Heading South...advice appreciated. (Tampa, Fort Lauderdale: to rent, house, safe neighborhood)

[wolffish]

First off, great forum and site. I have found useful information already. I have accepted a job to work in St. Pete. I am married with 2 children (1 and 4 years old). I currently live in Charleston, SC and have lived in Fort Lauderdale for 5 years so know a little something about Florida. Also, I have been to St. Pete about 5 times.

My office address will be near the Dali Museum.

I am looking for any comments to my plan below. Anything I missed?

First, here is what is important to me in terms of priorities:
(1) safe neighborhood (e.g., can wife walk the dog alone at night test or me for that matter!)
(2) good schools (mainly concerned about elementary at this point)
(3) avoid long, crazy commutes (over 45 min is stretching it)
(4) nice town where can walk to shops, restaurants, etc.
(5) walkability, close to parks

The following items are non-essential, but could be bonuses: proximity to beach and house with pool. Also, my wife likes the idea of newer construction (90s and 2000s) in a fenced in neighboorhood with community pool and jogging trails. I realize that this would probably remove a lot of neighborhoods from the list though.

OK, here are the towns I was considering. The list goes from closest to job to farthest approximately:
(1) St. Pete. Northeast, gulf Port, Pasadena, far south St. Pete. [Sounds like, in general, Pinellas Park, South St. Pete, and Kenneth City are not what I am looking for.]
(2) Largo (Sounds like blue-collar town)
(3) Seminole (Sounds like some great elementary schools but very suburbian with no little town with shops and such?)
Here is a list of other towns but seem like would be long commute:
(4) Clearwater - Sounds like some good schools but packed!
(5) Dunedin - Sounds like would meet most criteria above but long commute
(6) Same for Tarpon Springs, Oldspar, Palm Harbor. (Out of these last 4, which would be easist commute?)

Finally...and this is getting long I realize....I am also considering Bradenton and other towns in Manatee County though Sarasota seems too far. And Tampa is in the mix but I haven't started that research.

Muchos gracias!

Rick

[cheerbaby112]

1. Try Indian Rocks Beach/Seminole/Redington Beach areas. You can also try Treasure Island and Gulfport Area. (My fiancee grew up in those parts and its safe)
2. You Should check out those areas and then go to greatschools.org and see the good schools around those areas.
3. Those areas are good if you want to avoid long commutes. Tampa would be like 45 minutes to get to St. Pete with Traffic and Manatee county would be longer.
4. I have never ever seen a town with shopping areas that you can walk to.....its all spread out here. They only place i can think of thats close to a Town would be Hyde Park and Ybor and thats not even a town.
5. Walking is not an option.........You would most likely be hit by cars with the crazy Tampa drivers and the Fact that everything is so spread out.

[TampaKaren]

Rick: it would help us to know if you are planning to buy or rent and your price range or monthly budget. Also, you (your wife) should know in advance that most of Pinellas County was completely built out by the mid 1980s. There are some new(er) areas/homes, but the peninsula as a whole is and has always been very popular. Don't mean to be a grumpus, but if you know in advance then you can set expectations accordingly. :-)

[jambo101]

Some nice areas if you go north from the Dali museum on 4th st or 9th st (MLK) from about 5th ave north onwards.I have a best friend living on
16th ave N and 9th st.,nice neighborhood with lake and park at the end of the street.

[wolffish]

Originally Posted by TampaKaren

Rick: it would help us to know if you are planning to buy or rent and your price range or monthly budget. Also, you (your wife) should know in advance that most of Pinellas County was completely built out by the mid 1980s. There are some new(er) areas/homes, but the peninsula as a whole is and has always been very popular. Don't mean to be a grumpus, but if you know in advance then you can set expectations accordingly. :-)

Yes, sorry, I left out that information. Thanks for the responses so far. I plan on renting first, then buying. (We need to sell the house in Charleston ). Here's the trick....we want to rent in an area where we intend to live because my daughter will be starting 1st grade. We want to avoid having to move here out. So we want to (hopefully) get it right the first time. As far as price range, renting in the 1000-1500 range and buying in the 160,000-225,000 range. We have 2 kids (ages 1 & 4) and 2 dogs.

[Tobinn]

"(1) safe neighborhood (e.g., can wife walk the dog alone at night test or me for that matter!)
(2) good schools (mainly concerned about elementary at this point)
(3) avoid long, crazy commutes (over 45 min is stretching it)
(4) nice town where can walk to shops, restaurants, etc.
(5) walkability, close to parks

The following items are non-essential, but could be bonuses: proximity to beach and house with pool. Also, my wife likes the idea of newer construction (90s and 2000s) in a fenced in neighboorhood with community pool and jogging trails. I realize that this would probably remove a lot of neighborhoods from the list though."


(1) St. Pete. Northeast: would meet the following (as per your numbering) 1, 3, 4, 5 (not sure about the schools - my guy has another year and he'll be going to a school near us in Clearwater). The housing in the NE area of St. Pete is generally from the early part of the 20th Century.
Gulfport: same and St. Pete, kitchy and artsy - small town feel
Pasadena: don't know Pasadena that well, St. Pete.
[Sounds like, in general, Pinellas Park, South St. Pete, and Kenneth City are not what I am looking for.]robably not

(2) Largo (Sounds like blue-collar town): not really blue collar but more suburban in feel. Probably doesn't meet your wants to a tee but the commute wouldn't be bad at all and you'll probably find some new housing.

(3) Seminole (Sounds like some great elementary schools but very suburbian with no little town with shops and such?): Your assumption is fairly accurate but the commute is still pretty short.

Here is a list of other towns but seem like would be long commute:
(4) Clearwater - Sounds like some good schools but packed! I agree with an earlier post - Pinellas County has been packed for some time now - that's just how it is. There are some very nice areas in Clearwater (my town). And there are some pretty crappy areas, too. You will be able to tell with one visit what's what. Any place that has signs reading "No Stopping or Standing" is your clue that it's a bad area. If you are considering Clearwater I can go into a lot more detail.

(5) Dunedin - Sounds like would meet most criteria above but long commute: your assumption is accurate - very cute town, though

(6) Same for Tarpon Springs, Oldsmar, Palm Harbor. (Out of these last 4, which would be easiest commute?) Forget Tarpon - the commute would probably be well over an hour. Palm Harbor is very nice with a lot of newer homes. Oldsmar has a cute downtown but the commute would probably be a bear as you're kind of on the other side of Old Tampa Bay. Palm Harbor would be the closest commute.


Don't forget Safety Harbor very cute - mostly older homes, though.

[wolffish]

Tobinn - Thanks for the excellent post. This information is super helpful. I will be visiting the area for 3 days in a couple of weeks to scout locations. I would love more information on Clearwater!!!