A home for your holiday: why Southwest Florida leads the nation in vacation homes.

Sarasota Magazine, December, 2004 by Theoret, Nanci

Most visitors come to Southwest Florida for sun and fun, not real estate. But after they've spent a few days enjoying our water views and balmy weather, many of them pack up their beach blankets and start cruising through local neighborhoods with a real estate agent.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

That's how one Cleveland-area couple, he a financier and she the executive director of a professional ballet school, came to own their vacation home on Longboat Key. The husband discovered Sarasota through a friend, and he introduced it to his wife after they married. "We really fell in love with the area," she says. "I liked the island feel and the beach. And Sarasota has all of the arts." They've owned their sixth-floor condominium...