Renting in Sarasota-best school districts (Bradenton, Riverview: for sale, foreclosure, rentals)

[Tootsfromscotland]

Hi all, I absolutely LOVE this forum! Its an absolute minefield of info and so many thanks to all of you who contribute. You are all gems!

Anyhoooo....here we are in Sarasota on vacation, all the way from Scotland. We are on vacation right now, but as some of you will know by my previous posts, we are most likely to be relocating to Florida and there is an opportunity for employment for me here in Sarasota.

I have to say we have only been here a couple of days, staying in a vacation villa, but we have totally fallen in love! If we had any doubts before re relocating, they have simply dissolved!

What has been overwhelming is the number of properties for sale! wow! And we cannot believe the prices!!
We will need to rent first though...so I need to know the best sites to find rental properties...and we want to be in the best school district...from reading these threads, we need to be in Sarasota Middle school district for our youngest and Riverview High for our eldest.

Can anyone point me in the direction of possible area's where we would fall within those catchment areas and also some ideas re rental properties available/monthly rental prices we should expect to pay?

Many thanks

[sun-n-sarasota]

We have a two bedroom, one bath home for rent which is within the Sarasota, Florida city limits, in fact just about ten minutes from the downtown area, but it might not be what you are looking for. It is a nice little home with a large inside utility room, terrazzo floors throughout, which were just redone, the inside and outside painted, a new upgraded roof which stands high winds, a large screened in back porch, fensed in back yard with two fruit trees, crabapple, and grapefruit. The house was built back in the early 1960s and is perfect for a small family or empty nest couple or single person. We will have it ready for someone to move in very near future. We will only lease it on a yearly basis and will not consider vacation rentals. The home sits on a nice quiet street with other homes that are well maintained. The home will be rented with a washer, dryer, refridgerator and stove and yard care will be included in the price of the rent each month. I don't know what school district that this is in but will be happy to check should you be interested in more details. Sun-N-Sarasota

[SoFLGal]

You might want to try Stingermanagement.com or www.MyFloridaHomesMLS.com or Craigslist.org is another option.

I wrote a blog on this website on my opinion on the Sarasota county schools. It's under my profile.

Turtle Rock in Palmer Ranch might be a good place to start looking. I'm not sure what the availability of rentals is in that area though.

[sun-n-sarasota]

After checking out schools in the area on the local map, Tuttle Elementary and McIntosh Middle School seems to be the closest to this little house. McIntosh Middle School is an excellent one and I have two Grandchildren who attend it and have one who is in the honors program. Believe the teachers are doing a good job in this school.

[Tootsfromscotland]

Originally Posted by sun-n-sarasota

After checking out schools in the area on the local map, Tuttle Elementary and McIntosh Middle School seems to be the closest to this little house. McIntosh Middle School is an excellent one and I have two Grandchildren who attend it and have one who is in the honors program. Believe the teachers are doing a good job in this school.

Thankyou we are however looking for something slightly bigger...at least 3 bedrooms...thanks anyway

[Tootsfromscotland]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

You might want to try Stingermanagement.com or www.MyFloridaHomesMLS.com or Craigslist.org is another option.

I wrote a blog on this website on my opinion on the Sarasota county schools. It's under my profile.

Turtle Rock in Palmer Ranch might be a good place to start looking. I'm not sure what the availability of rentals is in that area though.

Magic thanks SoFLO

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Tootsfromscotland

Magic thanks SoFLO

Hey no problem!

You might want to do some reading in the Sarasota/Bradenton sub form. There's tons of talk about good, bad and in between neighborhoods. Anywhere west of US 41 is going to be very pretty, quaint, etc. You really can't go wrong with that area.

The only problem with the keys in the winter time is that they jack up the rent when the snowbirds come to town. So, you're going to be paying a lot more until after Easter unless you find someone that will rent to you annually.

Palmer Ranch, has a lot of young professionals and families and is pretty popular in the area.

In Bradenton (which is where I was born), you might want to check out NW Bradenton over along the river. All of the streets are numbered so if you pull up a Mapquest map, you'll be able to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Riverview Blvd and around that area is pretty nice.

Another helpful tool is Google Maps. You can pull up an address and then click on "street view" and literally "walk" down the street. It's pretty cool, especially when doing an initial check of a neighborhood.

There are a lot of rentals right now so you shouldn't have any problem finding something. Just make sure the owner is not in foreclosure. To do this go here: Sarasota Cnty Property Appraiser look under "property search" and then "real property". Type in the address of the home. Once you have the owners name(s) look them up on the clerk of the court website and make sure they don't have a lis pendens (pre foreclosure) on the property. SARASOTA : Clerk of Circuit Court & County Comptroller Look under "online services", then "official records" then scroll to the bottom of the page and do the "I agree" paragraph and then type the owners name in. This should help you avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Good luck with it