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Old 07-17-2009, 06:04 PM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,040,663 times
Reputation: 1256

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Quote:
Originally Posted by grandmallie View Post
its sorta hard to travel with 3 dogs , and he has more vacation time than me
I work in a dental office and from what I hear the economy is hitting us too, our schedule is dwindling and im scared to death, I cant afford to be out of work
please keep me in your thoughts everyone will you?
Ill be down the 5th of September

You oughta talk to smiledoc. There are plenty of people down here with teeth. Maybe he can find some that need some work to be done, and know him, he can use all the good help he can get! Just kidding smiledoc. Or, better yet, start up one of those mail order denture repair companies, and mail them to smiledoc. The way they talk about old people here, I'm sure glad I'm never gonna be one!
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Old 07-19-2009, 10:57 PM
 
191 posts, read 663,935 times
Reputation: 98
I went down to florida a month ago and planned to seriously consider buying in Northport. I was very disappointed with what I saw versus what was described on this thread. I found it to be pretty empty and quiet. Very few stores and just some little strip malls. No night life to speak of and no sense of people enjoying life. It was just there. Yes the homes are nice but all I saw was lots of trees that line the highways and all the side roads look alike and there was no tourist activities or traffic or people that looked engaged in life. A few people that worked locally and some who were visiting and seemed lost or just boring. It did not have the feeling of a growing well established town or city and was not like sarasota either. I saw lots of lightning and many rain storms. some canals and some working class type people. I cant explain it. It was So different than california or boston or anywhere I have been. Maybe its the very small town feeling of the south that I am not used to. what do people do for fun there? I just didnt feel it.
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Old 07-20-2009, 06:50 AM
 
Location: Punta Gorda and Maryland
6,103 posts, read 15,040,663 times
Reputation: 1256
Quote:
Originally Posted by firsttimeowner View Post
I went down to florida a month ago and planned to seriously consider buying in Northport. I was very disappointed with what I saw versus what was described on this thread. I found it to be pretty empty and quiet. Very few stores and just some little strip malls. No night life to speak of and no sense of people enjoying life. It was just there. Yes the homes are nice but all I saw was lots of trees that line the highways and all the side roads look alike and there was no tourist activities or traffic or people that looked engaged in life. A few people that worked locally and some who were visiting and seemed lost or just boring. It did not have the feeling of a growing well established town or city and was not like sarasota either. I saw lots of lightning and many rain storms. some canals and some working class type people. I cant explain it. It was So different than california or boston or anywhere I have been. Maybe its the very small town feeling of the south that I am not used to. what do people do for fun there? I just didnt feel it.

Well, there are definitely two different seasons here, and during the off season, it does tend to slow down A LOT!

I don't live in North Port, but I'm pretty close by in PGI, and I am always looking for trouble to get - err, things to do!

I like to fish, swim, go to the beach, golf, bike, sing, dance, ((drink beer and other refreshments when I'm parched - darn that happens a lot here)), look at potential investment opportunities (there are tons here), listen to music (played everywhere @ parks, restuarants, bars, farmer's markets), go to farmers markets, go to yard sales, shop (not for girls clothes, but I like the fashion show that follow when they find something nice), kayak, enjoy nature - I love watching birds (there are tons here), I like to watch all the different fish, I like to go to Mote Marine and see the manatees and dolphin, and see all the kids having fun. I like to sit out on my lanai, and swim in my pool, have drinks with some of my neighbors - granted some are older, but younger ones too - they all are enjoying the little things in life, even when it is stiffling hot. My neighbors have a remote controlled car they run up and down the street and tinker with. that is cool too. I love going to see all the art work in all the shops and museums - they are everywhere. I love having all the girls flirt with me all the time.

The stores here have a lot of interesting things in them, and the restaurants are all good. During the off season (especially this year) they are not staying open because of the troubled economy, but I guarantee that as soon as the season changes - there will be money to be made and they will all be open again very quickly.

I get out and meet people all the time. I enjoy that, and everyone I've met is very friendly. Just going to the mall yesterday, we went looking for some clothes for my daughter (boy is that exciting for a guy - let me tell ya!) Anyway, to amuse my self I went over to the small apppliance section of the kitchen department (in Macy's), and figured out how to attach all the blender attchments and just about all the other attachments they had (juciers, slicers, etc....) up to my drill, so I could avoid buying all their crap, just the attachments. When the sales people came over and asked what I was doing I explained it to them and we had a great laugh!

I think that just getting out, making something happen, or making something interesting, or spotting something different, is fun and enjoyable, and I happen to like the heat! It was 95 two days ago and I went for a 15 mile bike ride, brought plenty of water, and stopped and bought some sun screen which I forgot to bring with me, and loved every minute of it.

I don't disagree that from a different perspective you can be disappointed, it is how you view the world, and only the viewer can determine how they want to see it, and what they want to see.
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Old 07-21-2009, 02:00 PM
 
Location: on the edge of Sanity
14,268 posts, read 18,860,083 times
Reputation: 7982
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bella52 View Post
Lakeside Plantation is not a 55 and over community. I don't live there but my family lives there and they have young children.
I just saw this post...a little late but!!! Yes, there is a section of Lakeside Plantation that is over 55. It is a gated community and the homeowner has to be over 55. I'm 100% positive. (well, I was until I read these posts) They offer daily activites like duplicate bridge, poker, shuffleboard, etc. I wasn't dreaming when I sat down with their new home counselor (her name was Gail) to review the prices and fees. I'm sure one of the Realtors here like SoFLGal can confirm this. There are other neighborhoods in Lakeside like the townhomes by Standard which are not age restricted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoFLGal View Post
I think I mentioned this before, but there are a lot of kids that live in Lakeside Plantation and in Charleston Park. Lakeside is definitely not a retirement community. The poster dt3sabo lives in Lakeside, has a few kids and he says he is very happy
Whoa...I spoke too soon. Are you telling me I was in the Twilight Zone? LOL http://bestsmileys.com/surprised/2.gif (broken link) I never said there weren't children living in Lakeside, only that there is a separate over 55 community which is part of Lakeside Plantation. No? In 2007 a real estate agent asked if I'd be interested in looking at an over 55 twin villa. I remember it was a Centex community and I had to drive on Plantation Road past a sign for Lakeside Plantation. Maybe it's separate and I'm using the wrong name, but the real estate agent called it Lakeside Plantation. If it isn't part of Lakeside, please give me the name so I don't refer to it incorrectly in the future. Thanks.

Last edited by justNancy; 07-21-2009 at 02:30 PM..
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Old 07-22-2009, 06:45 AM
 
Location: North Port, Florida
774 posts, read 2,371,111 times
Reputation: 856
The community that you're referring to is called Cypress Falls and it is in fact right next to Lakeside.

In Cypress Falls 20% of the community is allowed to be under 55. (I'm told that is a Florida law-- so that if -let's say- an older spouse dies, the younger spouse doesn't have to sell te property). You do have to be over 18 to live there full time however.

Anyway, there are quite a few people living there right now that are considerably under 55.

I would guess that Lakeside could get around this because they offer both areas over 55 and under.

Mikey
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Old 07-22-2009, 10:21 PM
 
23 posts, read 46,229 times
Reputation: 26
Default response to any one considering moving to North port

Hello
Yes, aghh, yet another negative, but honest reply to the org. poster. I wil only respond to that person, as i don't care much for the snarky attitudes i see so prevalent here...We've lived here (owned a home) for several years, and have not had very good, positive experiences with jobs, schools for our kids (they started in Kindergarden @ TB Elm.-bullied from day one-nothing done) We are struggling to keep our home, as the tax rates, home owners insurance and the new addedums or whatever the city council idiots passed 2 years ago has only made it worse for honest, hard working construction Biz owner folks like my hubby and I. There has been a huge shift in our neighbor hood, lots of out of town investors renting homes to anyone-which drags the Comps down cause sorry, but most renters do not take care of property!
The renters around here are all into drugs and threats against us with spray painting our homes or other, lovely forms of retaliation (dead fish in mail boxes, my sons being kicked around as they played in their own front yard).... Many, many homes are deserted, just last week 5 houses/cars on my street were robbed, I am now in the process of buying a gun-this is how serious it has become! the area feels like a deserted mine shaft! People are literallty abandoning homes and going back to renting somewhere further up noth, or out of Florida altogether-which is what we hope to do as soon as we can sell this home (wish us luck!) Yes, we see the commercial building going on, but to what end? then the strip malls just sit, abandonded-it is depressing and dragging the bad economy down even more.
I am a very social , outgoing person, and have not been able to make a lasting connection w/ any other work from home Moms-it is like the "pod" people took over here, no one here seems to have any social skills, except at my local library-thank God for that! I do enjoy my Church, but other than that, no one seems to care to socialize, or even be friendly for that matter, so much for southren hospitality...
To sum it up to the OP - I would never in a million years recc'd North Port to anyone-try Sarasota or another well established community, one where you have the option of city water-here in NP-there are not many homes w/ that option and only then if you have the big bucks to connect to the main lines from the bigger roads-who has that kinda cash sitting around in this economy? I'm struggling to pay my mortgage every month, so lets be real folks, go where the real jobs and real people are, not here- no way.
Try North of the Skyway bridge, Tarpon Springs, Trinity, Mount Dora, Panama City....Pensacola. I do hear that west palm is okay, but I just think of that side of Florida as the NYC on the water, no thanks -no beauty, just over done developments.
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Old 07-23-2009, 08:17 AM
 
30 posts, read 78,434 times
Reputation: 31
My .02 - just returned from a trip to North Port specifically to look at houses and schools (two kids ages 11 and 9) We are in our early 40's and loved what we saw - homes with some property, not stacked up on each other - young people walking on "country" roads for the sheer joy of being outside - sure there's no nightlife to speak of but that's why we have cars (IMHO) I think it's a little too much to expect the world's greatest entertainment complex and a multi level shopping mall next to your two acre spread - just doesn't work that way. We also saw some really nice stuff in Bradenton (yes, I know there's some bad areas of Bradenton also, don't forget that Grosse Point is only 9 miles from Detroit - you Michiganders know what I'm saying). As far as I'm concerned once we can sell our MI house we are South bound and will find our spot in the sun somewhere between Bradenton and North Port.
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Old 07-23-2009, 08:27 AM
 
Location: Palm Island and North Port
7,511 posts, read 22,852,881 times
Reputation: 2876
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagotoTampagirl View Post
Hello
Yes, aghh, yet another negative, but honest reply to the org. poster. I wil only respond to that person, as i don't care much for the snarky attitudes i see so prevalent here...We've lived here (owned a home) for several years, and have not had very good, positive experiences with jobs, schools for our kids (they started in Kindergarden @ TB Elm.-bullied from day one-nothing done) We are struggling to keep our home, as the tax rates, home owners insurance and the new addedums or whatever the city council idiots passed 2 years ago has only made it worse for honest, hard working construction Biz owner folks like my hubby and I. There has been a huge shift in our neighbor hood, lots of out of town investors renting homes to anyone-which drags the Comps down cause sorry, but most renters do not take care of property!
The renters around here are all into drugs and threats against us with spray painting our homes or other, lovely forms of retaliation (dead fish in mail boxes, my sons being kicked around as they played in their own front yard).... Many, many homes are deserted, just last week 5 houses/cars on my street were robbed, I am now in the process of buying a gun-this is how serious it has become! the area feels like a deserted mine shaft! People are literallty abandoning homes and going back to renting somewhere further up noth, or out of Florida altogether-which is what we hope to do as soon as we can sell this home (wish us luck!) Yes, we see the commercial building going on, but to what end? then the strip malls just sit, abandonded-it is depressing and dragging the bad economy down even more.
I am a very social , outgoing person, and have not been able to make a lasting connection w/ any other work from home Moms-it is like the "pod" people took over here, no one here seems to have any social skills, except at my local library-thank God for that! I do enjoy my Church, but other than that, no one seems to care to socialize, or even be friendly for that matter, so much for southren hospitality...
To sum it up to the OP - I would never in a million years recc'd North Port to anyone-try Sarasota or another well established community, one where you have the option of city water-here in NP-there are not many homes w/ that option and only then if you have the big bucks to connect to the main lines from the bigger roads-who has that kinda cash sitting around in this economy? I'm struggling to pay my mortgage every month, so lets be real folks, go where the real jobs and real people are, not here- no way.
Try North of the Skyway bridge, Tarpon Springs, Trinity, Mount Dora, Panama City....Pensacola. I do hear that west palm is okay, but I just think of that side of Florida as the NYC on the water, no thanks -no beauty, just over done developments.
Wow! That sounds pretty harsh! You must live somewhere around where I do if your child attends TB. Funny, how I have a totally different impression. We really like all our neighbors-on the 4th of July we had a huge block party and all the kids and adults got together and had a great time-swimming, cooking out and shooting off fireworks.

My daughter youngest will be starting at TB this fall. My middle child went there for one year and to be honest, I wasn't that thrilled with the school. I know that they have a new principal now, the former principal from Ashton Elementary. He started a terrific gifted program there a few years back and he will be starting a gifted program this year at TB. She will only be there for K and 1st and then we'll transfer her up to Pine View.

We do have two homes on the street that are vacant/foreclosed on but the rest of the street looks pretty good. I've never had any issue with any vandalism or break-in's. I have however shown homes with missing A/C's, etc. I think those crimes are opportunistic though. Most of the homes were in areas that there were no other homes and they were vacant.

As far as the city water/well water. I would much rather have well water than city. I can water my flowers, etc and not have a huge bill. The expense is much less as well. No monthly bill. I just pay for the guy to come scrub out the tank and change the filters every six months and I'm good to go-$100.

Being in the construction business would be really hard right now since very few people are building right now. I could see how you would be frustrated with that. I would concur with you about the job market. It's pretty rough right now but I don't think it's just NP, it's the whole US.

If you're looking for a lot of night life you're not gonna find it in NP. If you want that then you'd need to go north to Sarasota/Tampa or south to Ft Myers.
Looks, like everyone's opinions of the area vary greatly
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Old 07-25-2009, 01:35 PM
 
71 posts, read 282,222 times
Reputation: 47
It sounds like North Port is a good place to live . Where would be a good place to look for a house on 2-5 acres agricultural zoning, we planed on visiting North Port next month and it would be toknow where to look. Anyone knows the price range for a 3/2 on 2-5 acres in North Port?
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Old 07-25-2009, 01:56 PM
 
Location: Palm Island and North Port
7,511 posts, read 22,852,881 times
Reputation: 2876
That would be North Port Estates. The Estates part is all zoned agriculturally and is 3-5 acres. The least expensive home out there right now is a 4/2 for $200K-short sale. There are 24 homes out there ranging form $200K-$$649K.

There have been a few foreclosures out there that have sold lately that were really good deals-you just have to keep an eye out for them.
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