Things to be aware of in towns: taxes and tax base. A town with no industrial or commercial district

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My wife (59) and I (61) are retiring from Wash. D.C. to FL in 1-2 years. Yes, we're innovative people. We're drawn to the Gulf Coast, and are trying to decide accommodations mallorca between the cities of Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Tampa/St. Pete. We've both been in FL quite a bit over the years -- mostly on the east coast -- and are cognizant of the drawbacks (scorching summer heat, high insurance rates, etc) but we are not intimidated. accommodations mallorca I thought I'd ask the folks on this forum whether accommodations mallorca they'd have a preference for one of those 3 cities/areas (or 4, if you separate Tampa from St. Pete) as a place to live.
About us: we enjoy daytime outdoor activities, like hiking, biking, and golf, as well as cultural accommodations mallorca and educational activities, like theatre, museums, and dance clubs (we're salsa dancers!). Therefore, we'd like to live in a more natural area away from a city center, but within a 1/2 hours drive of city amenities. We'd be looking for a single family home in the range of $350-$450K. Waterfront property is not necessary, tho it'd be nice to be a short drive from a beach. After looking thru Trulia for a bit, it seemed that home prices are about the same in these 3 areas? but maybe there are other subtle differences in living conditions that we missed? Yes, we plan to rent for a year first. Thank you in advance!
Sarasota is lovely, and good for culture, but both St. Pete and Tampa offer more: more performance spaces, more museums, more music venues, more theater, more parks, more galleries... I love visiting Sarasota, and recommend it often, but it has a sleepy accommodations mallorca feel to me.
Another advantage to Tampa and St. Pete is proximity to a major airport, if that's important. They are most certainly two different cities, so definitely separate them for decision-making purposes! I prefer Tampa, but then again, I live here St. Pete has a more vibrant, walkable downtown, but that won't matter to you if don't want to live in the city. It's a shorter drive from St. Pete to most beaches, except Clearwater, but it does depend on where exactly you settle.
We've seen Sarasota briefly and Fort Myers, but not the Tampa St. Pete area. I've heard that Sarasota has a big cultural scene, but it would make sense that Tampa/St. Pete would have more of those amenities, being the larger metropolitan area.
I'm pretty sure we drove thru Punta Gorda, but don't remember much of it. Home prices look pretty good, but I'm concerned the Fort Myers area might be just a bit too laid back. We did like the city itself, and found parts of it attractive.
Newbe -- that's an interesting comment about Tampa and St. Pete having different flavors. In what sense? As for Dunedin, Clearwater, etc., my wife is pushing to live walking distance from a beach, but I noticed that home prices are much higher. I'm also concerned about weather and flooding. When we were at Englewood beach this summer, it rained 4-6 inches in Naples in a period of just a few hours. News media showed photos of nice, new, Mediterranean style homes flooded with several inches of water -- and this was just a thunderstorm, not a hurricane! Seems like a stressful thing to go thru, having to replace your stuff every few years. Plus, scientists say that Florida weather and flooding is getting worse over time with climate change.
Neither Sarasota nor Tampa is "on the beach" but both have cultural activities and bay views. Tampa is a biggish city with, as NewBe says, an international airport, and it is a good one. Pro sports, etc. Sarasota has opera.
Ft Myers has great airline connections to anywhere in the US and is affordable. Ft Myers Beach is not the best beach in the area, but there are great beaches nearby. As you recognize, pretty laid back.
I don't mind occasional frost/freeze. I'm sure it will be a vast improvement over the eyeball-freezing cold we had up here last winter. Plus, I don't think I'll be shoveling snow or raking leaves. I'd rather die with a golf club in my hand than with a rake or snow shovel.
I agree about the sprawl problem. I think its worse in Southeast FL, which is one reason why we're looking at the Gulf Coast. Also, I got the impression that the Gulf Coast has retained more of its natural vegetation. That is a big factor for me.
Big Russ -- having checked out home prices in the Panhandle area, I'd say there's definitely more bang for your buck in that respect. But, I've lived my entire life in NYC and the Wash. DC area, and I'm concerned I'd suffer some "cultural dislocation." I spent a couple of weeks in Biloxi once, and my NooYawk accent definitely accommodations mallorca did not fit in. Plus, I've never been to Pensacola or Panama City (didn't they recently get hit with a hurricane?) but I get the impression they're not Tampa or even Sarasota in terms of city amenities. Yes, we're trying to have it both ways -- trying to find a balance between a pleasant area outside of a city, and a city that provides those "citified" activities. We know this will require some compromises on both ends.
I will say that we will seriously consider traveling up to the Panhandle at least once before we make up our minds, since I don't want to reject an area without ever having been there. But, it doesn't look like a major contender for us.
The Redneck Riviera is most definitely not further off the hurricane belt! BigRuss, I think you got that one backwards. CapnTrips, you are correct that you will experience "cultural dislocation" in the Panhandle. Gorgeous beaches, but that's about it. Best beaches/natural vegetation to me would be Sarasota or close by.
In general, house prices in FL vary depending on distance from the ocean/beaches, home amenities like dock and pool, external amenities like golf and tennis, reputation of the town/region/area, and sales history of the neighborhood. The weather is going to be pretty accommodations mallorca much the same across broad swaths of the state, though it will differ from one end of the state to the other.
Things to be aware of in towns: taxes and tax base. A town with no industrial or commercial district sounds good but all taxes fall on the homeowner. Zoning: some places don't seem to have any, others are affected by the lack in the past. Water: where is it coming from and will there be enough when the community is built out?
Amenities: pools and docks are expensive to maintain. Do you want your own or would you be happy with community access? accommodations mallorca Double this for golf. Golf course are over built so you may well not need to be in a golf community to play all the golf you want. Beach access: all beaches are open to,the public, but is there access? Parking? Can you ride a bike?
Recovery history: accommodations mallorca how long did it take for the community to recover from the last real estate collapse? Florida real estate is a boom and bust proposition. If you are not planning to sell in the short term, you can wait it out. Some places, like Naples west of the interstate, barely trembled. A house on a street with abandoned houses is not cheap at any price. A house in a town with empty, unbuilt
Shouldn't be too hard to understand, AA. You've named some beach communities NEAR Sarasota, but to get to the beach from Sarasota itself, you MUST cross a bridge or a causeway or both. So why feign surprise that it is NOT on a beach? Same with Tampa. Same with Ft. Myers.
accommodations mallorca That's always been one of the "bragging accommodations mallorca rights" people in Naples have. You can be at the center of the MAIN shopping street in Naples, and the beach itself is just a three or four block walk away. That's not true in Sarasota. I'm not suggesting the OP wants to live RIGHT on the beach, but those drives TO the beach from most residential areas in Tampa or (less so) Sarasota can be pretty frustrating -- especially in season. Just so the OP is aware of that.
But back to the original three requests. Tampa is much more of a city with all that goes with cities, and Tampa itself can be quite a drive from the beach. Sarasota is easily the most "cultural" of the three as well as much more "white collar" than Ft. Myers. Ft. Myers by comparison is almost a cultural accommodations mallorca wasteland (unless you include spring training as culture).
accommodations mallorca The last time I drove from Sarasota to Siesta accommodations mallorca Key (we were meeting someone for drinks after the Asolo), it took us well over an hour to get there from the theatre --in February or March, admitttedly. Just sayin. . . Of course if you happen accommodations mallorca to live right at the bridge or causeway, well, that's quite a different story.
I don't quite agree on Sarasota's cultural bona fides, as I've said, mainly because it's small. If you love opera, it's great because it has an opera company. When "the season" starts, there are many cultural events; but at any other time, there may be one community theater thing, and one long-running exhibit at the Ringling. But it's a lovely place to live--I guess I really am quibbling, aren't I?
As for Tampa versus St. Pete, boy...there are as many opinions on this as there are residents accommodations mallorca in those two cities! My main point is geographic: don't think about them as the same place, because it can take 2 hours to get from North Tampa to the Rays stadium in St. Pete! With commuter and beach traffic, the drive between them is not one you will make willingly; we find that we rarely go to dinner in St. Pete because the drive, accommodations mallorca after wine, is tedious.
Flavor-wise? St. Pete, to me--highly subjective view coming!--is a funny mix of retirees and hipsters. Tampa, especially South Tampa, where I live, is more family-oriented and flashier in the wealthier parts; more rooted and Latino in the less wealthy parts. As I said, St. Pete's downtown is enviable, and it has beautiful neighborhoods within easy walking distance of it. Tampa's is scruffy. though we're trying. Neither is THAT near a beach, but Tampa, obviously, is much less near one.
Ackislander -- I g