Wanted: Afforded Historical Home in a Safe Neighborhood (Tampa, St. Petersburg: fit in, real estate)

[halfahotdog]

We are looking for a renovated historical home in a safe neighborhood where we can walk our dogs without a hassle. We are in our 50's are worn out and want to keep the stress level as low as possible. We are looking to spend $150,000 or less.

We have looked through the posts and it is still not clear if Historic Kenwood and Old Seminole Heights are safe.

Do you have any other suggestions? We are open to other parts of Florida as well but not St Augustine as the prices are out of the ball park.

What are the monthly utilities for a 1300 sq foot house? Gas, electric, water and homeowners insurance, flood insurance, wind insurance and car insurance for a 2007 camry?

We have enjoyed all of your posts and are amazed at the amount of information you guys share with each other.

Peace out,
Hot Dog

[Loren.]

I've been spitting this answer out a lot since I signed up for this forum last week: Dunedin or Oldsmar.

Flood insurance (because it's right on the Gulf) will probably be higher in Dunedin. To find the "vintage" home that you seek in Oldsmar, you'll mostly need to look South of 580. Not sure how many of them are truly "Historic", but I'd bet a lot of them date back to the 30's to 50's. Either place would be a pretty mellow place to live and be able to walk the dogs and such in peace.

Most homes around here are all electric, no gas. Our house is almost 1300 SF, barely insulated, but with good insulated windows, AC on all the time (20-year-old inefficient AC) our bill is usually around $150-180. Water (including sewer and trash) is something like $60/mo. Insurance will all depend on the specific home and location, I've been looking at refinancing again, so I happen to know that taxes & insurance on my place are $282/mo. Car insurance isn't bad here if you have a good history. I have full coverage on 3 cars, they're running around $50/mo per car and I know people who pay quite a bit less.

You can easily get a house around here for $150k. I'll sell you mine! (we're thinking of moving to Hawaii, I'm serious!)

Wise to look at the flood maps and try to stay out of a flood zone. Can be a challenge in these parts, but my house is just barely out of the flood area with about 30' of elevation. That will save some insurance cost, as well as reducing the risk of flood damage. (insurance or not, who wants to deal with it?)

[Loren.]

Oh, include "Safety Harbor" in with Dunedin/Oldsmar. It's sort of located between Dunedin, Oldsmar, Clearwater and the Bay.

[Occifer]

Originally Posted by halfahotdog

We have looked through the posts and it is still not clear if Historic Kenwood and Old Seminole Heights are safe.

If you want to be in the Cities of St. Petersburg or Tampa, respectively, then those are going to be your only choices in that price range. Hyde Park and Old Northeast definitely have what you're looking for, however you aren't going to get a renovated house for $150K in either of those neighborhoods.

Are they safe? I guess that depends on what your definition of safe is. They do not have the lowest crime rates in either city, but they don't have the highest either. I'm not sure where you're coming from so I don't know what kind of a crime rate you're used to, but both Tampa and St. Petersburg are cities with crime above the national average. Crime in Tampa has gone down nearly 60% in the past eight years, but it's still higher than in a lot of places. You just have to look at the crime statistics for those areas and see if it's something that you can live with. I don't think by any means that moving into either of those areas automatically means you'll be a crime victim at some point, however it's also unrealistic to think it's safe enough not to have to lock your doors.

I also think that Dunedin or Safety Harbor would be good choices, however I'm not familiar with real estate prices in those areas so I don't know whether or not a house that meets your requirements would be in your price range.

[halfahotdog]

Thanks, you guys, you rock!

(We have moved around a lot, including Mexico, and have lived in different
crime levels, but we are in a sleepy little Tn town right now and have become very accustomed to "no problems" other than the "Yank" business
which has replaced the Gringo business. Can't we all just get along?)

Thanks a million,
Hot Dog

[niceguy19125]

Originally Posted by halfahotdog

We are looking for a renovated historical home in a safe neighborhood where we can walk our dogs without a hassle. We are in our 50's are worn out and want to keep the stress level as low as possible. We are looking to spend $150,000 or less.

Check out the older residential areas of Winter Haven. It has some beautiful early 1900s-1930s homes that would fit in your price range. It's halfway between Tampa and Orlando south of I-4.