Latest / Florida Homebuyer Weekly / Living in Star Farms at Lakewood Ranch | Homes, Amenities & What Buyers Need to Know

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Living in Star Farms at Lakewood Ranch | Homes, Amenities & What Buyers Need to Know · Florida Homebuyer Weekly

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Florida Home Buyer Weekly.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Joel Benson.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Each week I'm joined by local realtors and other Florida professionals to talk about what you really need to know when buying a home or making a move to Sunshine State.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm joined by Tamer Graham with the Graham Group.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Tamer is a local realtor, but he also brings a unique perspective that I think is especially valuable for today's conversation.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: He actually lives in Star Farms.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: So rather than just talking about what buyers see in the brochures or model homes, we're going to talk about what Star Farms is really like for someone who actually lives there every day.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Tamer, thanks for being here.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Hey Joel, thank you so much for having me.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: I look forward to talking about the neighborhood.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very excited.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You had all of Lakewood Ranch to choose from.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know that you from our previous conversation, you you rented a home in Star Farms and recently actually built and purchased a home in Star Farms.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: So for you personally, what what had you decide on Star Farms?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: So we I'm from Ohio, and when we moved down here, we kind of traveled all around.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: We were in Sarasota for a while, Bradenton on the cusp near the 70 in Lakewood Ranch.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um we looked, we looked all over, and what we kind of found was you know, we wanted something newer.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, the original middle Lakewood Ranch ground, a lot of that stuff, Greenbrook is a little bit older homes.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then, you know, you have this 34211 zip code, and that's kind of all of the newer construction back in here.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: And what we found was, to be honest, uh, you know, prices are really high in some of the places in Lakewood Ranch.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, as a young family, um, trying to kind of find a place where you know you can, you know, buy a nice house, live in Lakewood Ranch, but not be house poor.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: It was almost like, you know, I think that's kind of why they created Star Farms.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you can still be a part of Lakewood Ranch.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's kind of why it took off so much because you have this huge migration of just families and you know, everybody lives in Star Farms, but if there's a ton of kids when you drive through here, um, everybody knows that, everyone kind of sees it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: So for us, um, I have a one-year-old daughter, and then my wife is due again with our son.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So we were we were just kind of like, you know, this is the place for us.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: We love all of the neighbors, and you can still, you know, get an affordable house in one of the best places in the United States, in my opinion.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, congrats on the uh the baby to come here soon.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, having been down, you know, part of my relocation, I've I've really traveled all over Lakewood Ranch.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just for for those looking, and correct me if I'm wrong here, um, I would I would sort of say geographically Star Farms is kind of the the northeastern quadrant.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you kind of break it down into four quadrants, which is you know just south of 64.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um probably, I guess, probably the most eastern development in Lakewood Ranch.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Saddle now, Saddlestone is technically, but it's reciprocal, you know, or two two of the same communities.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a good that's a good point.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So is Saddlestone, and I've actually been to the are you actually I I know you're sitting in a uh a Perry Holmes model today.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the one in Saddle Saddlestone?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, so I'm in Star Farms.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm in the one star farms.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so Star Farms and Saddlestone, pretty much the way I explain it to people, Star Farms got so popular so quick, they just bought the land next door to us and they're just starting to build the houses too.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's reciprocal.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: We can use their amenities, they can use our amenities.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's it's another extension of Star Farms.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, that was kind of my next question because it does seem like it's the same developers, same builders, um, but I didn't know about the amenity centers.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: And let's let's talk about that a little bit because I think like for myself, and I've talked about this numerous times, but I initially was not planning on living in the area.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was looking at uh Wesley Chapel because I have my my daughter, one of my daughters is in Tampa, she graduated from South Florida.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I visited some friends in Lakewood Ranch for dinner one night with my wife, and literally that day that's we decided this is where we're moving.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really just uh it was a sort of a combination of a lot of things.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: But as you drive through the communities, and and Star Farms is is one of the most impressive.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: You walk, you drive in, and you know, those those uh the roundabouts with the the beautiful flowers and the shape of stars and everything.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um but the amenities in all these communities are are are kind of the real draw.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: So they're you know, master plan communities with huge amenity centers, resort pools.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um tell me just a little bit, you know, thinking about the amenities you have access to there, what it's really like, you know, beyond the marketing and all that, just sort of being in the community and using those amenities.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: How yeah, I'll give you a I'll give you a great example.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: So this morning around eight o'clock, we walked over, we uh we walked over to the park.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So they have a park in here for the kids.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And my daughter, you know, we meet some of the other kids in there, we're playing in the park.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: We walk back home, we hop on the golf cart, and we came, we didn't feel like making breakfast.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we go to the coffee shop here, we got coffee, we got um breakfast sandwiches.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then you know, later this afternoon the palm bar opens up.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to go to the palm bar, the pool is gorgeous.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, the way I explain it is it's almost like you're on vacation every day.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's weird.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's weird because you're like you're walking through the community and you're like, this looks like a resort, um, but no, I I live here.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the biggest thing and why I think Star Farms is so popular, uh, you know, a lot of the golf course communities out here is very popular in Lakewood Ranch.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you're talking HOAs, some of them are you know 700 bucks a month, a thousand bucks a month, where you get Star Farms right now, we're at about$320 a month.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that includes your lawn care, that includes access to a 24-7 gym, that includes access to the pools and the palm bar and things like that, where you know it almost makes sense.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: After you take into account your maintenance and your gym membership, it it really think I think it makes a lot of sense, and it's a great you get a lot of value for what you pay here.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's one of the conversations I have with my clients that are looking in the area often is just you know, the the big unknowns are the HOAs and the CDD fees.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so, first of all, we we want to back into you know budget by what can you afford based on this community, like this is what the HOA is, this is what the CDD is, right?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: But once you've got that off the table, it just becomes a value proposition.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you said, if if golf is your thing and you want to live in whether it's Calusa or Lakewood National, wherever it is, that has these really great golf courses, um, that that's what you you're you're paying for.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Star Farm is a little bit different, obviously there's no golf course, but uh you know, uh just say 320 for an HOA is is obviously you know pretty reasonable.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: What what about CDDs and do those vary depending on the amenities from you know community to community?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then um also like you know, I know there's several builders in in Star Farms.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Are the CDDs and HOAs the same throughout the community?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: So HOA is the same, and actually, so our CDD down here really goes off of actually your lot size.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that's the big thing.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you have your 50-foot lots, 60s, 75s, and 90s.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: So your 50s, you're gonna have the lowest CDD, which is gonna average around, I don't know, 18, don't quote me, 1800 bucks a year, 1900 bucks a year, and then up to you know, mid-2s when you get into those bigger, when you get into the bigger lots.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how you kind of do the you you qualify for your CDD.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and those are anywhere from 20 to 30 years.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I call it part of the Lakewood Ranch tax.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you pay it like your property taxes, and if you want to live here in Lakewood Ranch, that's you know, you have to pay it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's tough to get around.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's a couple communities, but you know, to have all those great amenities and stuff like that, and to love where you live, I don't mind paying the extra money.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I hear you.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I've I've found just through my research, um really the the communities that don't have CDDs are are gonna be the older communities, and they have you know, typically, you know, and that's you know, that's for some people that's that's what they're looking for, right?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, you get what you pay for in a lot, a lot of respects, and it's it's really about just creating the kind of uh lifestyle and and value that's most important to you.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me briefly about you know the specific amenities you've already talked about, but what about like activities and you know community events like so on the social side?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so they have a lifestyle director in Star Farms, and they're gonna be, I don't know if it's the same one in Saddlestone, uh, because they're gonna have you know a copy and paste almost of amenities over there as well.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so they put on a lot of events.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they do they have two different sections in here.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: So they have one that's called the Adventure Retreat, which is like the villas and single family homes that are one level.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: So not 55 and up, but you know, tended to be more for the older, you know, mature people.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so they have sort of they do bocce club poker nights, um, they do a lot of crafts and arts and things like that.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then for a lot of the kids, too, at the resort club, they'll do you know, book club and they'll do food truck nights.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they do they do a lot of different things.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I will be honest, you know, my my wife has been pregnant for the past six months.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't we haven't got out of the house too much, but uh the weather, the weather's starting to break, so it's starting to get a lot nicer.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they have they have activities going on every day.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: So they have a lifestyle director that coordinates everything, and it's it's a really cool some of the stuff they do is really awesome.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's you know, honestly, that aside from the amenities, like some of the activities and things were kind of the biggest draw.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I've got the unique advantage that I've got I've got two friends that have relocated to Lakewood Ranch in the last year, and so I've gotten to see sort of firsthand.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I'm I get text messages all the time, you know, to showing me where they're at, what they're doing, the different activities.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, that it's just like you said, it's it's like you're on vacation, but but you're at home.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's uh that's a really, really uh awesome thing to to to experience.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um next topic I wanted to kind of dive in a little bit with was you know, sort of the homes, the builders.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about who's in Star Farms, who's done building and who's still building.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um which builders you know you really like, things like that.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I tell everybody the same thing.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, four star is the developer here, but you know, it's it's really a DR Horton community per se.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um they're gonna build probably 80 to 85 percent of the homes in Star Farms and in Saddlestone.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Perry is is going kind of crazy right now in Saddlestone.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: They're they're really getting popular, and we'll we'll dive into that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: But when they when they initially opened up Star Farms, you had you know mostly DR Horton and West Bay.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um Perry kind of came in from Texas.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: They bought up some of the bigger 90 uh 90-foot lots in here, um, and they're selling those now.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: But in Star Farms, you're gonna have the majority is gonna be DR Hortons, so they're gonna own you know 80 to 85 percent of the lots.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, West Bay is pretty big in here as well.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I would say they're about 10 to 15 percent of the lots, and then you're gonna have Perry is in Star Farms as well on some of those bigger lots.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have a couple of your custom builders, you know, John Cannon, things like that, um, which is you know, they're only gonna have, I think they probably have like like custom builders, probably 10 to 15 lots, maybe.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then across the street over in Saddlestone, now you kind of had, you know, Perry really came in out of nowhere, um, and they bought a lot of lots over in Saddlestone.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: So DR is almost done.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: There's probably 20 to 40 houses left right now in Star Farms, um and then they're gonna be sold out and then moved over to uh Saddlestone.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: West Bay is sold out of everything except the 90-foot lots in Star Farms.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody that wants to get into West Bay, they are now going to Saddlestone, unless you want that 90-foot lot, which the 90-foot lots, you know, they have a much higher price tag because they're the biggest, they're the biggest lots, biggest houses.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um you have Perry that is also building the 90-foot lots in here.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but anything else now is going to be in Saddlestone.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're in a 50, a 60, or a 75-foot lot for a West Bay or a Perry, you're gonna be in Saddlestone.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then they just started the DR Hortons in Saddlestone as well.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, no cut I haven't seen any of the custom builders buy any of the lots yet in Saddlestone, but I'm sure that they will be coming too.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: One clarification because I know this is a point that I didn't know about when I first started my research.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: When Tamer's talking about 90-foot and 60-foot lots, that's width.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason I'm pointing that out, like in the Midwest where I'm from, we don't we don't talk about lots that way.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our houses are just naturally wide rather than long, um, which I think is really unique.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, part of the thing when I when I first started, you know, talking specifically about lot size and things like that, I felt like the homes were too close together because the lots were.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: But then I then I realized you could actually get wider lots.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And with a wider lot, obviously your home's gonna be a little bit farther away.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: But like you pointed out, those are typically gonna be the uh the higher price points as well.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the wider your lot, the you know, the more price you're gonna pay.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's just you know, that's the way it is.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: So for what's nice is in Star Farms, you know, you can pay a really good price for a smaller lot and still be a part of a great community.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the other thing that that sort of struck me too is that it it does almost doesn't matter quite as much how wide your lot is because everybody's got these really great, you know, whether it's a pool and you know, with caged in and landscaping, you're not seeing a bunch of homes behind you or next to you and you know, anything anyway.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's less of a concern than it would be sort of like where I'm from, I guess.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now the other topic I wanted to just touch on with builders, and I know I I see um you're very active with with all the builders, not only Star Farms, but Lakewood Ranch, Parish, kind of all over the area in the Senate.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: So um and I've mentioned this on previous episodes.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I had told myself I would never build again.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it took me a couple of times visiting Lakewood Ranch realizing that if I at least consider building, my options are so much greater than they are.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Resale's a tougher market just because there's so much building going on right there.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the biggest thing I think a lot of times is just the incentives that the builders are offering.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Talk talk to me a little bit about the the builder incentives that you're seeing.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so as you get into the different builders, you know, I always I always tell everybody, I don't work for DR Horton.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: I have my own real estate group.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: But for a lot of the first-time home buyers, DR Horton does a lot.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um they're gonna get, you know, they're gonna buy your rate down.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think rates right now are what, you know, you would know, seven and a half, seven point, seven and a quarter.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's still they're offering five and a half right now.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, that cost, you know, let's say one percent of the purchase price per point.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's up to sometimes 30, 40, 50 grand to buy that rate down.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's it's there, that's a big incentive that these builders are offering, especially like DR and people like that.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then as you go up, you know, they cover your closing costs too.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: So they're they're offering you know 15,000 in closing costs.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, closing costs might be 20 to 25, you know, and then you have your agent maybe work in the rest of that remaining amount if if they know what they're doing.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then on top of that, there's some options and upgrades that they offer, you know, screened in Lanai, epoxy garage, things like you know, things like that where it adds up as well.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then when you get into the when you get into the West phase and and the parries, a lot of them, you know, because you have a design center, so they'll offer you flex cash for the design center.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: So$50,000 to to go in there and help you pick out your options and upgrades, whereas DR is a spec builder.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: So DR Horton, Lenar, those guys are really spec builders to where they're just mass-producing houses, and you know, you get you know standard what comes in those houses.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Where Perry and West Bay, you can kind of go to the design center, pick out things.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're probably a little bit less stingy on the rates where they're not buying your rate down as much.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but they're gonna help maybe give you some money for closing costs, and they're gonna have that flex cash where you can use it for you know money off the price of the house, uh, interest rate buy downs, different things.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to get too into the weeds on this, but the the the bigger builders, the reason that or the way that they're offering you know the lower rates is they're they're well what if they have in-house lending, it's their money.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: So they can do whatever they want with it.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the a lot of the builders though have you know what's called a forward commitment that they print.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, they purchase a block of money and they pay a premium for that at whatever time, you know, based on the market at that time.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it really right now is a great time.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the builders have got money that's a lot cheaper than than what the you know the market rates are.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: This September has been a horrible month for market rates.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm just you know, I'm not gonna talk a lot about that, but it's it's a really unique thing that you can actually go to a builder and have them, you know, have some control over your interest rate, you know, or without having to pay it yourself.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, having a builder buy your rate down is is a huge luxury.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the the sort of one topic that I wanted to bring up about star farms, it's not a concern for me, but I I hear it a lot in the forums and online.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me about uh the uh the racetrack.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a great question.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll I'll give you the two biggest concerns that I have that people tell me about Star Farms.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I call everybody Facebook Warriors.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: If you go on Facebook, you're gonna find something bad about everybody and anything.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the racetrack, I've been here in Star Farms, I barely hear it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe when you're outside, sometimes you'll hear it.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: In Saddlestone, you're gonna hear it more.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you're not gonna get around it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: The racetrack is loud.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: I tell everybody the same thing.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: That racetrack has been here long before they started building that Star Farms and Saddlestone.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: It ain't going anywhere.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't like it, that's just too bad.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's a it's a staple to Bradenton, and um, you know, you can complain all you want, but you know, you have to do your due diligence before you buy a house.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: That being said, it's not that bad.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, you're gonna hear, I mean, they're racing drag strips over there.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna hear it.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's not like it's you're not gonna hear it, but it happens, you know, at 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock at night, maybe 10.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you're inside, you will not hear it.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the windows and everything like that.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: You don't hear it inside.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're outside, and especially in Saddlestone, you're gonna you're gonna hear the racetrack.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's just part of living there.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: I call it a first world problem.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's not that big of a deal.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but and then the other thing that people complain about Star Farms is how far we are from Waterside.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, Lakewood Ranch Main Street, Sarasota.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell everybody the same thing.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: We're about 20 minutes away from Waterside.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're very suburban residential back here, and we want to keep it that way, in my opinion.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we don't we don't want to be near all the UTC busy stuff.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, Lake Manatee is the school, the K through eight right next to us.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: They have 1,400 new students this year.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot of students, that's a lot of growth in one year.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a lot of families that are coming here, which you know, this is turning from a snowbird area to a full-time, you know, residential area.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: And right, you know, and we I don't mind driving 20 minutes to go to Waterside or you know, 25 minutes, 45 minutes to the beach.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I like where I live, so it's quiet and peaceful back here.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was actually gonna be my next question was about sort of the proximity to entertainment and things like that.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And when I first started looking, you know, the first place I visited was was Waterside.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I kind of started, but but you know, down there, again, if you want to be closer to Waterside, that's gonna cost you too.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, most of the communities down there are are the you know, probably I mean, you've got Wild Blue, you've got uh Shellstone, Lakehouse Cove, developments.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're those are 800, 900, a million plus.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: A million plus probably now.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I tell everybody the same thing.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, that's Sarasota County Schools.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a different, it's a different school zoning, it's a different county.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Lakewood Ranch kind of, you know, that 34240 zip code, that's Sarasota.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then we are Manatee County up here, where you know, I think for a long time, and I'm not trying to get you know with the demographics and things, but I think for a very long time, Lakewood Ranch had an old older people in here.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it wasn't all these, there wasn't as many families as there are now.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of families are coming here, and when you when they come here, the number one community is Star Farms and Lake and Saddlestone.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a couple other places, but to be able to take advantage of the builder incentives, um, uh you know what they're what they're offering right now with the amenities that you get and all these great things, you have to give up a little bit of proximity to Sarasota, but we're kind of in a bubble out here anyway.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we don't leave too often.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I've every visit I've made this year, I've stayed in a condo.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, except for one.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: I did stay in parish one time because I wanted to kind of get a feel for that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another episode, but uh there's some you know definite advantages to to parish as well.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: But we can talk about that for a while too, yeah.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I um stayed in a condo right by Lakewood Ranch High School.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of like right smack in the middle of everything, you know, it was like not too far to anything.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I initially had thought, you know, being in proximity to UTC and Waterside was really important.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: But then what I realized is most of the communities, you've got a you've got a little bit of a drive regardless of where you're going.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, you know, unless you've got, you know, like in Star Farms, you've got a restaurant, a coffee shop, you've got stuff you can actually, like you mentioned, get on your golf cart and you know, buzz right over to the you know, the amenity center.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's that's a different type of lifestyle, and it really all comes down to what you're looking for.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now I've got a final question.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's yeah, it's funny because a lot of my clients are right now if they're coming from New York.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um when they get down when they get down here, you know, they like to drive really fast, and they're like, oh, we're 25 minutes away.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell everybody the same thing.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: What are you in a hurry for?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're in you're in paradise.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: We're here.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to worry.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't mind, I don't mind driving 20 minutes to waterside.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: I got nowhere to be in a hurry.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: So it's exactly so.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: My final question for you here today is uh kind of using my family as an example.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the process.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: My move is likely gonna happen, you know, early spring.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be down permanently.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're planning on Lakewood Ranch.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: We'll probably fall somewhere.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: My budget changes all the time, but I'm I'm kind of targeting seven to eight hundred.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um I need at least four bedrooms.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: The fourth bedroom could technically be my office because we're only gonna have a couple of kids at home, and we just need to have some space for when the older kids come back to visit and stay.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: But we also need a private pool.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: So lifestyle and location are are probably the two most important things to us, and really anywhere in Lakewood Ranch fits the location piece.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: But knowing what we're looking for, would you do you think Star Farms would be a strong recommendation for?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 100%.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think Star Farms would be great.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, 700 to 800,000, you're gonna get a really nice house in here.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that being said, you're probably in a DR.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you're probably in one of the bigger DR Hortons with the pro, you know, if you want that private pool.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the the West phase, you you could have got in there around that 750,000, 800 mark initially.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then you know, pre-COVID, you could have built a pool for 40 grand.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: Now, you know, I just I just got some quotes for pools you're looking at minimum 100.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you're probably looking at a at a DR Horton house, uh, maybe a nice, you know, hold-in or a chlor model that are you know, big two stories or a Camden that's a single level, and you're gonna be either adding a pool.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why you know you might need to crank the budget down to 600,000 um and then plan on putting in a pool after the fact.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then it goes if you're buying resale versus new.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you're buying a resale house, you got to do market rate, you have closing cost, you have things like that.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or if you're buying new, you know, you might get that closing cost incentives with the the rate buy down, you know, uh, and a lot of different things.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's probably where you're at.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: But you're in the best community, in my opinion, in Lakewood Ranch.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: All right, all right.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's great.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And this is really exactly what we're trying to accomplish here with Florida Home Buyer Weekly.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: We just want to give buyers the local knowledge they need before they make a move.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, if you're interested in Lakewood Ranch, Star Farms, you know, reach out to Tamer, he'd be happy to help.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Tamer, thanks for joining me today and giving us all this a great perspective from somebody who actually lives in Star Farms.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And anybody watching, if you're thinking about buying a home or making a move to Florida, make sure to subscribe to Florida Home Buyer Weekly so you don't miss an episode.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Joel Benson.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for watching.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you next week.