LOTS of questions! (Tampa, Hollywood, Sarasota: for sale, real estate, rentals)

[DaynesWife]

When our family moves to Florida, I really want to be close to the beaches. I'd really like to be within walking distance.

I also want to be in a safe area. And good, safe schools.

We don't care so much about the specific town. Somewhere between Sarasota and Tampa. But I would prefer being closer to Sarasota than Tampa. I might even be able to talk dh into going farther south than Sarasota.

I'm not sure of the price range we will be in. We are saving, saving, saving!! Also, we may want to rent before buying.

I've been searching constantly on the Century 21 website. I don't know why I chose them, they're not a big seller around here, but I figured they were nationwide. I'm not having much luck. I really just want to see if there is an area that fits our wants, and if there is, what the price ranges are.

Can anyone help? I'll take neighborhoods, towns, real estate websites, whatever!!! Thanks so much!

[jnanner]

lots of helpful people on here, i am sure you'll get the info you need. I think if you give a general range for price that would help though. Like - will you be more in the 150k-250k zone or the 750k to 1.2m range ?

[gettinoutofjersey]

we moved from nj to fl. we bought our house 3 years ago with the intentions of renting to supplement cost and then using it for vacation. situtation changed and now we are here full time. our house is a walk to beach. it has the very remote, removed and secluded feel but essential stores are 5 to 10 minutes away. i did not want the city atmosphere or the planned unit development where every house looked the same and they had the max per acre. feel free to DM me and i will provide more details if you like.

[SoFLGal]

OK, real estate websites. This is the best, most accurate, etc as far as information: www.myfloridahomesmls.com It's the website that all of the websites pull from-C21, Realtor.com, Zillow, etc. If you use one of the other websites first there's a fair chance that the home you are viewing on the net might not even be available anymore. So, use the MyFL site to see if the house is still available and then you can do additional searches or get more info on Zillow, Trulia, etc.

Next is neighborhoods. If you want to be within walking distance to the beaches then you're going to pay a premium price. The rentals are much more and many are only vacation rentals because they can make more money that way. The home prices and insurance would also be much more. Just depends on what type of vibe you're looking for. Most of the keys in the area are pretty neat and everyone has a different feel.

In my opinion, Siesta Key has the youngest vibe. Probably due to the handful of bars and several restaurants in the village that seem to draw the younger crowd. Most of the bands that play out at the Siesta bars seemed to be geared more for the younger crowd as well.

Longboat always had more of an old money feel to me. There really is no downtown area on Longboat either, unless you consider Ave of the Flowers the downtown area. There's the "village" but that's nothing more than a restaurant or two. I loved living there as a kid and would go swim at the community dock. It was a pretty tight knit community. I would say the people in the village are the more "working class". Sometimes you can find a rental in there.

I lived on Lido back in the early 90's and it was great. You could walk to St Armand's, which was kind of neat. At the time, my boyfriend was a surfer and all the surfers would hang out over on the beach. There's not a lot going on on Lido. More of the action is on the circle. Lido is almost an extension of downtown, and it's near the vibrant and cosmopolitan St. Armand's Circle. Lido gets a good mix of all types of people, and for this reason I find it most interesting. There is also a nice little park at the south end, which attracts more families. I think you will enjoy Lido.

Manasota Key is pretty laid back as well. There's Lock -n- Key Restaurant and Pub and that's about the most happening place on the key.

Most of the keys get pretty crowded in the winter and clear out more in the summer. I would say you're assumption that you can't go wrong on any of the keys is pretty accurate, just depends on what you are looking for.

If you are looking for off key neighborhoods then I would say Southside village. There's always something going on in the downtown area. Southside Village, which is the area west of US 41 and just of Main St and north of Siesta Dr. It's also close to the hospital. Right over the bridge is Siesta Key Beach or if you go over the John Ringling Bridge you have Lido Beach. Southside Elementary School is the districted school for Southside Village. You can look up what people have to say about Southside on these to websites: School Accountability Report... or www.greatschools.com The only problem is that nothing comes up when you search under SouthSide village because it's kind of a locally used term for that area but in the MLS they have that area broken down into a ton of little subdivisions. I'll list some here so you can look through and see what you find. If you have a little one I would suggest visiting The Children's Garden in downtown Sarasota. It's a really cool whimsical place for the little ones that is within walking distance of the downtown area. My five year old loves it there. Also, GWIZ,Mote Marine, Selby Gardens, Jungle Gardens are all within minutes of downtown. Every Saturday they have the downtown Farmers Market. Then there's the Hollywood20 Movie theater and The Burns Court Cinema, which has some really cool foreign films. Burns Court and Towles Court are neat little villages that are great to spend the afternoon catching a bite to eat or doing a little shopping. Selby Libraryis a fantastic library right in the heart of downtown. A great little organic grocery store is Morton's Gourmet Market, Southside Village, Sarasota, Florida. Marina Jack’s is always great for an afternoon out with the kids, a picnic under the trees or a leisurely walk by the bay Welcome to Marina Jack.

Some of the downtown neighborhoods are:
The neighborhoods are:
Hyde Park
Hartland Park
Poinsettia Park
Floyd & Cameron
Riverwood Park
Ridgewood
Granada
Laurel Park
Bayview
McClellan Park
Oyster Bay Estates
Bungalow Hill
Aqualane Estates
Graham Heights
Burns Court
Hartsdale
Cherokee Park
Badger Heights
Paradise Shores
San Remo Estates
Harbor Acres
Avondale
Mandarin Park
Morton Terrace

Most of the above are known as a whole as the Southside Village neighborhood. I listed a few that are on the fringe of that area. Here's some more info on the downtown area:

Home
Sarasota Florida Downtown | Shops Downtown, Sarasota Hotel | Downtown Restaurant | Sarasota Rental
Downtown Merchants Association of Sarasota

Palmer Ranch is another idea. Palmer Ranch one of Sarasota's most popular and largest master planned communities with over 10,000 acres. Palmer Ranch actually consists of many neighborhoods, all individually operated under their own HOA. The common areas of Palmer Ranch are maintained by a master association. The overall look and feel of PR is "green" - the roads are grass and treelined, the sidewalks wind throughout the entire community, and they have recently been able to add the Legacy Trail to the many great aspects. The Legacy Trail is a paved walking/biking trail that runs through the woods along the path of the old railroad track.

Palmer Ranch is districted for great schools, is only 10-15 minutes to the beach, and is next door to the mall, new 12-screen movie theater and a fantastic YMCA complex, including a huge waterpark. Palmer Ranch is very popular with families.

Reymore St is the southern boundary for Palmer Ranch. The eastern boundary runs out to I-75, the western boundary goes to Beneva and the northern boundary runs nearly to Clark Rd. This tells a little more about Palmer Ranch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Ranch Within Palmer Ranch is CJ Lofino YMCA Complex. It has a full aquatic center, gym/fitness, basketball, swimming, tennis, and water park for the kids.

A few neighborhoods worth looking into in Palmer Ranch are-Turtle Rock, Deer Creek, Stonebridge and The Hamptons.

A few other neighborhoods that are a little further south are Rivendell or Willowbend in Osprey.

Sarasota county has one of the best school systems in the state of Florida. It also has Pine View School for the Gifted, which was ranked the top school in Florida and one of the top schools in the Nation. It is a public school and the requirements are that you live in Sarasota county, have an IQ of 130 or more, pass the achievement tests required and have teacher recommendations. I have two children that attend PV and we are more than pleased with the school. It services grades 2nd-12th. Here's some more info on that subject:
Welcome to Pine View School
Pine View School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Public Elites - Newsweek.com
Pine View wraps up perfect Olympics | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader
America's Best High Schools: Gold Medal List - US News and World Report

There are many other fantastic school in Sarasota county. Here's a website where you can see how the schools are rated:
School Accountability Report...
or www.GreatSchools.com

Alright, if I were checking out schools other than Pine View these are the schools that I would look into, in order. This is also the order that the state ranks the schools as well, I tend to agree with them.

Southside services most of the downtown area south of Main St. North of Main would be mostly Booker school district. The Palmer Ranch area is mostly Ashton school district. There are other schools in the area but these are ones that I have either had personal experience with or I have friends that have kids in the schools.

Sarasota ranks as one of the top districts in the state by a number of measures, including test scores, graduation rates and teacher compensation.

It offers distinctive programs tailored to different student needs, including Florida's only school for the gifted, the state's largest special needs school and one of a handful of career-focused high schools.

For Elementary
Southside Elementary
Venice Elementary
Ashton Elementary
Cranberry Elementary (North Port)
Taylor Ranch (southern Sarasota county)
Lakeview Elementary
Gulf Gate Elementary
Laurel Nokomis Elementary (mid Sarasota county)
Tatum Ridge Elementary
Garden Elementary
Phillipi Shores
Fruitville Elementary
Englewood Elementary (southern Sarasota county)

For Middle
Sarasota Middle

High School
Riverview

It really depends on what your are looking for in a neighborhood-amenities, tennis, golf, older homes/newer homes, price/rental range, gated or non gated. I think we need a little more info to give more specific info.

You didn't mention anything anout jobs. I would think you would want to be close to where you are employed as well.

Good luck with it. Hope this helps

[gypsychic]

SoFLGal gave some great info - as usual!

I too, like the downtown-St.Armand's-Lido - because it is so vibrant and interesting. A lot going on in this small stretch, yet small enough not to seem overwhelming.

Sarasota has some good schools, too. This is a great area to live. There are a lot of choices in the region, so you should be able to find something that suits you - good luck!

[DaynesWife]

SoFLGal- that's a lot of info!! Thank you! I see that you mentioned "the village" on Longboat. How would I go about searching for that area? I checked on craigslist for apt./house rentals and I searched Longboat & the village. Not much came up for Longboat, but the village found quite a few places. But, it's like Southside village, bradenton village, ec.

I will check out the real estate website you posted as well.

You have been beyond helpful! When it comes time for us to buy a house, you will be the first person I call!!!

[SoFLGal]

Hi there,

I'm out right now and cant recall what the village of lbk is listed under. I just call it the village but I think that's a locally used term. It might be under Conrad beach but ill look when I get back in.

It's really nothing like Southside or Siesta village. I grew up there when I was a kid and moved back when I was in my early 20s I moved back so my oldest daughter could experience the great memories that I had with that neighborhood. We used to spend a lot of time at the community dock swimming and scooping the grass flats for all kinds of cool critters to put in the aquarium.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by DaynesWife

SoFLGal- that's a lot of info!! Thank you! I see that you mentioned "the village" on Longboat. How would I go about searching for that area? I checked on craigslist for apt./house rentals and I searched Longboat & the village. Not much came up for Longboat, but the village found quite a few places. But, it's like Southside village, bradenton village, ec.

I will check out the real estate website you posted as well.

You have been beyond helpful! When it comes time for us to buy a house, you will be the first person I call!!!

OK, in the MLS they are calling it Long Beach. Most people here call it LBK village but if you're searching in the MLS you'd have to search under Long Beach. Not sure how they would have it on Craigslist but it is in Manatee county if that's an option.

[DaynesWife]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

OK, in the MLS they are calling it Long Beach. Most people here call it LBK village but if you're searching in the MLS you'd have to search under Long Beach. Not sure how they would have it on Craigslist but it is in Manatee county if that's an option.

That worked! I found the area. I will search now for houses for sale and rentals and see if it's in our price range.