Not moving to the Villages but....

[hollander]

We have looked at homes in the Villages, and really enjoyed our visit, but we've decided that we would like to live closer to the water. We are looking in the Sarasota/Venice area. Does anyone have any suggestions for 55+ communities in that area? Our budget is $250K to $400K and are more interested in the beach than golfing. Thanks in advance for your help. After spending time in the Villages we can see why so many have chosen it as their place to retire!

[ilovetv]

Many of us can relate to wanting to be on or near the Gulf beaches. But be careful about ability to get good homeowner insurance with hurricane coverage.

Also be aware of this jolt to the ability to get flood insurance in coastal areas (and designated inland areas, too).

New flood insurance rules have consequences for Florida's economy | Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/new-flood-insurance-rules-have-consequences-for-floridas-economy/2140618)

Read this article for an update on what's happening to flood insurance rates in Florida effective Oct 1 because of the Biggert-Waters Act passed by congress in 2012. One new home owner's rates are increasing from $1700 per year to $10,000 to $12,000 per year.

These are some of the many reasons we chose to buy in Central Florida and TV in particular.

[justjim]

We have looked at homes in the Villages, and really enjoyed our visit, but we've decided that we would like to live closer to the water. We are looking in the Sarasota/Venice area. Does anyone have any suggestions for 55+ communities in that area? Our budget is $250K to $400K and are more interested in the beach than golfing. Thanks in advance for your help. After spending time in the Villages we can see why so many have chosen it as their place to retire!

I would suggest you look in the Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral area if "beach" is your passion. Because of the recent layoffs at NASA and others involved in the Space program you will find some real estate bargains along this coast of Florida. In addition, the beaches are beautiful. Good luck.

[buggyone]

Check out the planned community of Ave Maria which is near Naples.

[Schaumburger]

We have looked at homes in the Villages, and really enjoyed our visit, but we've decided that we would like to live closer to the water. We are looking in the Sarasota/Venice area. Does anyone have any suggestions for 55+ communities in that area? Our budget is $250K to $400K and are more interested in the beach than golfing. Thanks in advance for your help. After spending time in the Villages we can see why so many have chosen it as their place to retire!

I don't know if you are familiar with Where to Retire magazine but if you are not, you may want to get a subscription to this magazine or check out back issues at your local library. It is designed for those who want to relocate to different areas of the U.S. during their retirement.

[gomoho]

As someone has already mentioned - be sure to make the ability and cost of flood insurance a contingency in your contract. The government no longer subsidizes flood insurance effective 10/1 and we are hearing horror stories of people paying $10k+ a year for just flood insurance.

[784caroline]

The only developments that are highlighted or even make it into the "Where To Retire" magazine are the ones willing to advertise in their magazine. There is nothing independent about that publication.

[hollander]

We will subscribe to Where to Retire magazine and will drive to Ave Maria to check it out! Thank you for the insurance tips, we will check before we buy. Hope everyone has a great weekend and Thanks Again!

[NotGolfer]

talk to the locals too! Some folks love a place while vacationing only to move there and it's not as it seemed!

[graciegirl]

We have looked at homes in the Villages, and really enjoyed our visit, but we've decided that we would like to live closer to the water. We are looking in the Sarasota/Venice area. Does anyone have any suggestions for 55+ communities in that area? Our budget is $250K to $400K and are more interested in the beach than golfing. Thanks in advance for your help. After spending time in the Villages we can see why so many have chosen it as their place to retire!


Yes. I am a person that vowed never to retire to Florida. But here I am.

Happy as a clam. Or a frog...smack dab in the middle of Florida where there was once a bunch of useless, cheap, land.

Living with a bunch of old-er people who I think are great fun.

Who knew that life really begins somewhere in the area of 70 years of age.

Love it. love it love it.:BigApplause:

[jojo]

My parents wintered in Venice and so we visited for years. It is beautiful. Check out beach access as traffic is brutal. There are some new home developments south of Venice off of 41 that are more accessible to the beach. I like Englewood which is south of Venice. Sarasota is lovely but very congested.

[dengid]

Ava Maria is in the sticks. A good 30-35 miles from the beach

[Carl in Tampa]

Things to consider when deciding between the Atlantic beaches and the Gulf beaches in Florida.

1. Will you get more enjoyment out of watching sunrises over the water or sunsets over the water? (I prefer sunsets.)

2. Be aware many more hurricanes strike the gulf side of Florida as compared to the Atlantic side.

3. Do you want to be directly on the beach (incredibly expensive) or just on a waterway like a canal? There are many more canal developments on the Gulf side than the Atlantic side.

4. What is your expectation for winter time? Living south of State Road 60, running east to west across the state, puts you in the relatively frost-free area of the state with regard to having plants in your yard that will not have to be protected from the cold.

Wherever you settle will probably turn out to be a good choice for you. Happy retirement.

[senior citizen]

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[manaboutown]

I eventually developed pneumonia after spending a week or so on Longboat Key off Sarasota back in the eighties. The Red Tide initiated bronchial problems which eventually led to my hospitalization. I could not live in an area experiencing Red Tide.

[senior citizen]

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[Carl in Tampa]

I eventually developed pneumonia after spending a week or so on Longboat Key off Sarasota back in the eighties. The Red Tide initiated bronchial problems which eventually led to my hospitalization. I could not live in an area experiencing Red Tide.

I had forgotten that many people become very ill with lung problems when we have a red tide bloom that kills the marine life, particularly fish. I believe this is a greater problem on the gulf side because we don't have tide movements as great as the Atlantic side.

On the other hand, the densest population of sharks who can actually be seen swimming in shallow water along with the tourists wading in the water is at New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona Beach. You can count on an aerial video of the sharks among the people being shown on the evening news each summer.

New Smyrna Beach is called the shark bite capitol of the U.S. In this video you can see a shark a few feet from shore, with swimmers farther out.

Video shows shark near bathers - YouTube

[manaboutown]

I had forgotten that many people become very ill with lung problems when we have a red tide bloom that kills the marine life, particularly fish. I believe this is a greater problem on the gulf side because we don't have tide movements as great as the Atlantic side.

On the other hand, the densest population of sharks who can actually be seen swimming in shallow water along with the tourists wading in the water is at New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona Beach. You can count on an aerial video of the sharks among the people being shown on the evening news each summer.

New Smyrna Beach is called the shark bite capitol of the U.S. In this video you can see a shark a few feet from shore, with swimmers farther out.

Video shows shark near bathers - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISKISlJyDQU)


Just the other night on TV I saw where sharks by the thousands migrated close to shore in that area. Hammerheads were preying on the smaller sharks. All of them were in shallow water near the shore. The gulf stream apparently funnels the sharks through the area.

[hollander]

Oh My...red tide and rats on the roof...Thanks for your post! We might be able to deal with the red tide but rats .... just reading your post made my wife scream...
It is odd looking for a retirement home. All these years jobs, schools, kids, and our budget dictated where we lived. Now we have so much freedom its a bit disorientating. In a way we feel like kids again with so much freedom, and at other times it is kinda frightening. Going through a open house in the villages was nice, and everything was new, but it seemed so distant from the things that were our life up north. When I'm on the beach I have a sense of peace. Thanks again for your helpful posts!

[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[hollander]

Senior Citizen your posts are so well written. When we were at the Villages my wife, my best friend since we were 16, loved all the things she could do, and since I expect her to outlive me by 20 years I felt that she would have a safe place to live in the villages after I was gone. The other plus about the Villages is that everybody was very nice.

[graciegirl]

P.S.
Extra notation to my other reply.

These aren't the Norway rats like in the N.Y.C. subway tunnels.
They are "roof rats" and "citrus rats" like in orange groves.
Smaller size.

In Venice they were in the palm trees as we walked underneath. You could see them.

I've read since then that they are ON ALL THE BARRIER ISLANDS FROM NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA....DOWN TO FLORIDA AND AROUND FLORIDA THEN AROUND TO LOUISIANA AND TEXAS........

As for alligators, I was told by a realtor at TOP OF THE WORLD north of THE VILLAGES.....that he had a friend who worked at Disney World during his college years............his "job" was to keep all the alligators in a certain location around the perimeter of the Disney World grounds.......but not allow them to get any closer..........he and a team of workers.

All the years we visited D.W. never once did we think of an alligator.
Never knowing that they were "there".......but kept at a distance.

In Venice, I read in the newspapers that they were in the sewer pipes.
It was quite a problem. Some of the sewer pipes went out to the beach.
I wonder why they just don't use something like D-con. Better that then to ruin a town's reputation. The realtors all knew it. A few women realtors told me that they would warn the owners to cover their toilets with saran wrap so that the water didn't evaporate.......or else the rats came up and would chew the draperies, rugs, furniture,......now, if that didn't creep me out. Esp. when you go to sit down??? The Venice newspaper had an article in it about a woman who got up in the middle of the night and a rat was swimming in her toilet. It was a lot of things.........not one little incident.

Plumbers who were working on our kitchen remodel in the condo chatted about all the snakes they were called to "fish out of toilets"......I was never so happy to return to Vermont.

I think snakes in toilets is a prank that guys like to share. NEVER ever heard of one for real. We will now hear from the guys again. I think they like to laugh at the thought of us very scarily lowering our naked parts to the porcelain throne. My brother was a plumber and he says .....Nawwwww.

I will never forget that Handyman posted that one on here years ago. I never tortured the truth out of him, but I am pretty sure he was pulling our collective girls legs.

One of the biggest sources of rumors and incorrect information and downright fibs are some of our local contractors. They are also the sources of the truth and good direction. Depends who you are listening to.

[Madelaine Amee]

Oh My...red tide and rats on the roof...Thanks for your post! We might be able to deal with the red tide but rats .... just reading your post made my wife scream...
It is odd looking for a retirement home. All these years jobs, schools, kids, and our budget dictated where we lived. Now we have so much freedom its a bit disorientating. In a way we feel like kids again with so much freedom, and at other times it is kinda frightening. Going through a open house in the villages was nice, and everything was new, but it seemed so distant from the things that were our life up north. When I'm on the beach I have a sense of peace. Thanks again for your helpful posts!

Why don't you just rent in different places until you find what makes you happy, there really is no other way of being sure. I always thought I wanted to live on the beach and we spent 10 years on the Gulf coast in both condos and rental homes, then one day I found out there was nothing to do but walk the beach all day and shop and that suddenly got real old.

The biggest problem for us about beach living was the salt air rust, it had eaten through a metal door in one of the condos we rented. You should also take into consideration that if the condo building needs repair or upgrading the condo association votes on it and you have to pay your share. The residents in one of the condos we were in had just been assessed $25,000 per family for essential repairs due to salt water rust.

Another big minus on beach living is the very real fact that it is vacation all year round. You get the winter residents, then spring break, then Easter, summer vacations, July 4th is big on the beach, etc. etc. It is very transient living which may suit some people, but I wanted to "belong" somewhere.

On rereading my post to you it seems to be full of negatives. I don't mean it to be, it is just a heads up for you to look into what you are buying into wherever you decide to buy.

[ssmith]

Not sure that this applies to the areas you are looking at but one poster found there was dangerous red tide near where they lived....bad on the lungs....I would check that out for sure before I moved to the ocean area

OK on different computer and someone has already mentioned it!!! Sorry for the repeating it!!!!

[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[senior citizen]

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[mjdollard]

We looked along the Tampa Bay area, Apollo Beach had several nice developments. There is a Del Webb development along with a couple of other nice looking ones. Just not a lot of variety in things to do.

[senior citizen]

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[jhrc4]

Ava Maria is a Del Webb Community ( Pulte ) with a University nearby. The community is very isolated but close (ish) to Naples.

[Vinny]

talk to the locals too! Some folks love a place while vacationing only to move there and it's not as it seemed!I

That is what happened to our friends. A week's vacation twice a year was fun. Living by the beach every day grew tired after a year. Especially when you have to deal with akin problems due to the sun. The other thing they did not like was that their place was dead in the off season.

[senior citizen]

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[Advogado]

We had always planned to buy close to the beach. Luckily, we rented first. The beach gets pretty same-old, same-old after 5 or 6 weeks. That, coupled with traffic jams, hurricane risk, high humidity, and a dearth of activities compared to The Villages, prompted us to buy here. No regrets, and if we get beach fever, it is an easy drive.

[senior citizen]

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[PennBF]

We lived on the beach for about 13 years..right on the beach below Vero and above Palm. Some serious considerations. When you hear of a disturbance off the coast of Africa or in the Gulf you will immediately think of the destruction that may happen to your home/Condo? Above the 1st floor you can get wind ins. 1st floor is expensive flood. Regardless of the ins you are looking at thousands of dollars in repairs, ton of Fla laws to meet and days or months away from home.OK what is the fun of living on the beach? 1st six months of walking the beach, a few minutes of seeing Dolphins, etc and then nothing! The sunrise is terrific but you grow old doing little. You will not beat the villages and you can go to the beach, stay few days and back to fun and activity. Finding out it is not up to what people think can/will be expensive!! We have been 13years at one and 6 at the other and have a good feel for both! We went througb 3 hurricanes and have had the good with the bad. Believe me there are no comparisons. We still may visit for a few days but keep things in emotional order. Wish you the best!:ho: