I hear this quite a bit. It's totally understandable that you want to live in Lakewood Ranch for a year, see if it's for you, and have plenty of time to pick out the neighborhood with the best fit.
The problem until recently has been the lack of good clean rentals. Now, you can rent one of the hundreds of high quality homes for sale for a minimum of a year. If you don't like the home, you can walk away. If you love it, you can buy it during a rental period of up to 5 years.
This is not a gimmick or a scam. You apply to Home Partners of America, see how much rent you're qualified for, and pick from one of their approved homes that is currently for sale. They purchase the house, and become your landlord. You can rent for 1-5 years. During that time, you can walk away, buy the home you're in, or pick get another home to rent through Home Partners.
Please contact me with your name and email address, and I'll send you an invitation from Home Partners to get started. For more on how it works, visit my Sarasota website sarasotadavid.com/sarasota-single-family-rentals