[magnumek]

Hello everybody.
I moved to Florida with my wife few weeks ago (right before Irma hit, so we had a nice welcome). We were planning a move from NY for some time and we finally decided to do it. We were reading a lot about the coasts and we chose the Gulf Coast even though we like the East better (more to do, better nightlife, newer building, more palms, nicer areas, more luxurious feeling) we went with west mostly because of economic reasons, better culture, less crime. But we are still not 100% sure if we made a good choice. We leased an apartment in New Port Richey, the south-east area, to get a better idea of the areas before buying a property. Our lease ends in April so we are starting to look for a house or condo to buy, but its very hard to choose a region as each has its pros and cons. We are working from home so we don't need to be in the city but you never know what will the future be like so its nice to be near the city just in case. The areas that we are considering the most are:
- North Port (great houses for +/- $200k, newer buildings, low crime, great schools, lower insurance costs, constantly growing but it lacks a downtown, pretty far from everywhere, we are afraid to get bored there)
- Trinity (okay house pricing, low crime, nice area, not to far from Tampa airport, good schools but I don't know if we would feel good living in here)
- Lakewood Ranch (close to Sarasota, decent houses)


Could you please give some advices about the areas, the pros and cons of living there? I would also appreciate other ones with nice housing <$250k. I like to be close to the beach but I the last hurricane reminded me to keep little off the water, so around half hour drive to the beach is totally fine.

[BucFan]

each of the areas you're considering have subforums - I'd suggest you post your questions there to get better responses.

[magnumek]

Okay. I will post in the subforums than. But I would also want to get a general answer about other Florida areas.

[AhHah]

Have a look at the Riverview area near the Brandon Mall.