Best area around Tampa to relocate to ... (Clearwater, Lakeland: for sale, real estate)

[Charlie]

My wife and I, along with my parents, are looking to relocate to Florida and are looking very seriously at the Tampa area because of it's size, economy and job market.
I'm looking for a little bit of guidance as it pertains to the area's suburbs and surrounding cities.
I guess that the easiest way to do this would be to list the areas that we're considering (or at least curious about) and see if anyone has any information about those areas.
What I'm most curious about is the travel time from these areas to Tampa, travel time from these areas to the beach, property taxes in these areas, how these areas are affected by hurricanes and how expensive is home insurance with flood and hurricane protection, how suburban or rural are these areas? Those are a lot of specifics, so I guess whatever information anyone has about these areas would be greatly appreciated.

- Brandon
- Riverview
- Apollo Beach
- Plant City
- Lakeland
- Spring Hill

Thanks,
Charlie

[maggiekate]

Tampa area has alot of traffic with more construction and people moving here. The Brandon area is traffic heavy also. I would research the new tampa area, wesley chapel which is in pasco county and has lower taxes.

This in a new area booming. Also in pasco county check land o lakes they have new roads which would get you into downtown tampa.

Further out is st leo and dade city which still are country.

judy

[linjoe87]

It depends on what U R used to and what U want. I take the Long Island Expressway 15 miles and it takes 45 minutes. Now I am looking at a ten minute drive from Riverview or Valrico to Tampa

I would add Valrico to your list and remove Plant City and Spring Hill

[helix139]

tampa taxes will eat you up! 1/2 price to live in crowded brandon but with no lot lines (house right next to yours!) plant city has more "good ol' boys" but you've gotta deal with I-4; apollo beach? Not sure but I'm sure real estate will eat you alive! Spring hill seems where everyone is moving but not sure if it is kid friendly...no kid stuff?
Travel time to beaches are not too bad if you leave before 9am and leave right noon as the traffic sucks. My wife used to travel from st pete after work and it took her an hour and half to go 22 miles! so she's working somewhere else..no doubt.
Seriously, the only way I'd move here to Florida is if I had a pocket full of cash, didn't mind the taxes being sooo high, and if I absolutely had to have the wonderful sunshine we have here.

[Charlie]

Well, my wife went to college in Florida and loved it and has always wanted to move back. That, along with the fact that my mother has health problems and it was suggested to her that she live in a warmer environment.
I think it would be accurate to say that my wife "absolutely has to have the wonderful sunshine". LOL

So would it be more reasonable to try and move to one of the counties surrounding Hillsborough, instead of living in Hillsborough?

It was mentioned that Spring Hill is growing rapidly, but also that I should cross it off of the list ... could someone explain why? Is it still really rural out there? Is the drive to the Tampa area to far?

[maggiekate]

cross it off your list because to insure a home it will be big money.

This area has alot of sink holes, which is why you can not get home insurance.

judy

[summergal]

I'll second that! Spring Hill is NOT anyplace you want to be. People's houses fall into the abyss! Seriously, you don't want to buy a home and have it crumble at any moment. Not to mention, the commute to any real employment will have you fighting traffic for 90 minutes.

[Charlie]

Why is there such a bad sink hole problem in Spring Hill? Is it a problem consistent throughout that county? Is there any problem with this is Pasco?

[summergal]

Actually sink holes are a problem in all 4 counties in the "bay" area and most likely other counties as well. Spring Hill is pretty active though. There are sink holes here in Clearwater also, but just not as frequent. Beware of nice homes for sale for exceptionally inexpensive prices.... they are suspect.

[horquist]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Why is there such a bad sink hole problem in Spring Hill? Is it a problem consistent throughout that county? Is there any problem with this is Pasco?

I lived in Tampa for seven years, 1998 to 2005. The sinkhole problem seemed to be the worst in the northern counties, like Hernando, Citrus and Pasco counties, but can happen anyplace around the Tampa Bay area. The cause is that Florida's "foundations" are limestone, which is porous, and is full of little caves that at one time were full of water. Florida goes through periodic drought cycles, due to inadequate rainfall during the summer months, when almost all of the annual precipitation occurs. The limestone aquifers are where a lot of the rain ends up. During drought cycles (there were two bad drought years during the seven years that I lived there) these underground limestone caves get emptied of their water. Then, eventually it rains again, sometimes pretty hard, and the ground between the surface and these empty limestone caves gets saturated with water and can then collapse, partly filling in the cave, which has now become a hole in the ground, a "sinkhole". Whatever's on top of this hole falls into it, or whatever, you can imagine if your house is on top of one. Cars can fall into them, too.
The areas you have mentioned in your previous posts are all way out in the suburbs. Are you going to work in the central area of Tampa? If so, you will have to drive for perhaps an hour in slow traffic to get in from the outlying suburbs on interstates 275 or 4. If you are not going to have to go into the central area of Tampa, then that isn't a big deal. I don't know anything about these high taxes that others have mentioned in responses to your post. Houses in Tampa are a lot cheaper than they can be in many other big and medium-sized cities in the US. If you want to be reasonably close to the central part of Tampa, try looking in Temple Terrace. My wife and I lived there and we liked it. It's also close to Busch Gardens. Perhaps the sinkhole problems that were in the news while I lived there were occurring in the northern counties because they are being developed intensively for the first time, nowdays. Perhaps the sinkholes in the more central counties, like Hillsborough and Pinellas, have already happened in the past and been filled in.