never lived there but have been visiting since a friend right out of high school moved there (they owned a hotel in sarasota were we partied way too hard) and now another old friend from grade school has just bought his retirement home there.
most everywhere is hot in summer. we do not get heat waves like summers in unprepared chicago which kill people. the problem with florida in summer is a) humidity but the seabreeze mitigates that a tad (though five miles inland, forget it); and b) it doesn't cool off at night so you get this sense of no break from the heat. even just taking the dog for a walk at night, you'll break into a sweat. we change shirts a lot around here. otherwise you'll go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car to the pool or beach. it is hot & sticky but it can be managed.
i've read that sarasota has weathered the housing crisis better than some areas, but i've read also that it is bad there as well. dq news shows sarasota (jan 07-jan 08 ) down another 13.8% on resale house medium prices & down 24.5% on resold condos at the medium price. but keep in mind that both shiller and nar recently recanted on some of their figures by saying that medium does not tell the story, that it needs to be looked at in at least three ranges, high, medium and low, with the low generally falling the farthest. dq shows sarasota medium at $210k so figure from there.
for comparison, dq shows miami same period down 9.4% on resold houses & down 10.7% on resold condo's so from that alone it looks like sarasota weathered worse in 2007.
other studies i've read show less inventory there so maybe it will pick up faster than here. but at this level of the bottom i doubt it makes much difference.
looks like there is a dog friendly beach, not in sarasota but nearby per
DogFriendly.com's City Guide: Sarasota, Florida
buns, june is our rainy season. last year i think it rained 30 days non-stop. you'll be lucky to see the sun. i think you will find sarasota much more family and less singles-oriented than either tampa or miami. not that there isn't fun to be had, just not in the same abundance.
edit: take that dq news with at least a grain of salt. just checked out inherited house area which dq shows up more than 30%. quick, call the realtor. raise the price.