Lutz/Wesley Chapel (Tampa: condo, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[Kittyruns]

Hi,
Our timeline for a move to the Tampa Bay Area is 6-18 months from now (it's supposed to be 14 degrees and windy on Saturday...ugh... here in Pittsburgh). I think I have it narrowed down to the Lutz or Wesley Chapel area at this point. Something I am wondering is about commuting if I end up working in downtown Tampa. Everyone talks about the horrendous traffic around Tampa and I would like to have an idea about how bad it truly is from people who commute from those area (or travel between the two on a fairly regular basis).

The reason those areas are looking like it will be where we end up is that there are several communities that are townhomes or a combo of single family homes and townhomes and we are hoping to airbnb to Virginia a few weeks each summer to visit our son so we can leave a townhome and have the yard maintained while we are away.

Also, someone recently told me that you need a pool or access to a pool. Do you all find that to be true or do you tend to make more frequent beach visits when you need to cool off...or just sip a margarita in the A/C??

I truly appreciate any firsthand knowledge of Lutz, Traffic and the commute between Lutz/WC and Downtown Tampa and if a swimming pool is a must have for the Florida summers!

Thank you so much for your help!

[fajitajamboree]

Hi Kitty,

Hope that you make the move! Tampa is a wonderful city that is interesting, growing quickly, and diverse. As a native, I am pleased with the positive changes our area has seen in the last two decades.

I am very familiar with the Lutz and Wesley Chapel areas. Both are nice, safe, and have all the typical amenities of suburbia. Commute to downtown would take around 45 minutes each way, I would think , depending on the time of day. Some choose to work earlier and leave earlier, that helps significantly.

We have a swimming pool and love it, but we also have children at home. It is a fair bit of upkeep which I do myself instead of paying a service, which can be pretty pricey. I think if you are wanting to Air B&B your place, a pool would be a huge selling point. A community pool can be a really great compromise instead of having your own. Be aware though that most of those new neighborhoods with all the great amenities have sizeable CDD fees attached to them, which are paid in your taxes, often more than you would pay for a similar house with its own pool.

Feel free to ask any more questions about our area, pools, or neighborhoods.

[EngGirl]

Live in Wesley Chapel and community to Tampa downtown for work. Depending on the time you will be living it might take you from 30-40 minutes to 1 hr 15 minutes one way. To avoid traffic you need to leave Wesley Chapel/Lutz by 6:30 am otherwise you will be bumper to bumper on I-275 between Fletcher exit and all the way to downtown. But Lutz and Wesley Chapel are also getting bigger as I type. Depending how far you will be from I-75/I-275 it might take you half an hour to get just to interstate.

As for yard maintenance - some communities (single family homes) include yard maintenance, but honestly if you hire someone to take care of it for you it won't be a problem year around. The cos of yard maintenance runs for about $120 a month and worth every penny. We leave Florida for 4-6 weeks few times a year and don't worry about lawn.

As for the pool, most communities have these for residents to use. Most pools are very busy during summer. I don't really enjoy strangers next to my shoulder and rarely use pool and live here with no problems. We went to the beach maybe twice last year. Living vs vacationing in Florida are different things lol.

[castlechurch]

I used to live in WC and commute to the area of I275/Busch - so not all the way into DT. Just that commute would take upwards of an hour in traffic, and that missed most of the interstate traffic, which is worse after you pass Busch. Surface local roads are not much, if any better. I would imagine Lutz to be about 45 min - an hour and WC to be around 1.5 or so....and that was 6 years ago. Traffic is worse now.

As for a pool, it certainly is nice to have a pool to go to April-October. Community pools are OK, but can get crowded. The beach is great, but trekking over from Lutz/WC will take an hour or more and then you have to deal with being wet or/and sandy when you return home, not many people make that trip often for just a few hours...I only make it to the beach a few times each summer, and we own a beach condo (that rents out most of the time, however). Unless the beach is your "thing" I would not expect to be going there all the time just to cool off.

No, most people just have AC, or learn to be OK with the heat. I have AC and keep the house around 76 all the time, but I don't mind going out kayaking or walking in the heat either. The zoo and aquarium both have splash pads for kids, and so do several county parks.