Relocating from NJ to Tampa...please help! (Clearwater, Dunedin: homes, landscaping)

[cherilgrl]

Hello,

My husband and I are looking for a nice family friendly
community in the Tampa area. We have three children ages
6,8, and 10. My 10 year old is autistic so a school district with a
good special needs program is very important to us. Our budget is $350k
and some additional items on our wish list are:
- Good and solid school district
-Family friendly community
-walkable town (close to shops)
- Not too far from water (beach, lake, etc)
- Area that has homes with character (not the typical
cookie cutter type of home). I really like porches but when I look
Online I didn't see any homes with one.
-Diverse population. I currently live in a town that is not diverse at all. My
Husband and I have friends from all over the world and we would like for our children
To have the same experience.

Please excuse any grammatical errors as I am typing this from my phone.

Thanks

[kyle19125]

Check out Safety Harbor or the bordering Countryside area of NE Clearwater. They have good/solid schools, are safe/family-friendly, are somewhat walkable but probably not in the sense you would hope for (few areas are here), close to the beach and Tampa Bay (about 20-30 minutes to the beach, 10-15 minutes to the Bay) and typically well-kept up 1980s/1990s build homes that aren't cookie-cutter and feature mature landscaping. In terms of diversity you're not going to find that here so much as the population is typically either White (predominately), Black and some Hispanic...living segregated for the most part. Anyplace you'll find with much of a racial mix is liable to have fairly poor schools unfortunately.

[rnedd]

Another area you could consider is Dunedin. Great downtown area and close to the water. Plus there are a lot of unique older homes in various areas throughout the city. Most people have never heard of it but when they come here and visit it they find it quaint and enjoyable. And it has a good amount of Scottish population since it is considered a sister city to Edinborough. Another area you could consider is Tarpon Springs - there are also some areas with very unique older homes, it is close to the water plus it has a very large and active Greek community.

[MortonR]

Only place that meets your criteria is Fishhawk Ranch.

Schools there are excellent and all of your children will be well cared for and educated.

RM

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by cherilgrl

Hello,

My husband and I are looking for a nice family friendly
community in the Tampa area. We have three children ages
6,8, and 10. My 10 year old is autistic so a school district with a
good special needs program is very important to us. Our budget is $350k
and some additional items on our wish list are:
- Good and solid school district
-Family friendly community
-walkable town (close to shops)
- Not too far from water (beach, lake, etc)
- Area that has homes with character (not the typical
cookie cutter type of home). I really like porches but when I look
Online I didn't see any homes with one.
-Diverse population. I currently live in a town that is not diverse at all. My
Husband and I have friends from all over the world and we would like for our children
To have the same experience.

Please excuse any grammatical errors as I am typing this from my phone.

Thanks

Originally Posted by MortonR

Only place that meets your criteria is Fishhawk Ranch.

Schools there are excellent and all of your children will be well cared for and educated.

RM

Fishhawk Ranch is walkable, close to water, has character homes and is diverse? Wow, I had no idea.

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Fishhawk Ranch is walkable, close to water, has character homes and is diverse? Wow, I had no idea.

I think that was sarcasm.

[The b8nk]

Originally Posted by cherilgrl

Hello,


-walkable town (close to shops)
- Not too far from water (beach, lake, etc)
- Area that has homes with character (not the typical
cookie cutter type of home).

does not exist anywhere in florida.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

I think that was sarcasm.

And obviously someone who has never been in the center section near the town center. And yes, it's not that close to the water, but the list of requirements the OP has given are pretty unrealistic to begin with....

RM

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by MortonR

And obviously someone who has never been in the center section near the town center. And yes, it's not that close to the water, but the list of requirements the OP has given are pretty unrealistic to begin with....

RM

It also wouldn't meet the not cookie cutter criteria, IMO if you go Fishhawk you might as well look at Westchase, but yes you are correct that list criteria is not realistic for Tampa anyway. I dont know where you would find that combination, I guess you would need to refine the walkable criteria, what does it mean, a supermarket and a couple of chain restaurants?, I think you would need to look at a big city and if you do then public schools are out the window, the whole diversity thing too is hard to define what that means.

[NALEXAND]

Try downtown near Channelside or Hyde Park for availability and Bayshore for water.