So I'm on my way to Tampa (Miami, Orlando: for sale, transporting)

[Tampa Bay FL]

My wife got a position at Tampa General Hospital and I am able to transfer to MacDill, so we've decided to move the family to Tampa. My wife is originally from Miami and her family is still there, while my parents retired to Ft Myers and my sister just moved to Orlando, so we no longer have any family in Michigan.

We love to go boating and jet skiing. I currently have a 24' Four Winns that I'm likely going to sell instead of transporting to Florida and likely buy a boat more suited for the bay and store at a marina and probably sell my truck so I'd like close access to marinas. We also like to swim so I'd also like to be close to beaches. We have two kids and the oldest is just in preschool so we are looking for good schools and low crime. Commute time to work is flexible. Obviously the shorter the better. We would like a small downtown area that offers some good entertainment options. We just turned 30 so we aren't exactly looking for a retirement village but we aren't exactly looking for South Beach either. We'd be willing to sacrifice this in order to have the above. We'd also be willing to commute to downtown St Petersburg or Tampa for entertainment.

In terms of housing we like to spend 250,000 or less but can go up to 300,000 if it blows us away. After doing some searching it seems we should be able to find something in this range. Looking for 3 bedrooms and 1800 or more square feet. Would like a newer home. Our current house was built in 1951 and took some effort to get it energy efficient.

I've noticed property taxes according to realtor.com are lower than Michigan's. Where can I find out exactly what I would be paying in property taxes? I have always heard cost of living was higher in Florida. I understand I will need hurricane insurance, but that seems to be negated by the potential lower property taxes and no state income tax.

Some cities we have looked at are Oldsmar, Safety Harbor, and Seminole. I'm concerned about Seminole because it says on this site the median age is 59. I want a community with younger families so it would be easier for us to make friends and for our kids to make friends. Are these cities some good starting points? I'm willing to compromise some on commute times and the entertainment aspect, but not on safety and schools.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Tampa Bay FL

My wife got a position at Tampa General Hospital and I am able to transfer to MacDill, so we've decided to move the family to Tampa. My wife is originally from Miami and her family is still there, while my parents retired to Ft Myers and my sister just moved to Orlando, so we no longer have any family in Michigan.

We love to go boating and jet skiing. I currently have a 24' Four Winns that I'm likely going to sell instead of transporting to Florida and likely buy a boat more suited for the bay and store at a marina and probably sell my truck so I'd like close access to marinas. We also like to swim so I'd also like to be close to beaches. We have two kids and the oldest is just in preschool so we are looking for good schools and low crime. Commute time to work is flexible. Obviously the shorter the better. We would like a small downtown area that offers some good entertainment options. We just turned 30 so we aren't exactly looking for a retirement village but we aren't exactly looking for South Beach either. We'd be willing to sacrifice this in order to have the above. We'd also be willing to commute to downtown St Petersburg or Tampa for entertainment.

In terms of housing we like to spend 250,000 or less but can go up to 300,000 if it blows us away. After doing some searching it seems we should be able to find something in this range. Looking for 3 bedrooms and 1800 or more square feet. Would like a newer home. Our current house was built in 1951 and took some effort to get it energy efficient.

I've noticed property taxes according to realtor.com are lower than Michigan's. Where can I find out exactly what I would be paying in property taxes? I have always heard cost of living was higher in Florida. I understand I will need hurricane insurance, but that seems to be negated by the potential lower property taxes and no state income tax.

Some cities we have looked at are Oldsmar, Safety Harbor, and Seminole. I'm concerned about Seminole because it says on this site the median age is 59. I want a community with younger families so it would be easier for us to make friends and for our kids to make friends. Are these cities some good starting points? I'm willing to compromise some on commute times and the entertainment aspect, but not on safety and schools.

Given your job locations I think Oldsmar would be a great fit for you. I love it. You have fairly easy access to Tampa and Clearwater without a bridge crossing, as well as quick access to the beaches or the Bay. The city is quite young (median age of 36) and has a lot of young professionals with kids. The school district (East Lake High School) is one of the best in the state. Oldsmar has some great entertainment options including a new multi-screen movie theater, a BMX bike venue, ice skating-hockey rink with instruction as well as league play for both kids and adults, a very active/extensive Parks and Recreation department, a variety of great restaurant options and more. In your price range and factoring in your specifics there are currently 18 homes for sale that fit those criteria in Oldsmar. The Pinellas County Tax Collectors website can give you address specific property tax amounts. Hope this helps!

East Lake High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://www.pinellas.county-taxes.com/public
:: Tampa Bay Skating Academy :: Oldsmar, FL ::
Welcome to Oldsmar BMX
Leisure Services -- City of Oldsmar Website (http://www.ci.oldsmar.fl.us/leisure_svcs/ls_parks.htm - broken link)
Restaurants Oldsmar

[Tampa Bay FL]

The tax website was very helpful. I'm just blown away how low the taxes are. Am I missing something? People up here say how high it is in Florida. The milage rate for Pinellas county is 19 vs. the 42 I pay up here. Is garbage pickup, fire, police etc all included in property taxes in Florida? I know hurricane insurance will be needed but are there other expenses I need to look into in Florida?

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Tampa Bay FL

The tax website was very helpful. I'm just blown away how low the taxes are. Am I missing something? People up here say how high it is in Florida. The milage rate for Pinellas county is 19 vs. the 42 I pay up here. Is garbage pickup, fire, police etc all included in property taxes in Florida? I know hurricane insurance will be needed but are there other expenses I need to look into in Florida?

I think there's a lot of misconception about the cost of homeowners insurance in Florida. There are some areas where it can be high without wind mitigation improvements to your home (some areas of South Florida for instance) but otherwise it's really not that bad. My friend in Safety Harbor is paying around $1700 per year for an older (1980s) 3/2 house with a screened pool, valued at around 275K. I live in a condo so mine is included in the monthly fees. In terms of municipal services, they're included in your taxes. The only other possible added expense would be flood insurance which typically costs on average a few hundred dollars per year in a low to moderate risk area.


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[Kevin from Tampa]

Keep your boat, it sounds great for the water in this area

[Tampa Bay FL]

Originally Posted by Kevin from Tampa

Keep your boat, it sounds great for the water in this area

It's in storage for the winter so I have time to decide. I do like to go tubing and the boat works well for that. Should be plenty of space in Tampa Bay to do some nice tubing all though I'm pretty much a novice boater. I never really took my boat on the Great Lakes and just stuck to inland lakes.

Is it true that you can dock your boat in St Petersburg and get out and walk around downtown? It would be pretty sweet to travel to St Petersburg by boat.

[xbillyx]

FYI - I've heard from members on this forum that parts of Seminole and Largo are full of younger families. Check out the areas surrounding Oakhurst Rd/Indian Rocks Rd, near Walsingham Park.

[Tampa Bay FL]

After searching homes for sale I'm really liking Oldsmar. Anybody know of any good marinas to check out near Oldsmar? Also is it possible to boat from Tampa Bay to Tarpon Lake? Looking at the map there appears to be some sort of channel connecting the two?

[Keeper]

There is at least one marina in Oldsmar and one in Safety Harbor. The problem might be if they have vacancies. Dunnedin also has several marina. Dunedin is on the Gulf.

Oldsmar is a nice little town but the traffic is pretty bad during rush hour from there to McDill or Davis Island. It would be at least 45 mins. Why not look at S. Tampa if you don't mind older homes. Closer to both of your jobs.

There are also several marinas around S. Tampa (McDill area) and Davis Island.

There are canals from Tarpon Lake but I don't know if you can transit them to get from the bay to there. It would be a long trip. Most ppl trailer their boats.

You can go snorkling for scallops around Tarpon Springs during season. I have several friends who fish in the gulf and have been catching some big grouper lately.

[craigm1841]

I can tell you- from working on MacDill for the past two years... live in south tampa if you can afford it. Traffic getting on base is so bad due to the lack of planning and foresight of the Air Force and the city of tampa, you will not want to live "45 minutes" away- as getting on base in the morning takes 20-30 mins in addition to the 45 mins in bumper to bumper gate traffic south of gandy.

I live 7 miles from base up dale mabry, near the airport. It takes me 35 minutes to get to work. You will be near the bay, so you would have quick access to water, although not many people boat in the hillsborough- the tampa bay is much better for boating. The gulf you are gonna need something bigger then a 24 footer IMO. I know people who have gone out in 32 foot boats and caught some sudden weather and had some pretty horrifying experiences.

You might also consider places along westshore. There are some marinas along westshore on the tampa bay.