Fun place to live between Tampa and Trinity? (Palm Harbor, Sarasota: real estate, rentals) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

Sunshine9 · 02-26-2010, 02:28 PM

Hi Everyone,
My husband's company may transfer him from Sarasota to Trinity

. I will probably be working in Tampa (we love south Tampa but it's too far for him)so we're looking for a place to live in between the two. We're in our mid-40's, no kids, love outdoor activities and living within walking or biking distance to stuff (restaurants, shops, parks, etc.) We have visited Dunedin and Safety Harbor and liked them pretty well. We're not too crazy about suburbia. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for your help!

Sunshine9 · 02-27-2010, 11:35 AM

Nothing, huh? Just as I feared.

Keeper · 02-27-2010, 04:12 PM

How about Land O Lakes or Westchase? You didn't mention your budget. Carrollwood might also be an option but it is more suburbs. Westchase is a planned community and probably the most expensive of the 3 listed.

algia · 02-27-2010, 05:10 PM

What do you mean by "fun"???

That area is pretty much suburbia, you'll only find South Tampa in South Tampa and nowhere else around Tampa...everything north from where 275 meets Kennedy Blvd going up on Dale Mabry is either questionable or suburbia, Carrolwood and Northdale are in the middle but again, not all that walkable.............Trinity is all suburbia and shopping plazas, (with chains that is) nothing Unique! and also a LOT of nothing literally up on 54 around Trinity...

gypsychic · 02-27-2010, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunshine9

Hi Everyone,
My husband's company may transfer him from Sarasota to Trinity

. I will probably be working in Tampa (we love south Tampa but it's too far for him)so we're looking for a place to live in between the two. We're in our mid-40's, no kids, love outdoor activities and living within walking or biking distance to stuff (restaurants, shops, parks, etc.) We have visited Dunedin and Safety Harbor and liked them pretty well. We're not too crazy about suburbia. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for your help!

Well if you like Dunedin and Safety Harbor, why not one of them? A lot of good stuff gets said on these forums about those two towns. I personally like Tarpon Springs, it's a funky little Greek City with great restaurants and fun little shops on the sponge docks, and a nice little downtown with antique shops and other stuff. Only a few miles from Dunedin or Trinity, too.

Good luck!

Sunshine9 · 02-28-2010, 08:12 AM

Thanks for all of the input! Originally I thought Dunedin and Safety Harbor would be too far but I mapped both Trinity and downton Tampa and it's definitely doable. We're trying to stay within 15 to 20 miles of Trinity and 15 to 25 miles from Tampa (or St. Pete).

I did a lot of research yesterday and also came up with Oldsmar, Palm Harbor, Westchase and Countryway (most central for the two of us). We would like to rent a single family home (2/1 is fine) for $1,000 or less. I found a few except in Westchase which seems to be mostly condos and apts.

I think we're going to take a drive up that way tomorrow. Thanks again!

Sunshine9 · 03-02-2010, 10:05 AM

Hi Everyone,
We spent all day yesterday driving from Westchase to Countryway to Oldsmar to Palm Harbor to Dunedin to Safety Harbor. We took some listings for single family homes with us mostly from craigslist and they were pretty disappointing. Here's what I gathered from each area. Please let me know if I'm on the right track. Maybe there are nicer areas in some of these that we missed?

Westchase: Suburban but with an urban feel (West Park Village). Beautiful walking/running/biking trails. Love the trees. Really liked it but worried about the two pet limit. Anybody have any input on that? No SFH for rent only apts and condos.

Countryway: A little rural and depressing. Couldn't get to one of the houses due to road construction and the other was advertised as a standalone property but was in kind of a compound in a very rural feeling (and not in a good way) area.

Oldsmar: Pretty nice. I don't know, I wasn't bowled over but it wasn't bad. Can't seem to find many SFH for rent.

Palm Harbor: Busy. The houses we looked at were in kind of a sketchy area. I have since found two others that look better. This is a huge area so any advice on the best places to look would be greatly appreciated. Like the proximity to the beach and Dunedin.

Dunedin: Love this little town but, again, the houses were in a not so great neighborhood south of Beltrees.

Safety Harbor: Couldn't find any SFH rentals in this area but had to go see it anyway. It's so quaint. It's pretty small though and not so close to the beach. Is this a big snowbird area?

Also, if anyone knows of real estate agents I might be able to work with in these areas, I would really appreciate the info.

DagNabit · 03-03-2010, 05:08 AM

Have you tried manufactured home communities? There is a nice one in Trinity on 54 called Country Place Village.

Sunny-Days-in-Florida · 03-03-2010, 06:57 AM

I second Land O Lakes and if you can go on over to Wesley Chapel.

Many nice smaller towns within a small radius that you surely can find to your liking.

This is the perfect radius location to many, many fun things in Florida.

When we do get to come to Florida this is the areas we will be looking into.

Far too many advantages of living in this area not to keep looking.

ChrisEr · 08-29-2010, 07:28 PM

[quote=Sunny-Days90;13134384]I second Land O Lakes...

Hey there Sunshine. We're being transfered to that area as well. I don't know how reliable the advice was, but our realtor told us to stay away from Land-O-Lakes. He said it was hotter, drier, less people, the perfect place for meth., like the drug. Apparently he said it was prevalent in that area. Wherever you buy make sure you do a thorough Chinese drywall inspection. They are STILL discovering homes with the toxic materials.