Relocating to Sarasota Area from NYC!

[gettinoutofjersey]

dont remember if you said you had kids. might want to keep that in mind as to where you locate. there are huge differences in the quality of education from one county to another. cant say which are bad but i can say that we are impressed with sarasota county. this is especially true based on the horror stories we heard before we moved. probably true, just not here.

keep in mind the option of looking father south of sarasota. you get alot more for your money in a house. and as bad as the traffic is, its not near what ny is. by going south the lots get bigger and the taxes get less. beaches are less crowded.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by gettinoutofjersey

dont remember if you said you had kids. might want to keep that in mind as to where you locate. there are huge differences in the quality of education from one county to another. cant say which are bad but i can say that we are impressed with sarasota county. this is especially true based on the horror stories we heard before we moved. probably true, just not here.

keep in mind the option of looking father south of sarasota. you get alot more for your money in a house. and as bad as the traffic is, its not near what ny is. by going south the lots get bigger and the taxes get less. beaches are less crowded.

Her husband is working at the airport, so I don't think they want to go that far south.

[jnanner]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Her husband is working at the airport, so I don't think they want to go that far south.

also there isn't anything down here! lol I was just up by Whole Foods and wishing Pine View wasn't down here in the boonies! ;p

[ninecrayons]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Her husband is working at the airport, so I don't think they want to go that far south.

DH is working near the airport, so yes we'd prefer not to go south. Also my best friend lives near Kissimmee, so we'd prefer to not be too far from her. (Relatively speaking. Right now she's 17 hours away, so anything is an improvement on that!)

I got an email from our real estate group person, so I'm going to pass along my thoughts so far to her! I'm excited to see what she brings back to us.

[NYPhinfan13]

Originally Posted by ninecrayons

We've got some debt, so that's definitely a hamper. One of the many reasons we're thrilled to move to SRQ is the lower cost of living which should enable us to pay off our debt quicker.

There are two real questions governing our ability to get a mortgage and afford a decent place. The first is our debt to income ratio, the second is my ability to get a new teaching job. We've run the numbers as though I'm going to be unemployed.

It would be nice to get a teaching job in SRQ, but I'm willing to commute a bit if I need to make it happen.

DH is at a trade show in Orlando at the moment and when he gets back we'll apply for a mortgage. From there, we'll see what happens.

Hey, If your currently employed and will be unemployed after the move, don't forget to apply for unemployement. I moved down here 3 weeks ago. My wife is currently applying for unemployement, under the "trailing spouse" rule. We're crossing our fingers that it goes through.

[Iamrita]

Originally Posted by jnanner

i grew up in Nassau on the Queens border then moved out to Nassau/Suffolk border. Will you be here looking at houses for a while or are you looking to buy something from a distance? You really need to see the houses. There is a big difference between a 3 br here and a 3 br in NY. Up north a 3 br will most likely have 3 br, kitchen, living room, den, dining room, basement and some amount of attic space. So, there's room for an office or playroom, toys, junk, storage, etc. Depending where in NY those rooms are jut bigger or smaller. Here it's less useable space more formal living rooms and nowhere for a playroom/office/storage! No basements either! So, definitely look at the layouts carefully. It's easy to be dazzled by newer houses (to NY'ers even homes built in the 70s and 80s are "newer") and master bathrooms & walk in closets LOL but really look at the layout.

When we moved from NJ we planned to "downsize" but ended up with a 4 bedroom/office and 3 baths! Big time lack of storage space with no basement or attic. Even after I got rid of a ton of things before the move and organized the garage I am still editing stuff. I don't believe in paying for storage space. Also, no closets near the front door in a majority of layouts. I guess the architects figured no one wears jackets in a warm climate. (Not true in the cool evenings of "winter"). Some really beautiful pool/lanai homes homes we looked at had no bathroom access adjacent to the pool. Personally, I don't care for the idea of wet bathers walking through living areas with tile and rugs to get to bathroom. I love the super high ceilings though. IMO they give a whole different "feeling" than the standard height ceilings we had in our NJ home.

[jnanner]

Originally Posted by Iamrita

When we moved from NJ we planned to "downsize" but ended up with a 4 bedroom/office and 3 baths! Big time lack of storage space with no basement or attic. Even after I got rid of a ton of things before the move and organized the garage I am still editing stuff. I don't believe in paying for storage space. Also, no closets near the front door in a majority of layouts. I guess the architects figured no one wears jackets in a warm climate. (Not true in the cool evenings of "winter"). Some really beautiful pool/lanai homes homes we looked at had no bathroom access adjacent to the pool. Personally, I don't care for the idea of wet bathers walking through living areas with tile and rugs to get to bathroom. I love the super high ceilings though. IMO they give a whole different "feeling" than the standard height ceilings we had in our NJ home.

I KNOW! Would a coat closet kill them LOL DH travels to VT frequently so we have all his winter gear plus all the regular jackets, hoodies and fleeces in our bedroom closets. But hey, these GARAGES make up for it!

We've had more than one wipe-out on the tile floors from wet kids crossing the living room to the bathroom! So dangerous! If you have a 4 bedroom house 2 kids and use one room as an office there is nowhere for guests! I have guests coming for 10 days! That's too much air mattress for my old bones :P

[vonkloppenburg]

call the sarasota humane society for pet/bully breed rentals- they have a list of contacts (via email) that you can check on. make sure you state "pit-bull". I thought i had a nice condo but the management was taken over and they prohibited pit bulls.

I am also seeking housing with my P.B. in sarasota/bradenton area.

Keep in touch!