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Old 12-23-2014, 09:39 AM
 
1 posts, read 3,960 times
Reputation: 11

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Hello Everyone,

My wife and I are in our mid 20s and looking into moving to the Tampa area. I am an attorney and she is an engineer and we will likely be looking for jobs in and around Downtown Tampa. However, both of us are into rural living and current live in a rural area of Southeast Florida. Our current commutes are anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, so we are used to long commutes. However, we are tired of South Florida for many and have loved Tampa every time we have visited (my grandfather lives in South Tampa).

Our current plan is to rent/lease in South Tampa for a year and then move out to a rural area. This will allow for an adjustment to Tampa itself before we move away.

From what I have researched, both Dade City and Plant City appear to be very nice places to live, both aesthetically and communally. Despite being in our early 20s, we are very private, quiet people who enjoy more family and outdoor activities (hiking, particularly), go to Catholic mass every week, are conservative, et cetera. I hope to one day leave law and seriously get into agriculture, so that is another thing to consider.

I feel it is moot to ask because I personally do not believe we will have an issue, but I am White and Southern, with roots in Virginia, and my wife is half-Puerto Rican and half-Cuban so she is "tan". We have never experienced the horrors of being an "interracial" couple in a rural area that people always speak about (this counts for rural Virginia, too!), but I suppose it is a question that must be asked.

We are also planning to start a family very soon and are concerned about the things such as school, community, and crime. We are hoping to home school our children but the quality of schools will also tell us how presumably our children's friends will be educated.

So, I am open to recommendations on rural locations in commuting distance to Tampa where we can find a friendly, quiet community that would be great to raise our children.
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Old 12-23-2014, 12:31 PM
 
17,454 posts, read 38,838,370 times
Reputation: 24073
Hi there! I would recommend Dade City hands down over Plant City, but it is only my opinion. Dade City (and it's surrounding areas which include Darby, San Antonio, St. Leo, Blanton and Trilby) are really gorgeous - there are many rolling hills, woods, lakes pastures that give the area incredible natural beauty. We lived there for about 10 years, and my husband commuted to downtown Tampa. That was several years ago, and the commute time from where we lived was about an hour due to traffic on I-75 and 275.

Plant City is probably closer, and it's OK, but you won't get the rolling hills. I am just really not a fan of that area, or the I-4 commute. We lived in Lakeland after Dade City, so my husband also commuted from that area, and I-4 gets really horrible.

I would recommend St. Leo/San Antonio. Not only would your commute be better, this area is gorgeous and very Catholic oriented. St. Leo University is there (Catholic) and catholic schools. You will not have any issue with a Latina wife. There are many Mexicans and other Latinos in the area.

Welcome to the San Antonio, Florida

Hope this helps!
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Old 12-24-2014, 06:49 AM
 
Location: Western North Carolina
1,296 posts, read 1,111,924 times
Reputation: 2010
If you head east out of Tampa on 60, you'll come to Dover Road just past the tracks in Valrico/Brandon. This is where the county separates urban and rural services in Hillsborough and you'll see the change from suburban to rural immediately. There's plenty of rural homes and ag space here (more to the south side, away from I-4) and it's between Plant City and Brandon so city services and amenities are close by. Hillsborough County schools are considered among the better schools in the state. Also, there is a good mix of Anglo and Hispanic folks in the Plant City area, you're wife's 'pedigree' won't mean a thing there.

And Gypsychic is correct, the San Antonio/St. Leo area is very nice, very pretty and the monks at St. Leo Abbey even have a gift shop!

Last edited by Last1Out; 12-24-2014 at 06:57 AM..
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Old 05-27-2015, 02:48 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,639 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Longitude View Post
Hello Everyone,

My wife and I are in our mid 20s and looking into moving to the Tampa area. I am an attorney and she is an engineer and we will likely be looking for jobs in and around Downtown Tampa. However, both of us are into rural living and current live in a rural area of Southeast Florida. Our current commutes are anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, so we are used to long commutes. However, we are tired of South Florida for many and have loved Tampa every time we have visited (my grandfather lives in South Tampa).

Our current plan is to rent/lease in South Tampa for a year and then move out to a rural area. This will allow for an adjustment to Tampa itself before we move away.

From what I have researched, both Dade City and Plant City appear to be very nice places to live, both aesthetically and communally. Despite being in our early 20s, we are very private, quiet people who enjoy more family and outdoor activities (hiking, particularly), go to Catholic mass every week, are conservative, et cetera. I hope to one day leave law and seriously get into agriculture, so that is another thing to consider.

I feel it is moot to ask because I personally do not believe we will have an issue, but I am White and Southern, with roots in Virginia, and my wife is half-Puerto Rican and half-Cuban so she is "tan". We have never experienced the horrors of being an "interracial" couple in a rural area that people always speak about (this counts for rural Virginia, too!), but I suppose it is a question that must be asked.

We are also planning to start a family very soon and are concerned about the things such as school, community, and crime. We are hoping to home school our children but the quality of schools will also tell us how presumably our children's friends will be educated.

So, I am open to recommendations on rural locations in commuting distance to Tampa where we can find a friendly, quiet community that would be great to raise our children.
Hello, just wondering if you ended up moving to Dade City. My husband and I are contemplation the move to Dade City since last year we visited relatives in St. Petersburg. We have 3 little girls and are looking for a county living feel close to the city and beach. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
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Old 05-27-2015, 03:28 PM
 
299 posts, read 374,261 times
Reputation: 346
Lots of nice areas.. I live in Lakeland just east of Plant City..
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Old 05-27-2015, 04:59 PM
 
3 posts, read 7,639 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyboytampabay View Post
Lots of nice areas.. I live in Lakeland just east of Plant City..
how far is the drive from Lakeland to Tampa? Are there big properties there like Dade City?
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Old 05-27-2015, 06:30 PM
KPB
 
1,517 posts, read 1,505,516 times
Reputation: 1314
Quote:
Originally Posted by nancysojo View Post
how far is the drive from Lakeland to Tampa? Are there big properties there like Dade City?

I'm from Tampa, got tired of the traffic and moved to Lakeland about a year ago.
It takes about 30 min to get to downtown Tampa. There's a lot of land/country out here (Polk County). There's not the big hills like there is around Dade City, which is a beautiful area as well, but there are a lot of lakes in "Lakeland".
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Old 05-27-2015, 06:45 PM
 
Location: South Tampa
1,163 posts, read 2,088,565 times
Reputation: 1069
Wimauma, Balm, and Parrish are also worth looking into.
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Old 05-28-2015, 01:07 PM
 
1,905 posts, read 2,771,213 times
Reputation: 1086
Hispanics are pretty spread around Florida as a whole so you shouldn't have any problems I mean seriously its not like they are rare at all.
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Old 05-28-2015, 01:33 PM
 
Location: Land O' Lakes, FL
473 posts, read 539,607 times
Reputation: 654
Quote:
Originally Posted by KPB View Post
I'm from Tampa, got tired of the traffic and moved to Lakeland about a year ago.
It takes about 30 min to get to downtown Tampa.
Very dependent on day and time, it can easily take an hour to and hour and fifteen from Tamp to Lakeland or reverse.
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