Best city to live in Near tampa for Family? (St. Petersburg: 2015, renters)

[Bgotti]

I have lived off and on in the Tampa area for about 8 yrs. now and believe me it has changed. The debate is whether the change has been for the better or worse, but irregardless there are desired places to live and less than desirable areas as well. I agree w/ nickbosy as far as South Tampa being superior so to speak and that anywhere near USF should be avoided if possible. I've lived in several cities since I moved down here from Suburban Detroit area. Believe me, there are some noticeable differences. for example, the Michigan school system is far more superior than Florida. This is mainly due to large teacher's Union's up North and blah blah blah. However, if you're like my wife and I and you love the beach, climate and overall atmosphere then you'll understand why we chose Florida as our primary residency. Whenever you move to another city or state though, there are going to be pros and cons to making that decision. With that being said, since I moved to the Tampa area, I lived in Town and Country (not a fan), Citrus Park (congested, but nice), Largo (congested and not so nice) and currently Apollo Beach (Very desirable). Overall, cities in Tampa Bay area that I'd recommend that are family friendly are: Apollo Beach (very good), Riverview (good), Valrico (decent), Safety Harbor (superior), Palm Harbor (great) and South Tampa - Bayshore & Hyde Park (Best). Of cities to avoid I'd recommend to stay out of South St. Pete area as well and I am not a big fan of Pinellas Park nor Largo for that matter.

[Spooky08]

Originally Posted by mquintana

Stay away from Seffner/Mango. That would be a huge mistake to move to.

I would suggest Brandon (on the side of Causeway but not closer to 60), Valrico, and Riverview. I actually prefer Riverview the best. These places have good schools and lots of families around the area with a lot of sports and activities for the kids to get involved in.

I am actually moving back to New Tampa in June 2011 (next month). The one thing I would suggest to all PARENTS is that they check for sex offenders before buying or renting a house any where in Florida! You will find great deals on homes to purchase or to rent, only to realize that great deal is because you are living next door to a sex offender. I found so many houses that I loved, but a sex offender lived nearby. Now with that said, Florida is not real good at letting the public know what they of sex offenders are in the area. For example, we lived in a neighborhood in Orlando that had two sex offenders and there was a major difference. One, was 60 and had sexually abused a child under the age of 13 and the other one was 21 at the time dating a 17 year-old. I am in no way condoning that a 21 year-old date a 17-year-old, but he certainly wasn't a pedophile looking for small children.
Look for neighborhoods very close to schools or a neighborhood with a school in it to help keep sex offenders out of your neighborhood. They are not allowed to live within 1000 feet of a school. I believe that the law change in 2001.

[Spooky08]

Okay, so I lived in New Tampa almost seven years...fast forward, I moved back. It looks pretty much the same, but it has a lot more things to offer especially down in Wesley Chapel with the new Wiregrass Mall.

We lived in Orlando for a while (which I loved!) and we lived in NC for a while and when we had an opportunity to move back to Tampa, we chose New Tampa again. So far so good.

We are only renting this time around cause we are in the process of selling our house back in Carolina. We are probably going to stay in New Tampa because he has every ammenity beside the beach you could want. Tons of restaurants, movie theatre, parks, library, shopping and things to do.

The downside about New Tampa is that it is an hour to the beaches no matter how you cut it. Although, I don't mind driving a hour to the beaches or even the amusement parks. It is great living in a place that you can literally be at some of the top vacation destinations in less than an hour. I got so spoiled living here and in Orlando, that when I lived in NC it felt like we were so far from any great vacation places.

[alphacoyle]

Originally Posted by Pharmdee077

Well, here I am two years later. I ended up moving to valrico. This whole area is terrible. Anyone who is considering moving down here, don't do it. This place is a cesspool. Don't be fooled that this place is somehow a tropical paradise or something, because that's a terrible fallacy. This place is a huge swamp. The area is highly overpopulated, terribly uncomfortable, etc, etc, etc. The schools are horrible, and the school grading guides are useless here. My daughters school, according to the school guides, received an A, but compared to her old school in Michigan, it's easily an F. The weather is generally uncomfortable, don't subscribe to any misnomers that florida somehow has great weather all the time, it's totally untrue.

The Tampa area is complete trash. The people, the buildings, the businesses, EVERYTHING! The main roads are lined with strip clubs, just to give you an idea about the kind of scum resinates down here. I'm not talking about one or two clubs, I'm talking about lined up and down the roads, like it's some kind of stripper capitol of the world, but after seeing what the people down here look like, I can't imagine that there would be anything attractive to look at inside the clubs.

One of the main roads, Highway 60, that runs through Tampa, brandon, valrico, etc; is lined with building and businesses, but many are run down and trashy. This also must be the Pawn shop capitol of the world, because I have never seen an area with so many pawn shops. There are no beautiful areas to look at, like in other states. Everything is either too populated or a swamp. When you have the mixture of Strip clubs, pawn shops, and overpopulation, you get a pretty distasteful area to live in. Sure, there are a few nice sub divisions, but the sub divisions are still surrounded by the awful areas. You want to go to the post office, grocery store, clothes shopping? All in trashy, overpopulated areas. There's no escaping it. If my spouse wasn't bound here by their employer, we would be gone.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions. I have been here for two years now and am from Michigan. I can tell you exactly what this place is like. A bit of quick advice: if you're contemplating moving down here, don't. Find a way to stay where you're.

Hey, I'd love to own a house in Valrico, I think it's nice.

[lifesabeach123]

I totally agree with you 100%. Im in the same boat as you, and you're right. This is not a nice place to live....I don't have children but personally feel scared for my own safety day to day. I will hold off on any children until I move somewhere nice in this country. Like you, I'm somewhat stuck....

[LargeKingCat]

We just bought and moved to Land Olakes (Pasco county) new development and lots of kids, families, believe me they are congregating at our house on the weekends already.

[shunshine]

Originally Posted by LGaudette

I relocated here from NH in 2004 with my husband and three children. I, personally, highly recommend the New Tampa area. All of our elementary and middle schools have an A rating under the Florida's state scoring system. The area is extremely family oriented. The schools have very strong PTA's, sports and extra curricular activities are abundant, and it is a VERY low crime area. Yes, some will say our property prices are high, but it is relative to where you are moving from. I found the housing prices to be less then in NH and I know it is definitely less then the NY/NJ areas. New Tampa is located in Hillsborough County. In Hillsborough County, you can still find several home owner's insurance choices vs. Pasco County which only has policies written by the state run Citizens insurance program. New Tampa's zip code is 33647 if you are searching online for homes. It is basically a "suburb" of the city (Tampa zipcode) in the Northeast area of Tampa.
Good luck!

I am a Mom of 4 children (15, 13, 11, 9) and am going through a separation with my husband and am looking to move to Fl in or around August of this year (2013.) The factors that will determine my move are, of course, affordability, safety, and school system. We currently also live in NH (nice place to raise younglings, but once they get older, I am afraid it gets very boring here for them.) There is not much work here for me (due to our location in NH) and could get more work by moving to a different area in NH, but again, there is really nothing holding us here. We have visited FL and absolutely LOVE IT! I would like to know what areas you could recommend besides the 33647 zip code? I just want to get a few options to research before I make a decision. My children also have an agent for acting/modeling which they only do for a hobby, so it would be helpful if we could move to an area where there is some auditions/work for kids as well (although, not a priority.) Thank you in advance for any suggestions that you may have.

[Sammaxlydia]

We are relocating from NYC and would like to live in a highrise in downtown Tampa. We have one child who will start high School and two children who will be in the 5th grade. We are city people so crowds and traffic do not bother us. We would like to be safe and we are looking for descent public school. Preference would be Highrise with plenty of ammenities. Thank you in advance for any advice.

[alphacoyle]

Originally Posted by alphacoyle

Hey, I'd love to own a house in Valrico, I think it's nice.

Now after a few years I have to agree, this area is a cesspool, higher than average stripper style tattoos probably because of all the strip clubs, kfed style drug runner guys, dull witted people, lots of drugs, excessive race mixing, and now it's being filled with minorites, and not the nice ones, ghetto types and lots of trash all over the ground. It seems nice until you live here and start seeing what's here, and it's gotten a whole lot worse over the past few years.

[ghser7]

A lot of great info here!

My wife and I are originally from Coral Springs, FL(Fort Lauderdale area), both of our parents still live there as well. We moved out to the Dallas area 3 years ago for work. Fast forward 3 yrs later, we now have a 18month old daughter and another child on the way. My wife really misses the beach and family. I also do have a sister in Clermont that my parents visit all of the time, they plan on moving to central Florida once they retire(2-4yrs).

With that being said, we are looking into the North Tampa area:
Westchase
Palm Harbor
East Lake
open to other areas that are a nice area for a young family and that we can get into a house around $200-$250(3-4 bd/2-3 bth). Looking for a longterm house, lost a ton of money in the housing flop 4-5 yrs ago.