Retiring in Sarasota

So You Want to Live in Florida

Many of the telephone calls we receive are from buyers who live in another area and want to buy a Sarasota property as an investment, rent it out and then retire here in ten years. It's a great long-term plan.

This week we spent some time with buyers who have a $1 million maximum price range. Since these prospective residents have never been to Sarasota, we gave them our "general tour" of our town. From Longboat Key's manicured lawns through downtown Sarasota to Siesta Key's beach-style community, we checked out available properties within their "wish" guidelines. Fortunately these buyers were very savy real estate investors and realize that you have to sometimes "give" to "get". Giving up some of your wish list is a toughy, but in today's Sarasota real estate market even in a buyer's market, you probably will have to compromise even at $1 million.

Want to live on the beach, with three bedrooms, a guest suite for an inlaw with an additional kitchen in a golf community? For a $1 million, you can live on the beach, maybe have three bedrooms, but the additional kitchen and golf community will probably not be part of the deal. For $6 million, you might can have it all!

In our general tour this week, we viewed condos instead of single family homes as maintenance is always an issue when owning an investment property or second home out of state. Downtown Sarasota condos hit a soft spot with these "wanna be" Sarasotans and the Burns Court Villas were more to their liking as this complex is similar to home-living and offers the convenience of a downtown lifestyle. One of the hottest new downtown addresses is 100 Central with prices ranging from $735,000 for approximately 1500 sq. ft. for a new Sarasota condo.