Looking to buy a home in Tampa Bay.... Should I ignore St Pete, Largo? (Clearwater: lease)

[ShakyJ]

We moved down from New England over a year ago to Palm Harbor, east lake area. We like it down here and want to buy a home summer 2012 when our condo lease is up.

We have been looking at Palm harbor mostly. Reason is we have 2 elementary school kids and we are thrilled with the school systems. We have also checked out Safety Harbor, Dundedin too.

We have flat out always avoided largo and st pete. Mostly because when we drive down the main roads ( 19 etc) we just see run down property, or at least more so that in Palm Harbor. Crime seems to circle around these areas too per channel 9 news.

But I am saying to myself, there has to be good parts in these areas. Housing prices seem to be a better deal. I get excited when I see a decent waterfront home for 200k, what we want and in our price range. You cant really get that up here in Palm harbor for that price..

Where are the good areas of largo & st pete? Specifically I mean safe, clean, good schools, strong middle class?

[tr3k]

I moved to Largo over a year ago from New England. I remember I arrived at about 2am and I was driving around looking for a motel, found one and I was making small talk with the clerk and I said something like "this place is nice"...he says "yeah, they don't call it Larghetto for nothing". Ok. But it does get better more towards the Gulf.

My Nanna has lived in Clearwater for 5 years now and she has always told me anything south of Clearwater is bad.

I've seen 3 or 4 bed 2 bath homes, garage, w/ a pool (of course) less than 3 miles from the Dunedin Causeway between 150K-200K. Makes for a nice bike ride at sunset. or get a golf cart, but now in Dunedin you have to make the golfcart "street legal" with lights and blinkers, the works, and insure it.

I am not familiar with St Pete at all. There are over 100 neighborhoods. Some guys I work with are St Pete natives and they try to explain to me not to go to far into certain areas, like, there's cut-off points between the good, the bad, and the ugly. just my $.02 Do your homework Goodluck

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by ShakyJ

We have flat out always avoided largo and st pete. Mostly because when we drive down the main roads ( 19 etc) we just see run down property, or at least more so that in Palm Harbor. Crime seems to circle around these areas too per channel 9 news.

Judging the area by what you see on a drive down 34th St. is not seeing St Pete's better side, next time try driving down 4th,9th,49th or 66th st's.
Although 34th st. used to be a vibrant street its become rundown over the years and doesnt lend itself to a quality side of town. the other streets i mentioned although rather busy do lead to better communities just off the main drag..

[rnedd]

I think the real key for you is the school systems and it is tough to beat Palm Harbor for that, especially when your kids get to the high school level. There are some nicer areas of Largo with decent schools (I just visited a client yesterday who bought a house in one) where you could probably get a house like what you were mentioning (but not on the water). The difficulty in St. Pete is that the areas with good schools and the areas with great houses at a good price aren't the same so you'd be sacrificing one of the other.

I would say you would be better off getting a decent home with a pool (probably without waterfront) in Palm Harbor even thought it will probably need some updating and may not be quite as nice as you want but still in the 200K range since your family's safety and your children's education will be more important in the long run.

Sincerely,
Ron

[Sunscape]

It is my opinion that you can't discard any of those areas at all. There are nice areas in both areas. I have seen them and have friends who live in both areas. You can not say an area is represented by what you see driving by on such and such st. There is certainly more to an area than what you may see driving by.

[gypsychic]

I agree you can't judge by driving down run-down streets here and there, but the fact is St. Pete neighborhoods are "patchy" especially in certain areas, but the main thing for you is that the schools won't be the best there. I personally love St. Pete, but I don't have kids and I don't mind "character" in neighborhoods.

I think you are on target to stay in Palm Harbor, or as you are planning to do check out Dunedin or Safety Harbor. Palm Harbor probably has the best schools and is all very safe as far as I know.

[LoganFL]

St. Pete has plenty to offer. At the very least you should check out the Old Northeast neighborhood. It is not crime ridden and ranges from decent to quite affluent. Lots of families with kids live there and seem to like it.