Moving to Holiday Florida (home, to buy, place)

[rich67]

Originally Posted by AtlGator

Thanks Gaternation (Go Gators - Gator '82)

I have not read one positive comment about HLE or Holiday in general. What if anything is being done about this at the city government level? Is there an initiative to clean up Holiday? Has the strip club problem by acknowledge at the city government level? HLE will continue to get worse as the housing prices continue to fall and the one time retiree only subdivision is transformed into an low income non-retiree neighborhood. But people will move back to Florida. In a few years rich and not so rich people will begin to retire and they will need a place to live. The only houses that you can buy in Atlanta that are less the 50K are in the ghetto. While HLE is not your white collar swim and tennis model community, it is not a ghetto either, at least not yet. I’m still looking for the positive comment that indicates that this problem has been acknowledged and something is planned. Keep in mind that we are considering a house in this area as an investment. Buy low sell high...

Well, the Pasco Sheriff's Office is in shambles right now- the road patrol is ineffective, understaffed and there are nothing but rookies working the streets due to the veteran's leaving for greener pastures. As for the strip clubs? Our county commission fails to act and enact laws and restrict these businesses because they are afraid of lawsuits and consider many of them "grandfathered in". There is no initiative to clean up Holiday. Code enforcement in Pasco is useless, no one enforces the "cars on blocks/abandoned" ordinances, and the county chooses to spend it's Penny for Pasco money on useless red light cameras and nonsense instead of repaving programs and beautifying programs. COunty commisioners are squandering this money for their own personal gain and salaries, and instead look to building ridiculous tennis stadiums and other nonsense costing billions in taxpayer's money. This county is mismanaged and they are running it into the ground. Look at the city of New Port Richey- they beautified the downtown area...it looks awesome! That is money well spent by the city. Do you know how much nicer a community looks with freshly paved roads as opposed to potholed and grey streets?? Just that minor change can spruce up a neighborhood. Then get code to go in and issue tickets to all the miserable houses, and you may have something going. But this county has no desire to clean things up, and the people running the county choose not to spend the money on things that would help accomplish this. Trinity is beautiful because it is new, and most of it is deed restricted. But the older areas of the county are just left to their own vices, and they are falling apart rapidly...and no one wants to do anything about it. It's a shame, because this county has a lot of potential.

[rich67]

Originally Posted by AtlGator

Hi Rich67,

Did some more research and I see that the police activity in HLE is HIGH.

HLE Subdivision Activity


Thanks!

PB

I'm here for you, PB! LOL.
Keep in mind, that info you see only represents a portion of the activity there. Why? Because it only gets entered if the dispatcher lists the subdivision name in the call...and some of them may ignore this. Granted, it is a pretty accurate assesment of call volume in that area, but there are other calls that dont make it into that system and might not even show.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by AtlGator

Thanks Gaternation (Go Gators - Gator '82)

I have not read one positive comment about HLE or Holiday in general. What if anything is being done about this at the city government level? Is there an initiative to clean up Holiday? Has the strip club problem by acknowledge at the city government level? HLE will continue to get worse as the housing prices continue to fall and the one time retiree only subdivision is transformed into an low income non-retiree neighborhood. But people will move back to Florida. In a few years rich and not so rich people will begin to retire and they will need a place to live. The only houses that you can buy in Atlanta that are less the 50K are in the ghetto. While HLE is not your white collar swim and tennis model community, it is not a ghetto either, at least not yet. I’m still looking for the positive comment that indicates that this problem has been acknowledged and something is planned. Keep in mind that we are considering a house in this area as an investment. Buy low sell high...

It's not just Holiday. You'll find a lot of the same in Port Richey and New Port Richey. Those small houses that retirees kept up nice are now very small by today's standards and getting filled up with people a lot lower on the socioeconomic scale.

[Aimathena]

My Husband and I bought a house on Lake Conley about 5 years ago as an investment property.
(We both have all our pearly whites, an education, own a business and do not have criminal records)
Our home has made it through some of the biggest storms and thankfully we have not suffered any major damages thus far.
We started out with an annual renter, to help offset the mortgage.
We have since completely furnished it and turned it into a vacation rental, which has far surpassed our expectations.
Even with the economy the way it is, we still receive numerous inquiries from vacationers and book up very fast.
As for the comment... "There's no holiday in Holiday" it's just not so, I disagree and so would our guests.
There is lots to see and do nearby, plenty of really nice family oriented beaches, great shopping and dinning, there's lots to see and do.
Actually we vacation there ourselves, as frequently as we possibly can.
Those commenting "they wouldn't live there even if they were given a house" must not have seen our house!
It's a gorgeous home and we couldn't be more happy with it or more proud to own it.
We enjoy our peaceful neighborhood, we take family strolls each evening.
It's very quite and mature, the neighbors are very friendly, they wave and say hello as you pass by. (some talk more than others)
We actually plan to move there after my husband retires from the fire dept.
As with all neighborhoods, some streets are better maintained than others.
I truly am surprised by all the negative reviews.
I have to agree and disagree with some of the comments being made.
I disagree with the comment about the streets not being paved, I received a bill from Pasco County in August 2008 in the amount of $1,152.40
So you see... Holiday does have some newly paved streets.
I also disagree with the statement about abandoned vehicles, we brought along our brand new sport utility trailer and had it parked in front our house but some of our elderly neighbors were having a difficult time seeing around it, so we moved it into the driveway and even though it was on our property in our driveway, within 2 days there was a notice left on the door stating we had to put it into our garage or remove it from the neighborhood or we would be fined. Pasco County is enforcing some laws/regulations.
I do agree that the insurance company (notice it's not plural) does tend to take advantage of you.
And in all fairness, I do not care for the strip clubs either but I like the amount of nearby stores and restaurants.
I also have to say that the local fire dept. had an unacceptable response time and did not do all they could have to save one of my neighbors houses.
Our stunned neighbors filled the street and watched in horror as the house burned to the ground.
I guess it's simply to each his own. Not everyone will see things the same as you do, you really should visit the area, experience it for yourself and form your own opinion of it. As with the purchase of any home, whether it's for an investment or residency, I would recommend driving through the area during the week as well as the weekend at different hours of the day such as morning, noon, evening, night, etc. See what type of activities are going on, what prospective neighbors are like, how loud or quite is the area, etc. Also try visiting during storm season to see if you can handle the weather there.
Good luck, I wish you all well.

[gamecock43]

I live in Holiday. I live in the Key Vista community everyone seems to like. Yes, Key Vista is nice but it's kind of an average HOA, nothing to write home about. But the surrounding town of holiday is...not so great. It started out as car dealership, strip clubs and cheap business land...but the housing boom brought the clearwater, tampa 'burbs into Holiday. People moving to the tampa area started buying, building in Holiday because it is pretty inexpensive comparitively. The thinking was it would clean up and catch up to Clearwater in a few years. But it has not caught up yet. The old businesses are still here-the city planning was non existant so the town is not well planned out, actually, its not even really a town. Its a small area sandwiched in between tarpon springs and port richey. Now in todays market, building and beautification has stopped. Maybe Holiday will be a nice florida oasis in 10 years...but its kind of trashy now. And to add another con to the list-its far away from all the FL annemities. Its a half hour drive at least to get to the big Clearwater beach, its 45 min to get into Tampa, its 40 min to get to I-75, and once on US 19 in Holiday, its a 15 min drive to get to the nearest mall-which is pretty shabby. Its 20 min to get to countryside mall in the other direction..which is pretty nice.

A plus side though- is the crime is unexpectedly low. Break ins, juvinilles being delinquent is about as bad as it gets. Well, of course there are sexual deviants and drug crime- but if you dont do drugs then you dont see drugs, and if you dont go to strip clubs or have little kids then you dont worry about strippers or perverts. Those 'groups' each tend to keep to themselves and dont really draw attention to themselves.

[Ken E]

Originally Posted by Alphaman

Is that place really that bad?

Absoutly!!

[lorriem]

[quote=Gatornation;4757298]It's not just Holiday. You'll find a lot of the same in Port Richey and New Port Richey. Those small houses that retirees kept up nice are now very small by today's standards and getting filled up with people a lot lower on the socioeconomic scale.[/QUO


New Port Richey is a nice place to live if you are on the Little road side. You have a few $1,000,000 plus communities also off of little like Aristida also. Don't discount New Port Richey. It has nice family neighborhoods. We had lived off of little on a half arce. Home was 2200sq ft and behind a consevation area. Very quite night and day and the hoa fee were only a bit over $120 a year and they followed the and enforced the rules making for a good place to live.

[davidand]

Hi, We are coming down to holiday to clean up our friends late uncle's house it is on Darlington rd/street/
with the option to sell it or keep it.
what do you think is this a good area ?
Regards David

[azurewater]

Does anyone know about the Beacon Square community in Holiday? Is this a good place to live?

[yakityyak]

Holiday Lakes West is ok , the homes are small and reasonable priced. Not everyone who lives in Holiday is toothless and dumb, just not house poor living in more exclusive subdivisions. Like anywhere there are many foreclosed homes now but in general it is not as bad as some have stated. you must look for yourselve to know if you would be happy there. I personally know several people who live in Holiday Lakes West and their homes are nice and well kept inside and out. Be more cautious in Holiday Lakes East, which is older and not as nice and well kept. There's some sketchy area's, so look at who will be your neighbor.