This blog article is derived directly from our YouTube video (featured at the bottom)

Today, we are in a part two of our video series on best place to live in all of Sarasota, Florida for 2023. Today's topic is all about the suburbs, so I'm going to discuss what I think is uniquely special. I'm going to walk through how to navigate the areas and the difference between them and how I think about that. I'm also even going to talk about some real estate prices to give you further context. So I really hope you enjoy this format and let's hop in.

Okay, first things first, similar to in part one, if you haven't checked that out, I'll put it right here if I remember, what is special here? You have many options in Florida. So if you're already in the state, what is actually special? The one thing about Sarasota in a relatively really coastal exclusive and kind of small geographic area, we have some really built-out and super high-rated master plan, brand new suburbs, which is not that common. Like Naples, for instance, Vero Beach, you get all that coastal proximity, but a lot of times you don't get all this new construction in a way that this is built out. So we have high-rated suburbs, not just one, but we have the number one multi-generational in the entire United States and Mastermind community, and we have two to three total options you could do to give you a variety. So I think that's unique on its own outright.

Orientation & Proximity

The second item that always kind of stood out to me based on everywhere else I've lived, and growing up here and coming back and forth and that kind of thing, is just simply the size and the orientation, sticking on the geographic play, with Sarasota and Manatee County as a whole. It is extremely hard to get really far from anything. 20 to 30 miles would be really far out. So you can kind of pick where you want to live and not necessarily lose out on the entire metro if you consider anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes not too far. You don't really have to sacrifice and move to certain areas just based on proximity necessarily. I would say in most metros are based. So this is a lot more blended lifestyle by simply how it's shaped. And by going east, there's not much further.

Everything But The Beach

Thirdly, I just want to touch on, real briefly, one more item before we hop into the kind of the nitty-gritty of living options here is the idea of simply everything but the beach. Historically, the suburbs, the knock on it was far. Of course, if you go way east, you get new construction and you get space, and you could build a two-story 3,500-square-foot house and have a yard that's fenced in, of course, but you sacrificed the town. I got to go into town every time I want to eat at a non-chain restaurant. The beach is far, potentially the schools are far, and my kids' sports are far. So you have that juxtaposition naturally of that. And then an even more progressive scheme of that version, even comparing communities. People used to really compare the amenities of an individual community to differentiate. And I would say nowadays, that's completely commoditized.

People expect it and assume that the amenities are going to come at a certain HOA cost, and they all should be pretty decent. So now we fast forward here to the last couple of years, and I think Sarasota maybe has the best mousetrap in the entire state of Florida for this, they kind of solved most of the reasons of technically needing to leave the suburb. Your life's not very divided as it used to be. You have multiple downtowns and town centers built in, satiating... A lot of the restaurants from downtown Sarasota have moved out to the suburbs as second and third locations. So you have end-to-end. You have coffee shops, and you have breakfast places, and you have high-end restaurants and casual. There are breweries being built in. It's very walkable. There are event nights. You have tons of sports activities for kids. Their little leagues are in the suburbs, with multiple different options for kids.

There are mixed-use retail centers. So you can do office space, you can do co-working, there are schools built in. There are multiple public schools built all around the suburbs. There are charter schools, Montessori, pre-K, options, everything. So they've really tried to solve all of those things that were historically bad. And then even fast forward to that, the everything but the beach concept, which I used to say all the time, now even certain ones on this list, the whole one's higher thing, you get all of this, its own in downtown and everything, 18 minutes one way to world-class beaches. And then in certain cities, you have crystal lagoons being built in. There's one being put in Paris, there's multiple in Tampa, and they're doing them in Texas. So that might even solve the water part of it if you're not romantic about the actual gulf beaches. So I do think that's an interesting concept. I do think it solves a lot of the hamster wheel of the old life of I go to work, I'm just in this big commute wheel, and then I come home to my house, but eventually, that starts to wean on people. So that's number three. 

How To Navigate

Now fourth up, let's talk about how to actually navigate the living options. So what I decided to do for the 2023 version is I'm actually going to take you through my thought process of how I teach my team what I think is actually the best way to tour this town and the best way in a four-hour span, I could probably get your head around the entire town, and any question you had come up months, months, even a year later, then in some way, there'd be a context where I could answer that remotely based on this one idea. So I'm going to walk you through it. It's three major steps here, and I hope that adds you a lot of value.

Lakewood Ranch, Florida

So first off, what we must do, in my opinion, is we start in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Lakewood Ranch, Florida is that number one multi-generational master-planned community in the entire United States. It sits northeast of downtown Sarasota, Florida, where I stand here, the major urban districts and the beaches by about 10 to 11 miles at the earliest. And then that'll span maybe 15 to 20 minutes past that because it's a very large place, right? So here you have a place that looks like it does online. It looks like Pleasantville, all that stuff you see online. It does not look all that different when you get here. It's just the minutiae of navigating it meticulously. But what it does is it gives you a really good idea of what all the builders are doing, what this location is valued to the town. And it's the most mature version, a massive place, 30 plus new communities. The oldest home in the entire area was built in 1995. So you have resale, you have brand new construction, multiple golf courses deeded and joinable.

There are really high luxury options that don't exist in a lot of parts of the town when it comes to the suburbs. There's unique water-based housing in these large bodies of water. There are three major downtown districts close by that are more built out than others have done so far, high-on school districts, private, public, and all the stuff I explained. It all looks like that though. So by going there first and spending a couple of hours with me, I can take you from... I can explain the distance of how 10 miles feels from all the stuff that people deem important when they're looking remotely, the Sarasota stuff, and how it feels on the roads. And people are like, "Oh, I get it's not that bad." Explain the grids of the roads. I can explain how all of Lakewood Ranch is not equal because what you have is you have distinct districts.

The closest part of Lakewood Ranch is in Sarasota County. It's called Waterside. It's a district within a district. So the waterside is... It's going to be more on the luxury side, large bodies of water that costs a premium. It's right next to a downtown that's called Waterside Place. But what it gives you is it gives you one of the closer distances to downtown, but that's where most luxurious expensive housing is. And it's also in Sarasota school district, so you got to navigate that kind of thing because it's not that mature yet as far as the new buildouts. So you got a little price premium for being close to everything Lakewood has to offer. All those three downtowns are really built low. They're built south. And then as you progress to the north, about the middle of Lakewood was built first, Summerfield, Greennrook, '95, '98, 2001, 2002 on resale, no-frills amenities, but lower fees.

You get closer to the high school, you get real kid-friendly, Mallory Park, Indigo, Lorraine Lakes, Savannah. You have specialty brands like Esplanade by Taylor Morrison with deeded golf that's being built out. You have Lakewood National, more affordable deeded golf from [inaudible 00:08:14], and you start... But those start to get you closer to the schools, a little bit more inexpensive, further from the stuff, and further from town. So the closest one might be 21 minutes where I stand here. Farthest one might be 50 minutes. So you got to learn all of that kind of stuff. But by doing that process, one, it takes three, four total communities. I can explain the whole thing. But what you don't realize from there is everything else about town, you can use as a comparison against that. And that's what you need. Because it's fun to tour that place, but you could go back home and be like, "I have no idea what the hell happened," because there was no context to that conversation.

You start touring a bunch of models, right? You have no idea of all your real options. So we start in Lakewood Ranch for that reason. It offers the most of all the stuff. But it's not the cheapest place in the world, and you got to like the location. So that's Lakewood Ranch as number one, and number two will give you a really good end-to-end juxtaposition to that. 

Wellen Park, Florida

Okay, for number two here, what I would do is I would send you directly to a district called Wellen Park and Wellen Park's not as much of a city as it is a concept. So this one sits in basically South Venice/Northport/Englewood. So I'm going to paint you a picture here, so please track with me.

That's why we did it in this order. So the reason I would do this is... So the first one, if you remember, we're 35 to 45 minutes directly northeast of downtown Sarasota, which that's my reference point because that's how this town became en vogue in the first place. So then this one, same distance to the same place basically, but directly south, opposite directions. So 45 minutes from each other, but also 45 minutes to the same place, if that makes sense, and a lot of the same builders. So neal communities. There's only nine to 11 total communities here. It's a lot smaller in Wellen Park. But of those nine to 11 communities, you have neal communities. So if you would've went to Winward and Lakewood Ranch, or Indigo or the Alcove, then when you get down to Wellen Park and you see Avelina and you see Wisteria, you see Boca Royale, and you understand the difference is in price, but you're like, "Oh, this is a similar model."

So you understand the value because you're like, "Oh, they view that as cheaper here because of the location and the size, et cetera." But you had context, you don't have to reinvent that wheel. Toll Brothers is down there, and Mattamy Homes are down there. So you kind of get the idea there. And then the feel is completely different. So these are going to be a way smaller area, very walkable, but way smaller. So if all of what Lakewood Ranch was either didn't matter or it was too much for you, something like this, this would still give you new construction without all of that minutia. And then where the same is... I had mentioned the downtowns. Well, Wellen Park built a brand new downtown as well called Downtown Downtown Wellen, I think it's technically, which is the same kind of concept. It's got all the retail establishments and the restaurant. It surrounds like a two-mile walkable lake.

And the cool thing about that one is the closest part of this. Downtown in Wellen Park is more affordable than the fur, the farthest part of Lakewood. That's the big difference. I'd mentioned that downtown... I know it's a lot of information, so please reach out. But I mentioned that downtown Lakewood Ranch, that close area by that new downtown was some of the most bougie, expensive property because of what it is. Well, Wellen Park's overall affordability is also next to the hottest district. That's a big difference. So Lakewood, you might love the closest part and not love the far part because your price range puts you in the far, but you could repurpose that close to the close part in Wellen. That's the idea here. That's what I'm trying to get at. Okay, so you got that going for you.

And then the entire concept of Wellen Park too is closer to the beach than the closest community in all of Lakewood Ranch basically. So this one is going to... It's not five minutes, but it's 18. So this one is your beach suburb, beach and new construction suburb. Typically, it's not synonymous. Because if you get close to the beach in Florida, all that land already existed. It's mature, that's where they want to build condos, that's the expensive part, like I mentioned in part one. Not necessarily the case here because of the location. So all you have to do is these particular beaches, Venice Beach, Caspersen, Brohard, Manasota Key. It's not Siesta Key, it's not Lito, it's not Longboat Key. So as long as you like all that, you get new construction, master plan, boutique, really highly rated school districts. You have downtown Venice, all those beaches, and downtown Wellen.

So it gives you a perfect juxtaposition of saying like, okay, both of these are kind of far, so you're already there. It's just what version of far does your criteria and your personal style put you in the best possible position? Okay. And third up for living options, this is where we bring it full circle. So the cool thing about doing that, and I get it's lengthy and that kind of thing, but if you can get your head around that or even somewhat get your head around it, everything else becomes much easier. Everything else makes sense. Where if you went in the wrong order, it wouldn't necessarily work like that. So for instance, if you say, okay... A couple of different options, right? These are both too far. They're too far in opposite directions. I get like you go either one and get that, but I don't really like either one. 

Sarasota, Florida

Is there an in-between? Well, the in-between, Sarasota really. So you go below Lakewood, above Venice, and you go east of the beaches, then you get Eastern Sarasota, mainland Sarasota. And when it comes to new construction, that's where Artistry by Kolter sits. That's where Sky Ranch by Taylor Morrison, Grand Park by Neal, Promenada Estates by M/I Homes, and D.R. Horton. But what these are going to feel like is very much one off old school. It's going to feel like a one-off nice community with no communal amenities. So when people typically go to Lakewood and Wellen, and then they go to this, they're like, "I don't even know where the hell I am. This doesn't mean anything." So the way to tour a town until you're very, very mature in the decision, these feel abyss, because those other ones just make sense. They have this whole thing. They have maps and everything. These ones feel random. But the random ones, for the most part, are in unbelievable locations. It's the reason they couldn't build a Lakewood, because they didn't have the room. Lakewood Ranch is owned by one family.

Wellen Park's very fortunate they were able to build that. But that's the reason it's smaller. There's not enough room. So all the rest of Sarasota was already built. So Sky Ranch sits nine miles one way to Siesta Key. You can't build a full thing right there. So if you go in this order though, it might be a happy medium for you because you could say, "I don't want Pleasantville." You could say, "I want mature landscaping." You could say, "I want that particular geography I couldn't get elsewhere." But once you understand the rest, then you that Kolter Homes has built other communities. Taylor Morrison has built many.

So if you understand what that area means and that builder means, it's way easier now to have context, but I would go in that order. Palmer Ranch is another example. So Palmer Ranch is in South Sarasota. That was the old school master plan. But these days, since it's almost a hundred percent resale really, besides one off communities. You can't randomly drive it and navigate it in a way that it means as much. There's no chamber of commerce, like Lakewood trying to ambassador ship it. You're at the mercy of resale homes. So you don't really know there's 20 plus communities there. It's all location though. That one is a hundred percent like, "I want to be there beyond specialty communities. What else can I do?" And then all the rest falls in place. So Parish, Florida, which we're starting talking about a lot more, it sits northeast of Lakewood Ranch.

So Lakewood Ranch happened first. Parish is a cheaper version with a lot of sister builder communities. Nokomis and Osprey sit above downtown Venice and they have one off new construction as well, but it's all the idea of, would do you prefer to go northeast? Where do you prefer to go? South? Is coastal under 10 miles a really, really big thing to you? And are you willing to sacrifice communal downtown amenities and just go into Sarasota for everything until it's built out more? So that's number three of... It goes Lakewood, it goes Wellen Park in my mind, and then it goes everything else. And I think if you take that path, even a simpler version of what I'm trying to articulate here, I think that's the most meaningful way to get your head around the suburbs in Sarasota.

Real Estate Prices

Lastly, as I wrap up this up in the suburb conversation, I want to talk a little bit about real estate pricing just to give you as much value as possible. So Lakewood Ranch in the last 180 days of recorded closed median volume, you set at a $635,000 point. Wellen Park, the district where Wellen Park exists in that South Venice, Northport area, they closed a median price of $446,000. Do you see that divide I was mentioning? And then Sarasota, Florida, where the Palmer Ranch and this Eastern Sarasota sits where some of this new construction clusters, and you get a little bit east of some of the really old school communities, they set at a median price of $460,000. So it give you kind of the gist of what's going on there.