Looking for info on certain FL areas.

[DecoDiva]

Originally Posted by scholomanc

Hello Everyone. I'm new to this forum. I was wondering if I could get info on certain Fl. areas, such as Bayonet Point, Land O Lakes, New Port Richey, Tarpon Springs, Hudson etc. I will be retiring in 4 years from New York and have done some research on Palm Harbor. It seems lovely. Almost too good to be true. I'm interested in single family house prices, job opportunities & crime stats. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm here in New Port Richey and I'm a Long Island NY girl...and I'm NOT a happy camper! First of all...people at Publix are very friendly, and in general everyone seems to be pretty nice...but Route 19, the major road right through town is 6 lanes of the ugliest stretch of road in the entire country. Nothing but topless bars followed by used car lots followed by fast food joints and cash cashing places. There are major major car accidents with people being airlifted to area hospitals every couple of hours. The roads are filled with little old people who really shouldn't be driving anymore, and good ol' boys in pickup trucks who have a few too many Bud Light's under their belts to be safely driving. (sigh). I've GOTTA get outta here, I am miserable with a capital M.

Not to mention the work situation...I'm a Registered Nurse, and I can make almost as much as I made in New York down here (surprising!) but my ex, who was earning $45 an hour in NY working in electronics, was out of work here for quite some time, with the only job offer a measely $8 an hour. After six months, he was able to find a job in Tampa, but he only earns $14 an hour. Granted, things here are much much much cheaper than in NY, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning for $14 an hour.

As far as the towns themselves, I've found Tarpon to be lovely, as well as Palm Harbor. But New Port Richey...I guess I'm just a "New York SNOB"...this ain't workin' for me~~!!!

Good luck to you.

One thing I will say, I sure don't miss the snow...but I also had to learn how to cook chinese myself. There is NOTHING in the world like NY restaurants...and while we've been able to find some nice Italian places, good Thai, great Greek, some OK steak places, there is not one indian restaurant and the chinese, although there's a chinese place on every corner...we have NEVER found one single chinese restaurant that we didn't just leave all the food on the table and walk out (after we paid the bill of course). And our favorite Italian place actually has their pizza dough shipped down from New Jersey! And were actually able to find a reasonable "Jewish" deli-type restaurant, which happens to be in Palm Harbor.

I've just put my condo on the market. I sold my NY condo for $320,000, and bought a little one in NPR for $79.5K. I'm gonna have to take a loss, but I gotta get outta here. I'm looking at St Pete, Tampa, and Dunedin right now.

[DecoDiva]

Originally Posted by Songbird42

I understand that if you buy a home in the Cascades in Brooksville, you are hit with both city (Brooksville) and county taxes......combined taxes would be around $4,000.......homes start at $170,000 and up.

Interesting why anyone would want to come to Fl. and spend $$$ on taxes and HOI......the weather is no bargain either.

Well I paid $600 in taxes this year on my condo...and on Long Island I had to refinance my condo in order to pay my property taxes almost every year...my taxes were over $5,000. My electric bills in Florida even with the a/c going MOST of the time all year long have NEVER been more than $125. On Long Island, my electric bills, no matter the season, were never less than $500 a month. Those are pretty good reasons for wanting to spend my money in Florida, I think.

[LianeMJ]

I'd avoid New Port Richey. You might think about the Brandon area. Apollo Beach is also nice but there's not much out there but water, but if you are a "near the water" kind of person, its still very affordable to live there.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by DecoDiva

I'm here in New Port Richey and I'm a Long Island NY girl...and I'm NOT a happy camper! First of all...people at Publix are very friendly, and in general everyone seems to be pretty nice...but Route 19, the major road right through town is 6 lanes of the ugliest stretch of road in the entire country. Nothing but topless bars followed by used car lots followed by fast food joints and cash cashing places. There are major major car accidents with people being airlifted to area hospitals every couple of hours. The roads are filled with little old people who really shouldn't be driving anymore, and good ol' boys in pickup trucks who have a few too many Bud Light's under their belts to be safely driving. (sigh). I've GOTTA get outta here, I am miserable with a capital M.

Not to mention the work situation...I'm a Registered Nurse, and I can make almost as much as I made in New York down here (surprising!) but my ex, who was earning $45 an hour in NY working in electronics, was out of work here for quite some time, with the only job offer a measely $8 an hour. After six months, he was able to find a job in Tampa, but he only earns $14 an hour. Granted, things here are much much much cheaper than in NY, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning for $14 an hour.

As far as the towns themselves, I've found Tarpon to be lovely, as well as Palm Harbor. But New Port Richey...I guess I'm just a "New York SNOB"...this ain't workin' for me~~!!!

Good luck to you.

One thing I will say, I sure don't miss the snow...but I also had to learn how to cook chinese myself. There is NOTHING in the world like NY restaurants...and while we've been able to find some nice Italian places, good Thai, great Greek, some OK steak places, there is not one indian restaurant and the chinese, although there's a chinese place on every corner...we have NEVER found one single chinese restaurant that we didn't just leave all the food on the table and walk out (after we paid the bill of course). And our favorite Italian place actually has their pizza dough shipped down from New Jersey! And were actually able to find a reasonable "Jewish" deli-type restaurant, which happens to be in Palm Harbor.

I've just put my condo on the market. I sold my NY condo for $320,000, and bought a little one in NPR for $79.5K. I'm gonna have to take a loss, but I gotta get outta here. I'm looking at St Pete, Tampa, and Dunedin right now.

I feel for you DecoDiva because I agree with you about that road being one of the ugliest, and most dangerous in the country - and everything you said about it is true, and also the area.

You will be MUCH happier in Tampa/St. Pete, I promise you - much more cosmopolitan and there are some wonderful restaurant choices here.

Good luck on getting out soon!

[wesleychapel24]

When were you looking at moving down here? The market is changing so fast that I want to make sure I give you some solid information.