Gulf Gate Neighborhood Opinions? (Sarasota, Bradenton: apartment, foreclosures, renters)

[blueherons]

Can someone tell me about Gulf Gate? We are going to rent and not buy for the first year. My first choice was downtown but I'm not comfortable spending that kind of money renting.

Thanks! You guys are awesome!

[TamRE]

Which area of Gulf Gate are you thinking of renting in? There is Gulf Gate, Gulf Gate East, Gulf Gate Manor, Gulf Gate Pines, and Gulf Gate Woods. All of the neighborhoods are older homes in the traditional ranch style. There are a lot of trees and the residents do maintain the properties well and there is a lot of nice landscaping. Gulf Gate is a very popular residential neighborhood because of its closeness to everything – schools, golf, shopping restaurants and the beach. You can walk or bike on the streets. The area has retirees, young professionals, and growing families. It is located about 15 minutes from downtown Sarasota.

[Sunshine Rules]

South of Clark Road off of Beneva are several popular Gulf Gate area neighborhoods.

Gulf Gate has ranch style homes built mainly in the 1960's and early 70's. Most are 2 or 3 bedrooms with 1 or 2 car garages. Most of the homes are less than 1800 sq ft but some are larger. The zip code is 34231. It's one of the more affordable of the Gulf Gate area neighborhoods.

Gulf Gate Pines is a tiny neighborhood of ranch style homes built in the late 70's and early 80's. I doubt you'd find a rental there as most of the homes are owner occupied, but you never know. It's kind of difficult to find the neighborhood unless you take Brueckner off of US41.

Gulf Gate Woods (34231) is located south of Gulf Gate and close to the mall. Most of the homes were built in the 1970's. It does have deed restrictions. The homes are mainly ranch style, but they do mostly have split floor plans with the master bedroom separated from the other bedrooms. The kitchens are on the smaller side but most do have formal living/dining and a family room off of the kitchen. I have seen a couple of rental signs in the neighborhood lately.

Gulf Gate East is also off of Beneva. The homes were built mainly in the 1980's. Homes there sell for more than Gulf Gate or GG Woods. The lots are large, with winding streets. GG East also has deed restrictions. It's a very well maintained neighborhood. Most of the homes have vaulted ceilings in the main living area and often galley style kitchens, unless owners have updated. Some of the homes have small patio areas in front. Not your typical FL ranch style homes.


North of Clark Road and south of Proctor, off of Beneva, are some other neighborhoods similar to Gulf Gate East.

Beneva Pines (34233) and Country Place (34233) are both nice, well maintained neighborhoods with tree shaded streets. The homes tend to be larger than Gulf Gate. Some are ranch style, some are contemporary and some have somewhat of a retro 50's modern vibe with features such as atriums.


There are some other neighborhoods you might check into for rentals:

Tamaron (34232) is located SE of Beneva and Bahia Vista. It's a deed restricted community with homes built mainly in the 70's and early 80's. The home styles are typically ranch styles, although some homes have vaulted ceilings and most have split floor plans. The lots are generously sized and the community has some green areas of lakes and walking paths.

A couple of other popular neighborhoods that would be similar to Gulf Gate are South Gate and Forest Lakes (34239 & 34232). Forest Lakes runs east and west of Beneva, Riviera street runs all the way south to Bee Ridge Rd. South Gate is a neighborhood with a voluntary HOA, it's $55 per year. If you join the HOA you can then pay $99/year for use of the community pool. The ranch style homes are popular with both buyers and renters. Many of the these 1960's - early 80's homes have been renovated.

There are still some homeowners in our area who are in foreclosure, so be careful if the rent seems lower than normal. When in doubt, check the owner's name on the clerk of court site to see if a Lis Pendens has been filed against the property. Foreclosures in SW FL may take up to 2 years to complete, so often the owners do rent out the homes.

There have been significant changes to the federal law as of 2009 that are of benefit to tenants of homes in foreclosure that you should be aware of. Before May of 2009, most renters lost their leases upon foreclosure. The rule in most states was that if the mortgage was recorded before the lease was signed, a foreclosure wiped out the lease.

These rules changed on May 20, 2009 with the "Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009." This legislation provided that leases would survive a foreclosure -- meaning the tenant could stay at least until the end of the lease, and that month-to-month tenants would be entitled to 90 days notice before having to move out.

An exception was made for the buyer who intends to live on the property (owner occupy). This buyer may terminate a lease by giving the tenant 90 days notice.

There are some other concerns about renting from a landlord who's property is in foreclosure. It is doubtful that the owner will maintain the home or make repairs if something breaks, such as A/C, appliances or leaks.

If you rent a property that is in foreclosure, it might be a good idea to contact the attorney listed on the foreclosure documents and forward a copy of your lease to him/her so the owner's lender is aware that a tenant is residing in the property. You wouldn't want to come home one day and find the bank sent an asset management company over to change the locks because they thought the home was vacant.

To see if a property you are looking to rent is in foreclosure, you can go to the Clerk of Court web site in the county where the property is located and look up the owner's name. If you see a Lis Pendens filing, the foreclosure process has been started.

For Sarasota county, the clerk's web site is:
SARASOTA : Clerk of Circuit Court & County Comptroller (click on "online services" & then "official records")

[siestachica]

Whilst my home was being remodelled on siesta we rented a great house on gulf gate and loved the fact that I could walk to so many great restaurants, shops and bars. If you want details on the house please feel free to dm me. The owner of the home was lovely and even let us stay an extra week for free. By the way the neighbours were great and it was super convenient for siesta.

good luck with your move

[blueherons]

Thanks so much for the great replies! We've already rented and are moving today!

SunshineRules you are awesome!

[TRosa]

Originally Posted by blueherons

Thanks so much for the great replies! We've already rented and are moving today!

SunshineRules you are awesome!

Congrats, glad you made it safely. If you settled on GG, welcome to the community, if not welcome to Sarasota.

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by TRosa

Congrats, glad you made it safely. If you settled on GG, welcome to the community, if not welcome to Sarasota.

We just finished moving in! Still in the hotel but everything is moved into the apartment.

All I can say is I'm glad we already downsized three years ago from the huge house and all the crap.

We have rented a 2/1 for the next year and I'm really excited.

Thrilled to be here in paradise and I'm buying drinks!

Thanks so much guys!

[fromkansas]

Where would you guys look to find rentals within these neighborhoods? Or is it just sifting through all the rental websites and Craigslist? I am very interest in these areas also.

[fromkansas]

Also, Sunshine, I am so thankful for this website, but your posts are so helpful I love when you reply.

[Sunshine Rules]

Originally Posted by fromkansas

Also, Sunshine, I am so thankful for this website, but your posts are so helpful I love when you reply.

Thanks for the positive feedback.


I wish I could tell you there's one great web site for finding rentals in our area, but there's not. Below is the list of the most common places to find rentals in our area.

However, it's also a good idea to ride up and down the streets of Gulf Gate or nearby neighborhoods you're interested in as sometimes the landlords simply stick a "for rent" sign in the front yard in these popular rental areas. Yes, even in this time of cutting edge technology.

While some rentals in our area do get listed in the MLS, most can be found on other websites such as these below:


Rentals.com http://www.rentals.com/Florida/Sarasota/ (easy to use search engines)

Real Rentals http://www.realrentals.com/houses_for_rent/?city=Sarasota&state=Florida+FL


RentalHomesPlus.com http://florida.rentalhomesplus.com/Sarasota

RentalHouses.com http://www.rentalhouses.com/find/FL/SouthwestFlorida/SARASOTA-BRADENTON

Rent Range www.rentrange.com


FlipKey http://www.flipkey.com/search/l/34618/?featured=true&gclid=CLql6oiwtqsCFY125QodFhQwiw

SarasotaRent.net http://www.sarasotarent.net/

Trulia www.trulia.com/FL/Sarasota/

Ebay classified http://sarasota.ebayclassifieds.com/homes-for-rent/?catId=100043



You might try the classified of the local newspaper:

Sarasota Herald Tribune http://www.heraldtribune.com/




Here are also a couple of the better known property management companies in our area that handle rentals:

Stringer Management
Sarasota, FL
941-922-4959
http://www.stringermanagement.com/


Sarasota Management
Sarasota, FL
941-377-8400
http://www.sarasotamanagement.com/owners_choose.html?gclid=COiWw9qvtqsCFYlM4AodaE9Ze g



Welcome to Sarasota!