Moving to the Tampa area and need advise on areas and schools... (Cape Coral: buying)

[got salt]

Hi! We are relocating from up north to the Tampa area and need advice on a nice area/town with a great high school. Looking to go south of the city of Tampa (within about a 40 minute drive) and maybe near the water. Any advise??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[SoFLGal]

Why would you want to go south of Tampa so far? Gas is pretty expensive right now.

If you're looking to be close to the interstate you might want to try Lakewood Ranch.

[bbronston]

I agree, while I know people who travel that far, I'd have to ask why you'd want to? There are many places you should probably consider closer to Tampa that will mke your life much, much easier.

[got salt]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Why would you want to go south of Tampa so far? Gas is pretty expensive right now.

If you're looking to be close to the interstate you might want to try Lakewood Ranch.

Lakewood HS looks like a highly rated school so that would be an area of interest. Are you saying the commute is too long to Tampa from Lakewood? The reason we are looking south is that all of our family is in south Fl and we were trying to make the ride to them a bit shorter. Any other suggestions?
I really appreciate your response. Thanks

[got salt]

Originally Posted by bbronston

I agree, while I know people who travel that far, I'd have to ask why you'd want to? There are many places you should probably consider closer to Tampa that will mke your life much, much easier.

The reason we are looking south is that all of our family is in south Fl and we were trying to make the ride to them a bit shorter. Do you have any suggestions on areas? We need to be in a really good HS district for our 2 children.
I really appreciate your response. Thanks

[bbronston]

I agree that LWRHS is a good school and I certainly don't want to talk you out of buying in LWR. I suppose it depends on where you will be working in Tampa. My sister lives here (in River Club) and drove for a long time to USF regularly but I think the drive got a bit old. I used to drive to central St. Pete for work. That wasn't too bad, I suppose. I guess my thinking runs along these lines: you can drive an hour (or more) each way five times a week but have a shorter drive to your family on the occasions that you visit, or you can live much closer to work (i.e. 10-20 minutes) and drive a longer way to your family on the occasions that you go to visit.
When I moved down to Florida, I had parents in Sarasota and Cape Coral but work in St. Pete. We opted for Bradenton so we could be in the middle, so to speak. We love living here but, in retrospect, living closer to work would have permitted me to both spend more time investing in my business AND spending more time participating with my family. It wasn't a huge deal but it was enough to make me aware that there was a better way to do things. Your situation might be different, though.

[got salt]

Can you or anyone suggest an area where the HS is really good. It's the most important buying point to us. If we have to go further North we will. I agree that a closer commute every day is more important than being closer to family for the once in a while visits. All advise is welcome as we have very little knowledge of the area. Thanks

[bbronston]

got salt, start with this website: School Accountability Report and check the high school grades. Tampa is Hillsborough County.

[SoFLGal]

Bbronston is right on with what he has said so far. In addition, I would check out www.greatschools.com for opinions on each of the schools.