Communities without a lot of small kids (Sarasota, Bradenton: sales, 2015)

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by bbronston

What? Where is that coming from?

% of population of Sarasota under age of 5 --- 3.8%

% of population of Florida under age of 5 --- 5.5%

% of population of U.S. under age of 5 --- 6.3%


Not saying there aren't children here, just not as many and that you don't see throngs of kids here like some other places.

There are tons of threads posted here of people asking for neighborhoods with lots of kids. And these are from people who have visited Sarasota and didn't see the kid filled neighborhoods if they don't want to live in Lakewood Ranch.

[macrodome2]

Since your realtor is pro Venice, you may have already looked at Venetian Falls. It is a 55+ community with two stunning pools and a clubhouse. Ironically, we did not want a 55+ so we ruled that out, but if we were including it, that would have been high on our list. I can't think of any other fairly new 55+ that has single family homes.

Just as an FYI, we're next door to Venetian Falls in a community with a decent number of kids. You see them at the pool during holidays and weekends when it starts to get warmer, but we haven't noticed any playing in the street. They come down to the basketball courts and skating rink, but I don't find them to be a bother. In fact, it's generally the kids at the pool that come to visit grandma and grandpa during school breaks that are more annoying.

[bbronston]

Cardiff, interesting percentages but, speaking as someone who is always either stuck behind a bus or slowing down for crossing guards, it would never occur to me that finding a neighborhood in our area that has kids in it was a problem.

[bbronston]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

Thanks bbronston, communities with empty nesters would have sounded better than communities without a lot of small kids! I took at look at Esplanade. Looks nice but I'm not seeing homes with pools. That is another must have. I must be having senior moments, I keep finding information I left out of the original post!

Also, it appears that it is still in the process of being built in. How much is left before the neighborhood is complete? I'm leery of any community that hasn't been built out, or at least near completion. I don't know how Florida is, or was, but when the market tanked here, builders went out of business and partially built communities were left struggling.

There are homes with pools there, including the models, but the clubhouse has a great pool so you might consider just using that. The $35K plus it can save can buy a lot of upgrades, a better lot, etc. Just food for thought. The non-golf course section is almost all done if it isn't already done, from what I've heard. It's been a while since I was there but tzais would certainly know for sure. They have been selling like hot cakes and I doubt you would have anything to worry about unless they get stupid with pricing going forward.

You might also ask your agent to take you to Sarasota National in Venice. Half of the homes will be social membership only (if you don't want to be a golf member) and almost every home will have no homes to look at behind so lots of privacy.

[tzais01]

You can definitely build a pool at Esplanade. There are many pools in current homes as well as those under construction.

The community is less than 3 years old and has 268 closed homes and has 359 sold which include roughly 80 homes currently under construction. The 1250 planned homes includes 300 condos.

The expected buildout is approximately 2020. The construction has been in phases so there are completEd which have minimal inconvenience due to construction.

[DragonflyMom]

Did you look at IslandWalk in Venice? We are currently building there, moving into the house probably in October. We've been there several times, and I only saw one child, at the pool with his grandma. I'm sure there are some kids around, because it isn't a adult-only community. They have a full-time activities director, and a full schedule of activities all the time.

Here's a previous post I did after we finished househunting in Venice: [URL]//www.city-data.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=34907303[/URL]

Here's a link to the current HOA newsletter showing all the activities:

[URL]https://secure.associationvoice.com/page/25825~429420/Community-Newsletters[/URL]

PS - I just saw your post about price level - you can build the biggest house they offer in IslandWalk, with a pool and hot tub, for mid $400k.

[jclarkx2]

Originally Posted by dlking58

Did you look at IslandWalk in Venice? We are currently building there, moving into the house probably in October. We've been there several times, and I only saw one child, at the pool with his grandma. I'm sure there are some kids around, because it isn't a adult-only community. They have a full-time activities director, and a full schedule of activities all the time.

Here's a previous post I did after we finished househunting in Venice: //www.city-data.com/forum/newre...ply&p=34907303

Here's a link to the current HOA newsletter showing all the activities:

https://secure.associationvoice.com/...ty-Newsletters

PS - I just saw your post about price level - you can build the biggest house they offer in IslandWalk, with a pool and hot tub, for mid $400k.

Thanks for this information. It looks incredible. I will have to check into it a bit more. I like that there is a singles group (hopefully older singles!) and a ladies luncheon group. I really didn't pay attention to IslandWalk when I was there in March, from the satellite map it appeared to be mostly undeveloped. That's the problem with searching online, not everything that is available to use is up to date.

[Janet2007]

There are a number of good communities in Venice that will probably suit you. Our home is in Stoneybrook, Venice. It is a mixed community with approx. 60% of empty nesters. It has a good club house with lots of activities for "mature" people. The community is split up into different sections. I would suggest you take a look at the ESTATE HOMES around River Road (right hand side) and Granite Woods Loop. These seem to attract the empty nesters and are on bigger plots. Let me know if you would like info on activities.

[jclarkx2]

My agent has been adamant about avoiding Bradenton and Manatee county. Anyone have the same feelings about this? Is Manatee county really a bad place to consider moving to?

[Cardiff by the Sea]

Originally Posted by jclarkx2

My agent has been adamant about avoiding Bradenton and Manatee county. Anyone have the same feelings about this? Is Manatee county really a bad place to consider moving to?

big chunks of Lakewood Ranch are in Manatee County.

There is a large area in the center of Bradenton that is drug and crime infested, but there are nice areas on the periphery. You need to see for yourself and decide.

If I had a realtor who was adamant about not showing me an area I was interested in, I would find another realtor.