St Pete area, recommendations? (Clearwater, Largo: to rent, health insurance, crime)

[adata]

Hi, single parent with IT business at home and 3 kids (two teens, one jr high age) who will attend local schools, looking for recommendations?

Where is your employment and the hours you will be working?
A: at-home computer business, do not need to commute and so traffic convenience not a problem

What is your budget for housing. Do you want to rent or buy?
A: buy, lower end

Are schools a concern?
A: absolutely. looking for a fixer-upper or small older home in a good school zone

What is an acceptable commute time?
A: n/a

What else is important to you?
A: am absolutely crime averse!

So basically the crime, quality of schools and affordability of housing (including insurance) are my main concerns.

Thanks for any ideas.


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[adata]

Let me mention I will go further north if need be. Just want to be close enough to relatives to be able to visit frequently! So Dunedin, Ozona, Seminole, Largo, Clearwater, all those towns are ok. Just the general area we are looking in.

[roadtrip75]

Can you give us numbers for your budget and minimum square footage? Palm Harbor is the best school district in Pinellas and it has tons of homes that I would call affordable.

[adata]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

Can you give us numbers for your budget and minimum square footage? Palm Harbor is the best school district in Pinellas and it has tons of homes that I would call affordable.

have not prequalified but I'd say 100K max, would prefer backyard and not manufactured/mobile home because we do like pets. Could go maybe 20-30K over max, but with insurance needed too, that would be a pinch for us. We are quiet people and don't party, do drugs etc. My income is just not high enough or homogeneous enough to be able to reliably pay a high mortgage every month, and we also have to deal with health insurance, so we want to build in a cost buffer. Unfortunately, the higher the value of the house, the safer the neighborhood, as quietly as we do live.

[lavender]

I think you should prequalify before you go any farther, then at least if you work with a realtor, they will realistically know what you can afford. Its no use looking at homes you cant finance to buy. For that price you are going to need to buy a fixer upper I'd say in the good school districts it could be possible but small - so not sure where the relatives would stay.
Also talk to mortgage company to see if you would qualify for a 95% loan program.