Any advice for retiree couple moving to St Pete ? (Tampa: 2014, rentals)

[St_Pete_New_Retirees]

We have family and friends all over Pinellas county - from St Pete to Clearwater to Dunedin and Tarpon Springs. We have visited the past 6 or so years - including summers ... We like St Pete and plan on relocating there in Spring 2016. We are looking to find a house north of Central to about 22 Avenue North and between 34 and 59 streets. I am partial to the Harshaw Lake and Disston Hts areas.

Any advice on this:

Not sure if we should try to find a move in ready house or fixer upper. Many ( any ) fixer uppers left ? Not sure how to go about finding a reliable contractor if we go the fixer upper route. Is Angie's List useful for this ? We are looking for a 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom home with a yard for a garden. The house around 1400 to 1500 square feet. Our budget is somewhat flexible as long as we get what we want. We read that housing inventory is low right now in Pinellas.

[dothetwist]

I don't find Angie's List as helpful as it used to be (same is true for TripAdvisor)....too many businesses solicit to get positive ratings, so overall the ratings aren't as accurate as they once were IMO.

Yes, inventory is low in many parts of Pinellas. For that size home (small), the season to sell and list them are in winter for retirees like yourself (larger homes suitable for families sell better in summer so kids can start new schools in fall).

Fixxer upper v. move-in ready....that's such a personal choice. We've done our share of remodeling and major improving in the past, and decided we didn't want the hassle again. But it took us over a year to find our dream house in Gulfport, including renting here for 3 months in the winter of 2014. In a tight market you need to be in the area to jump on a house; several here have gotten multiple contracts recently.

[alaskan adventurer]

just look around, we were willing to buy total shacks that needed everything, but then a move in ready fell in our lap, its a winter home for us on Big Bayou, "The HOOD" is all around us but it is more about boating on Tampa Bay and being 5 min from downtown via streets or 15min by boat

[St_Pete_New_Retirees]

Thanks DotheTwist and Alaskan Adventurer. Good info to hear that winter might be a good time to shop for the size house we want. We will sell our home here at end of year and be in St Pete some time mid winter. Yes, we plan on renting short term til we find the house we want. If that's a fixer upper, then we may need to move around some in short term rentals. We will be buying with cash so I hope that helps. I'm not so keen on "total shacks", not so interested in a knock down. But if the price is right and we find a good contractor we are prepared to do some gutsy rehab work. It all depends ... OK thanks !

[dothetwist]

You should line up winter rentals now if you want a decent one. Many are rented a year in advance (houses, on VRBO). We came out two winters in a row, in 2013 we came to explore a few small cities and decided on Gulfport, but we rented homes in the exact neighborhoods in all 3 cities, to really get a feel for the areas. We returned in 2014 and planned to stay 2 months....but no suitable house for us came on the market in those two months, so we had to extend until we found one. It was not easy finding a house rental in Gulfport at the last minute in March! We had to hopscotch between a few rentals, B&B's, to make it work.

Try VRBO and see what's available in the areas you want to live and line up rentals NOW for this coming winter. All our friends here with rentals say they are either fully booked or nearly fully booked for this coming season.

[VanHalen5150]

Avoid the south side... which is pretty much everything south of 2nd ave South