Looking to relocate to Gulfport, FL Oct 2014 (insurance, crime rate)

[gulfporter]

There are exactly 15 homes for sale in Historic Gulfport as of right now. To find homes for sale in Historic Gulfport, go to this site, Gulfport Homes for Sale *|* MLS homes *|* Pinellas County, Florida

On that page, cursor down to below the map and you will see a list of all Gulfport neighborhoods....here's the list (shown below). Click on "Historic Guflport" and it will take you to a map and list of houses for sale in that neighborhood.

As I said, right now, 15 houses for sale.

Or you can go directly to the page of homes in Historic Gulfport by clicking here:
www.pinellashomesforsale-florida.com/gulfport/historic-gulfport.html

Gulfport Neighborhoods

Bay View
Baywood
Boca Ciega
Boca Ciega Estates
Central Gulfport
Clam Bayou
HISTORIC GULFPORT
Kipps Colony
Pasadena Estates
Pasadena Y.C.C.
Skimmer Point
Town Shores

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

I see differing opinions and descriptions here regarding Gulfport. My take is that jennakafiona should spend a week in the area to determine how well it suits here needs. She could also come over to Apollo Beach and decide how that area fits.

It's always a challenge to decide without having been there yourself. There are so many communities that are pretty.

[gulfporter]

I agree 100%.....research, look, look again!

We had lived in Northern Virginia suburbs for 30 years during our career phase and came to hate having to drive everywhere. Upon retirement at age 50, we bought homes in small artsy towns/villages, one in AZ and one in Mexico. We were so happy to walk everywhere in both locations!

And that's the way we want to live; it's crucial to our desired lifestyle: walking to restaurants, walking to the beach, walking to shops, the library, post office, art shows, local events, parks,, etc.

Eldercare issues began to take over much of our time in 2012 and traveling from AZ and MX to DC-Metro became a monthly grind. We realized we needed to relocate to the East Coast near a major airport with multiple daily non-stops to DCA. Research focused us on the Tampa area; further research found a few small interesting towns within a 30 minute drive of TPA.

So, we rented 3 houses in succession in early 2013, one each in Gulfport, Dunedin and Safety Harbor. We realized Guflport was best suited for us because we found it a little more funky, colorful, had easiest water access (walking) and with a better restaurant scene than the other two. YMMV.

In 2014, we lined up 2 houses to rent from Jan. thru March; one in Dunedin (just to make sure we didn't want to put Dunedin back in the mix) and the other in Gulfport (to make sure Gulfport was IT).

We bought our Gulfport cream puff in March 2014. We couldn't be happier with our choice.

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

Originally Posted by gulfporter

I agree 100%.....research, look, look again!

We had lived in Northern Virginia suburbs for 30 years during our career phase and came to hate having to drive everywhere. Upon retirement at age 50, we bought homes in small artsy towns/villages, one in AZ and one in Mexico. We were so happy to walk everywhere in both locations!

And that's the way we want to live; it's crucial to our desired lifestyle: walking to restaurants, walking to the beach, walking to shops, the library, post office, art shows, local events, parks,, etc.

Eldercare issues began to take over much of our time in 2012 and traveling from AZ and MX to DC-Metro became a monthly grind. We realized we needed to relocate to the East Coast near a major airport with multiple daily non-stops to DCA. Research focused us on the Tampa area; further research found a few small interesting towns within a 30 minute drive of TPA.

So, we rented 3 houses in succession in early 2013, one each in Gulfport, Dunedin and Safety Harbor. We realized Guflport was best suited for us because we found it a little more funky, colorful, had easiest water access (walking) and with a better restaurant scene than the other two. YMMV.

In 2014, we lined up 2 houses to rent from Jan. thru March; one in Dunedin (just to make sure we didn't want to put Dunedin back in the mix) and the other in Gulfport (to make sure Gulfport was IT).

We bought our Gulfport cream puff in March 2014. We couldn't be happier with our choice.

Question for you - a friend is looking for a two month rental early next year and wants a house near or on a waterway and near of on a golf course. Any suggestions?

[gulfporter]

VRBO.com is the best venue for short-term vacation rentals, IMO.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Originally Posted by gulfporter

There are exactly 15 homes for sale in Historic Gulfport as of right now. To find homes for sale in Historic Gulfport, go to this site, Gulfport Homes for Sale *|* MLS homes *|* Pinellas County, Florida

Sorry but no.

Not dissing Gulfport which I think a cute area but in keeping it real, there's significantly more than 15 homes for sale even in just the area called Historic Gulfport.

I don't know what is showing the website you've referenced, possibly particular realtors' listings but not everyone's ?, I don't know, but if you look at realtor.com at the same boundaries you'll see greater numbers of homes for sale. I count, s of 22nd bet the marina at about 49th and 58th so about a 9 square block area about 50 currently for sale and (tough to count those little blue dots) about another 40 in that one area of town foreclosed or pre-foreclosed as shown on the Zillow map.

So not merely 15 for sale but 50 currently in that small area with possibly another 40 exhibiting financial difficulties, all within 9 square blocks. Whether or not that scares someone is to their own taste but it is by anyone undeniably significant.

As to the foreclosures. I don't know how many units total are in the historic district but all total within the town boundries, according to wiki, the town has 7,306 units and according to realty trac Gulfport has 446 in foreclosure so about 6% are in some level of financial distress.

Just as a matter of reference, realtytrac shows Temple Terrace with 154 foreclosures (down from 566 in 2010 as I reported in another thread) out of (never mind the additional renter units) more than 18,000 owner occupied housing units or 0.8% of just the owner occupied units. Less if including the rentals.

So that 6% Gulfport number looks relatively rather high.

To look at it another way, 446 Gulfport foreclosures (whether pending or ongoing) out of 7306 total units there is 1 out of every 16 Gulfport homes in financial distress. That's huge.

In comparison, and not that TT doesn't have it's own issues along with the rest of Florida, but there on owner homes it's 1 out of 116 possibly distressed or to include the rentals which are owned by someone it's 1 out of 180.

And here's for Florida as of July...

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/...ees-light.html
Across the state about 1 in every 74 houses is in a stage of foreclosure, the Tribune said. In Tampa Bay that rate is 1 in 71.

[gulfporter]

The Gulfport Marina is near 46th St. The Historic area ends at 49th St.

As far as Zillow: unless a listing agent or FSBO tells Zillow to remove a listing, it remains on Zillow for time immemorial. We bought an FSBO on Zillow in March. In JUNE, a friend told me my house was still listed on Zillow as being for sale, so I contacted Zillow and they closed the listing (after I proved I was the new owner).

I think this geographical MLS for Historic Gulfport is very accurate, other than FSBO's. Historic Gulfport Homes *|* Gulfport MLS *|* Pinellas County, Florida

Realty Trac lists what they call pre-foreclosures; it's a bunch of bunk. You have to pay to subscribe to them. I talked to an acquaintance who paid for it only to find out the 'pre' foreclosures are meaningless....it just meant that someone was behind (as few as 3 months) in their mortgage. They don't necessarily become foreclosures.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

I showed the very same boundaries on realtor.com as did your linked map show. I was very careful in doing that as is my nature. I didn't even go all the way over to the water but stopped at 58th right where your map shows the it's border inside which was counted your count. All I did was overlay the border of your map onto realtor.com's map.

I did not use Zillow for "for sale" info. just to count homes in that area under financial duress.

Having missed numerous mortgage payments is never a bunch of bunk. Of course preforeclosure is not foreclosure and certainly we've seen people live for free in their preforeclosed homes for years. But that doesn't indicate a healthy housing market nor does it mean that free ride winds up with a very happy ending.

And that the metrics are the same in different areas means that you can compare one area to the other using the same metrics whether you care to call it bunk or not. It is ridiculous to attempt dismissing objective information which is applied equally to different areas. You don't have to subscribe to get the general info, just the details if interested in trying to purchase a home under financial distress.

I did not go out to find bad information on Gulfport. As I said from the get go, I like the area. The bad info I found is simply the info there is to be found. I had no preconceptions of what I'd find there when I started looking. Sorry if it does not agree with how you like to think of your town. The current information presented is not indicative of whatever future might be in store for Gulfport. I hope its redevelopment succeeds. The info presented here could simply indicate a large amount of risk currently, or future opportunity.

Good luck.

[gulfporter]

The OP asked about homes FOR SALE. Pre-foreclosures are NOT for sale, and may never be for sale, so they are indeed a bunch of bunk.

If the OP asked about buying in Gulfport as an INVESTMENT, the info you offered may be of some use to them.

[Loretta M Castorini]

Originally Posted by jennakafiona

Hi guys,
I've been reading through the threads about Gulfport, Florida and I'm sorry if I am repeating previous questions asked. My boyfriend and I have been looking to relocate to Florida from PA for the last few years, we spent a lot of time in the Reddington Shores area but I couldn't pinpoint a place I wanted to stay. We discovered Gulfport on our last trip and are hooked. We both have good jobs although I will have to find a new one down there, he is Life Insurance/Investments and I'm a Physician Assistant. We have two small dogs and would really like to be in the Historic Area, which from what I'm reading is the safest area to live in. We are working with a Real Estate Agent and I'm watching listings fly off the screen at an unbelievable rate.

So some questions for you guys: I see lots of condos listed down on Shore Blvd which seems like a great location, but I know there are pet restrictions and am not really sure how the resale value would be if we would ever like to upgrade. I'm also concerned about the safety/noise of living in a condo as well.

I've noticed a lot of houses for sale around the "Clam Bayou" area but I'm not sure about going that far east (safety, distance from town etc).

I've been looking all over real estate websites and even looking at rentals but again, the two dogs, it's tough and it seems that anything below 25th is selling in a matter of days. Any advice on where NOT to be would be great, and if anyone knows of any other avenues to check out. I did look at the local paper online but couldn't find any classified real estate for sale.

Thanks for your help!!

Gulfport is a quirky kind of a neighborhood... with the blueberry patch farm house near by... its a nice place small cottage like houses and condos... but they restrict pets... house is a best place... houses are starting to go up there they used to be 40,000 now more like 100,000 and up.

do not buy in this area any area in the south side... of 1st ave north area.. certain spots in gulport are nice.. fix em upper... condo u get too many old people waiting to die.. ambulences...

why not safety harbor everyone has a dog there too.