My observations. (Sarasota, North Port, Bloomingdale: fit in, 2014, houses)

[gypsychic]

While I wouldn't necessarily want to live in Palmetto, it is nowhere near as bad as people paint a picture of here. If you drive around the whole town you won't see anything all that bad. It's just a small, almost rural feeling town with a heavy Mexicano presence. The small downtown reflects that, and all the buildings are kept up and look neat. There are some very bad parts of Palmetto with crime, but honestly I don't think it's worse than Newtown, Sarasota's ghetto. Palmetto actually reminds me a lot of Ventura in California in it's look and feel, but a little plainer/simpler.

[jetdoc3037]

Oh ok, I've never been there, just read things. Appreciate it.

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

There is a lot of commercial development going in in North Port. Benderson is building like crazy. Here is a map of some of the upcoming commercial: ArcGIS Web Application

OMG! Popeye's Chicken is coming to North Port. On US 41 across from Lowes. Thanks for the info, SoFLGal.

[notinkeys]

We live in Parrish, and when my wife and her two sons moved down after we married, her sons had to go to school in Palmetto. They're graduated now, but the high school was cringe-worthy. In fairness, they have a new superintendent, so perhaps we'll at least have new and entertaining reasons why the schools suck.

That said, we absolutely love Parrish. Just built a new home and moved in a few weeks ago (and we lived here before that house, so we're not new here.)

River House is great, referring to Tommygphotos reference. One other nice thing about Parrish is that we are pretty safe from storm surge even in a Cat 5 storm. My wife is from San Diego by way of a few years in Denver, so the whole big storm thing is a bit scary to her. This made her happy.

Added- I forgot you mentioned North Port. I lived there before moving up after we got married. If you would like small town, homey places, North Port is GREAT. Not far from beaches that are rarely full, and are absolutely beautiful. Quiet, pleasant town. I really liked it there.

Venice is also nice, and Englewood.

[notinkeys]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

While I wouldn't necessarily want to live in Palmetto, it is nowhere near as bad as people paint a picture of here.

I never thought of it being much like Ventura, but you're right- it's not as bad as folks here say. Indeed, there are some very nice neighborhood, especially out toward the water, by Snead Island.

[craigiri]

We rented once in Palmetto and there are a lot of nice areas. It's location is quite superior in terms of proximity to the Tampa airport and St. Petes, etc - and location means a lot in Real Estate.

Prices can be quite reasonable. I think it is a decent option for some retirees and others...but if one has younger kids it's nice to be in an area with lots of the same and good schools, etc.

Not too many other well priced places where you can easily walk to a nice waterfront like that. I think Palmette will boom (to an extent) once people understand those (location) benefits.

[DragonflyMom]

You are correct. We bought a Divosta home in IslandWalk which is in an annexed area of North Port. The exact same home in the Divosta community of SandHill Preserve in Sarasota was $125,000 more - for the exact same house.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by dlking58

You are correct. We bought a Divosta home in IslandWalk which is in an annexed area of North Port. The exact same home in the Divosta community of SandHill Preserve in Sarasota was $125,000 more - for the exact same house.

That's totally true! I had a closing in Sandhill Preserve on Friday. They now close all of the IslandWalk new builds up there at the Preserve. I'm finding you lots of nice neighbors, dlking

[Nancy in Nokomis]

What does an "annexed area" mean?

[jetdoc3037]

Originally Posted by sware2cod

OMG! Popeye's Chicken is coming to North Port. On US 41 across from Lowes. Thanks for the info, SoFLGal.

Popeye's is the best.