DINKS looking at South Tampa coming from Southern California (Bayshore Gardens: where to stay, rentals)

[shackleton]

My husband and I will be relocating to the Tampa area this spring. We both work and do not have children except for the furkids - one cat and one dog.

I like urban neighborhoods so please don't tell me how great the suburbs are or what great schools they have for the kiddies. We like to walk in our current neighborhood and know most of our neighbors. In addition, we walk to restaurants and know many of the shop owners. Just sharing so you get an idea of what I'm looking for...

Wants:
* Close (no more than 30 minute commute in either direction) to MacDill and Downtown Tampa
* At least 3 bed \ 2 bath rental
* Relatively safe neighborhood
* Garage (at least one car)
* Near restaurants, shops, etc (no chains)
* Near a dog park would be nice
* Price range = $2000 - $2500
* Would like to be near as possible to water (I'm totally spoiled that right now I am lulled to sleep by the waves of the Pacific Ocean)
* If you know what a Trader Joe's is - would be nice to be near a store like that.

Research has led me to South Tampa. Specifically, Interbay (I read somewhere to stay North of Grady), Ballast Point and Bayshore. What has me confused though is the price range of purchasing homes. While we do want to rent, I've found that usually you can tell something about the neighborhood based on home prices but in South Tampa, I've seen prices ranging from $200k to $2 million... What part of the picture am I missing?

Any input or suggestions is appreciated.
Thanks!

[Keeper]

S. Tampa is both south of Gandy and north of Gandy. Most of the homes in SOG were built back in the 50s, very small. I have family who live there and where they live is OK. There are some areas that are fine, but there are some rundown parts and not a place I would live. The area known as Interbay is experiencing a revitilaztion and ppl are going in and buying old homes and either fixing them up or tearing down and building new homes. The problem with Interbay IMHO is you are REALLY close to the base and the jet noise would be an issue for me.

NoG has a good mixture of homes but not every area NoG has the things you mentioned at least in walkable distance. SoHo comes close as there are coffee shops, restaurants all walkable.

[Krulik]

The closest Trader's Joe seems to be in Atlanta:
Welcome to Trader Joe's - Your Neighborhood Grocery Store - Locations

[jdvalle]

Your situation is bit like ours, except that we have one kid. We're renting in New Tampa, but we know that we want to move to S. tampa once our home sells and we can afford a bit more. Our reasons and preferences are essentially identical. Plus, I'd prefer that my child not be brought up in an environment like New Tampa (which probably contradicts most other people's opinion, but I can't shake the feeling that there is something a bit warped about growing up in a highly sterilized gated community-type area; I mean, what's the kid going to do when he grows up and realizes that the world isn't "Master Planned". Sorry, tangent).

From my driving through S. Tampa regularly (on the prowl for rentals between 2000-2300), we've seen some nice townhomes in Hyde Park, Palma Ceia, and Bayshore Beautiful. Granted, many of them are small for the price, but it seems worth it to me based on the environment. I would certainly stay north of gandy, though, just my opinion. I personally like the fact that there is a wide price range of homes in zips like 33629. Many of the 200K homes are very old, extremely small, or not well maintained. I wouldn't be surprised if most of them begin to dissappear due to renovation, tear-down etc. The nice thing is that despite the occassional sub 200K home, the area seems to remain a very desirable and safe place to live. If being surrounded by more affluence is important to you, I would probably focus on Hyde Park and thereabouts.

Were you looking to rent a home or are you open to all types of units?

[DC2Tampa]

Definitely recommend SOHO(South Howard Ave. area), Old Hyde Park Village, Palma Ceia, etc... basically what's already stated. Mostly north of Gandy Blvd. Just about everything south of Gandy is basically typical military housing areas and not what you're looking for.

[tampaguy03]

Looking at your wants, I would siggest as the above, mostly Hyde Park, Bayshore Beautiful, Bayshore Gardens(MacDill Ave backs up along these neighborhoods and has lots of mom and pop shops/restautants, retail along the two lane road), Palma Ceia, especially around Bay to Bay and MacDill Ave.
Also, look around Davis Islands and Harbour Island and Channelside.