Moving from NJ to Tampa Florida in 1 year...where are some locations in or near Tampa for family? (Brandon: to rent, HOA fees)

[mhindesign]

Hello Everyone,

My first time on this forum and I am wondering where are some nice locations in Tampa Florida to relocate my family? We are moving in 1 year and trying to narrow down our search in or around Tampa, FL. Here is a little background on why we are moving and what we are looking for.

My wife and I have 2 young kids and lived most of our lives in Jersey City NJ (30 years) and moved to owned a home for about 3 years in Clifton NJ. I work as a graphic/web designer who works from home 80% of the week and my wife is an RN. We recently sold our Home in Clifton home due to High Property Taxes, General High Cost of living in NY/NJ area, and the dreaded Winter. We were getting by but just barely making it and decided we won't last much longer if we kept at this pattern .

Clifton is a great suburb/city but over time we will be flooded by the cost of Prop taxes around $9000 this year, Heating Bills ($400-$600) for about 5-7 months depending on winter for that year, PSEG bill ($150-$200 on non winter and $400-$600 during the 5-7 months of winter) car insurance ($350 per month), and on and on it goes. So you can quickly realize why Florida might provide better opportunity to live a better life.

So now we have narrowed it down to Tampa, FL. My wife can easily find work as an RN pretty much anywhere in Florida and it seems that there are more opportunities for Me as a Graphic/Web Designer in the Tampa/St Pete areas. We need to now narrow it down to 3 or 4 areas in or around Tampa FL (within 20-30 minutes). We don't want to be too close to the water though so something a bit more inland will work. I have a personal fear of Flooding so I try to stay away from direct big bodies of water. I've seen it first hand when Sandy hit NJ in 2012 and a lot of the areas I avoided in Jersey City ended up under water (Hoboken, 440 in Jersey City and many other areas near the Ocean) and we had no power for a little over a week.

Things we are looking for in our new neighborhood are good schools, decent amount of amenities around, lower crime if possible, and affordable homes. We're not looking to buy anything higher than $250k homes so we can live comfortably. We're super excited to move to FL next year so will spend the next year doing research.

Please post your top 3 recommendations for Tampa/St Pete's area. Please include why you recommend those specific areas. Thank you for your feedback!

Mike H.

[jaybird45]

$250K keeps you out of South Tampa and Westchase but try these areas:

Fishhawk
Welsey Chapel
Lutz
Carrollwood

[mhindesign]

Originally Posted by jaybird45

$250K keeps you out of South Tampa and Westchase but try these areas:

Fishhawk
Welsey Chapel
Lutz
Carrollwood

Thank you very much for the suggestions Jaybird45. Those are all great suggestions. Fishhawk is also known as Lithia right? I was having trouble finding info on fishhawk but was ablet to find info on Lithia. Yes South Tampa and Westchase is way out of my league. I will definitely do more research on the areas you mentioned. - Mike H

[Sunnydee]

There are a lot of really nice communities in the Tampa Bay area, but you will want to do your homework before choosing one. It's always good to check crime and predator maps, school ratings, insurance costs, HOA and CDD fees, and whether you'd be in a flood zone. There are pockets of bad even in areas that look nice, so do your research to prevent unpleasant surprises.

Fishhawk Ranch is a very nice community with good schools and amenities. Here's their website: http://www.fishhawkranch.com/

I live in Riverview and have found it to be very safe, convenient, friendly, and affordable. My neighbors like the schools and I think it would meet your criteria and budget, as well.

Wesley Chapel might be a good fit for you and they are in a building boom now.

[mhindesign]

Originally Posted by Sunnydee

There are a lot of really nice communities in the Tampa Bay area, but you will want to do your homework before choosing one. It's always good to check crime and predator maps, school ratings, insurance costs, HOA and CDD fees, and whether you'd be in a flood zone. There are pockets of bad even in areas that look nice, so do your research to prevent unpleasant surprises.

Fishhawk Ranch is a very nice community with good schools and amenities. Here's their website: http://www.fishhawkranch.com/

I live in Riverview and have found it to be very safe, convenient, friendly, and affordable. My neighbors like the schools and I think it would meet your criteria and budget, as well.

Wesley Chapel might be a good fit for you and they are in a building boom now.

Thank you very much for the tips SunnyDee . We will definitely put all those into consideration before we really narrow it down. My head is spinning from all this research. Yes we have a year at least so I can spend that time on this forum and other sites gathering info. What are CDD fees by the way? I haven't heard of that. We are also considering the Brandon and Riverview areas. We recently visited a friend who just moved to Riverview a couple months back from Jersey as well and so far they LOVE it. Their kids are out all the time and made a ton of friends in the neighborhood. We were kidding with our friends and told them the neighborhood reminds us of Wonder Years. It definitely had that feel. I have a feeling I will be on this forum a lot over the next year.

[ApolloBeachRetiree]

Originally Posted by mhindesign

Thank you very much for the tips SunnyDee . We will definitely put all those into consideration before we really narrow it down. My head is spinning from all this research. Yes we have a year at least so I can spend that time on this forum and other sites gathering info. What are CDD fees by the way? I haven't heard of that. We are also considering the Brandon and Riverview areas. We recently visited a friend who just moved to Riverview a couple months back from Jersey as well and so far they LOVE it. Their kids are out all the time and made a ton of friends in the neighborhood. We were kidding with our friends and told them the neighborhood reminds us of Wonder Years. It definitely had that feel. I have a feeling I will be on this forum a lot over the next year.

CDD:

http://www.tampabayhousefinder.com/cdd.htm

Investigate CDDs thoroughly when you are house hunting. They add a significant expense to your property tax bill.

[mhindesign]

Originally Posted by ApolloBeachRetiree

CDD:

Understanding a CDD - Community Development District

Investigate CDDs thoroughly when you are house hunting. They add a significant expense to your property tax bill.

Great Thank you all very much for the information. I definitely was not aware of CDD Fees. We will certainly factor in the CDD fees as well as everything else. What I forgot to mention is we will be Renting for about a year when we first arrive in Florida next year. Then do some on the ground research. When the time is right we plan to buy hopefully within a year or 2. Thanks again for all the info.

[indytoflgirl]

Lots of great suggestions!!! We are heading into our 8th year here from southern Indiana and could not be happier!! I teach in the Carrollwood area and it is very nice, but it you have friends in Riverview, sounds like a perfect match! WELCOME!!!!!!!! I LOVE TAMPA!!!!!!

[mhindesign]

Originally Posted by indytoflgirl

Lots of great suggestions!!! We are heading into our 8th year here from southern Indiana and could not be happier!! I teach in the Carrollwood area and it is very nice, but it you have friends in Riverview, sounds like a perfect match! WELCOME!!!!!!!! I LOVE TAMPA!!!!!!

Thank you indytoflgirl. I have been researching all the suggestions and areas around tampa and I am liking what I see so far. Carrollwood is definitely a nice area to consider from what I have seen. I think once we head back and visit Florida again hopefully some point this year we will really focus our research and try to see all the areas first hand. Since we will be planning to rent initially we will need to get in touch with some realtors and get more info. Does the area you live in Carrollwood include CDD Fees? When I do a Trulia or Zillow search it doesn't mention anything about CDD's but usually includes info about HOA fees. Does anyone know if those property taxes that they show on sites like Trulia and Zillow reflect the CDD fees if any? The total taxes I have been seeing range between low end $1500 to higher end $5800 or so for a home 3-4bdr and $300k or <.

How much does Flood insurance and Home Insurance cost in your area? I guess it is all relative to cost of the home and area whether you are in a flood zone or not? Sorry I didn't have to worry about Flood or Hurricane insurance in our home in Jersey so this all new to me.

[maybetampabound]

I'm chiming in because I could have written the original post. Could someone educate me on how public school works. Do most kids go to their neighborhood elementary school or are charter schools more popular? Is it possible to find good quality (great school rating 7 plus) local public schools?