Overwhelmed - Need help with local areas (Sarasota, Bradenton: foreclosures, rental)

[JenMNJ]

We have four kids and currently live in SouthernNJ. We are planning on moving to SW Florida for many reasons and have both spent time over-analyzing the posts on this forum. We both work from home now and plan on to do so when we move to Florida so commuting is not an issue. Price depending on taxes, HOA and CDD would be 270-399K for a home. We want a rancher or two story with downstairs master bedroom and prefer a home built in last ten years. We want to be near the beach (within 45 minutes). With that said here are some areas we are interest in and our concerns:

Parrish Florida - More home for the money, but is the area safe? I don't care about driving fifteen minutes to a supermarket or a more rural atmosphere....but do care about safety.
Ellenton, Florida - same as above
Sarasota/Bradenton - have researched University Park, LWR, and all of the other gated communities. Read about Chinese Toxic Mold in these communities. Is this still a problem? We love the gated homes, but hate the cost of the CDD and expensive HOA. Is there specific areas of sarasota or bradenton that are nicely maintained but don't have added expense. I would prefer no CDD and just HOA.
Venice, Florida - Yes, I have read about the abundance of seniors...that does not bother me at all. What about how close to the coast? Is flood insurance a requirement?
North Port - I have read a lot about this area and only concern is some posts mention infrastructure issues. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

We are planning a visit again to tour these areas ourselves as I know each to their own so it is a very personal choice. But should I be crossing any of these areas off to visit?

I have read the forums extensively so I have accumulated so great information. You all are very supportive and helpful.
Thanks for any help!!

[photoman_6]

i may be partial cause i live in the area, but University Parkway and its surrounding areas has tons of developments built in the last 10 years that have only HOA fees, with many amenities, within 20-25 minutes of wonderful Lido Beach and Longboat key.
there is also great shopping, a brand new huge mall coming up, tons of restaurants from plain to fancy and everything in between.

[bbronston]

You've read everything already so there's really nothing you are likely to see here that you haven't already learned. The question of safety is, to some degree, a personal evaluation but you can find objective raw data/information from Crime Mapping - Building Safer Communities!. Keep in mind that no one can tell you that a place is safe because no one can predict your future. All you can do is look at what has been going on in the recent past.
You are extremely flexible, all things considered, so you are really at the point where you need to be here to evaluate all of these different areas. Since you are both able to work from home, in my opinion, you should find a rental home for a year, move here, and then learn these areas at your leisure. Lakewood Ranch or a similar locale that has A rated schools would be a good start, I think.

Note: on the subjects of drywall, mold, pinhole leaks, etc., don't think in terms of communities. Think in terms of a particular property. You will/should have a home inspection and that home inspection will alert you to these types of issues but they are not community-wide issues. Each property should be evaluated on its own merits/faults.

[JenMNJ]

Thank you photoman6 for your information. I wasn't aware of areas of university parkway with only HOA fees. Would you be able to provide a few names of some developments as examples so I could further research on my own.

To bbronston: Thank you also for your advice. I appreciate your link to the crime mapping site. I also appreciate your information regarding the per property view versus communities. I agree that we need to spend more time in the area investigating the different options.
Thank you both.

[macrodome2]

With regard to the CDD fees. Many people just refuse to buy a house that has a CDD. When we were looking, we decided on Venice, and a nice community pool was high on our criteria. We narrowed the choice down to 4 communities. One community had a CDD. Another community was in the City of Venice. The City has its own tax. Turned out that the City tax was equivalent to the CDD.

We also wanted a house that was built after 2002 and had a few other requirements. The other two communities had only a few houses that were built after 2002 and none came up that fit the other requirements.

We ended up in the community that has the CDD because I found exactly what we were looking for. So what I'm saying is evaluate all of the costs- taxes, CDD, HOA and figure out what makes sense for you.

[DragonflyMom]

We are building a home in Venice at IslandWalk; moving from the Atlanta suburbs in October. Venice seems very nice, kinda quiet and very near several beaches.

Here's a link to info from our house search:

[url]//www.city-data.com/forum/34907303-post4.html[/url]

[JenMNJ]

Macrodome2: You make an excellent point. Coming from NJ it took me some reading to understand a CDD and what it was used for. I explained it to my husband as a local tax. I did not realize that some areas in Venice with CDD also have a local tax. Thanks for the helpful information and I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks dkling58 for your link. I will read it tonight.

[JenMNJ]

dlking58:
I forgot ask, did you find a high expense for retaining flood insurance? Do all areas of Venice require it?
Thanks

[macrodome2]

Originally Posted by JenMNJ

Macrodome2: You make an excellent point. Coming from NJ it took me some reading to understand a CDD and what it was used for. I explained it to my husband as a local tax. I did not realize that some areas in Venice with CDD also have a local tax. Thanks for the helpful information and I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks dkling58 for your link. I will read it tonight.

We're in northern NJ. We're snowbirding for the time being. What I meant to say was if you look on a map, Venice is a large area. The City of Venice is inside the larger area- on the Gulf. Its the city that has its own tax. The CDD is a separate "tax". I actually can't think of any communities that pay both city and CDD.

The communities I was referring to were Sawgrass and Stoneybrook. Sawgrass did not have a CDD but was is in the City of Venice, so looking at a house there, I saw they paid over $800 per year in city tax. Stoneybrook is not in the City, but it has a CDD which is just under $800 per year. So looking at the total cost, it wouldn't have mattered to us whether we paid the $800 to the City or CDD authority. Also, once the CDD bond is paid off (I think its 20 yrs) you pay only the maintenance portion. With the City tax that will never go down.

Just check all of the taxes, fees, whatever before ruling out any community.

Just for reference-the new construction in Venice that we looked at:
Gran Paradiso and IslandWalk have CDDs and pay taxes to North Port. They have a Venice address only. Never compared Venice to North Port taxes.
Grand Palm has a CDD. I think Sarasota National has a CDD as well. Both are Venice, but not the City.

There are a few of more signs around Venice and articles in the paper indicating Neal has purchase land and will be starting new developments. Just read in the paper Neal bought a parcel up near Border Rd. There's a sign on a parcel just before the traffic circle heading west on East Venice Ave, just east of Jacaranda Rd. I think the sign on the west side of River Rd. between East Venice Ave and 75 is also Neal. I don't think any of those areas are in the city and although it's too early to tell about CDD, I would bet if they're Neal there will be a CDD, since they have CDDs in Grand Palm and Lakewood Ranch.

[macrodome2]

If you can stand one more post about Venice. You can get to the beach within 20-25 minutes from almost any place in Venice. I'm in one of the farthest communities away from the beach and it only takes us 22 minutes in season.

Most off the Chinese drywall and pinhole leaks have been taken care of. The Chinese drywall affected homes as early as the beginning 2000's and peaked about 2005-2006 during the building boom. You can see it's effects in the a/c units and outlet wiring. Google for photos.

Pinhole leaks affected houses built in the 1990's, Many of those houses were already repiped. Mold can affect any home but be especially careful with foreclosures and any home that is vacant. If the a/c is not kept on, mold will develop.

A good home inspector should find any problems and newer homes are less likely to have them- homes built from 2008 on.

Although Venice tends to trend on the older side, Stoneybrook has a fair number of children in the community and I've seen a number of younger women with small (not yet school age) children in Grand Palm when riding my bicycle.