16451 SPRAGUE AVENUE

Red brick under old live oaks, moss hanging before the place was built, and a driveway lit by lamp posts that curls right up to a pair of white double doors that hug you in. You park in the shade and you pinch yourself for owning this brick beauty - a beautiful Florida Farmhouse! Inside, it’s fully renovated from top to bottom. New plumbing, new electrical, new interior and exterior doors, plus new hurricane windows. All of it permitted and built to current code. Two separate AC systems, one per floor, keep every room at its own temperature. The finish work matches: a white quartz kitchen that opens to the dining space, a primary bath with a glass walk-in shower, plank flooring on both floors, and recessed lighting throughout. There’s a stone wall in this house that climbs two stories, and everyone who walks in stops in front of it for a second. That’s the living room, with the fireplace at its base and the upstairs landing looking right down on it. Yes you get three cold nights in Florida but this fireplace makes the most of every one. Outside, the streets are wooded and quiet, tucked between Sarasota and Charlotte counties, but nothing is ever really far. US-41 is about five minutes away and I-75 is around ten, so groceries, the hospital and the highway all feel close. Weekends are where it gets good. Walk the pond loop at Ollie’s Pond, hike the trails at Tippecanoe, or head to Walton Ranch Preserve, where cattle graze right beside the path. Spend the afternoon at Port Charlotte Beach Park and the harbor, then finish with a pint at Charlie Foxtrot Brewing. Quiet where you sleep, close to everything when you’re not. (NOT in a Flood Zone)