Help me find the right community. Relocating to Tampa area. (Brandon: for sale, rent)

[nel700]

I am relocating to Tampa to take a job at USF.

My wife and I are in our late 20's and wanting to buy a single-family house in the <$200,000 range. A safe neighborhood is a must. Also, a neighborhood that has good resale value in in 3-5 years would be optimal.

I will be traveling to USF every day, 7-5. I do not currently live in an area with much traffic, so I'm going to have to get used to tampa traffic. However, I'd like to keep the commute to less than 20 minutes.

We are not in to the club and bar scene, but do like exercising outdoors (running, biking). Having an indoor gym nearby would also be nice. We also have a large dog so nearby open areas are a plus.

I've been researching Hyde Park/south Tampa, Temple Terrace, Brandon, New Tampa, Carrolwood, and all the other northeast Tampa subdivisions. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[thomasdavie]

Hey nel. I am a banking professional with my own practice, and my wife is an RN.

We too want to move to tampa . We are looking for a suburb and probably $300,000 range.

[gulfer]

Nel, I think you are looking in the right places. I would also recommend Lutz and Southern Wesley Chapel and Southern Land O Lakes.

My daughter goes to USF and can be there in about 20-30 minutes from Land O Lakes. She drives down Livingston to Bearss, which merges into Bruce B Downs for a short distance to USF.

The 200K and less is not unreasonable, but it may make you add about 10-15 minutes to the commute. There are brand new homes in Dupree Lakes (Beazer) that is as safe as you can be. It is at the end of Collier Parkway. There are also homes in that price range in Live Oak, Pebble Creek, and Cross Creek which are all off Bruce B Downs. Traffic is thick, mainly on your way home at 5.

Stonegate has nice DUPLEX homes for less than 200K brand new. They are built by Southern Crafted Homes. Nice safe area and also gated. It is just West of HWY 41 off HWY 54. Devonoak Road takes you right into the gated subdivision.

ThomasDavie - These areas may work nicely for you as well as there are major hospitals (VA, Shriners, USF) all right by the College.

[algia]

New Tampa would be your best bet. That would keep your commute to a minimum, and it has prety much everything on your list. Wesley Chapel is too far from USF, IMO. Carrollwood is OK, but there isn't a highway close by, so you'd be stuck on Bearss to get to USF and there are several schools, so the commute will be very slow.

[nel700]

I like the picture algia!

I have a friend at USF that is telling me the commute might actually be quicker to USF, although a longer distance, from South Tampa than new Tampa due to the traffic on Bruce B Downs Boulevard. Is this true? How big of a difference does it make in commute time being east vs west of I-75?

The caveat is that I'm not finding much in south Tampa that meets my home requirements. Is it possible?

Finally, concerning resale value, do you see temple terrace getting better or worse over the next 5 years? TT "seems" like the most convenient place.

[algia]

South Tampa is very expensive. I don't see Temple Terrace going much further; too close to crack town IMO. My suggestion is that you rent first close to USF, so you have enough money/gas left to explore around and see what kind of commute you are willing to put up with after you know ALL avenues to get to your job.

I don't see how it can be an easier commute; you will still get stuck at Fletcher/Florida Ave, which is an awful traffic jam spot.

Originally Posted by nel700

I like the picture algia!

I have a friend at USF that is telling me the commute might actually be quicker to USF, although a longer distance, from South Tampa than new Tampa due to the traffic on Bruce B Downs Boulevard. Is this true? How big of a difference does it make in commute time being east vs west of I-75?

The caveat is that I'm not finding much in south Tampa that meets my home requirements. Is it possible?

Finally, concerning resale value, do you see temple terrace getting better or worse over the next 5 years? TT "seems" like the most convenient place.

[EngGirl]

If you are going to live in South Tampa and commute to USF, you actually might beat the traffic since most people are driving to downtown in the morning (opposite direction). As algie already said, South Tampa is expensive and you might end up with smaller and older house for your money.
Temple Terrace is a great location, but I personally wouldn't want to live up there. It's kind of a good little neighbourhood arounded with really bad ones... And most houses are way too old. As for the resale, from my point of you, we just looked at the house we liked at Temple Terrace, but the schools were not so good, so we let that house go. No wonder they list it for sale for so long...
I would recommend Seven Oaks community in Wesley Chapel. It's a very nice neighbourhood and it takes me 20-30 minutes to get to USF in the morning or evening. I wouldn't want to live in New Tampa due to heavy traffic at Bruce B. Downs and higher taxes.