New job in Plant City, but where to live? (Tampa: apartments, rent)

[just_visiting 9]

Hello city-data forum community!

My wife and I are moving next month, both in our 50's. We prefer a modern area with nearby conveniences, food stores, restaurants, etc. & newer places to live in without sky high prices since we'll rent for the first year. I'll be working, she'll have spare time but is limited in mobility to short drives or public transportation. Plant City's Walden Lakewood apartments are next to shopping and close to the job but there's not much else in the area so that expands my search to include Brandon or Seffner to be near the coast, or perhaps Lakeland area. Any suggestions among those 3 or should I stick with Plant City?

[PhotoProIP]

Originally Posted by just_visiting 9

Hello city-data forum community!

My wife and I are moving next month, both in our 50's. We prefer a modern area with nearby conveniences, food stores, restaurants, etc. & newer places to live in without sky high prices since we'll rent for the first year. I'll be working, she'll have spare time but is limited in mobility to short drives or public transportation. Plant City's Walden Lakewood apartments are next to shopping and close to the job but there's not much else in the area so that expands my search to include Brandon or Seffner to be near the coast, or perhaps Lakeland area. Any suggestions among those 3 or should I stick with Plant City?

Unless you're looking for a commute from hell through I-4 daily I suggest you stick to Plant City.

"The Coast" is well over an hour from PC.

Brandon is VERY crowded. There is not public transit that is usable, so don't rely on that.

[flyboytampabay]

Look at Lakeland just a few miles to the east. It does have buses, but don't know that much about them. I live here and everything you need is here.

[Last1Out]

You might want to check out what's available close to Lumsden Road on the south side of Brandon / Valrico. There are a lot of village type neighborhoods where you can walk to local markets or drive a short distance to others. Lumsden is also a straight feed into Tampa so you can get to the city quickly for anything you want to do there. For beaches, take Lumsden to I-75 south and head for Bradenton's beaches, they're among the best and you can avoid the Tampa St. Pete nightmare trying to get to the Pinellas beaches. If you're on the east end of Lumsden, in Valrico, Plant City is only 10 to 15 minutes away. Good hunting.

[SeaSpur]

Originally Posted by PhotoProIP

Unless you're looking for a commute from hell through I-4 daily I suggest you stick to Plant City.

"The Coast" is well over an hour from PC.

Brandon is VERY crowded. There is not public transit that is usable, so don't rely on that.

As long as they are east of Malfunction Junction, traffic actually moves pretty smoothly with very little congestion on I-4...until you get to Disney area.

Now *getting* to I-4 from parts of Brandon and Riverview can get extremely challenging and another story.

Slim choices for OP with their requirements if they are limited to Plant City, Lakeland, etc. There just isn't a lot of economic bang in those areas to demand a need for communities with all of those amenities.

[just_visiting 9]

Originally Posted by Last1Out

You might want to check out what's available close to Lumsden Road on the south side of Brandon / Valrico. There are a lot of village type neighborhoods where you can walk to local markets or drive a short distance to others. Lumsden is also a straight feed into Tampa so you can get to the city quickly for anything you want to do there. For beaches, take Lumsden to I-75 south and head for Bradenton's beaches, they're among the best and you can avoid the Tampa St. Pete nightmare trying to get to the Pinellas beaches. If you're on the east end of Lumsden, in Valrico, Plant City is only 10 to 15 minutes away. Good hunting.

Great suggestion, thanks. I'm lining up some visits to inspect the locations.

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by Last1Out

You might want to check out what's available close to Lumsden Road on the south side of Brandon / Valrico. There are a lot of village type neighborhoods where you can walk to local markets or drive a short distance to others. Lumsden is also a straight feed into Tampa so you can get to the city quickly for anything you want to do there. For beaches, take Lumsden to I-75 south and head for Bradenton's beaches, they're among the best and you can avoid the Tampa St. Pete nightmare trying to get to the Pinellas beaches. If you're on the east end of Lumsden, in Valrico, Plant City is only 10 to 15 minutes away. Good hunting.

I had an appointment in plant city today around park/hwy92 it took me about 15minutes from lumsden.
Nice peaceful drive looking at all the farm land and such. Spoke with a guy that works close by there and lives close to Fish Hawk and Boyette. He told me his morning commutes are going against rush hour and he does it in 30 mins most days.

[just_visiting 9]

Originally Posted by mrviking

I had an appointment in plant city today around park/hwy92 it took me about 15minutes from lumsden.
Nice peaceful drive looking at all the farm land and such. Spoke with a guy that works close by there and lives close to Fish Hawk and Boyette. He told me his morning commutes are going against rush hour and he does it in 30 mins most days.

Excellent point, thanks. Head out of town when everyone else is going in.

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by just_visiting 9

Excellent point, thanks. Head out of town when everyone else is going in.

He told me his old job was towards oldsmar. He had to fight the tampa traffic and town and country/westchase/airport traffic everyday. He said the worse part of his day was going home from that part of town. Not many options for roads out there. Now he gets to head east towards plant city while most of his neighbors head west towards tampa. Night and Day he says. Nice bonus he told me is all the small produce stands he stops by coming home.

[just_visiting 9]

Excellent, thanks again. I've now focused on living in the Brandon area, either side of I-75 has some nice looking places I'll check out next week (even a 55+ community, I'm sorry to admit). The farm stands are icing on the cake!