House Hunt in Tampa area (Brandon, Sarasota: rental, houses, neighborhoods)

[twototampa]

Looking for recommendation of areas to check out for a move to tampa. Work will be in Downtown Tampa, but would love to be close to the beach (20-30) minutes. Commute to downtown no more than an hour on most days. Hours will be 730am - 530 ish pm

Looking at homes in the $300 - 400K range. Really not interested in South Tampa / Hyde park area and the schools are not important. Any input would be appreciated.


Thank you!

[Innertuber]

Traffic will be kind of heavy. 7:30 is a bit hit and miss but heavy. 5:30 is usually jammed.

Probably going to want to head west. If you can manage your arrive/depart times a bit it would basically open a lot of the west coast up from Dunedin south I would think. Tarpon Springs and north is a little harder to get to but probably still an hour. Southward you could probably be most places from St Pete East. Maybe Bradenton. Bad traffic might always be a monkey wrench.

The 20-30 to beach seems to be your limiting constraint.

[twototampa]

Thanks! arrive/depart times are fully open to change or adjustment. Its a salary job with no "set" work times. Anything around 7-8am - 5pm or later. We have been looking at Dunedin, Safety Harbor, Oldsmar & Westchase. A little concerned about the commute times to/from Dunedin. Is less than an hour possible from the west side of Dunedin or from North Oldsmar?

[Keeper]

Going to work at 7am will give you a little better commute time. You might want to check out Sarasota/Bradenton area. St Pete, Safety Harbor or Oldsmar would be viable too. The only thing is the hour commute does get old after awhiile.

[BBI]

Originally Posted by twototampa

Looking for recommendation of areas to check out for a move to tampa. Work will be in Downtown Tampa, but would love to be close to the beach (20-30) minutes. Commute to downtown no more than an hour on most days. Hours will be 730am - 530 ish pm ... Looking at homes in the $300 - 400K range. Really not interested in South Tampa / Hyde park area and the schools are not important. Any input would be appreciated.

Check out the Old Northeast and Snell Island in St. Pete. Easily my favorite neighborhoods in Pinellas and: about 20 mins to the beach, lots of houses in your price range, and the commute should be under an hour given your hours.

FYI, rush hour traffic on 275 in Pinellas is not that bad. At both rush hours, things get backed up heading into Tampa on 275, but, at 7am, rush hour hasn't really started yet. So, if you're crossing into Tampa around 7am, you should beat rush hour across the bridge. And your commute home will be a slog in Tampa and then start flowing as you head into Pinellas.

Some other ideas -- If you want waterfront in your price range, look at Shore Acres/Venetian Isles. Probably pushing 30 minutes to a gulf beach, though. Also, something close to the beach but near 275 like St. Pete Beach or Tierra Verde might work: if you're willing to start work around 7a, you'd skip most of the morning rush hour; however, I think you'd be stretching the hour home if you left at 5p. If you left at 4p, or even 430p, the head start out of Tampa might make it a very easy commute. But you'd want to test that (and consider whether you'll actually get to leave before 5 every day...).

Re Dunedin, most Pinellas roads other than 275 are very congested. So your early start would skip rush hour one way, but I'd be worried about the commute home. And leaving a few minutes early will only help so much since roads like 19 and 580 in Pinellas will be congested by the time you get to them. Safety Harbor, Oldsmar and Westchase all seem like better options if you want to go north (though Westchase is probably pushing 30 mins to the beach, and I have to admit that I have a hard time understanding why someone (presumably) without kids would want to live there).

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by twototampa

Looking for recommendation of areas to check out for a move to tampa. Work will be in Downtown Tampa, but would love to be close to the beach (20-30) minutes. Commute to downtown no more than an hour on most days. Hours will be 730am - 530 ish pm

Looking at homes in the $300 - 400K range. Really not interested in South Tampa / Hyde park area and the schools are not important. Any input would be appreciated.


Thank you!

Those are my husband's hours, more or less. We live in north Sarasota and it takes him an hour door-to-door in downtown Tampa. The trip to and from on I-75 always moves well, almost never a problem especially once past Brandon (he takes the LeRoy Selmon Express to avoid that area).

From where we are we are 15 minutes to Lido Beach, 20-30 to the Bradenton Beaches and about 30 to Siesta. These are all great beaches. So this area could be a possibility for you if you don't mind the distance.

[Team_Roberts]

I would suggest Westchase or Oldsmar as they are nice areas in that price range. Puts you closer to work and a little further from the beach, but if you are like most of us..... you end up working more then we get to the beach... lol.

[twototampa]

Thanks for the advice!

Any comments on renting a home first in Westchase, Oldsmar, Lutz areas? I know Lutz is putting us further from the beach, but this would be a rental for 12 months or less. Something to live in until we find a house in the right town for us.

[algia]

Carrollwood Village or around Lake Magdalene off Bearss Rd, both have some really nice properties, some of them are water front around Lake Magdalene. Close to DT and also the beaches (through 275).

[Sunscape]

Rent a house in Oldsmar or Westchase. Oldsmar is closer to the beach, Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, which is next to Oldsmar.
Look at the photo I placed in the photos for this forum.