Are we really doing this? (eek) and lots of questions! (Tampa: short sales, real estate)
Tampa BayTampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Good morning. We are a family of 5 from southern NH. Myself and my husband (32) and 3 kids (8,5, and 6 months)
Long story short when I was pregnant we sold our house here because we needed more space, and we are currently renting. As we resume our house hunt here, we are frustrated with the lack of larger homes in our price range (not really wanting to exceed 150k)
I am a small business owner. It is a successful and profitable small business, but it also takes a great toll on my family being away from my kids and working sort of opposite hours of my husband. This is a big motivator for our potential move.
My husband is in sales, we are fairly confident that his job is "portable". He is able to work from home now when he wants and his boss loves him like the son he's never had. He will begin applying for open positions down there. I know the market isn't great, but even if his boss said no to a tranfsfer...I'm pretty confident he could find a job...
We are strongly considering relocating to Florida. We are really researching the cost of living, and weighing the possibility I could work time for someone else only part time and we could afford a better quality of life on his salary for our kids. I'm also sick of the cold and the snow. We are beach people. We LIVE on the beach here in the summer.
We are currently researching the Land O' Lakes, Lutz area...I have also checked out Port Richey (but it seems pricier) Here's what important in order.
Schools, schools, and schools.
Our kids attend a private Catholic school now. We would *consider* this an option in FL as well, but it might be cost prohibitive if I'm not working. I need like the best public schools in the greater Tampa area.
Where are the Catholic schools in that area? I found one in Port Richey...there has to be one or more in Tampa?!?!?
A newer home in a community with amnenities that's a DEAL.
Please see DEAL. We've seen foreclosures here sell for half of asking price...150k is my MAX budget...if I could get a 4 bedroom 2+ bath in a community for 110, all the better. I have an agent specializing in foreclosures...but we've got a lot of ground to cover and I want to do a ton of research before we potentially fly down.
Money.
I've just started looking into ballpark taxes and insurance....we really do not want our monthly "house" (non utility) mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA to be a big number. Taxes here are nuts. 5-7k a year on an average home....so I need a community where homeowners insurance isn't going to cost me 400 dollars a month. I'm looking for proximity to a nice family beach area (aka 20-30 minutes or less) where I'm not going to spend a ton on the insurance.
Just give it to me straight. We're largely concerned with our kids overall quality of life. We're looking around here at what we can afford and our current "chaotic" lifestyle and seeking a change...but at the end of the day our kids are getting a great education here and we are a happy active (lots of outdoor stuff when weather permits) family.
I don't think anyone here would recommend you 'buy' without checking out the area, however if you are set on buying you might want to check out Riverview too. There are a lot of homes that are short sales which is good for the buyer. Lutz and LOL are both nice areas as is Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. There are good and not so good public schools however, catholic schools are expensive as you know.
We're not 100% set on buying per se....As I am informed by my real estate agent there's a lot of rent to own going on...BUT, IF we can get a deal i'm confident that if we hated the area we could just rent it out as an investment and move back. Thanks for the other suggestions. I do want to get a price comparison on the Catholic schools as well. Here it's upwards of 6k per child.
You may know this already, but in your purchase price range you won't find anything in Tampa or its suburbs that meets your housing criteria (4/2, $110K). And in many cases with today's cost of money, rent will exceed total monthly mortgage payments. You might look in the surrounding counties in either Hernando or Polk but these are more rural than the Tampa Metro area. It's good you're working with a foreclosure specialist as IMO, that will be your best bet at finding something. However, you can expect the home will need some rehabbing and if you're financing, you will be competing with cash buyers.
I don't know about all the Catholic schools, but a close friend's 9-year old daughter is attending Incarnation Catholic and she's paying around $6,000 in tuition annually. Knowing my friend as I do, I expect this is one of, if not the cheapest in the area. The highest rated public schools in Hillsborough County are in South Tampa, Lutz, and Lithia. You can read more about the statistical scoring and reporting at http://fcat.fldoe.org/results/default.asp.
Sorry this probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth!
Last edited by TampaKaren; 02-20-2012 at 08:18 AM..
We are looking too and i've been researching homes and school quite a bit. Our price range is much higher than yours though. The best district it seems is zoned for Plant HS, but you won't find anything that big in your price range. The private schools I've looked into and would consider are over 10K/year, they are not catholic though.
Good morning. We are a family of 5 from southern NH. Myself and my husband (32) and 3 kids (8,5, and 6 months)
Long story short when I was pregnant we sold our house here because we needed more space, and we are currently renting. As we resume our house hunt here, we are frustrated with the lack of larger homes in our price range (not really wanting to exceed 150k)
I am a small business owner. It is a successful and profitable small business, but it also takes a great toll on my family being away from my kids and working sort of opposite hours of my husband. This is a big motivator for our potential move.
My husband is in sales, we are fairly confident that his job is "portable". He is able to work from home now when he wants and his boss loves him like the son he's never had. He will begin applying for open positions down there. I know the market isn't great, but even if his boss said no to a tranfsfer...I'm pretty confident he could find a job...
We are strongly considering relocating to Florida. We are really researching the cost of living, and weighing the possibility I could work time for someone else only part time and we could afford a better quality of life on his salary for our kids. I'm also sick of the cold and the snow. We are beach people. We LIVE on the beach here in the summer.
We are currently researching the Land O' Lakes, Lutz area...I have also checked out Port Richey (but it seems pricier) Here's what important in order.
Schools, schools, and schools.
Our kids attend a private Catholic school now. We would *consider* this an option in FL as well, but it might be cost prohibitive if I'm not working. I need like the best public schools in the greater Tampa area.
Where are the Catholic schools in that area? I found one in Port Richey...there has to be one or more in Tampa?!?!?
A newer home in a community with amnenities that's a DEAL.
Please see DEAL. We've seen foreclosures here sell for half of asking price...150k is my MAX budget...if I could get a 4 bedroom 2+ bath in a community for 110, all the better. I have an agent specializing in foreclosures...but we've got a lot of ground to cover and I want to do a ton of research before we potentially fly down.
Money.
I've just started looking into ballpark taxes and insurance....we really do not want our monthly "house" (non utility) mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA to be a big number. Taxes here are nuts. 5-7k a year on an average home....so I need a community where homeowners insurance isn't going to cost me 400 dollars a month. I'm looking for proximity to a nice family beach area (aka 20-30 minutes or less) where I'm not going to spend a ton on the insurance.
Just give it to me straight. We're largely concerned with our kids overall quality of life. We're looking around here at what we can afford and our current "chaotic" lifestyle and seeking a change...but at the end of the day our kids are getting a great education here and we are a happy active (lots of outdoor stuff when weather permits) family.
My advice would be to do a lot of homework and don't jump into anything. Home prices arent going to change a whole lot real soon so you have plenty of time to check things out. I don't think your going to find what your looking for, for what you want to spend. Everyone would like a deal like that. I would definatly go down for an extended visit to get the real feel of things.
You mentioned that "at the end of the day" your kids are getting a great education and that your a happy active family and your husband can work from home for a guy who loves him like a son. Just thats a awful lot to give up just to move to Florida. I'm sure there are some places down there that are cheaper to live than southern N.H. but it's all relative. We're back living in N,H, after spending ten years in Florida for almost the same money. The overall quality of life is the benefit of being back in N.H. Good Luck with your move.
My advice would be to do a lot of homework and don't jump into anything. Home prices arent going to change a whole lot real soon so you have plenty of time to check things out. I don't think your going to find what your looking for, for what you want to spend. Everyone would like a deal like that. I would definatly go down for an extended visit to get the real feel of things.
You mentioned that "at the end of the day" your kids are getting a great education and that your a happy active family and your husband can work from home for a guy who loves him like a son. Just thats a awful lot to give up just to move to Florida. I'm sure there are some places down there that are cheaper to live than southern N.H. but it's all relative. We're back living in N,H, after spending ten years in Florida for almost the same money. The overall quality of life is the benefit of being back in N.H. Good Luck with your move.
I agree with a lot of this post. I really do not think you can possibly get what you are looking for with that budget. I also think that the "idea" of moving here is probably better than the reality will be for you, especially if you are not even familiar with the area here at all. Taxes here are mostly reasonable, but homeowner's insurance is difficult to get and VERY expensive, depending where you live, how old the house, flood zones, etc. etc. You definitely would need to come down here and spend a little time researching the area very well and asking yourselves if this is really what you want to do. Some people do make the move here and love it, but usually these are folks who did a lot of research, had jobs in hand or almost-guaranteed jobs and other factors.
At any rate, just be sure it's a realistic move - all of those properties you are seeing for lower prices - remember that pictures look a whole lot better on the internet than the reality many times. As you said, your kids are getting a great education and you are a happy active outdoor family right where you are.
Also, none of the places you mentioned, apart from Port Richey, are "near" the beach, per se.
I was going to say that as well...from the outside looking at a map, people tend to think that anywhere near Pinellas or eastern Hillsborough is right at the beach.
For the OP, I might suggest looking at the Ellenton/Parrish area...east of Bradenton...and maybe even near Venice.
I think staying along the I-75 corridor where housing developments have popped up will give you housing to bargain for without paying the beach real estate prices...but you aren't that far away.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
