St. Pete - Worth it to buy in more expensive/happening areas like Crescent Lake/Old NE/Coffee Pot?

[BBurn]

Originally Posted by mph101

South Tampa is a small peninsula. Any time you have water barriers, even rivers your options are limited in and out. That is why evacuation on the entire peninsula is a nightmare in a major hurricane while in the panhandle its bad but you can go east, west, and north.
You are wise to consider the flood zone. The flood insurance program is up for refunding I believe in May and it will not be pretty.
For me a commute from NE St Petersburg to McDill is with in range. You are at the mercy of the bridge traffic but again you would be if you had to cross a river in a any major metro and the only major road crossing was backed up.

I may end up regretting our decision to live on this side of the bay, but I've crossed it ~10 times back and forth around the times I'll be working and haven't had to commute more than 40 minutes yet. I'm sure it'll happen when someone crashes on the bridge, but every once in a while is no big deal. And for the price we paid, I didn't see anything comparable between Gandy and Kennedy in S. Tampa.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by BBurn

I may end up regretting our decision to live on this side of the bay, but I've crossed it ~10 times back and forth around the times I'll be working and haven't had to commute more than 40 minutes yet. I'm sure it'll happen when someone crashes on the bridge, but every once in a while is no big deal. And for the price we paid, I didn't see anything comparable between Gandy and Kennedy in S. Tampa.

For you, 40+ minutes and the occasional hour or more, is perfectly fine.
For me, 40+ minutes would be unacceptable.
Life is too short to spend more than 10 minutes commuting.

In addition, when there is bad weather, they always close the bridges. You will get stuck either at home or at work.

Lastly, they are getting ready to re-do the Howard Frankland bridge and the Westshore I-275 interchange.

40 minutes will seem like a distant memory.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by sinatras

For you, 40+ minutes and the occasional hour or more, is perfectly fine.
For me, 40+ minutes would be unacceptable.
Life is too short to spend more than 10 minutes commuting.

In addition, when there is bad weather, they always close the bridges. You will get stuck either at home or at work.

Lastly, they are getting ready to re-do the Howard Frankland bridge and the Westshore I-275 interchange.

40 minutes will seem like a distant memory.

Sadly, this poster is right. OP, what's done is done, but be prepared for some bad commutes.

[BBurn]

Originally Posted by sinatras

Life is too short to spend more than 10 minutes commuting.

I am normally with you on this, but as I mentioned, there are other factors at play for me; otherwise, we'd have stayed in Colorado. The uncertainty was a major factor in purchasing a smaller, less-expensive home, where another move would be less painful than if we'd purchased something at the top of our range.

Also, 10 minutes to MacDill AFB is slim pickings. It's either south of Gandy, which seems pretty sketchy other than Ballast Point, flood zone AE, or $375k for a 3/2 that probably needs some work.