Those of us who live here know Sarasota is blissful but now the Bliss Awards have really confirmed it. In fact, Sarasota and Manatee counties have been highly ranked for culture, arts, recreation and lifestyle by many different institutions the past couple of years, including the Bliss Awards. Here’s just a selection of some of the high rankings awarded to Longboat Key and the surrounding Sarasota area as by different organizations.
The Bliss Awards – Sarasota
These are Awarded by Real Estate Scorecard who specialize in online real estate reviews of the most popular master planned communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. They have actual residents give reviews, so you really are getting an insider’s view. According to the Bliss awards:
- Sarasota is the best place to live in their Middle Florida Gulf Coast category.
- The Longboat Key Club is the No. 1 tennis facility on the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida—Membership in the Longboat Key Club is open to the public. It has 20 Har-Tru tennis courts, a USTA-certified stadium court and 45 holes of championship golf.
- The Best Equestrian Community of the Year went to our northern neighbor, Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County. The equestrian center there has nine world-class polo fields and a regulation size arena.
Other Distinctions Awarded to Sarasota
- Chicago-based HomeFinder has found that real-estate descriptions in Sarasota are the second most likely in the nation to use the word love. Neighboring city Bradenton to the north came in at Number 10. And why not? What’s not to love about Sarasota?
- The Longboat Key Club was rated among the world’s top 500 resorts in 2014, by readers of Travel + Leisure Magazine.
- Lakewood Ranch ranks ninth on John Burns Real Estate Consulting’s list of top selling master-planned communities in 2013.
- Movoto Real Estate ranked Bradenton tied for third place in its “10 Best Small Cities To Retire To In America.” Sarasota tied for sixth with San Marcos, Texas.
- Five high schools among 12 in the Sarasota County Public Schools district received a gold or silver medal in U.S. News’s Best High Schools ranking, including Pine View School, which was ranked No. 1 in the State and No. 6 in the nation!
- Nearly a century after circus moguls, the Ringlings, made Sarasota into an arts center, it was voted the No. 1 small city art destination in the nation, by readers of American Style Magazine. Bradenton was voted No. 2 in that same poll.
- Siesta Beach was listed as the best beach in the nation in 2011 by Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, a.k.a Dr. Beach, Director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research.
- TripAdvisor ranked Siesta Key Public Beach the No. 2 beach in America and the No. 16 beach in the world. Did you know that Siesta Beach has the whitest sand in the world? It is 99% pure quartz crystal, which reduces the heat of the sand on even the hottest summer day.
If you have any questions, or would like to get more information about energy saving features to watch for when buying a Sarasota home, please don’t hesitate to Contact us at 941.284.4474 or Toll free 941.404.4737. One of our qualified agents will gladly get back to you.