Moving to Tampa (Brandon, Bradenton, Riverview: mortgage, foreclosure, hoa)

[innervine02]

Coming from Queens myself, I decided to live in Wesley Chapel, its GREAT you will be around many Northern babyb boomer, young corporate folks................. FL, 33543 or 33544, close to the major highways, schools are better than hillsborough and its safe. Oh the largest mall is being built mins away.

[TampaKaren]

Originally Posted by tonynorie

As I've read many posts by TampaKaren I'm left with the impression that she knows what she's talking about, and thoroughly knows the real estate market in the Tampa Bay area .

The homes she referenced are in communities outside of Tampa proper where the land values are lower, which in turn translates to lower prices (at least that's what I've always believed).

To buy a home in metro Tampa for 100k or less is a different story altogether.....I rarely see them listed. And when they are listed they are in less desirable areas. A buyer would have to factor in to his/her homeowner expenses a budget for defensive weapons -- personally I would opt for the commemorative edition Reginald Denny roof mounted turret Gatlin gun, replete with night vision scope.

Thank you tonynorie for your kind words. You are correct about the areas and price ranges. Since krenaud was looking for the Brandon/Ruskin area, that's why I responded about the Sun City homes. There were no houses in Brandon (but a few condos) in that price range and only 4 bungalows in Ruskin. There majority of the houses under $100K were in East Tampa and Plant City. If the poster doesn't mind a longer commute, there are additional homes to choose from in Bartow and Zephyrhills.

[krenaud]

"You can find a home in the $100,000 range. It is not going to be a brand new 3/2/2 but a just did a search and came up with over 50, 3 bedroom 2 bath homes for under $100,000 in my area. In fact I even came across a 3/2 pool home for under $85,000, of course it probably needs a good bit of repair but they are out there."

"what's the assessment on this great bargain? isn't that what our outrageous property taxes are based on? Or is it in East Tampa?"

Hi all, like Jessiesma posted what are the taxes? My taxes are high in NY already. That is why I'm moving in the first place. Are these houses in good neighborhoods, I have a 6yr that will be going to elementary school.

[krenaud]

Now that we have the prices down, what about neighborhoods and schools? can we anme some neighborhood or sub-divisions or areas that I can visit once I am down there? Thanks all, these were great info .

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by krenaud

" Are these houses in good neighborhoods, I have a 6yr that will be going to elementary school.

I will categorically state that there's not a house in my county (Pinellas) for $100K which is located anywhere I would raise a child. (And before Mike accuses me of snobbery, I don't exactly live in Belleair Beach, or even Lansbrook.)
As for schools...if you can figure out what Pinellas County is doing with the school system next year you'll be the first. I don't think even the board knows. It's school choice, but it isn't, but they're closing some schools, but they're not, and oh-by-the-way we're putting those changes on hold and implementing new ones and...oy. Hillsborough may be saner. More rural areas...well, don't move here for the public school systems is all I'm saying. Thank God for Louisiana and Mississippi or we'd be dead last.

[Mike Peterson]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Yeah, you probably can-- as long as you don't mind having either meth labs or swampland (or both) for neighbors.

I totally understand the desire to paint Florida as one big It's A Small World. But in fairness, forums like this should present at least some form of reality. Yeah, you can get homes for $100k. No, not all of them are crack houses in East Tampa-- but a whole boatload of them are, and most of the rest are on .08 acres in Davenport or West Volusia, and need at least $50k in repair. If that doesn't bother somebody, then hey, cool, they're happy and their realtor gets a recommendation when the next guy from Long Island decides to flee the city. OTOH, if you convince them it's all sparkly unicorns and fluffy puppies here and they move to South St. Pete expecting the Hamptons...a whole buncha people are going to be pretty darned unhappy.
As for "eight homicides vs. 300"...how does that work out per capita? And what are the other stats-- not just crime, but infrastructure?

If you took the time to read the post I stated quite clearly that the home I mentioned needed work.
I also know the area and it is not anything like you suggest.

The 8 homicides versus 300 was 8 in 5 years against 300 for one year.
Even with the large population difference, which is around 180,000 to 2,000,000 that is around 20 times the homicides.

As far as infrastructure, are you refering to utilities and roads? I don't know how you would figure stats for infrastructure.

[Mike Peterson]

Originally Posted by Aconite

I will categorically state that there's not a house in my county (Pinellas) for $100K which is located anywhere I would raise a child. (And before Mike accuses me of snobbery, I don't exactly live in Belleair Beach, or even Lansbrook.)
As for schools...if you can figure out what Pinellas County is doing with the school system next year you'll be the first. I don't think even the board knows. It's school choice, but it isn't, but they're closing some schools, but they're not, and oh-by-the-way we're putting those changes on hold and implementing new ones and...oy. Hillsborough may be saner. More rural areas...well, don't move here for the public school systems is all I'm saying. Thank God for Louisiana and Mississippi or we'd be dead last.

The reason I moved out of Pinellas was I thought the homes were overpriced for what you were getting and the neighborhoods.
That was about 6 years ago.
The schools were also not that good.
As far as the more rural areas, they are not that far away and for the decrease in crime and better family atmosphere, to me it is worth it.
Of course in my line of work it is not that hard to move around and the work is always there for me. Others may have the hardship of having to commute for work.
You also may want to check your stats because the last I checked Florida was ranked 14th in the nation in Educational Accountability.

[Mike Peterson]

Originally Posted by krenaud

Now that we have the prices down, what about neighborhoods and schools? can we anme some neighborhood or sub-divisions or areas that I can visit once I am down there? Thanks all, these were great info .

Are you looking to be right around Tampa or are you open to the outlying areas?

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

You also may want to check your stats because the last I checked Florida was ranked 14th in the nation in Educational Accountability.

Which means...what? How do you, or your statisticians, define "educational accountability"? That we own up to the fact of the high school graduates who come out of our schools unable to spell or write a five-paragraph paper?

Don't get me wrong-- there are some great schools. Palm Harbor High has kids who routinely score in the top percentiles. (We could digress here into whether white upper-middle-class kids with a family educational background above the everage are programmed to score well no matter how crappy the schools are, but I'll refrain for the moment.) The kids in the CAT program are doing some amazing things. Some Gibbs-PCCA graduates are now working in their fields-- visual artists, dancers, musicians. But for the average kid from the average high school (or, heaven forfend, any kid who needs extra help)...not so much.
Not saying it's doom of biblical proportions here, Mike (or anyone else). It's just mostly mediocre, with spots of brilliance and other spots of "Dear-Gods--what-fresh-h***-is-this?". And frankly, most parents, given the option, want better than mediocre for their kids. I know that isn't how you sell the place, but I'm a firm believer in informed consumers.

[Mike Peterson]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Which means...what? How do you, or your statisticians, define "educational accountability"? That we own up to the fact of the high school graduates who come out of our schools unable to spell or write a five-paragraph paper?

Don't get me wrong-- there are some great schools. Palm Harbor High has kids who routinely score in the top percentiles. (We could digress here into whether white upper-middle-class kids with a family educational background above the everage are programmed to score well no matter how crappy the schools are, but I'll refrain for the moment.) The kids in the CAT program are doing some amazing things. Some Gibbs-PCCA graduates are now working in their fields-- visual artists, dancers, musicians. But for the average kid from the average high school (or, heaven forfend, any kid who needs extra help)...not so much.
Not saying it's doom of biblical proportions here, Mike (or anyone else). It's just mostly mediocre, with spots of brilliance and other spots of "Dear-Gods--what-fresh-h***-is-this?". And frankly, most parents, given the option, want better than mediocre for their kids. I know that isn't how you sell the place, but I'm a firm believer in informed consumers.

You posted first that we were almost last in education in Florida without backing it up with anything but when I give a ranking for Florida from a report that actually exists you ask me to define educational accountability?

The report was compiled by Editorial Projects in Education for Education Week magazine. I don't think they were biased towards any particular state and I think that they would use data that would give a true picture.

I think your original post is the one that we could use some clarification on.

Like, where did you even get the ranking from?