Which areas are the best for people with kids

[TampaKaren]

You should definitely be worried about commute times. Urban Tampa is a large area geographically and with no mass transit, everyone has to drive. You could easily find yourself in a horrible commuting situation, and with three children that's not good IMO. Where is your job located?

[tasha43055]

Originally Posted by algia

Riverview is too far south and not that much to do down there, we were very disappointed when we first started looking....cookie cutter neighborhoods but newer not as established like in Lutz/Carrollwood for example...it felt really far from everything.......I wouldn't move there, I know the homes are cheap, but there's a reason for that and that IS because they are in the middle of nowhere pretty much.....

That was very helpful. I talked to someone last night about Riverview and they said the same thing. I hate to live in the middle on nowhere. I like what I am hearing about Lutz (I heard was in the middle of nowhere but not sure) and Carrolwood. I also heard to look into Temple Terrace.

[algia]

Lutz is hardly middle of nowhere! It is 20 minutes from the airport, 25 to tarpon springs beaches or 30 to Honeymoon Island, 8/10 minutes from a series of stores and restaurants but it is away enough to not be in a flood zone....Most of Land O Lakes is middle of nowhere all tho it is being built and it is closer to Wesley Chapel which has been developed aggresively for the last 5 years or so.....Lutz however on the Hillsborough side as I was saying earlier is very nice for families....the Pasco county side is not that attractive...nor the side towards 275/on Livingston Rd That side is very spotty and doesn't have good schools etc...and has lots of sex offenders...

[Stewabby]

For what it's worth we like Riverview and we always seem to find plenty to do. For $1700 you could find someplace to rent in South Tampa which is really the best place to live in Tampa. Good schools, walkable and close to downtown.

Otherwise I think you'd be happy in Westchase, Carrollwood or Brandon. If you go to greatschools.net you can check out the schools there and kind of work backwords to figure out where you'd prefer to live. Remember that the schools here are not as good as a lot of the schools in the rest of the country. I wouldn't want my kids to attend a school here that was below a 9.

[Ed Beinor]

If you want to live in Pinellas County, the Gulf Side, you can find some newer houses, with swimming pools in Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor and Dunedin in your price range. Dunedin has a great downtown area. Old Northeast St Pete and the beaches are probably over your price limit. The schools are here iffy, however, Palm Harbor has a very good High School and I know some math, chemistry and physics teachers in the Dunedin High School system that are great so if your children apply themselves they can get a very good education in just about any Public School. Welcome to Florida.

[tasha43055]

Thanks everyone and Ed for the kind welcome. I can't wait! I will make sure to check into these areas! South Tampa sounds good as do many of the others.