South Tampa Peninsula - Where to live? (Brandon, Sarasota: 2015, renting)

[SunSeekerKim]

My husband and I are looking to move to the Tampa Bay area from DC by mid 2015. I'm in my late 20s and my husband is in his early 30s and we plan to start a family also within the next few years. The house we buy now will be our permanent home ideally for the next 7-10 years and where we will begin our family (so school districts are important).

We looked around and think the South Tampa Peninsula might be best to narrow down our search. My family lives in Sarasota and we want to be nearby but we felt that Sarasota was a bit too "old" and "slow" for us. Another factor we want to consider is diversity. We are an interracial couple (I'm white but my husband is Korean) and many of the areas we looked in (Sarasota and even Valrico) were 96% white. We'd like something with a little more diversity (we realize FL just isn't very diverse at all - Oddly enough, Hillsborough county had one of the highest Asian populations at ~4%) and feel Tampa would be our best bet. They have Korean restaurants, at least! Haha.

Both the Robinson HS / Plant HS school districts seem great (another factor in how we narrowed it down to the South Tampa peninsula) but we don't really know where to start, especially since we don't currently live in the area. We're not big partiers or bar-goers, as we hear the "SoHo" area is. Ideally, we'd be in an area with other professionals in their 30s/40s that are single or have families. We want to be close to a grocery store. We'd also want to stay under 400k for our budget and are okay with townhomes or condos (especially since we tend to like newer homes/appliances). We'd consider renting if we had to wait out the market (we hear the competition is fierce for the South Tampa area?) or if we needed more of a budget but we'd prefer to buy right away.

Any help anyone can give us would be great. Thank you in advance!

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by SunSeekerKim

My husband and I are looking to move to the Tampa Bay area from DC by mid 2015. I'm in my late 20s and my husband is in his early 30s and we plan to start a family also within the next few years. The house we buy now will be our permanent home ideally for the next 7-10 years and where we will begin our family (so school districts are important).

We looked around and think the South Tampa Peninsula might be best to narrow down our search. My family lives in Sarasota and we want to be nearby but we felt that Sarasota was a bit too "old" and "slow" for us. Another factor we want to consider is diversity. We are an interracial couple (I'm white but my husband is Korean) and many of the areas we looked in (Sarasota and even Valrico) were 96% white. We'd like something with a little more diversity (we realize FL just isn't very diverse at all - Oddly enough, Hillsborough county had one of the highest Asian populations at ~4%) and feel Tampa would be our best bet. They have Korean restaurants, at least! Haha.

Both the Robinson HS / Plant HS school districts seem great (another factor in how we narrowed it down to the South Tampa peninsula) but we don't really know where to start, especially since we don't currently live in the area. We're not big partiers or bar-goers, as we hear the "SoHo" area is. Ideally, we'd be in an area with other professionals in their 30s/40s that are single or have families. We want to be close to a grocery store. We'd also want to stay under 400k for our budget and are okay with townhomes or condos (especially since we tend to like newer homes/appliances). We'd consider renting if we had to wait out the market (we hear the competition is fierce for the South Tampa area?) or if we needed more of a budget but we'd prefer to buy right away.

Any help anyone can give us would be great. Thank you in advance!

Zip code 33629 would be a good start. Prices are settling
Down I seen houses stay in the market a bit longer, I would zero on the Plant high school boundaries, all those neighborhoods are pretty good, price is going to dictate your choices.

[simphony]

Hi I live in Fairfax, VA and own a home in south Tampa. I am also Asian. In South Tampa we own a home in Virginia Park/Palma Ceia West area of South Tampa (33629 zip) and are in Plant and Coleman Middle schools district. The schools are not as good as Fairfax but Plant is very good relative to the state. Living in South Tampa is very costly if you are in mandatory flood zone which is most of South Tampa. Hurricane and sink hole insurance is a must. Although there are not Korean people there in South Tampa the restaurants are much better than Fairfax! I really miss the food in Tampa compared to Fairfax. I don't recommend moving there to work unless you relate to what is available. There are way more jobs in NoVA than Tampa. I got to admit though that I loved South Tampa area better than Fairfax due to drive ability. Everything is within two miles and once you live in South Tampa you never want to live anywhere else in Tampa. It costs about $100K more for a really old home in South Tampa than Tampa proper but people are willing to downsize to be in town. If you want a new home then you will need to move out of town. For our child he participated in the Pirate parade held in February on Old Bayshore every year and could swim year round. He loved in and so did we which is why we never sold our house hoping one day to return. Good luck to you.

[simphony]

Sorry I just read your budget. $400k won't get you square footage in South Tampa. I think your best bet for that budget and family oriented place is also Westchase community with golf course. Westchase and Waterchase were my second choice however commuting wasn't in our blood. Most of my colleagues also lived in Brandon due to affordability. It is very family oriented in those two places. The only thing with the downturn of the Tampa market South Tampa came back first. Location location location is South Tampa but it comes at a price

[DUNNDFRNT]

I don't think the op mentioned square footage, under 400k for a townhouse is very doable, also for a 3/2 house or a very nice remodeled 2/2. You ain't get a 3000sqft mcmansion those are start at 750k