Relocating to Wesley Chapel or Destin FL (Tampa, Clearwater: houses, middle schools)

[florida_sassy]

We work from home have two sons... we found a house we like in Wesley Chapel (NORTH OF TAMPA) in the country on an acre and half of land. There is a swimming pool.

There there is an adorable Victorian beach house on Destin and we cannot decide.

Our sons are 9 and 17. Our 17 year old will be going away to college in the Fall.

Both houses cost the same amount.

We love the idea of the the convenience of Wesley Chapel being so close to Tampa Bay but we love the idea of the beach of Destin.

Any perspectives are appreciated.

[m1a1mg]

Funny, I've looked in the same two areas. We spent a week in Clearwater Beach last year and spent a lot of time looking around Tampa. There is a lot to see and do in the area, but the population density was the turnoff we couldn't get past. Even in the middle of the day all the roads were packed.

I know we'll face the same issue in Destin during the tourist season, but Tampa seems to be year round.

We're moving to Destin in June.

[jghorton]

We lived in Tampa when we first moved to Tampa (40-years ago) and attended a Wesleyan Methodist church there. We loved the area until it started growing faster than the available infrastructure. We subsequently moved to Kissimmee and then Melbourne (Satellite Beach) where we spent the next 27 years. We're now retired and have moved to Destin about 1-1/2 years ago (children/grandchildren). We now live on the harbor and love it here, although the traffic and cooler weather in the winter are issues. There are some wonderful church communities here and I don't believe you will 'miss a beat' in that area.

You might want to check-out the school situation in Destin (Okaloosa County). While they are highly rated, I believe that most of the high school kids attend school in Niceville or Fort Walton Beach, since there is no high school in Destin. There do seem to be some good middle schools here.