Five towns and communities – one area – you will love to live here!  “Venice – Best Community to Retire ” …do you know who wrote that? Forbes Magazine. One out of 25 towns in the US that is not bad, isn’t it? Try the same with the lottery!

When thinking about the Venice area it is not only the city of Venice you should have in mind: South Venice, Nokomis, Laurel and Osprey are also part of it and make the area so unique and interesting.

The City of Venice is the center of gravity, of course. In order to preserve the Northern Renaissance style of the city, the Historic Venice District was created on the Isle of Venice, as everybody calls it. The Architectural Review Board is the “dark force” behind all the rules and regulations.  However, if you want to keep that characteristic Italian style, you have no other choice: you need to make sure that Venice’s heritage really will be kept like it is, no exclusion granted.  Therefore, hopefully no chain restaurants and chain stores are allowed to build one of their standard cookie-cutter homes. If they  let that happen it would open Pandora’s Box, and Venice would not be Venice anymore.

So far the Board has done an excellent job. You will find family owned  restaurants, ice cream parlors; shops and boutiques lined up along Main Street. In other areas of the City of Venice, you will discover Art Galleries and the Venice Museum. The Venice Theatre, the Venice Symphony and numerous festivals, parade’s fiestas are all a part of the vibrant and flourishing cultural life in the City of Venice. The City of Venice has a lot to offer – keep that in mind when you come to the area – you will be pleased what you see.

Let us move on to another area:  South Venice, located just beyond Venice city limits to the South, mainly lined up along the Tamiami Trail/US 41, is expanding rapidly. That is no surprise because South Venice has ample room to expand, but the City of Venice, in fact, has its limitations. The reason simple :  There is not enough room for further expansion because the City of Venice is basically sitting on an island. South Venice is in a better position; it can easily expand to the east, south and north.  There is plenty of land and new communities like “Grand Palms,” “Island Walk”, “Grand Paradiso” and “Sarasota National” are taking advantage of that fact. South Venice is a community also full of shopping and light manufacturing; however, most parts of the area are residential.

Nokomis, Venice’s closest neighbor to the north, was  a rural municipality for a quite some time. Not too long ago a lot more cows than people lived in Nokomis. Hm, what’s wrong with that picture? Cows are also people; at least, they think they are – if you asked  them.  Today you may still hear a “moo” here and a “moo” there, but businesses, subdivisions, and private homes have taken the cow pastures over.  That did not happen to the cows’ delight, but it happened.

Nokomis, which stretches all the way from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Interstate I-75 to the east, is one of the most diverse areas. You will find subdivisions with multimillion dollar mansions, elegant residential neighborhoods, farm style homes on acreage and manufactured homes pretty close together. Brand new shopping plazas are popping up everywhere.  And let us not forget why most of us are here – the beautiful  beach is so close. “Nokomis Beach,” as it is called, located on the tropical barrier Island “Casey Key,” is one of the oldest beaches in Sarasota County.

Before we are heading further north, we would like to say  one more word about Nokomis (or maybe two ow three):  Besides of all the new developments, Nokomis could still keep this  special “old Florida Feeling,” if you know what we mean.  Go to the “Casey Key Fish House”, right  by the water, and enjoy the sunset. Cross the historic swing bridge, which connects the mainland with the island, and follow the long and winding road on Casey Key.  You will be impressed. If you really  like that you should not ignore the Nokomis  area.

Laurel is the next community, just a little further north. You will have a hard time figuring out the border between Nokomis and Laurel, not even natives will be able to tell you where you can draw the line. But is it really important to know? Probably not  because we are not at war with each other. Yes, the name sounds familiar. You are right; the original settlers took the name “Laurel”  from the trees that once grew there in large numbers. At the time, the first settlers arrived in the mid 1800; it was probably the easiest way to come up with a name. Why not? Nothing is wrong about that. Laurel is mostly residential with a few commercial places here and there, but they are along  US 41 what we call Tamiami Trail. They are of little significance to the overall appearance of the area.  You will notice that  Laurel has still retained its country charm; however, Laurel heard the alarm clock and woke up. Now it is growing fast as if it is missing out on something.

Now, let’s have a look at the last of the five areas, this one is called “Osprey.”  Does it sound familiar? Of course, only this time the name was taken from a bird  not from a tree.  They were obviously so numerous that the first settlers were deeply  impressed; hence they decided to call the area “Osprey.” Not at all a bad choice, because of its proximity to Sarasota Bay. This community is the closest to Sarasota, allowing access to Sarasota and Venice at the same time.

Some of the subdivisions are older; others are newer and gated. The Oaks Club, a prime golf course community, is also part of Osprey. The US 41 is splitting the community in half, with one-half  facing the water on Little Sarasota Bay and the other one on the golf course.  Prices for condominiums and single-family homes are more on the high-end, and membership fees are accordingly.  You will as well find small businesses, restaurants, service industries, and motels and hotels in the area.

The beautiful Oskar Scherer State Park is part of Osprey. Here you see Florida’s wildlife first hand, and if you want to explore the history of the area, the “ Old Spanish Point “ would be the place to start your expedition. This is really a very interesting place where you can see homes from the time the first settlers lived here.  No Air conditioner, no electricity, no running water, and no WiFi /cable connect.  Wow,  how on earth could they survive?  We have no clue, dear reader. The only thing we can say is that we survived the last 14 years in Nokomis pretty well.

If you are thinking about relocating to the Venice area, just start your home search here!

Explore and choose your favorite neighborhoods in Venice

Don’t hesitate to contact us, when you are ready to open up and talk  about your real estate needs. We are easy to talk to and we won’t bug you! You may call us at 941-460-8832 or write us an email