Loop”.

[miruca]

Well SoFLGal - perhaps one other criteria ... no chinese drywall! I see that Stoneybrook is one of the communities with a problem. I guess another question that is becoming more important when looking at real estate is "who was the builder?"

Another whittling away criteria is golf - I don't care about it. In general, it seems that golf communities are more expensive - would it be a good parameter to just eliminate golf communities or are they still worth keeping in the potenital universe of possibilities?

[miruca]

I was back looking at Bird Bay Village - and I'm wondering too why it doesn't get mentioned on this forum. Is it considered east Venice? Also .. am i imagining that the prices are up in this community from what they were a couple of months ago?

[Vanwilder]

miruca,

We are to from upstate NY also, the Endicott, Binghamton area. We do live in SC at the moment thought. The first place we ever rented was in Bird Bay. Venice is perfect for us with the small town feel and shopping.

We to wanted to be close to the beaches and boy you have many to pick from within 15 mins. or so. We are still deciding exactly what type of home we will be buying for ourselves. We have two Villas one in Venice and one in Englewood that we have been able to rent for the snowbird season Nov-May for the past 8 years. We bought them before things started getting crazy with the housing prices. We will be using these as income for our upcomming retirement in the next year. We are also looking at Bird Bay because there is so much to do there and it fits the lifstyle we are looking for.
You are correct with your obsevation that the prices have been creeping up a little, we have noticed that trend also in the price range you are looking. I always look for resale when I purchase a property and BirdBay properties has never had a problem selling as long as they were taken care of.
We truely belive you are looking in a great area, you will know it when you see it its like meeting your first love.

Good Luck!

[SeaBirdie]

Bird Bay Village is pretty much directly on Venice’s Northern Gateway. I believe, for city planning purposes, it might be designated part of the Seaboard Area of Venice. Remember, it’s only about a mile north of Venice’s Historic Downtown District. It is not in east Venice, although there is nothing wrong with east Venice. I have seen many beautiful communities in east Venice. In fact, I don’t know of any area within the City of Venice that might be considered undesirable. South Venice in not in the City of Venice. I have seen a few unkempt properties in areas of South Venice, but not many.

[staywarm2]

Originally Posted by SeaBirdie

Bird Bay Village is pretty much directly on Venice’s Northern Gateway. I believe, for city planning purposes, it might be designated part of the Seaboard Area of Venice. Remember, it’s only about a mile north of Venice’s Historic Downtown District. It is not in east Venice, although there is nothing wrong with east Venice. I have seen many beautiful communities in east Venice. In fact, I don’t know of any area within the City of Venice that might be considered undesirable. South Venice in not in the City of Venice. I have seen a few unkempt properties in areas of South Venice, but not many.

How is the traffic in winter during Snowbird season in Bird Bay Village?

[miruca]

VanWilder & Seabirdie - sounds like Bird Bay is an upstate NY'er's place to be. I am anxious to explore the west coast of Florida and in particular the Venice / Englewood area... but Venice itself is sounding better and better.

I hope to head that way in November - probably not the best time to buy given the snowbird effect - but we'll see. It will be interesting to watch the prices over the summer.

I just hope Bird Bay wouldn't end like my first love ...that was rather a nightmare .

[miruca]

Seabirdie (or others) - a few bird bay questions ...

You mentioned HOA of $395 but did not say whether that is monthly or quarterly or ???

Your earlier post also said the HOA fees covered maintenance of grounds ... is that for common grounds or does it also include your lawn?

Of the five pools, are any of them of lap length (70ft)? And do you have access to all pools or just specific pools?

It looks like there are some scheduled activities there... but there is not a full time activities director - are both of those statements correct?

Do you know how many villa's and condo's there are in this community?

Last - at least for today -it appears this is not a gated community, but does it have any provided security at all?


As you can see .. Bird Bay is still in the running for me. It has:
- five of my six priority amenities (missing a spa/jaccuzzi )
- within minutes to the beach
- good prices

I've compiled a spreadsheet on several communities - so I can start to get a framework to do some comparisons on.... it is really helping to sort out what I'm interested in.

If you know of any of the above information - I appreciate it greatly!!!!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by miruca

Seabirdie (or others) - a few bird bay questions ...

You mentioned HOA of $395 but did not say whether that is monthly or quarterly or ???
I believe that is monthly.

Your earlier post also said the HOA fees covered maintenance of grounds ... is that for common grounds or does it also include your lawn?
All lawns

Of the five pools, are any of them of lap length (70ft)? And do you have access to all pools or just specific pools?
There is at least one Olympic size pool and the owners can use all pools.

It looks like there are some scheduled activities there... but there is not a full time activities director - are both of those statements correct? That is correct.

Do you know how many villa's and condo's there are in this community?
Not sure on this one but I can figure it out. I'll get back to you.

Last - at least for today -it appears this is not a gated community, but does it have any provided security at all?
It is not gated but I believe they have a patrol/security person that rides around on a golf cart. I'll also have to verify this.


As you can see .. Bird Bay is still in the running for me. It has:
- five of my six priority amenities (missing a spa/jaccuzzi )
- within minutes to the beach
- good prices

I've compiled a spreadsheet on several communities - so I can start to get a framework to do some comparisons on.... it is really helping to sort out what I'm interested in.

If you know of any of the above information - I appreciate it greatly!!!!

xx

[miruca]

SoFlgal - here I was trying not to bother you with more questions from my spreadsheet until i had more information .... and there you are just johnny-on-the-spot with even more answers!

After you so kindly helped me fill in some blanks from the first version of my spreadhseet, I've been ferreting around the net trying to fill in some of the remaining blanks - and making some adjustment based on some of your comments. I'm surprised how much it is helping me to think about, focus, and narrow my selection... or at least it is helping me to feel like there is a framework rather than bunches and bunches of options floating about.

Once again ... merci!