Brandon / schools (Tampa, Bloomingdale, Valrico: rent, house prices, high school)

[kw75]

We might be moving to the Tampa area for my husband's job. He will work I downtown tampa. We have a 4 and 6 year old. Can you suggest areas / schools based on the below info please:

Schools- number one importance, good ranking and safe. Prefer smaller schools but that may not be a choice.
House prices- 225k (or will rent for first year)
My son is getting into wrestling and so we would like a strong wrestling school as he grows
Saftey- we like running and close proximity to beaches is possible
Commute- 30 mon or less

Finally- we are not stuck on Brandon- just heard it has good wrestling. we do
Love smaller towns/ larger yards but not sure if it is possible to have it all.

Thank you!

[MortonR]

Valrico, specifically Bloomingdale East.

Excellent schools, very accessible, wide range of home prices, less than 30 minutes to downtown via the Selmon express lanes, or catch a Hartline Express bus and let someone else do the driving.

I have to say that everyone coming to this area wants easy beach access. If you want beaches, you'll have to move to Pinellas County. Hillsborough County will be a minimum of 45 minutes to any decent beach. If you can live with longer travel time to the beach, you'll have a much wider range of homes and areas to choose from.

Brandon HS is the center of the universe as far as wrestling programs, but it's far from the best high school in the area. You'll have to determine what your priorities are in this regard. If it were me I would opt for better schools, since wrestling isn't going to pay their bills when they grow up. The surrounding schools all have good programs, and for the most part are much better academically.

RM

[kw75]

I understand about the beach distance- we are just used to destin, fl where access is super easy but then again that is way smaller than Tampa.


And yes, wrestling def comes last in our choices.

[Stasia Ann]

My husband went to Brandon High, Bloomingdale, and Armwood. Our daughter's went to Seffner, and Hugo Schmidt in Brandon. I agree with Valrico or Bloomingdale East like @MortonR suggested.

My question: Where are you moving from? There is a big culture shock for those never exposed to FL.