Safe Towns Near Bay Pines, FL? (Largo, Palm Harbor: insurance, homes, school district)

[knicksin8]

What are some safe residential areas for young families with decent schools that are commutable to Bay Pines, FL?

[lavender]

Fifteen Minutes drive to Bay Pines can take you to Seminole and unincorporated Largo (which is like Seminole) and the beaches of Indian Rocks/Indian Shores - these are all in the Seminole School district. They are very safe locations (crimewise) and apart from the beaches, most of the rest of Sem/Largo (in sem school zone) are not in flood zones, but some are, so be aware of that. Therefore your insurance is somewhat less. A decent 3/2/2 with a pool in Seminole is now running mid $250s up. They have been steadily creeping up since late last year - anything really nice is selling at almost or slightly over asking price in many cases, due to lack of really good homes on the market (ie updated as many are 70s built). But if you are planning to stay and dont mind doing upgrades over a few years then you can find a home for around $200K but be prepared for new roof/ac/work on pool etc. If you dont care about a pool then maybe even $180K ish.

Schools - Bauder and Oakhurst are great state elementary schools. Seminole Middle has a good program for advance students, IMAST science and MEGSS math which are excellent if children want to progress to some of the high school magnets like CAT or IB or similar. There are 3 IB magnets now in Pinellas, one at Palm Harbor - but often very oversubscribed as is the regular school, St PEte HIgh, original IB in Florida and very good program (spoken from experience) and Largo High, which has been maligned as the school is not favoured with many, but is showing good results for the school overall in ratings I believe. Seminole High is an decent high school, has slipped of late with some results, but overall a good school and many kids from there have done well that I know of - there are good AP classes and an education magnet I believe. Excellent sports programs - baseball, soccer, cross country are well regarded with state titles and baseball even had a national. Bit of a sad football team though and a pretty amazing band program, featured in several Macys/rosebowl and other parades.
Seminole is a pretty middle class/working class environment, friendly, safe, close to beaches, lots of subdivisions with sidewalks, trees and parks. Pinellas Trail bike/run/walk trail runs through the center and actually close to Bay Pines, if you want to bike it to work. Shops aplenty, dining not bad choices for Florida which tends to be a lot of chain places, but some nice individual ones too to discover.

Hope this helps.

[knicksin8]

Hi Lavender,

Thank you for your helpful reply.

[lavender]

You are most welcome, let me know if I can help further

[stpeteguy]

Originally Posted by knicksin8

What are some safe residential areas for young families with decent schools that are commutable to Bay Pines, FL?

Lealman and Kenneth City.