Relocating - Looking for Family Commnity (Tampa, Gainesville: for sale, insurance, townhome)

[relocatingtothegulfcoast]

Lived in Philadelphia area for 40years...Looking at relocating with 1 son at University of Florida and 1 in HS and 1 in Middle School. Work from home - staying with present position...spouse in Healthcare - make in the low 100K. Can move anywhere - Family in Sun City - want some feedback on best family areas to relocate to. Give me the Good - bad - and ugly...Pro's/Cons..

[spainbrit]

congratulations on getting your son into Florida - that's my current headache for next year
Seminole has great family living, reasonable 3 bedroom homes, wonderful school system and if your children are bright, there are many accessible magnet programs including IB to apply for. Plus almost every home is only minutes from our glorious beaches.
it's not that cheap to live here now, but prices for housing is becoming a bit more realistic now. I see that a newer huge 2300 sq ft 3 bedroom townhome with oversized garage at the beach (not on the sand) sold for just $300,000. However, you have to bear in mind insurance costs and taxes on our property in FL. It's not a small chunk of change these days. There are modest homes for around $250K many with pools in Seminole area. Plenty of healthcare jobs, working from home you might want a bit more space, but those homes are available too. Come and visit and precheck the areas you want to consider then drive them, walk about, talk to people outside their homes ask them what they think of the area, they may also know of homes that are coming up for sale. If you want to be by family in Sun City, there are a lot of newer subdivisions on the side of I-75 with good access for getting to and from Gainesville and into Tampa, but its a bit of a way to the beaches. There are newer schools over that way too.

[annesg]

I live in NW Tampa and like it a lot--many of the schools are good (Sickles and Gaither are both considered good and have a lot of extracurricular stuff). My neighbor's daughter graduated from Sickles in 07 and was accepted to UF. There are a lot of neighborhoods to check out. Pinellas and Hillsborough are two totally different places and it's worth checking them both out to see which suits your taste.

My kids are in private school, and there are good options for private schools, too. Lots of shopping, etc. in the area. I tend to think it has born the growth/sprawl better than areas like Brandon and New Tampa.