Potential Relocation from Raleigh (Tampa, St. Petersburg: real estate, insurance, house)

[cpeck18]

My wife and I have been thinking about moving to Florida or the Nashville area from a suburb of Raleigh. We've read several other Tampa threads here but wanted to just see what else people could share about moving to Tampa, and the suburbs to focus our research on, based on a little about us:

We both work remotely so don't have any restrictions on location. We're 31, looking to start a family, and prefer the quieter scene to super dense urban areas (lived near DC before Raleigh). That said, we want to be within an hour of an airport and a performing arts center (for touring Broadway shows). Looking for a home that would be on at least half an acre. We love to be able to walk everyday on either a greenway or just a safe city street. Love the outdoors. Would like to be within 10-15 minutes of a newish shopping center with groceries/gym/home depot/restaurants/etc. Definitely prefer the suburbs to downtown, and for hurricane/storm surge reasons would probably not want to live too near the coast. Anyone have thoughts on Lakeland?

Two reasons we're contemplating leaving Raleigh. One is that we don't exactly love the area (it's fine), and two is that our state income taxes are over 50k annually. We know Florida would be maybe a touch more expensive in cost of living, definitely in insurance, etc - but those won't come close to the income tax savings. So we've started looking at states without an income tax.

Thanks in advance for any comments you could share!

[beach43ofus]

Lakeland will not have many touring Broadway shows. You'll need Tampa for that. The Northern 'burbs of Tampa around Cheval might have some larger lots. Carrollwood is older, but might fill the bill too.

[MortonR]

More importantly, what's your budget for housing? That's going to dictate where you'll be.

RM

[Lillie767]

You don't say what your budget is, and that might be a limiting factor for any area in the Tampa Bay region.

I like north Pinellas County for all the QOL that you mention.

TPA is an excellent airport, with good parking and easy non-stop or connecting flights to many US and Canadian cities. For plays and concerts, there are the Straz Center in Tampa, Ruth Eckerd Hall and the Capitol Theater in Clearwater, and the Duke Energy Center for the Arts - Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

For supermarkets, there are ubiquitous Publix and Winn-Dixie stores, but also Whole Foods and Fresh Market. Several Sprout markets for fresh produce. However, we are lacking convenient Trader Joe stores.

Fitness centers are everywhere as are restaurants and fine local boutique shops. Stores such as Macys, Dillards, and Dicks Sporting Goods are in local malls, while International Plaza in Tampa boasts of Nordstrom and Nieman Marcus and their like. Lots of Home Depots, Lowes, and Walmarts for another type of shopping.

Downtown Dunedin is famous and renowned for its local breweries.

For greenway walking or bicycle riding, the 47-mile-long Pinellas Trail provides a wonderful view of local waterways, Spanish moss, and ancient live oaks.

Just a comment regarding storm surge.

Property elevation is generally more important than distance from coastline.

I am approximately 1-1.5 miles from the intracoastal waterway on the Gulf of Mexico but, because of the elevation of my property, I do not have to evacuate due to hurricane emergencies. This is called a non-evac zone. Homes located further inland, but at a lower elevation, are in mandatory evacuation zones.

This is different from the FEMA flood plain map which has recently been revised. Despite my proximity to the water, my FEMA map zone is X, meaning minimal risk.

When looking at real estate, look at both the evac zone and the flood plain map.

[FL_Expert]

Moving to Florida sounds like a smart financial decision. Your state income tax burden implies a household income around $1m so you should be able to afford to live just about wherever you want.

I suggest the Odessa/Keystone area. It’s a rural but affluent area with a lot of large estates. The appeal is you’re in close proximity to what Westchase and Citrus Park offer, but you get much more space. Many of the homes are on large natural lakes too. Rural does not equate to cheap here though as homes start around 500k and go on up to the mid 7 figures.

(Note that the area I’m referring to is Keystone, FL if you Google it, but locals will more often refer to it as Odessa. When you Google Odessa the boundaries they show are a little further north than what we typically think of it as.)

[cpeck18]

Originally Posted by MortonR

More importantly, what's your budget for housing? That's going to dictate where you'll be.

RM

We'd probably be willing to go up to 850k for an existing home. Would prefer to find a nice vacant lot to build on but existing home would be fine.

[cpeck18]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

Moving to Florida sounds like a smart financial decision. Your state income tax burden implies a household income around $1m so you should be able to afford to live just about wherever you want.

I suggest the Odessa/Keystone area. It’s a rural but affluent area with a lot of large estates. The appeal is you’re in close proximity to what Westchase and Citrus Park offer, but you get much more space. Many of the homes are on large natural lakes too. Rural does not equate to cheap here though as homes start around 500k and go on up to the mid 7 figures.

(Note that the area I’m referring to is Keystone, FL if you Google it, but locals will more often refer to it as Odessa. When you Google Odessa the boundaries they show are a little further north than what we typically think of it as.)

This is really helpful, thank you. That seems like two comments so far to look on the northern side of the metro, either north of Tampa in the Odessa/Keystone or north Pinellas County.

[cpeck18]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

You don't say what your budget is, and that might be a limiting factor for any area in the Tampa Bay region.

I like north Pinellas County for all the QOL that you mention.

TPA is an excellent airport, with good parking and easy non-stop or connecting flights to many US and Canadian cities. For plays and concerts, there are the Straz Center in Tampa, Ruth Eckerd Hall and the Capitol Theater in Clearwater, and the Duke Energy Center for the Arts - Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

For supermarkets, there are ubiquitous Publix and Winn-Dixie stores, but also Whole Foods and Fresh Market. Several Sprout markets for fresh produce. However, we are lacking convenient Trader Joe stores.

Fitness centers are everywhere as are restaurants and fine local boutique shops. Stores such as Macys, Dillards, and Dicks Sporting Goods are in local malls, while International Plaza in Tampa boasts of Nordstrom and Nieman Marcus and their like. Lots of Home Depots, Lowes, and Walmarts for another type of shopping.

Downtown Dunedin is famous and renowned for its local breweries.

For greenway walking or bicycle riding, the 47-mile-long Pinellas Trail provides a wonderful view of local waterways, Spanish moss, and ancient live oaks.

Just a comment regarding storm surge.

Property elevation is generally more important than distance from coastline.

I am approximately 1-1.5 miles from the intracoastal waterway on the Gulf of Mexico but, because of the elevation of my property, I do not have to evacuate due to hurricane emergencies. This is called a non-evac zone. Homes located further inland, but at a lower elevation, are in mandatory evacuation zones.

This is different from the FEMA flood plain map which has recently been revised. Despite my proximity to the water, my FEMA map zone is X, meaning minimal risk.

When looking at real estate, look at both the evac zone and the flood plain map.

Thanks a lot for this super helpful and thorough post. In terms of budget, at this point would prefer to stay under 850k. Obviously would prefer the cheapest home that satisfies our needs, but willing to spend what we need to find it.

I hadn't heard of the Pinellas Trail, but something like that is exactly what we'd like to be somewhat close to. Thanks for sharing that!

And the comments about storm surge and elevation are really helpful and educational. We have essentially zero experience with hurricanes so aren't even sure the right questions to ask. Is it something you think about regularly? Worry about? Have you filed a lot of insurance claims over the years? We may eventually summer in Minnesota - what do all the snowbirds do with their homes being as a lot are gone during peak hurricane season? What happens if their home is severely damaged while out of town? I guess I'm wondering if they rely on friends to check on the house or if there's a service or if they just hope for the best and wait to see the house when they return for the winter.

[FL_Expert]

Originally Posted by cpeck18

This is really helpful, thank you. That seems like two comments so far to look on the northern side of the metro, either north of Tampa in the Odessa/Keystone or north Pinellas County.

Northern Pinellas is great too and would be my personal choice. The issue is it’s going to be hard to get a larger lot there. You can probably do a 1/2 acre, but if you want more it’s going to become less realistic.

The atmosphere is different between Northern Pinellas and Odessa/Keystone too. As I said before, Odessa/Keystone is rural. Northern Pinellas east of Lake Tarpon is suburban, and west of Lake Tarpon it’s suburban or charming small town. Both are good in their own ways, but chances are you’ll prefer one over the other since the difference is considerable.

[castlechurch]

The 1/2 acre will limit some of your potential areas, but it is possible. I would look at places within an easy distance of the Veterans Expressway, that will allow you to get into the airport and down town easily and quickly. Trinity, Citrus Park, The Eagles, Odessa, Land O Lakes near SR54/expressway, are all good options.

Aside from the Pinellas Trail there is a very long trail in the Hillsborough county side that parallels most of the Veterans Expressway, the Upper Tampa Bay Trail. It is a great walking trail with lots of different terrain. Most neighborhoods are safe to walk around and have sidewalks. There is a nice park in Northdale (Lake Conservation Park) that has trails and is connected to the neighborhoods in the area via a trail too: Access the Northdale Lake Park Trail at 5100 Northdale Blvd. inside the Northdale subdivision. However, the lots in Northdale will not be 1/2 acre.

More lot....more grass to maintain. That might not matter to you, but it WILL need to be cut every week in the summer. I have about a 1/4 acre lot, it is manageable on my own, but I also don't have St. Augustine grass, so it is less spraying and such. Most likely any house in that price range will have a pool too, some new builds may not though.

Tampa is a FANTATIC place, my wife lived in Raleigh for a while, she likes it a lot more here than there. We have a 4.5 yro son and Tampa is a great place to raise a family. Florida is a paradise, there are issues to be sure, but compared to many other places it is wonderful.