Resales in Greenbrook or Summerfield... (best neighborhoods, 2014, how much)

[KarenMcGee99]

Hi Everyone,
Just when I thought our family had made a decision about which neighborhood to move to, my husband throws me a curve ball. We had decided that we were going to build in Central Park in Lakewood Ranch and now my husband thinks we would be better off with a resale in either Greenbrook or Summerfield. When I think of the costs for a base home in Central Park, upgrades and lot prices on a new home I am starting to warm up to the idea of a resale. From what we hear Summerfield and Greenbrook are the best neighborhoods for families (we have a 5 year old). I would love to hear from people if they think we would be better off going with Central Park or going with a resale in Greenbrook or Summerfield. I'd also love to hear out of the two, which neighborhood is better and why (if there's a difference!). The opinions on schools vary widely from what I've read as well. We would definitely like a good school system and would prefer not to have to send my son to private if possible. Thanks in advance for the advice!

[bbronston]

I doubt you could go wrong with any of these but, of course, the Summerfield homes are going to be the oldest of the three neighborhoods. All have good schools but the Summerfield Homes west of LWR Blvd. go to Braden River Elementary and Braden River Middle, while the other side of LWR Blvd. and Greenbrook go to McNeal and Nolan. Everyone goes to LWR High although there are private school alternatives along with specialty programs in other high schools.

In some ways, a resale can be a better buy because it is likely to already have fixtures and window treatments that you like. Plus, you won't have new construction going on around you. On the other hand, new is new and you can have everything the way you want it, all with a new warranty to back it up. I prefer new, personally, but I've had both and I survived just fine either way!

[KarenMcGee99]

Thanks for the info bbronston. I didn't realize that there were 2 different school districts for Summerfield. I guess another option would be a resale in Central Park but it looks like they are few and far between in our budget for a 3 bedroom.

[bbronston]

They do come around from time to time. You need to know what you want, have your agent set up an auto-notification on the MLS for you, and be ready to react quickly. You also might ask if they expect to have any inventory homes that work for you. I haven't asked in a while and it wouldn't surprise me if they don't need to anymore but you don't know until you ask.

You can enter an address into the "School Locator" to find out which school zone the home is in.

[Luby162]

Good luck in your search, we were back and forth between building and buying new but we decided to buy new in the longview lake section of central park, you can probably save some money but not sure how much... we wanted this to be our forever home and this way my wife can pick out everything she wants and i dont have to fix everything that the previous homeowner tried to fix... for us it was well worth the extra 50 k or so to buy new.. Check out St. Marthas school in sarasota, k-8, very affordable.. i was not sold on LWR schools but we are coming from the long island, ny school district and it was hard for us to compare schools. some schools were rated an A but scores were at or below florida test scores avg, how is that an A ?? so we are going private, we think its the better fit.. i have heard all good things about LWR schools and just based this on OUR wants and opinions, good luck

[KarenMcGee99]

Thanks Luby162. We will probably check out St. Matha's too just to be sure. The whole school thing is very confusing! I know you have to take scores into consideration and ratings but I think the parent reviews can mean a lot too. Hopefully everything will work out for us. We are really looking forward to moving to the area. I've signed up for MLS listings for resales in Central Park, Greenbrook and Summerfield just to see what is out there. We will not be ready to move until my little guy finishes kindergarten where we are currently living. Hope the times go by fast!

[Luby162]

We are finishing up 3rd grade here and starting 4th grade at St. Marthas in august 2014, hope the house will be ready for July 2014..We will put this house on market in january and see what happens, prices have been going up recently so fingers crossed...We too are counting the days and ready to go....maybe we will see you at the park !!! i will be the one that sounds like "Rocky" !!! lol