Moving to Sarasota in 2021 (Bradenton, Naples: truck rental, 2015, apartment)

[NormanVal]

My wife and I are going to move to Sarasota in the fall of 2021. We live in Las Vegas and I am retired and my wife works in a Dr's office. We are wondering what is the best course of action. Should be move all our belongings to Sarasota and store them and live in an apartment for 6 months while we house hunt? OR Leave our belongings in Las Vegas, rent a furnished apartment for 6 months and search for a house? OR Live in Sarasota for two weeks, buy a house, then move our belongings. I imagine a lot of people have done this and trying to figure out what is the best course of action.

[Tommygphotos]

I def would not recommend buying anything here on a whim. We moved from NJ in 2015 and rented for a year to learn the area. There are many areas that short term or online seem like a great deal and location only to find out it is not as such.

If you had the means, I would move here and put your belongings in storage here. You may find things you want that you didnt know you wanted.

Everyone is different but we rented for a year and liked the house so much, we just keep renting. We fell in love with the neighbors and the neighborhood. WE GOT VERY LUCKY! Most don't get that lucky on the first shot

[Yukenbo]

If you have the flexibility to rent first, that is what I would suggest you do. Drive around, talk to people, find out "which Sarasota" is for you. Figure out the traffic patterns and what you like to be near. Look at places throughout the area with an agent and narrow down the area. We ended up near Siesta Key just over the bridge, but we looked all over including Longboat Key, Siesta Key, downtown, and towards Osprey.

In terms of moving furniture, a couple of things - first, a fair number of places can come furnished and a lot of rentals come furnished, so in your initial move, while house hunting, I would think about putting your things in storage. Second, when you make a more permanent move you might want to figure out how much it will really cost to move your major items and if it is really worth things like a couch and bed, etc. Actually you may also find that your furnishings don't really match a beach setting and you may want to change things up or you may end up buying a furnished place.

[beach43ofus]

Here's what I did. I lived in Florida for years two times before, so I knew all the +'s/-'s. I knew I wanted to be in SW FLA from Bradenton to Naples....100% sure...just didnt know the exact spot.

I rented a large unfurnished townhome w/ 2 car garage for 6 months (with the option to extend month by month after the first 6 months expired, which turned out to be a brilliant play).

We moved our stuff into that townhome to avoid a mini-storage warehouse, & unfurninshed rentals were easier to find than furnished...& cheaper. You must commit to 6+ months though, & 12 months opens up the rental market even more. We wound up staying in it for 10 months as we home shopped SW FLA & narrowed it down to Southern Sarasota County. We built a new home which took 4 months, then moved our stuff a 2nd time into our new home.

I rented Penske trucks each time, and did 80% of it all myself....packing, loading, driving. I hired 2 guys on each end through Penske to move 8 large heavy pieces I couldn't do myself. They had a 2 hr minimum on each end. The 1st move was a One-Way rental from Atlanta to Sarasota. The 2nd truck rental was a 1-day local rental since we wound up ~35 minutes further South from our townhome rental in Palmer Ranch; where we originally thought we woul wind up.

We saved $170,000 by having the time and flexibility to shop around down here w/o being rushed. We decided to give up the primo location of Palmer Ranch to save the $170k, but renting gave us the time to make that call. We were 1 day away from placing a deposit on a $790,000 new home w/ pool in Esplanade in Palmer Ranch, then found a nearly identical home for $520,000 (no $100k pool) 35 minutes further south. 2 years later, we still have not added the pool, so you could add another $100k to our savings.

The only thing I'd have done differently is got rid of even more stuff than we did (my wife would disagree). We went from 6,000 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft, so we sold/donated 1/2 our stuff, but the 1/2 we brought just doesn't look right in the Florida setting. It provided great utility during our 10 month rental stay, & for the 1st year in our new home, but now I'm ready to dump it.

In Georgia, our home was traditional, & down here, we have a British West Indies styled home, so there's a style clash "Transitional" seems to be most popular down here, followed by the coastal/beachy look.

I hope my story helps you in some way. Good luck!

[CVPFord]

please don't move - we've had enough

[LIH&H]

Here’s how my wife and I approached it.
I retired early (mid fifties) and we made the move to Sarasota’s LWR.
We rented a small Airbnb pool house for two months in South Sarasota near the bay. I figured two months was plenty of time to find and ultimately close on a new home, and it was. I’d been to the area many times and I new exactly what I wanted. Which in my opinion is really key in making a big move such as this.
We went the POD route. We used two PODS. One large 14’and one small 7’ container. We both loaded and unloaded them ourselves. We stored them in Sarasota’s POD warehouse for one month at about $500. (Per month) in storage fees for our configuration. Total POD costs were approximately $5.5K. Great experience, highly recommend.
We ditched literally several tons of assorted stuff at our former home (as noted on our bill from the sanitation company, haha). We filled two extra large dumpsters in addition to giving lots and lots of stuff away. We bought most of our furniture for the new house when we arrived in Fl.
I had a list of must haves for my new home and I think I found them. It all depends on your wants and needs. For example; Pool or no pool, big decision. For us it would be unthinkable to live in this part of Fl and not have a pool/spa. The joy we get from them, from both a recreational, as well as an aesthetic perspective is immeasurable. There’s no right or wrongs with these things, just personal preferences.
I agree with the other posters that renting for a spell is probably a smart move.
We’re super happy here as are many others that went wheels up and moved here.
I wish you the best of luck with everything!!

[MattMN]

I would highly recommend renting for 6-12 months. If you just go ahead commit to a year, you'll have more options. Find an unfurnished house to rent, and bring all your stuff. No need to go back and forth more than once.

I can't imagine only renting for 2 months like LIH&H did, though sounds like they's done a ton a pre-work.

beach43ofus had an experience very similar to mine, and it worked great for us.

- Find an unfurnished house to rent in Sarasota (we signed a 12-mo lease)
- Pack everything on the largest Penske, after purging as much as we could in Minnesota. Hire some local assistance to load the big stuff.
- Drive to FL
- Have some local help to unload everything into the house/garage.

Then you've got plenty of time to explore. You can spend hundreds of hours researching the area online, but nothing will replace being able to drive around and really get a feel for the areas, neighborhoods, home styles, etc. We explored everything from Lakewood Ranch down to West Villages. We thought for sure we'd just find an existing home we liked. But after searching a bit, and checking out some new communities, we loved the brand-new layouts so much better. So we ended up building a new home which took 5 months. We've now been in FL 4 years and all is well.

I see too many people buy their first home right away. It's amazing how many end up selling in 1-3 years, because they figured out something wasn't what they expected (home style, neighborhood, whatever). You'll lose a lot more money buying/selling a home in 3 years than you will just renting for a year. Yes you commit to moving twice, but so much less hassle in the long run, and it gives you so much freedom to take the time you need to make a good first choice on the home you will buy.

[beach43ofus]

I think renting longer allows buyers to see what our season looks like, with the crush of people and traffic, and where its concentrated, what roads get busier, ect..

It gives you a chance to experience our hot humid Summers. You have to see which areas hold water during the Summer time downpoors, and which areas drain faster. This info can foreshadow tropical storms and hurricane water flows.

I realize the interest rates are <3% now, and everyone wants to jump on them, but rent at least 6 months...you'll thank me.

I realize if you have multiple large dogs, that could prevent you from finding rentals.

[CVPFord]

we're overcrowded right now, don't do it. If we wanted to live around folks from NY NJ or places like Chicago, we'd move THERE. My home is getting ruined, not helped IMHO

[stvlg1]

My Wife and I made two trips here before making the decision to move a year ago. Met realtor the 2nd trip and visited around 12 homes in both north and south Sarasota county. We found the home of our dreams on the north end near UTC. We didnt want to rent and risk burning through all our equity plus the thought of moving twice didnt appeal to us. There are hidden gems out there. You may have to adjust your expectations slightly. Find a good realtor and look both north and south. Be ready to move fast though if you do find the home you want. Our house was only listed 8 days before our offer was accepted.