Newbie - House hunting in North Port - Any advice??? (Tampa: bank owned, short sales)

[Articpaz]

Hi Everyone,

I am coming to sunny Florida in July with the hope of finding/viewing some properties in the North Port area (but open to other areas anyone can recommend!) and so am after any advice especially from those of you that have already bought out there.

So any info would be much appreciated

Cheers

[SoFLGal]

Hi There and welcome to the forum! I live in North Port and we really love it here. Can you give us a little more info about yourself so we can see if this area is a good fit or if we should be recommending another area?

How far from the beach do you want to be?
Why are you moving to Florida?
Are you looking for gated or non gated?
What kind of things do you like to do? -golf, beaches, tennis, boating, etc
Are you retired or will you be seeking employment?
Are schools important to you?
Do you want a house or a condo?
What are your top three requirements in a house/condo? What things do you absolutely not want?
Do you have any pets? Some subdivisions have restrictions on how many, size or breed.
What size home are you looking for? How many beds/bathrooms? What age? Do you want a pool?
Do you have a specific subdivision in mind?

If you answer some/all of the questions above then people will be better able to suggest areas.

[Articpaz]

Hi SoFLGal, just been looking at your website and your other posts on here so glad to hear from you, I live in the UK with my girlfriend and have no children, I am looking for an investment property that I can use for vacations and hopefully up to 3 months of the year so would like to be able to rent it for the rest of the year with a view to the rent covering my costs.

I dont mind not being too close to the beach, about 30mins as do worry about hurricanes
Not moving to Florida - not yet but its always an option
I dont mind gated or not but I have a small budget $100K ish
Beaches, boats, shopping, eating out, Disney now and again
I am not retired and will not need employment at the moment
Schools are not important unless they help with renting out the property
A house with a pool please
Pool, newish build, nice area and I dont mind doing a bit of work to it
No pets
2 or 3 bed, newer the better and yes a pool (have I already mentioned that?)
No specific subdivision, what does that exactly mean?

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Articpaz

Hi Everyone,

I am coming to sunny Florida in July with the hope of finding/viewing some properties in the North Port area (but open to other areas anyone can recommend!) and so am after any advice especially from those of you that have already bought out there.

So any info would be much appreciated

Cheers

Hi Articpaz,
Welcome to the board. Where are you from? You must be from someplace pretty cool with a name like that!

I see SoFLGal already followed your post. If you have been reading much about the area on this board, then no introduction is necessary. She is one of the best agents around can knows more about SWFL than anyone I've met. In fact, she nows more about SWFL than most people do, and I think probably more than most historians too.

[Peter the Brit]

North Port near the beach? I suggest you look in Venice or Englewood but your budget may be rather low. Exchange rate is now 1.65 to the pound compared to 1.45 so you just saved ten grand

[JTdesert]

Hi All

I thought I'd piggy back onto Articpaz's post and hopefully get some recommendations too. I have been primarily searching in the Tampa area and am now looking in the Sarasota area. I have 3 kids (6,4 & 14 months) therefore good schools are important to me. Therefore, in answer to SoFLGal's questions, here goes:

How far from the beach do you want to be? 15-20 mins away
Why are you moving to Florida? I need a place where I can come home to in the US. I currently work & live in Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Are you looking for gated or non gated? Gated
What kind of things do you like to do? -golf, beaches, tennis, boating, etc Beaches, golf, fishing
Are you retired or will you be seeking employment? Probably not seeking employment right now as I will still be living in Dubai
Are schools important to you? Yes, extremely important to be close to very good schools
Do you want a house or a condo? Single family house
What are your top three requirements in a house/condo? What things do you absolutely not want? Top 3: Spaciousness, a gourmet/updated kitchen, big enough backyard. I'd like to avoid 2 story homes.
Do you have any pets? Some subdivisions have restrictions on how many, size or breed. Not currently, but probably in the future
What size home are you looking for? How many beds/bathrooms? What age? Do you want a pool? At least 2500sf, minimum 3B (preferably 4), at least 2.5 baths. Built after 1999 and yes, a pool is a must
Do you have a specific subdivision in mind? Not particularly. Since I researched Tampa I am familiar with those neighbourhoods but I am clueless about Sarasota

I'd appreciate any and all helpful comments.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Articpaz

Hi SoFLGal, just been looking at your website and your other posts on here so glad to hear from you, I live in the UK with my girlfriend and have no children, I am looking for an investment property that I can use for vacations and hopefully up to 3 months of the year so would like to be able to rent it for the rest of the year with a view to the rent covering my costs.

I dont mind not being too close to the beach, about 30mins as do worry about hurricanes
Not moving to Florida - not yet but its always an option
I dont mind gated or not but I have a small budget $100K ish
Beaches, boats, shopping, eating out, Disney now and again
I am not retired and will not need employment at the moment
Schools are not important unless they help with renting out the property
A house with a pool please
Pool, newish build, nice area and I dont mind doing a bit of work to it
No pets
2 or 3 bed, newer the better and yes a pool (have I already mentioned that?)
No specific subdivision, what does that exactly mean?

Well, looking at your criteria I think North Port would be a good fit for you. It is 25 minutes +/- from the beaches, you should be able to find something in your price range and the schools are rated well.

If are looking for a rental in the area the top two requests are a fourth bedroom or den and/or a pool. The rental agents that I speak with say that if you have one of both of these things they can keep your property rented almost all the time. Absolutely schools would be important. Just as many people buy homes to be in a specific school district for their children they do the same with rentals. Port Charlotte would have most of your shopping and restaurants and it is about 10 minutes or less from any point in North Port.

One thing you are going to run into in that price range is the huge amount of short sales. I have a thread on CD that explains how they work. Basically they usually take several months to close and the list price isn't always what it says, which can get a bit confusing. Anyway, if you wanted to go that route you should be fully informed of the process.

There are currently 20 homes that are 3/2's, 1995 or newer, with a pool, $150K or under in North Port. The least expensive one is a short sale at $90K and other than short sales the least expensive a bank owned home one is $110K. Out of the 20 homes in this category 16 are short sales and only 4 are not.

Right now it seems as though prices are creeping up slowly. Although I will say that in the past 10 days I've gotten a flurry of BPO's (Brokers Price Opinions) from the banks to do evaluations on properties that are soon to foreclose. Many of the properties though are in Port Charlotte in the older section.

A subdivision just means a specific defined area of homes, usually with a name. Like Heron Creek or Bobcat Trail.

Let me also just say that you might want to look into south Venice. You might be able to afford something in that neighborhood but it would be much older and smaller than what you could afford in North Port. South Venice is closer to the beach though. So, I guess it depends on if you want to exchange new, larger with a pool but a bit farther from the beach (North Port) or smaller, older, no pool, closer to the beach (South Venice).

We have several very friendly English folk on the board. It's nice to have another. Good luck with your venture!

[Big House]

That was a great list of questions SoFLGal!
Now you can help two people at a time! Quite Ingenious!

JTdesert,
Welcome to the board as well.
As you guys go through the process you are going to have a milliion more questions. There are lots of nice people here willing to help you out.

If you have any questions that you want to take off line and ask you can DM any of us, by clicking on the name in the upper left hand corner of the thread, and you will see a pop up menu. It works like email, and maintains your privacy, until you feel comfortable and want to share your actual email address or phone number which you can do through the DM without sharing it with everyone. If you have any other questions, you found the right board. Especially if you want to learn about this area.

I went through the buying process a year ago, and everyone here helped me out a lot. On the Florida Board, I have a thread that I started, that was kinda like a journal it is called "Punta Gorda Anyone". It will help you out with many more questions and experiences that I went through. I'll find the link to my summary, but the whole thread is an interesting read.

There is the link: https://www.city-data.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6307260

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by JTdesert

Hi All

I thought I'd piggy back onto Articpaz's post and hopefully get some recommendations too. I have been primarily searching in the Tampa area and am now looking in the Sarasota area. I have 3 kids (6,4 & 14 months) therefore good schools are important to me. Therefore, in answer to SoFLGal's questions, here goes:

How far from the beach do you want to be? 15-20 mins away
Why are you moving to Florida? I need a place where I can come home to in the US. I currently work & live in Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Are you looking for gated or non gated? Gated
What kind of things do you like to do? -golf, beaches, tennis, boating, etc Beaches, golf, fishing
Are you retired or will you be seeking employment? Probably not seeking employment right now as I will still be living in Dubai
Are schools important to you? Yes, extremely important to be close to very good schools
Do you want a house or a condo? Single family house
What are your top three requirements in a house/condo? What things do you absolutely not want? Top 3: Spaciousness, a gourmet/updated kitchen, big enough backyard. I'd like to avoid 2 story homes.
Do you have any pets? Some subdivisions have restrictions on how many, size or breed. Not currently, but probably in the future
What size home are you looking for? How many beds/bathrooms? What age? Do you want a pool? At least 2500sf, minimum 3B (preferably 4), at least 2.5 baths. Built after 1999 and yes, a pool is a must
Do you have a specific subdivision in mind? Not particularly. Since I researched Tampa I am familiar with those neighbourhoods but I am clueless about Sarasota

I'd appreciate any and all helpful comments.

OK, let me see if I can get you going in the right direction. Since you mentioned that schools are very important to you and it looks like you want a fairly large home (by Florida standards). I would look close to Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey. Pine View School has grades 2nd-12th all on one campus and was rated the number one school in the state of Florida and one of the top schools in the Nation. It does however require special testing for entrance. I have attend as a child many of the schools in Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee counties or my kids have attended or I have friends that have kids that have attended many of the schools in the area. In my opinion, this school is by far the best fit for my kids. They absolutely love it there and we have been there for about seven years now.

A few subdivisions that come to mind are: Palmer Ranch (south Sarasota), -Silver Oak, Deer Creek, Stonebridge, The Hamptons, and Turtle Rock are some communities in Palmer Ranch that come to mind. Rivendell in Osprey and it actually abuts Pine View and Oscar Scherer State Park. Possibly Sorrento in Osprey, maybe the Oaks in Osprey (depending on pricing), also there's South Bay Yacht and Racquet Club in Osprey that has it's own marina and then there's Willowbend in Osprey, which I would put a little lower down on the list do to the size of the lots, etc..

Palmer Ranch is one of Sarasota's most popular master planned communities. Palmer Ranch actually consists of many neighborhoods, all individually operated under their own HOA. The common areas of Palmer Ranch are maintained by a master association. The overall look and feel of PR is "green" - the roads are grass and treelined, the sidewalks wind throughout the entire community, and they have recently been able to add the Legacy Trail to the many great aspects. The Legacy Trail is a paved walking/biking trail that winds through the woods along the path of the old railroad track.

Palmer Ranch is districted for great schools, is only 10-15 minutes to the beach, and is next door to the mall, new 12-screen movie theater and a fantastic YMCA complex, including a huge waterpark. Palmer Ranch is very popular with families.

Turtle Rock is one of the most popular communities on Palmer Ranch. The community has a manned security gate. The homes vary from villas to huge single family homes; the community has lakes, mature landscaping, walking trails , playground, community pool. Its a very large, spread out community and has both traditional and maintenance free homes.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have anymore questions

[Articpaz]

Well thanks everyone for the replies, I didnt expect to get answers that quick!

Yes Big House I am from somewhere pretty cool - or should that be pretty cold - England!! hence the dream of a home in Florida and thanks for the link to your experiences!

So SoFLGal would you say to try and avoid short sales?