Moving to Sarasota Area (Bradenton, North Port: crime rates, how much, new home)

[FL Bound]

Our family is looking to relocate to the Sarasota area and we could really use some input from those of you who live in/near and know this area very well. Can you reply on the following categories for Sarasota: 1. Quality of elementary and middle schools, 2. Safety / Crime, 3. Parks / Lakes, 4. Small town - close community feel, 5. Have a nice YMCA, Target, Publix, shopping, etc?, 6. Demographics - young families w/children?, 7. Distance to airport?

Thank you very much for your input, comments, and suggestions!

[SoFLGal]

I live in Sarasota county and am a native to the area. Out of the 43 Sarasota County Schools 32 schools received an "A" rating, most of the others were "B" rated schools. My children go to Pine View School in Osprey and we love it. It was ranked the number six school in the Nation and has grades 2-12th. North Port has four elementary schools and one middle school, all are "A" rated.

For the safety crime stats you can check City-Data. I live in North Port and have three kids, we feel very safe.

Again, North Port has a small town feeling. Osprey is another good choice.
Target, Publix, etc are on just about every corner throughout Sarasota county no matter where you choose.

North Port is the youngest city in Sarasota county with an average age of 40. I believe Venice has the oldest population in the county.

Anywhere in Sarasota county is not more than 40 minutes from the Sarasota/Bradenton Airport. The closer toward Sarasota you get, the closer you are to the airport.

Hope this helps
SoFLGal

[Leaving Oregon]

Thank you SoFLGal - this is helpful!

[CraftLadyKim]

Have you checked City-Data for Sarasota and the surrounding areas (Sarasota, Venice, North Port, Englewood, Bradenton)? That gives you a lot of the statistics that you are asking about and pictures of each. Also read some of the other blogs about people moving into the area. You will see both pros and cons to most of the areas by reading those. Each one has it's own special charm. You asked about YMCA's Sarasota has 2 and Venice has a brand new addition and is across the street from one of the elementary schools and they have a great after-school program.
Best of Luck!
Kim : )

[loves2read]

PineView is a magnet school since it is for all the gifted and talented students in Sarasota Co--there is testing involved to decide if students are eligible--and yes, it is a wonderful school
Venice is wonderful town--has great downtown area on the island and plent of other retail on mainland--not as much traffic most of the time and yet is easy to get into the s part of Sarasota for the mall

[mariadbd]

Hi
We are about to move next month from NY. We have been down to the area many times over the past few years. I'd suggest Lakewood Ranch - planned community - it has a number of different areas. If you go to Welcome to Lakewood Ranch you can find out all about the communities. There are major deals to be had in property there at the moment and it is totally family orientated. New YMCA, new public schools, wide choice of private schools. Airport is 10 minutes away, which is necessary for us because my husband commutes to NY. Willis Elementary school (pulbic) gets great reviews. Our son is gifted so we did a lot of research about the schools in the area. Clean, tidy, quiet, spacious communities within the "ranch" that have adventure parks, pools, nature reserves, - everything is laid out for bike riding, walking, etc.

[smiledoc1]

Originally Posted by FL Bound

Our family is looking to relocate to the Sarasota area and we could really use some input from those of you who live in/near and know this area very well. Can you reply on the following categories for Sarasota: 1. Quality of elementary and middle schools, 2. Safety / Crime, 3. Parks / Lakes, 4. Small town - close community feel, 5. Have a nice YMCA, Target, Publix, shopping, etc?, 6. Demographics - young families w/children?, 7. Distance to airport?

Thank you very much for your input, comments, and suggestions!

Hi Flbound,
SoFLGal gave you great information.
We just bought in the Palmer Ranch area of Sarasota for the reasons listed in my post "Just bought in Sarasota, Helpful hints". I will tell you that our kids are all out of the house, so our criteria were different than yours.
One amendment to her post. Venice is not old, it is ancient. Anyone younger than 65 must be a visitor. Definitely not for school age kids.

Good luck,
smildoc1

[aquabluesrq]

I have to agree that Lakewood Ranch should defintely be on your list of possibilites if not #1. I just visited the movie theatre in LWR a week ago and was pleasantly suprised to see all the teens and tweens as I rarely come into contact with people of the younger demographic unless visiting the mall. I myself am a big fan of planned communities. I can't speak for the cost of living in LWR as I do not personally live there, but I can say that imho it is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bradenton/Sarasota and you'd be hardpressed to find one more convenient with all the development going on around and within the community.

[helojafo]

First let me preface my remark by saying that I am a Realtor, however, please don't discount my post based on that. I logged onto this group because one of my clients had told me about it and I really thought it looked like a great way to share my love of the area with people who are looking for answers. I work as a Professional Buyer's Agent, so I'm not here to try to sell you a home or an area that I have a vested interest in.

From the list of questions that you've asked it sounds very much like you would enjoy being in either the Palmer Ranch or Lakewood Ranch areas. They have a lot to offer that fits neatly into your criteria. Everything is pretty much new in the last several years, people from any large city would most likely consider the crime rates to be low or relatively non-existent - comparatively speaking. (Please note that I'm a retired police officer) The YMCA is new and is a beautiful state of the art facility, including a huge outdoor pool and a great swim team to boot.

There are also a couple of communities nearby, on the fringe of Lakewood Ranch that might be attractive, depending on what style of homes you prefer, how large you expect the yards to be, what type of ammenities you'd like in your development and of course, how much you wanted to invest in your new home. I hope that is of some help.