[ACS228]

My husband and I will be visiting Lakeland next month to decide if this is where we would like to buy a house. My husband will most likely be working in Tampa so we will be checking out the commute as well. Is there anything good or bad we should check out while we are there? We need to get a feel for the different neighborhoods since most of our initial house hunting will be done long distance. As for the bad, I know a lot of what is considered bad is subjective so we should at least see for ourselves.
Thanks!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by ACS228

My husband and I will be visiting Lakeland next month to decide if this is where we would like to buy a house. My husband will most likely be working in Tampa so we will be checking out the commute as well. Is there anything good or bad we should check out while we are there? We need to get a feel for the different neighborhoods since most of our initial house hunting will be done long distance. As for the bad, I know a lot of what is considered bad is subjective so we should at least see for ourselves.
Thanks!

Hubby and I moved to Lakeland one year ago, and he commutes to downtown Tampa. We are a mile from the Polk Parkway, and it takes him about 45 minutes - sometimes less, or more depending on traffic, weather, etc.

What are you looking for in particular? Lakeland is overall a beautiful, clean, self-contained small city. It has a nice downtown, plenty of arts and entertainment, several historic districts, preserved vintage architecture, and of course Florida Southern College which is the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings anywhere. The lakes in town are all public parks, and beautiful. The city is community-oriented and family-friendly. If you desire a lot of nightclubs and nightlife in general, you may not be happy here. There are plenty of restaurants and movie theaters and art venues, but only a few pubs and nightclubs in general. Tampa has much more of that scene.

Do you like gated developments or do you like older homes in town? There are many great areas to live - when you visit here, I believe it will be obvious which areas are not so nice - basically just north of downtown near the hospital is "ghetto."

Personally, I like the south side of downtown - plenty of great areas, we live in town (southside) in an older home near Lake Hollingsworth. A great convenient location is also a bit southwest of downtown near Lakeside Village.

Lakeland is a nice place to live, we much prefer it over Tampa. Let me know if you have specific questions.

[ACS228]

Thanks Gypsychic for your response.

We are looking for a modest size home hopefully with some trees and other landscaping. I see a lot of the newer developements do not have this. We would also like to have a pool which a lot of the older homes don't seem to have.
We aren't really into the nightlife/bar scene so having to travel to Tampa or Orlando to do these things every once in a while won't be a problem for us. We are excited by the culture and arts, by the history and we are hoping to visit the fountain at Florida Southern College when we are in town.
We don't have children so school district isin't a very big concern except for propery resale value. Do you know anything about Lake Gibson school district? We have seen a few houses there we liked although the majority of houses we are looking at are in South Lakeland.
So far we really like everything we have learned about Lakeland and are hoping it is a nice in person as it is online. We will be visiting the first weekend in November, Do they do the farmer's market then?

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by ACS228

Thanks Gypsychic for your response.

We are looking for a modest size home hopefully with some trees and other landscaping. I see a lot of the newer developements do not have this. We would also like to have a pool which a lot of the older homes don't seem to have.
We aren't really into the nightlife/bar scene so having to travel to Tampa or Orlando to do these things every once in a while won't be a problem for us. We are excited by the culture and arts, by the history and we are hoping to visit the fountain at Florida Southern College when we are in town.
We don't have children so school district isin't a very big concern except for propery resale value. Do you know anything about Lake Gibson school district? We have seen a few houses there we liked although the majority of houses we are looking at are in South Lakeland.
So far we really like everything we have learned about Lakeland and are hoping it is a nice in person as it is online. We will be visiting the first weekend in November, Do they do the farmer's market then?

Yes, we are getting into our beautiful weather time of year - they do farmer's market downtown on Saturday, also a little arts market, maybe once a month. There are also many downtown festivals such as First Friday, music on the Promenade, pix on Promenade, and more.

I don't know anything about Lake Gibson area - it's on the north side and have heard it's nice but honestly we tend to stay on the south side for everything since it's convenient.

Lakeland has a heavy and beautiful tree canopy, especially throughout the core of the town. Also in South Lakeland there is an area called "Christina" which contains a few subdivisions, this is a beautiful area with trees also. Some older areas closer in town with more trees are in the Lakeland Highlands district. You should be able to find something you like, especially when you can come and visit in person. Two zip codes I recommend are 33803 and 33813.

[Lakeland Yankee]

I would personally look for a place closer to Tampa as the commute can be pretty bad depending on what time your husband has to be at work.

Lakeland is very "Jerry Springer show" like and the natives aren't very welcoming to people from the north even though there are tons of us here. Most of the natives are still "fighting the civil war" so if you are from the north get used to derogatory comments toward "yankees". I always loved the South until I moved here. The Southerners here are NOT like they are anywhere else in the South (friendly,kind,morals,values,etc). It is also Meth capital of America so property thefts are high all over the city.

South Lakeland and very North Lakeland are the places you want to live if you move here. The downtown area is beautiful and clean and very safe to be in. Overall Lakeland is a beautiful city filled with tons of lakes and wildlife. It seems to be a place people either love or hate.

Just have your husband grow a mullet and change his name to Bubba and you'll be alright. Good Luck.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee

I would personally look for a place closer to Tampa as the commute can be pretty bad depending on what time your husband has to be at work.

Lakeland is very "Jerry Springer show" like and the natives aren't very welcoming to people from the north even though there are tons of us here. Most of the natives are still "fighting the civil war" so if you are from the north get used to derogatory comments toward "yankees". I always loved the South until I moved here. The Southerners here are NOT like they are anywhere else in the South (friendly,kind,morals,values,etc). It is also Meth capital of America so property thefts are high all over the city.

South Lakeland and very North Lakeland are the places you want to live if you move here. The downtown area is beautiful and clean and very safe to be in. Overall Lakeland is a beautiful city filled with tons of lakes and wildlife. It seems to be a place people either love or hate.

Just have your husband grow a mullet and change his name to Bubba and you'll be alright. Good Luck.

Sorry you have had such bad experiences but ours have been the opposite - this is one of the friendliest towns I have ever seen, and there are people here from all over, including many other countries. Property thefts mostly occur in certain areas if one looks at the weekly crime maps. I do think your "bubba" comment was a gross exaggeration, but then, I don't know where exactly you live. If you are outside the city, then I can understand where you are coming from.

[Lakeland Yankee]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Sorry you have had such bad experiences but ours have been the opposite - this is one of the friendliest towns I have ever seen, and there are people here from all over, including many other countries. Property thefts mostly occur in certain areas if one looks at the weekly crime maps. I do think your "bubba" comment was a gross exaggeration, but then, I don't know where exactly you live. If you are outside the city, then I can understand where you are coming from.

I guess it all depends on where you live in Lakeland. I live in east Lakeland where it is a mix of ghetto folk and white trash.

Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful natives here (some of the finest people I ever met), it's just that overall there are more bad ones than good ones. It just seems that almost everybody is out to take advantage of you and scam you here. I just wanted to give the OP a realistic point of view of the area. If you live in South Lakeland or north North Lakeland and never venture out too far you'll probably never see the extreme Jerry Springer-type "Bubba" mentality here. It's really overwhelming and quite sad at times.

It is a beautiful area though and thank God "winter" is coming soon. God Bless.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Lakeland Yankee

I guess it all depends on where you live in Lakeland. I live in east Lakeland where it is a mix of ghetto folk and white trash.

Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful natives here (some of the finest people I ever met), it's just that overall there are more bad ones than good ones. It just seems that almost everybody is out to take advantage of you and scam you here. I just wanted to give the OP a realistic point of view of the area. If you live in South Lakeland or north North Lakeland and never venture out too far you'll probably never see the extreme Jerry Springer-type "Bubba" mentality here. It's really overwhelming and quite sad at times.

It is a beautiful area though and thank God "winter" is coming soon. God Bless.

I admit I have heard a few of these things about some of the areas going east of town. Unfortunately I think there are "Jerry Springer" types all over Florida, including some of the nicest cities in the state. Sadly, just a fact of life, I guess.

[Lakeland Yankee]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

I admit I have heard a few of these things about some of the areas going east of town. Unfortunately I think there are "Jerry Springer" types all over Florida, including some of the nicest cities in the state. Sadly, just a fact of life, I guess.

There are "Jerry Springer" types all over America from north to south and east to west. It's just a higher concentration here in Polk County. I'm not trying to be negative just honest.

The positives for Lakeland (Polk County) are: it is very affordable, very tropical, great winter weather, great parks everywhere, fishing and boating opportunities galore, somewhat safe from Hurricanes, within 2 hours of some of the greatest beaches in the world, plenty of wildlife, lower taxes, 1 hour to Tampa or Orlando.

[Hey_Mikki]

I can tell you that the Lake Gibson area schools are very good, my kids attended Padgett Elementary, Lake Gibson Middle and Lake Gibson HS, and there are alot of nice homes available in this school district, if your looking for a really nice subdivision, check out Sherwood Forest, they have homes ranging from the mid 150's to 500 range depending on which subdivison you select in Sherwood Forest, good luck with your search and welcome to Lakeland.