St. Pete Beach, Madeira, and Treasure Island--Need Info!! (St. Petersburg, Palm Harbor: apartments, rentals)

[Susannah Noll]

Hey everyone,

Hoping to find some insight from the locals. My husband and I, 28 and 30 (no kids, just dogs) are will be looking to rent down there soon. (Trying to rent out our house first in Chattanooga, TN). Anyway, visited last year. Loved St. pete beach, TI, and Madeira. Loved how each one had great restaurants, was unique and they all ran into each other. So I have been doing tons of research and are having trouble finding apartments near the beach (other than Gulf Vistas in Reddington). We have found some houses for rent, but of coarse, may not be available when we get there, so an apt complex may be easier for right now. Of that area, can someone point me in the direction of some very convenient apts? Would LOVE to be able to walk to some places and the beach. Seems like I have only been able to find them in St. Petersburg.

Also, does anyone have a preference of St. Pete Beach, TI, or Madeira??? What's the good and bad of them?

thanks so much

[tonyff67]

IMO, Maderia is going to have a bit more lower income people. Still lots of nice middle and upper class areas, but has more run down apts and transient people than the other two you mentioned.
St Pete beach is nice, but has way more tourists than the other two. St Pete has a lot more resorts, and is much more walkable tHan TI or Maderia. St Pete Beach has almost everything you need in your daily life on the island.
TI is the quietest, and least touristy though we still get plenty, just not as much as the other two. TI has the least amount of less desirables, but that is probably because 90% of the residential on TI is waterfront. We have about 5 or 6 homeless people on the island, but everyone knows who they are and they tend to keep to themselves. TI police have no problem giving the homeless a hard time if they give them a reason to.

[Susannah Noll]

Thanks TonyFF. Thats the gist we had gotten. Do you know of ANY st pete's Beach apartments?? We cannot find any!! Only in St.Petersurg.

[Maggi07]

Zillow has condos and apts. for rent in St. Pete Beach: Saint Pete Beach Apartments for rent & Saint Pete Beach FL Apartment Rentals - Zillow

[tonyff67]

Not too many apt complexes in the beach communities. Look at realtor.com
You should be able to find nice rentals
Here are a few of the cheaper listings for the 33706 zip code. Page 7 | 33706 Apartments, Homes and Houses for Rent | MLS Rentals - realtor.com®

[BBI]

Originally Posted by Susannah Noll

Hey everyone,

Hoping to find some insight from the locals. My husband and I, 28 and 30 (no kids, just dogs) are will be looking to rent down there soon. (Trying to rent out our house first in Chattanooga, TN). Anyway, visited last year. Loved St. pete beach, TI, and Madeira. Loved how each one had great restaurants, was unique and they all ran into each other. So I have been doing tons of research and are having trouble finding apartments near the beach (other than Gulf Vistas in Reddington). We have found some houses for rent, but of coarse, may not be available when we get there, so an apt complex may be easier for right now. Of that area, can someone point me in the direction of some very convenient alts? Would LOVE to be able to walk to some places and the beach. Seems like I have only been able to find them in St. Petersburg.

Also, does anyone have a preference of St. Pete Beach, TI, or Madeira??? What's the good and bad of them?

thanks so much

I can't tell from your post -- are you planning to move, or just come for a long vacation? For vacation, check out VRBO.com. If you're moving here, I'd caution against moving to a beach community. Very few people your age actually live there. The tourist crowd is fun during beach season, but they'll all leave when the weekend's over, and the other half of the year it's just you and the snowbirds.

Anyway, among those three, my favorite spot is Pass-A-Grille, which is the southern tip of St. Pete Beach. The beachfront's not all high-rises, and there are a couple of very chill bars and restaurants in the little downtown-ish area.

[tonyff67]

Originally Posted by BBI

I can't tell from your post -- are you planning to move, or just come for a long vacation? For vacation, check out VRBO.com. If you're moving here, I'd caution against moving to a beach community. Very few people your age actually live there. The tourist crowd is fun during beach season, but they'll all leave when the weekend's over, and the other half of the year it's just you and the snowbirds.

Anyway, among those three, my favorite spot is Pass-A-Grille, which is the southern tip of St. Pete Beach. The beachfront's not all high-rises, and there are a couple of very chill bars and restaurants in the little downtown-ish area.

The beach communities are older, not prehistoric, but older? Pass-A-Grille is nice, but probably has the Oldest people in the area. Everytime I go down there, I see nothing but Q-tips.

[BBI]

Originally Posted by tonyff67

The beach communities are older, not prehistoric, but older? Pass-A-Grille is nice, but probably has the Oldest people in the area. Everytime I go down there, I see nothing but Q-tips.

Pretty much all of the barrier island residents are very old, other than some service industry workers. PAG isn't as touristy, so fewer young tourists and fewer young service folks. I think that tradeoff would be worth it because I like the vibe in PAG so much more than TI or Madeira, where the beachfront is all high-rises separated from neighborhoods by a very busy road. But I'm also early 30s/married/no kids, so none of the beach communities are a good fit for me. Made that mistake when we first moved here a few years ago. I could see the beach becoming an option if/when we have kids, though.

[Ronnie-N]

I like all of those areas. I live in Palm Harbor and like to drive down on some weekends.