Looking for a realtor/someone to show us around Venice (Melbourne: rental car, real estate market)

[LYOUNG47]

H & I (ages57 & good health) will be coming down from upstate NY in September to check out Englewood, Venice, Nokomis areas for a pre-retirement looksee becoming snow-birds. We're not sure of +55 gated community, condo, or other place to settle on. Any suggestions on a business/realtor/trustworthy persons who would be able to take us around the different communities? I'm looking at 3 full days of scoping out areas. We both don't care for big cities, like it kind of peaceful(we're small town of 3,000) within 1/2 hour to beaches and not luxury accomodations. We figure on checking out communities first, then home second. We will have a rental car so getting around would be on our dime. My research is really showing the above areas as ideal for us.

[macrodome2]

Not a realtor here, but familiar with all 3 areas. We have a home in Venice. A few things to consider to narrow your search down even further.
Do you want to be close to the beach?
Are you interested in golfing?
Do you want a community with amenities (pool, tennis, clubhouse, gym, golf)?
Do you want a gated community?
Do you want new construction or is an older home OK? (you shouldn't go older than 2003 as insurance will cost more due to change in building codes around then)
Do you want mixed age or older community (you can find communities that are not age restricted, but most of the residents are retirees)?
Is shopping important (like mall shopping)
What's you budget?

Most of the single family homes in the towns you mentioned are on small lots. There are a few neighborhoods that have acreage. I think you should consider whether you'd be comfortable in a condo environment where you share walls or if you want to be in a SFH. Then how much property (and distance) do you want to be from your neighbor.

This way you could have a better idea of what you want to look at. Since I'm not a realtor, I can say it, but your proposal to have someone invest 3 days with you when you haven't narrowed your requirements down further does not sound too appealing, but we'll see what kind of response you get.

[DragonflyMom]

If you want to search the threads for IslandWalk you can read all my previous posts about our new neighborhood. We love it. Manasota Beach is about a 10 minute drive.

There are several realtors who post in these threads all the time. I'm sure one will see your message soon.

[SoFLGal]

I agree with Macro, we really need more info to assess your specific needs. The questions that Macro posed are exactly what I would ask (Macro would you like to come work for me ).

There are lots and lots of communities I could recommend but I need you to answer the questions that were already posted to being to narrow down the search.

[Sunshine Rules]

It seems you are just beginning to think about buying a home in our area, are just starting the process. It takes time to learn an area, it's local real estate market. What often happens during that learning process is that the buyer who had plan A for home buying ends up going with plan B or C. Which is OK, as buyers become more educated on the local market they do often revise their plans based on the newly gained information. You may not yet be ready to focus on individual neighborhoods or homes at this point in time, based on what you have said here on the forum.

Your initial search area spans almost 50 miles in length, another 10 - 20 miles in width, which encompasses literally hundreds of neighborhoods. It would be impossible for an agent to show you even a tiny fraction of the many neighborhoods and communities within such a large area, especially in a 3 day time period. Realistically most agents show at most 6 or 8 properties per day, less if there is more travel time between listings.

Your upcoming trip would be an excellent opportunity to instead explore Venice, North Port, Englewood and perhaps even a little further south, into the Port Charlotte area. Focus more on getting to know the cities/towns better, to see which ones better fit your needs and wants. Once you have narrowed down the area to focus on to just one or two specifics, an agent can then suggest neighborhoods based on your price range and other characteristics you are looking for in your next home.

[03bluecoupe]

Yup - Sunshine nailed it. When we started looking we had a preconceived list of areas that we thought we were interested in. After visiting a couple of times and spending time driving around and seeing/investigating different areas (the same one's you're looking at) we totally changed our minds and ended up buying in an area that we ad kind of ruled out before exploring first hand.

It's one of those "ya kind of have to be there" type of things.

[Old Gal]

Of course I'm the odd one here. I did tons of research on the internet and I do mean tons. Each area has a different vibe. I was able to pretty much pick up on that vibe through research. I chose the main area we were interested in. We came, we looked at about 20 houses total in different areas, we bought and are very happy with the house and the area we bought in - S. Venice. With that being said, most people would not do it that way. I will also say that of the 20 or so houses we looked at I was pretty sure that the one we bought would be the one before we ever got here.

[03bluecoupe]

Pretty much the method we used only ruled out a few areas we had on the list when we saw how people kept, or I should say, didn't keep up their property. But we knew the areas of interest when we headed south from months of investigation.

[Old Gal]

I will also add that much of the info I gathered on CD helped quite a bit. This may sound a little odd but it gave me a bit of a "feel" for the areas and it was pretty much right on. Plus everywhere we went while we were here everyone was very friendly and still are. We have only run across just a very few people here that aren't really friendly and try to be helpful.

[LYOUNG47]

Wow! got great info so here goes on answering questions so far:
We'd like to be withing 1/2 or so to the beaches
Not interested in golfing, back surgery put the ki-bosh to that
we would entertain a gated community- went to one close to Melbourne that we liked the idea of additional security in.
Acommunity with amenities-- I'd say yes, whether it be gated or not, or a condo
New construction doesn't matter and great info on not older than 2003
Mixed age is ok, I understand retirees are the most populace. we're active and can certainly find things to do on our own.
Shopping so not important.
The budget- well, that's where we are unsure. H was looking at manufactured homes under $25K as if hurricane blew it away, then your not out that much. I'm open as we would be selling one of the rental properties we own.

Also, if a community, would also like to ask management if our kids-27 & 30 with young children, would be able to come down when we are not there.

Small lot would be ok- push mower is what I do now.
Just don't care for big city vibe- Boonville is small town, 2500 people in village, on a side street.
thanks for your help and comments.