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Hi! We are moving to the Saint Petersburg area from Winston-Salem, NC. My husband could relocate anywhere in the state for his job, but my transfer would be to St. Pete. We have flexible job situations and are not too worried about commuting at this time.
We hope things fall into place so we can buy and settle in immediately, rather than rent. We have six pets and a three-year old, so the less we move the better. We are looking in the range of 200-250k, 3-4 bedrooms, single family.
We love older homes in the city, where we can walk our dogs, be close to parks, restaurants etc. I have been hearing a lot about Old NE and Kenwood (though perhaps we would have some trouble in Old NE with our price range? We could get a home that needs a little cosmetic work, but still needs to be habitable so we can move right in).
My daughter will start at a private preschool, but we are concerned with having good public schools in the long run. It has been my experience in other cities that the great old downtown neighborhoods may not always have great schools. I was hoping to get some advice on this issue; great neighborhood vs. great schools, can they co-exist?
Since we are making this huge change in our lives anyway, we might be willing to leave or comfort zone of vintage homes, but still prefer not to be in a cookie cutter subdivision . . . Thanks for any information!
As St Pete is a street numbered city its easy to figure out where an address is as Streets run North /South,Avenues East/West,Everything with a north designation is north of Central
ave and obviously everything with a south designation is south, the actual house number gives another clue as to location eg;as the first 1 or 2 numbers will designate the cross street,
so an address of 2011 17th st. N will be on 17st north of Central in the block between 20th ave and 21st ave.
If I were you I would not limit the choice to old NE or Kenwood. I know others will disagree with me, but my opinion is that Kenwood is still too "up-and-coming" and is not completely safe. Google Kenwood crime and you will see what I mean. Old NE is very nice, but very pricey. There are beautiful neighborhoods all over St. Pete, one that I like is to the south on the water called Pinellas Point. The problem with some of the downtown neighborhoods other than old NE is that they just border sketchy areas.
I don't live in St. Pete nor do I have kids, but everyone who does says overall St. Pete schools are not good, so you may have to go private, therefore it wouldn't matter that much what area of town you live. I don't think you will have to worry too much about "cookie-cutter" because Pinellas County was built out a long time ago.
Old northeast is nice, but as with everywhere in Florida. Your never more than a mile or so from trailer parks or the hood.
You should rent for a while so you can get to know the area and make a more informed choice about where you want to live and ultimately purchase a home.
Yes, we are thinking of broadening our horizons in terms of our favorite kind of house with this move, and will definitely consider areas other than Old NE or Kenwood. I appreciate any advice on other neighborhoods, especially where schools might be better. We will check out Pinellas Point (which a realtor also mentioned).
We do hope to continue private school, but we would really like to have the option of decent public schools if we ever need that change.
Also still considering rental, we will see how it looks after we make a few trips to the area first!
You should rent for a while so you can get to know the area and make a more informed choice about where you want to live and ultimately purchase a home.
I don't know if renting is even an option with 6 pets.
Just happened on this thread after looking at condos for sale on the web.
Saw a listing for condos called 'Sienna Downtown'. Have seen them when I have been in St. Pete before and always liked the looks of them---an old 1950s style concrete building that have been stylishly renovated as apartments. Anyway, they are selling at fairly low prices (although may be small square footage).
Do feel like they might be bordering a sketchy area but not sure since I don't live in St. Pete.
They are at 220 6th Avenue North.
Anyone know about that area and if it is safe or not so safe?
Very nice area,very safe, close to downtown and waterfront..
At least thats my opinion, i do hope you'll check out any prospective areas before you unload the wagons..
Last edited by jambo101; 08-22-2011 at 01:28 PM..
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areas near downtown?
