David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

Staging and design of your home can create an emotional connection with a potential buyer, making your home easier to sell, and sell for more money.  So, why not do something new with your counter tops in a new Venice FL home, or in a home you are renovating to sell? Stone counter tops, especially granite, were once a trend that have now become commonplace. The ubiquitous granite provides plenty of reasons to search for alternatives.  Granite needs special support over long spans because of it's weight, is semi-porous and can be susceptible to staining, and reports are coming out about radiation emissions from granite. Let's look at some interesting options for your Venice FL new home or remodel. 1) Tempered Glass: Imagine the interesting backlighting effects you could create. 2) Nanotech material: Non-reflective, self healing, and anti-microbial. 3) Stainless steel: A new trend may be away from stainless appliances to stainless counter tops instead 4) Ceram...

The Berkshire Hathaway Venice sales team had a meeting at the new home community Grand Oaks in Venice, FL a couple of days ago.  I was inspired by their design team to blog about how important color choices can be for today's home buyers. New home community Grand Oaks in Venice, FL Grand Oaks is a small gated and walled community of 55 homes, located on Venice Avenue near the intersection with Jacaranda.  A brand new Publix is within walking distance, and it's just 3 miles to downtown Venice.  Grand Oaks has no CDD fee, with monthly association and maintenance fees of only $199.  A rare combination for a new home community! I was especially impressed with one of their model homes, in particular, the color palette and decor. The Sabal model home at Grand Oaks in Venice White cabinets never go out of style. Light, bright, and tone on tone colors increase the visual appeal Color is used sparingly on an accent wall in the master be...

There's a lot of new home communities under construction in the Sarasota area.  It seems many home buyers haven't considered looking in Venice, compared to the better known areas such as Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County, or Palmer Ranch in Sarasota. New home for sale in Grand Palm in Venice FL Why buy a new home in Venice?  Consider these facts: New home communities such as Grand Palm, Island Walk, and Gran Paradiso, are approximately 7 miles to the nearest hospital, Venice Regional Bayfront.  New home communities in Palmer Ranch, such as Arbor Lakes and Sandhill Preserve, are approximately 10 miles to Sarasota Memorial. Distance to the nearest beach from Venice new home communities equals the distance to Siesta Key beaches from Palmer Ranch, and is about half the distance compared to Lakewood Ranch. Downtown Venice activities and amenities are closer to new home communities than Sarasota downtown is to Palmer Ranch new home communities. Comparable Venice...