Area to buy a house (Tampa, Orlando: apartment, lease, insurance)

[magnumek]

Hello everybody.
I am 25 years old. I moved to Florida with my wife few weeks ago. We were planning a move from NY for some time and we finally decided to do it. We were reading a lot about the coasts and we chose the Gulf Coast even though we like the East better (more to do, better nightlife, newer building, more palms, nicer areas, more luxurious feeling) we went with west mostly because of economic reasons, better culture, less crime. But we are still not 100% sure if we made a good choice. We leased an apartment in New Port Richey, the south-east area, to get a better idea of the areas before buying a property. Our lease ends in April so we are starting to look for a house or condo to buy, but its very hard to choose a region to settle down as each has its pros and cons. We are working from home so we don't need to be in the city but you never know what will the future bring so its nice to be near the city just in case. The areas that we are considering the most are:
- North Port (great houses for +/- $200k, newer buildings, low crime, great schools, lower insurance costs, constantly growing but it lacks a downtown, pretty far from everywhere, we are afraid to get bored there)
- Trinity (okay house pricing, low crime, nice area, not to far from Tampa airport, good schools but I don't know if we would feel good living in here)
- Lakewood Ranch (close to Sarasota, decent houses)


To be honest I dont like Tampa too much. I like the feeling of safety and I just dont have it in Tampa city at night. I like to go out and spend some time in a nice bar, restaurant, movies, park without having to look after my wifes safety, so low crime is very important but I think I kind of like Trinity, I have a suburb feel and I am close to everywhere, however the housing is worse than in North Port, its more pricey, the properties are older and the building structure is often more delicate. Its also nice that some parks are nearby as well as close to Orlando but the driving distance is not that important as I save a lot of driving during the week being able to work from home.

Could you please give some advises about the areas, the pros and cons of living there? I would also appreciate other ones with nice housing <$250k. I like to be close to the beach but the last hurricane reminded me to keep little off the water, so around half hour drive to the beach is totally fine. Still not sure if Sarasota or Tampa area would be better for us.

[AhHah]

Lakewood Ranch would suit you. Take a drive down to check it out.

[Benny the Mutt]

Take a few days in Lakewood Ranch area and see if the area fits your needs and desires. If it fits, rent there for a year. Sarasota area is preferable over Tampa metro for me.

[Sunscape]

I suggest Palm Harbor.

[mrviking]

Originally Posted by magnumek

To be honest I dont like Tampa too much. I like the feeling of safety and I just dont have it in Tampa city at night. I like to go out and spend some time in a nice bar, restaurant, movies, park without having to look after my wifes safety, so low crime is very important

Understandable, This is why the suburbs around tampa have been and still are exploding with growth. Most people will visit downtown or perhaps drive around south tampa but the rest we see from the interstate only. People are willing to work downtown and drive an hour away to pasco to live then buy a house in tampa.

[GHLBradentonFloridaGreat]

So my take is if you plan to have kids, move to Bradenton or Sarasota which falls in the whole Lakewood Ranch area (there's a street called Lakewood Ranch blvd and lots of communities from highway 64 all the way to Fruitville that are great). If though you want nightlife, it's not really here unless you like hanging out at the same places - meaning St Armonds Circle and the UTC Mall - all with great restaurants. Everything closes by 11pm and I'm not kidding when I say that. The early birds get out at 5pm and go home by 8pm and then you have a few hours and it closes down - from Lakewood Ranch Mainstreet to UTC to the cool places in St Armonds. Beautiful beaches though. Tampa and downtown Saint Petersburg have nightlife and you can stay out late. We have friends that are in Redington Beach and that entire coastline on the Gulf Cost is gorgeous. When buying, if you get a condo not on the first floor, you should be fine as far as the very minimal times we get extreme weather and flooding. If a house, just buy a place where there's no flood plain. We are in East Bradenton/LWR and don't have flooding at all. Our house had zero damage from the hurricane - not even loss of power. It's not a hopping party type atmosphere out here though - it's families and grandparents and empty nesters. Hope that helps. Our house is listed, but it's not in your price range, however if interested in LWR we've loved our neighborhood Greyhawk Landing 34212 zip code. The lots are large and it's gated with lots of young families. Further down LWR Blvd you have smaller more expensive lots, but are closer to Sarasota which is a bonus as well as there's a lot to do there from museums to beaches. Also, check out Amelia Island. Really nice place to be if you want to be on the beach and can work from home.