[heydade]

Originally Posted by Racelady88

Homes are that cheap there because there are no jobs. If you need to work you will be facing a miserable commute to Sarasota. The newer homes were thrown together very fast, and quality was often left on the wayside. I worked for a sub contractor who worked in many of the new homes, I have never heard of so many red tags (failed inspections) as there were happening there. Even the model homes did not pass.

Also, there is no mall no movie theater nothing in the way of entertainment. There is a Home Depot and a Wal Mart, but not much else.

I lived in North Port for 8 of the most miserable years of my life.

exactly. No jobs.

[Sunshine Chick]

We were looking at NP as a possibilty until we that the schools are terrible. The realtor I spoke to slipped by telling me her kids go to a school 30 miles away from the NP schools. When I question why, it was that her kids were gifted and had to be taken to another town to attend a gifted school.
Not all realtors are created equal so pick one wisely, they want to sell a house and some could care less if all the other items you care about are important.
For us, we will be renting for at least a year first, we have been lied to by 2 different Florida realtors and will get to know one personal before buying anything.
You will find as I have that if you dig and dig you will see that it is cheaper to leave in decent areas of Florida then it is in thos state someone mentioned above. Houses are of course cheaper right now and jobs are not any more scarce in Florida then they are anywhere else.

[SoFLGal]

Actually, all of the schools in North Port rated "A" by the state of Florida, except for one. The schools go through pretty rigorous testing for this rating system. All of the schools in Sarasota county are rated very high except for just a few.

Sarasota county does have Pine View School for the Gifted which many people move to Sarasota county just for their kids to attend. That's why I moved to Sarasota county. It's the ideal situation, buy a reasonably priced home in North Port and have your kids go to one of the best schools in the US, which is a public school.

My kids were bored in the local schools, but most of my friends have kids that go to the local schools and they really like them. It have heard very good things about both Lamarque and Cranberry Elementary.

[SoFLGal]

I wouldn't say that I slipped in telling you my kids go to Pine View. If you look all over this board about half of my posts clearly state that my kids go to Pine View and how much I like it. North Port schools aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, we just found a better fit for our kids, simple as that.

[TwoWheelRider]

If your going to move to Florida or any location for that matter you should do your homework and acquire as much data from legit unbiased sources.

Sometimes finding those sources can be time consuming but I would rather take the time now then regret it later.

No offense to realtors but they are an obvious biased source. I have friends that are realtors and they are honest enough to tell me they are.

I currently live in the midwest and the same types of issues people are posting about here exist in our area and and about everywhere else. If you look for problems you can find them everywhere. Of course some areas are worse than others and that's why you must do your homework.

I plan to move to Florida eventually when the opportunity arises. Whats important to me though may not necessarily be important to someone else and vise versa.

I was just in Florida in late April & Early May to check out some areas that interest me.

[SoFLGal]

Just so everyone's clear about my convo with Sunshine Chick, here's an excerpt from our PM back and forth. Looks like I was more than up front with her about where my children attend school. I listed the school, the school website as well as the city.

I am a very well respected Realtor in the community and have many repeat customers due to my knowledge of the area, honesty and professionalism. Many people on and off this board can attest to this. I don't take it lightly to be called a lier.

SoFLGal:
I know schools are important my children attend Pine View School in Osprey. It was rated the number 6 school in Us by US News. It is a public gifted school for ages 2-12th grades. What age are your children?

SunshineChick:
Elementary school is what we will be looking at.

[angelnfl]

Crime stats have gone up everywhere because of the economy...unfortunately thats the way it is. But for those who think North Port is the pits I have to agree, you need to leave if you don't like living here. I moved here 4 yrs ago and if you do your research you can find homes that are well built and are reasonable compared to other parts of the country. I have a Windemere built home and know others who do also, and we have had no problems. We are 20 mins from some of the best beaches in Florida. There are tons of restaurants in the next town (5 miles away) along with a mall, movie theatre etc. If our night life is not exciting enough, drive 1/2 hr to Sarasota where there is a bigger variety and one the best beaches in the world. Siesta Key has fine baby powder sand that never gets hot in the summer and the gulf is one of nature's best gifts. On any given day there are dolphins and manatee nearby, and some of the best water sports around. People can find the negative no matter where they live, but with the right attitude you will find North Port and the beaches nearby are definitely paradise on earth. .... and no, I do not work in real estate or for the town.

[angelnfl]

Originally Posted by ak941

""Is there any bad parts of Northport that are ghetto?""

I guess I'll answer this question for you,

I've lived here for 11 years..and there isnt any parts that have "real hard gangsters" but alot of kids try to act that way. I consider the biscayne area and all of the streets off of it between 41 and price the scum of north port...but that doesnt go for all of the people but most of the young teenagers that are renting out houses in that area because they are so cheap and many of them are drug houses. dont ask me how i know that, but i know. but pretty much the rest of north port is nice and you wont have anything to worry about.

also if you live in that area dont be offended , if youve worked hard for what you have then congratulations but i dont consider drugs a proper way of making money

I have been her 4 yrs and from what I have seen I would have to agree with you on the Biscayne area...not my cup of tea but hardly the ghetto.

[mikey2]

AngelinFl wrote:

I have a Windemere built home and know others who do also, and we have had no problems. We are 20 mins from some of the best beaches in Florida. There are tons of restaurants in the next town (5 miles away) along with a mall, movie theatre etc. If our night life is not exciting enough, drive 1/2 hr to Sarasota where there is a bigger variety and one the best beaches in the world. Siesta Key has fine baby powder sand that never gets hot in the summer and the gulf is one of nature's best gifts. On any given day there are dolphins and manatee nearby, and some of the best water sports around. People can find the negative no matter where they live, but with the right attitude you will find North Port and the beaches nearby are definitely paradise on earth. ....

I would agree with everything you posted. My wife and I came very close to buying a Windemere home, and I had done a ton of research on them at the time. Everyone I talked to had positive things to say.

You'd pay a lot more for a house of that quality in another area.

We ended up buying a home in the Woodlands, which has worked out very well for us. We decided on that largely because we didn't know a single soul in the area and we felt this would be easier transition for us.

I also looked at how much North Port is growing and what it's going to look like in 5 years or so. I like the upside a lot.

Mikey

[gabby37]

Well I moved here 8 months ago from jersey and yes from what I can see North Port is for the most part a decent place to live as far as not haveing to go far to find things to do. As far as finding employment well thats a totally different story. To tell you the truth I dont know what people do down here for a liveing! I have been in construction for 20 years and although its tuff all over right now this is the worse place I have ever seen for work in that field. My girlfriend and I built a very nice house here and for the most part are sorry we did. People are right the beaches are very nice but laying on a beach doesnt pay your bills!! We thought we did our home work before we came here but like everything else realitors and community leaders will say almost everything to get people to move into there area because its money driven. I heard it all how North Port was the next big thing and how all these businesses were moveing here. Unless you consider Lowes and Home depo big time jobs and 10 - 12 dollars an hour big money then I guess this is the place to be. If your in your 20's, 30's or 40's and aren't independently wealthy and are comeing here from say the north east you won't be very happy in my opinion.