St Pete native wants to buy a home in Tampa Bay (Clearwater: Home Depot, neighborhood)

[bedofsloths]

Hi All,

My SO and I are looking at purchasing a home in the Tampa Bay area within a year or so. We are in our mid 20s and we both live and work in St Pete (I'm in north St Pete closer to clearwater, and he is downtown). We were initially looking in the Parrish area but I'm not sure how I feel about the commute, and concerns about said commute when the skyway is closed.

We make about 80k a year and looking to spend no more than 230, but would gladly take (and prefer) something in the mid to high 100s instead. I would prefer to live in a community of younger and progressive people or young families with close proximity to the essentials (Publix, Target, Home Depot) and restaurants/entertainment.

I've been looking east into Hillsborough i.e. Brandon, Temple Terrace, Town N Country, Land o Lakes, Lutz . Anyone have any ideas on where we should be looking? Schools are not a concern as we won't be having kids for at least 4-5 years. I'm more concerned with feeling safe and being a middle class neighborhood.

I've also looked into staying in St Pete, but a) I'm a bit bored of the scenery and b) I haven't found much that I liked.

Ideally:

New construction or updated 2+den/2/2 or 3/2/2 1200+ sqft, fenced in yard or at least the ability to be fenced in. Pool would be a plus, but not required by any means.

Thanks in advance!

[PhotoProIP]

Brandon, Temple Terrace, Town N Country, Land o Lakes, Lutz

That would give you a nasty commute too.

Why not look in Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater...the "scenery" doesn't get any better in the areas you mention. Actually it gets worst; Town and Country is gross, literally, have you been there yet? Temple Terrace borders more than one nasty area, Land O Lakes in the middle of nowhere, and the only new construction in Lutz is in Stonebriar...but it will give you a nasty commute down to Pinellas. Forget Brandon, its way too far east. I think you should really visit these areas you talk about.

You have to remember that a home won't be yours until do make it yours. If it has enough space you can remodel it the way you want it, and not the way some builder wanted it. New construction sucks. They use crappy materials that you will end up tearing apart anyway; what's the point? There are a lot of cool places around Pinellas, you just have to search deeper.