5 Things You Must Know Before Moving to Sarasota

Moving to a new city can be both an exciting feeling and scary at the same time. I know when I was first looking to move to Sarasota I had many questions but was hard to find answers, which is why when I got into real estate my main goal was to make sure I put out as much information on topics of question by people like us who are moving from out of state.

There are many great things about Sarasota Florida, such as the beaches and the outdoor lifestyle, but there are some downsides to moving to Sarasota so we will be breaking all that down in this episode.

If you are looking to make the move to Sarasota and want to work with an experienced real estate team reach out to us TODAY as our primary goal is to help make your move to Sarasota as smooth as possible.

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Noah Ward is a Licensed Florida Real Estate agent that specializes in New Construction and Real Estate Development. Over the past couple years he has grown a large social following by focusing on helping both future homeowners go through the new construction process and also investors with building houses at scale.

Noah is a Managing Partner at JN Development Group Inc, where the primary focus is providing the highest level of service for custom house builds and also helping real estate investors maximize their profits through real estate development.

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So you're looking to make the move to Sarasota Florida well there are a few Things you should know about before you Decide to make the move welcome back Everyone to the Florida real estate Guide with your host No Award if you Guys haven't gone to check out the last Episode we had definitely go and check That out cuz that is definitely Something that you really need to listen To and hear but in this episode we are Going to be talking about the five Things everyone should know before they Decide to make the move to Sarasota Florida as if you guys don't know me I Orig came from Wisconsin several years Ago and I moved to Sarasota Florida so I Know exactly what you guys are going Through when it comes to making the move And the whole purpose of me making this Podcast is going to be to help people From out ofate and help Real Estate Investors you know feel comfortable with Their decision to either invest in Sarasota or also make the move with Their family into Sarasota because I Myself I had a lot of questions before I Mve to Sarasota from Wisconsin and so I Want to make sure to answer all of your Questions so in this episode episode Like I said we're talking about the five Things everyone should really know right And I found this out you know after you Know living in Sarasota for a little bit

So the first thing that everyone really Should know is that there are a lot of Different neighborhoods and communities In Sarasota that fit every different Lifestyle whether you're you know a a Single professional whether you're a Growing family or whether you're a Senior and you're or you're about to Retire there's a lot of different Communities and neighborhoods all within Sarasota that would be excellent for Each individual lifestyle so we're just Going to be talking about three Different ones here in Sarasota County And also I guess Mane County as well so The greater Sarasota area the first one Is going to be Lakewood Ranch if you Guys haven't heard of Lakewood Ranch it Is the number one master plan community In the entire United States and Lakewood Ranch is about 8,500 Acres it is a Master plan community and what that Basically means is that it has Everything you need and you don't really Have to leave that area because it has Residences to live in it has jobs it has Restaurants it has food it has grocery Stores it has uh shopping it has Everything basically that you need to Basically make uh it yourself self- Sustaining within that neighborhood so That is one cool thing about Lakewood Ranch however it has gotten a lot more Populated in the area which makes

Traveling a little bit difficult like if You were if you lived let's just say in The middle of liid ranch and you need to Travel all the way south to get on to 75 It's going to take you about 25 minutes To get through just winding through all The different neighborhoods that is the Downside now of living in Lakewood Ranch However what's cool is that it has a lot Of different Parks playgrounds pools it Has things for kids it has dog parks it Has walking trails it has pretty much Everything you can think of that you Would really enjoy for all different Ages in demographics and Lakewood Ranch Has become very popular now for the Younger professionals and singles just Because a lot of people moving here are Working remote and you know we'll talk About this at another on another point Of this episode um is that the job Market is just not very strong um for In-person work here in Sarasota so That's why a lot of people are working Remote here in Sarasota which is making Lakewood Ranch become a lot more Attractive to people just because of the Different growth opportunities Lakewood Ranch is expanding North and it's Expanding East a little bit more into The center of Florida um but that's not Truly Lakewood Ranch and we can get Talking more about that in future Podcast episodes um but that kind of

Sums up lakeood Ranch if you are looking To you know be close to the beach I Would not suggest Lakewood Ranch because It's about 40 to 45 minute drive to any Of the nearest beaches so that is the Downside of Lakewood Ranch another one That we're going to talk about is if you Do not like new construction but you Like more history and historic areas You're definitely going to want to check Out Laurel Park it's very close to Downtown Sarasota and these houses date Back from the 1920s right so they're Very historic but it's a very cool Neighborhood to live in um and it has Been voted one of the best neighborhoods For overall walkability to downtown Sarasota shopping everything like that So that's definitely an area to check Out and the final place to check out is Going to be another brand new master Plan Community people are calling it the Next lakid Ranch it is called Wellen Park Wellen Park is one of the newest Communities in Sarasota or in the Greater Sarasota area I should say it's Located in Venice it's between Venice And Northport realistically it's about 15 to 20 minutes away from mannasota Key Beach so it's a little bit closer than Lakewood Ranch and the total buildout so There's going to be about 22 to 23,000 Houses in Wellen Park when it's all set And down with about 60,000 residents

Total in that community so it's Basically another Mini City that's being Built just south of Sarasota they're Saying and they're estimating about the Total buildout to be about 5 to8 years Out so we still got a little bit of time To see what's going on with well and Park but as of spring 2023 they will Have all of downtown well and park Completed so it's going to have premier Shopping it is going to have restaurants Dining Parks outdoor area for Entertaining it's going to have this Large green area for when they hold Events hold food trucks they're going to Have this large recreational Lake to Kayak paddle board whatever it may be And that's going to be done spring 2023 It's going to be definitely cool um for People to check out but once again Wellen Park is supposed to replicate Lakewood Ranch all the issues Lakewood Ranch had such as the traffic congestion They're talking about how well and park Is going to be a much improved version Of Lakewood Ranch if you want to know More about uh well Park we can do Another podcast episode on that as well And we most likely will because well and Park is a very you know upand coming Area it's going to have about 11 to 13 Different communities with track home Builders I should say so like NE Communities Taylor Morrison um Mi Holmes

Um lenar Dr horn and all those kind of Builders they're going to be the ones That are building in in Wellen Park and Wellen park for you guys to know is Going to be all HOAs so there will be All homeowners associations within uh Well and park as a whole so that's Definitely an area to check out and then That's going to kind of bring us to our Second topic right so we talked about Where to live now let's talk about if You are a family or maybe you're going To plan on starting a family let's Discuss talking about the different School systems here in Sarasota so Sarasota County is the second ranked County in the state of Florida behind One of the counties on the east coast of Florida and so Sarasota County is very Well known for their school system and Right now the the most well-known School In Sarasota County is located in Osprey Which is just south of Sarasota and that Is going to be Pine View school it is The second best school in the state of Florida it is number 24 District in the Entire nation and it is the number one Elementary School in the entire nation As well so it's located about 5 miles South of Sarasota and it is covers Grades 2 through 12 and the statistics In about Pine View are absolutely Amazing it has has 100% graduation rate 100% college readiness and the total

Enrollment for the overall district is About 2,000 kids 2,000 students just Depending on the year it fluctuates Between 1900 to 2000 I'm sure that's Going to go up as Sarasota grows and Then the next best high school is going To be Riverview High School that is Located in Sarasota it is one of the Highest ranked schools um and high Schools in Sarasota County and a lot of People want to be within that school Distri District zone because it just has A lot of high rankings as well there is A lot of great school options in Sarasota County those are not just the Two there's many other high schools Elementary schools and middle schools For your kiddos so no need to worry About that you can't go wrong with many Of the school districts in Sarasota County so now that we've talked about Kind of you know schools for kids now Let's talk about the third thing that You really should know and I kind of Briefed upon this earlier in the episode And that is talking about the different Job opportunities in Sarasota so as of a Couple years ago that was the statistic You know Sarasota employs about 25 to 27,000 different people um in Sarasota Now the median income in Sarasota is Between $50 to $60,000 that is the Median income and the two largest career Fields in Sarasota are going to be

Healthcare and then the other one is Going to be hospitality and food so Those are the two largest um job Opportunities I would say that we have In Sarasota but like I mentioned before A lot of people are moving to Sarasota And they're working remote right so Their their job is based on East Coast West Coast maybe it may be based in the Midwest but they can work remote so they Are living here in Sarasota so I would Say our job market is a little bit Weaker than everyone else's for that Reason just because there's a lot of People working remote versus people that Are actually working here in person However the highest paying careers in Sarasota are going to be dealing with Gas electric and water with the average Median income being around around $65 to $70,000 per year of course that probably Correlates to all the new construction That's going on in the area with all the New builds new construction and private Builders building all these houses for All the people that are deciding to make The move to Sarasota so that kind of now Now that we've talked about Schools jobs We've talked about different Neighborhoods in around Sarasota now Let's talk about the cost of living cuz That's the question that I get asked Quite frequently being a real estate Agent in the Sarasota area and to be

Honest with you the cost of living is a Little bit higher than the national Average it is about 2.5 to 3% higher Than the national average um to live in Sarasota so let's start off by talking About the average house price So Currently as of November 2022 the Average house price in Sarasota is about $492,000 and the average house price in The United States is $400,000 the reason why it is higher Than the US average it's because of Location you pay for location if you Don't want to be close to the beach you Don't want to be close to you know a High demand area you know you will be Paying lower than the national average Say if you were to live in the middle of The United States the national average Is or the the average is a lot lower There than it would be here in uh the Gulf Coast of Florida and that's just All dedicated to the location people pay A premium for location the other Downside I would say I would call it a Downside other people don't call it a Downside I would say are the HOA and the CDD fees so if you guys don't know I'm Sure you guys know what HOA fees are but You probably haven't heard what CDD fees Are and CDD fees are stand for Community Development district and these are Created these fees are created to um pay For all the infrastructure that goes

Underneath for all these new Construction communities that these Community Builders are building and so It basically pays for roadways cable Electrical Plumbing water whatever it May be to bring in to the community so If you let's just say let's use uh if You come into a new community built by Neo communities for example now I'm just Using them for for example purposes you Know all these other Community Builders Do have very similar things so what Happens is when they start developing a Brand new area let's just say they Bought this Farmland right and there's No Public Utilities here they have to Pay to bring in all these utilities into The area so what they do is they get a Bond and these bonds are typically 30 Years and they're you know it's in a Form of a CDD so when you move in to a Brand new community that has a CDD fee These CDD fees range anywhere from $700 To about $2,900 per year and they get Tacked on at the end of the year to your Annual taxes and that's how uh the Community Builders pay back the the bond Is through CDD fees so if you don't know That that is probably something they Really should know because going back to Lakewood Ranch nearly every community in Lakewood Ranch has a CDD fee and that's Just because they need to bring in all The infrastructure to handle all the

People that are living um in Lakewood Ranch now let's talk about flood Insurance because flood insurance is not Common throughout the rest of the United States but here in Florida it is a very Common occurrence so however if you are Looking you know mainly flood insurance Is west of I75 so if you're looking at The map on Google Apple Maps whatever You're may be looking on anything that's West of 75 that's older than I would say 2015 they're they have a higher chance Of being in a flood zone Which is not too much of a big deal the Flood zone you know flood cost can range Anywhere from $500 annually to you know $2,500 annually for flood insurance it All really just depends on your overall Elevation and your overall height of Where your house is positioned as well So obviously Hurrican is going to change A lot of our flood zone maps but it's Going to take about one year for them to Really put everything back into effect So everything east of 75 I would say you Are fairly safe um with Uh not being in a flood zone so if you Don't even want to deal with flood zones East of 75 is going to be your best bet Even though these new Community Builders Track home builders Neil homes Neil Communities um Mi homes Taylor Morrison They're all building up so you're going To be in a flood zone X which means you

Don't need to pay for flood insurance Now the other thing is everyone talks About is Hurricane insurance so do you Guys need hurricane Insurance it'd be Very advised to get hurricane insurance Is an additional cost and it can be a Couple thousand per year Um for Hurricane insurance now it's Optional but it is highly recommended as Well it all just depends on your Insurance carrier so there are a lot of Costs that are associated with living in Sarasota you know we are having a higher Cost of living of goods and stuff like That just because of inflation now Currently but the whole United States is Dealing with that at the moment so That's just going to vary now let's talk About something that's a little bit more Fun let's talk about stuff that you know Sarasota is well known for and that is Going to be they Sarasota is known for The art and cultural experience Experiences so in Sarasota we have yearr Round art festivals so we have like for Example on February 13th 14th and the uh We are having the annual Sarasota Art Festival it's going to have about 200 Award-winning artists so it's very cool To go walk through there walk through The art festivals and just check out all The local artists see the sculptures see The paintings and you can go through all These different art walks right so for

Example when you're in Sarasota you can Go check out Palm Avenue new um first Friday walk and it's on the first Friday Of every single month what's cool about This is you can walk through and it's All these MIRS paintings everything to Go walk through you know art from all These local artists that's definitely Cool if you are here on in on a Friday In Sarasota and you're visiting that's a Cool thing to go and check out but what I think we're more well known for in Sarasota is going to be the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art so what's Cool about this it's a very well-known Um Museum Museum and it's not just your Typical Museum cuz it is it's full of Sarasota history but it's not a boring Museum right so it's pretty fun pretty Cool it's about 66 Acres um and it What's nice about this area is that There is uh frequently art performances In here and there's a wide variety of Art exhibitions so it's not just a Museum they hold events they hold art Galleries and they hold a whole bunch of You know host a bunch of events Throughout the year so it's not just Your typical boring Museum so definitely Check that out when you are in the area It's definitely a mustsee as well so That kind of wraps up and concludes this Episode about some things that you Really should know about before you make

The move to Sarasota cuz I myself I Didn't know a lot of this stuff before I Made the move to Sarasota there wasn't As much research done um or resources I Should say uh to help me with this so I Hope that you guys found value in this Podcast hope you guys got some of your Questions answered if you guys want me To go more in depth about these certain Topics like I'll be making more podcast Episodes on CDD fees h fees stuff like That so stay tuned hit the follow button And also give this podcast um a review See how you guys like it I'm more than Ha I would love to hear what you guys Have to say about the podcast see how You guys are enjoying it don't forget if You guys want to see behind the scenes Of what we are doing here in Sarasota With new construction and development go Check out our social profiles on Instagram Tik Tok and YouTube where we Are posting content daily on the newest Things that we are doing for new Construction and real estate development In the local area of Sarasota if you Guys want to know know a little bit more About a certain topic and you want me to Go more in depth about a topic reach out To me and DM me on Instagram I'm more Than happy and excited to create a more In-depth episode on certain topics for You guys as well