Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Hi, my name is Sara, my family are moving to Florida with my husbands business. I have 2 children 9months and 4yrs. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on nice areas to live, Tampa / Tarpon Springs / Palm Harbour areas of Florida?? Top of the list is obviously a good school for my 4yr old who will be 5 in Nov of this year. Feel a bit nervous about the move as have lived in same town in Uk all my life and have close family /friends but also looking forward to new opportunities and some warm weather!! Can anyone help? or recommend any good web sites? Thank you so much.....

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Hi Sarah.

Welcome to the board. Members here are from all over the world, buts it a good place for advice. If you want info more directly about moving to Florida (and on E2 visas) then have you tried Florida Days? (http://www.floridadays.co.uk)

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Hi I have lived in Tampa for 2 years now. With hindsight I would not have moved here in the first place. The areas you mention on the coast are very prone to flooding when the hurricanes come. Also if any hurricanes come off the gulf then you will have a strong hurricane to contend with. As I have said in previous posts it is 9 months of paradise and 3 months of hell here ( Very hot in summer, Humidity thats oppressive, Wrath of god lightening storms like you have never seen before). If you are determined to come here then I would advise you buy a Brick built, tiled roof, storm shuttered bungalow with good drainage and not near any rivers. A lot of houses here are wood built with a stucco covering which allowed the very heavy rain of the storms to come through. If you buy a house here and sell it before 2 years then any gain is subject to capital gains tax. I will have lived here 2 years in August I am selling up and moving to Texas as soon as I can. Tampa is fast becoming the 2nd hispanic city of America after Miami and because of this wages are extremely low. The 2 most desireable areas of Tampa are Westchase ( can be prone to flooding there ) and New Tampa. The beauty of new tampa is that it is 30 miles inland so any hurricanes have weakended slightly before they hit. Also A huge shopping mall is being built there so making that area the most desirable. You are 20 minutes from Busch Gardens and 1 1/4 hour from Disney Orlando. House prices are rising by 25% per year in Westcase and New Tampa. We bought our house for $340k in Aug 03 it is now worth $450k

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

What can I say ..Vegas you are a wimp...a little breeze and you fall out off bed...

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

You've got admit the home insurance in parts of FL is steep, right?




NC Penguin

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

I am paying $1200 per year with a $6000 excess

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Having lived in Tampa and Houston I can't figure out why you are thinking of moving from one to the other (OK, Texas is a BIG place so hopefully you're not going near Houston) - basically everything you don't like about Tampa applies equally to a lot of Texas. Maybe you should rethink your next location :)

Oh - and your insurance is pretty reasonable - ours is double that in N California - of course, Tampa doesn't have earthquakes.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

No. Its steep all over Florida. In some parts you cant even get house insurance this year.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

I like Tampa very much, but agree with a lot of the valid points Vegas has made, we are pretty much adhering to them, i.e, a bit inland (Brandon area), away from any main rivers and waterfront - we didn't do that for the weather effect reasons, however - you can also get a lot more for your money if you do that!

Prices are going nuts, we've been on the ladder for a few years so hasn't impacted us too much as the houses we've sold have also gone up. If you don't already have a foothold on a rising market somewhere, it would be I suspect increasingly difficult to afford a decent house here, there has been a lot of coverage about this in the local press, prices have been attracting people for years and now the effects of that are that prices are rising sharply. The rate its moving is akin to the last few years in the UK, I would say, even in the once cheaper areas its taking hold. Building trade is very busy, new homes coming up everywhere. It's definately a place on the rise.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

As it should be perhaps... I mean there are certainly many more issues in florida than say in Kansas or North Dakota. Auto Insurance for people in groups that have excessive claims is also much higher (kids, drunks..)

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

I have been told by a resident of ND.. that there is actually only 11 people left there now ...

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Why's that? Homeowners who've made a claim/some claims who are now blacklisted and can't afford hiked up premiums?




NC Penguin

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

No ..Its cos 4 smaller companies went broke due to last year storms ..and the fact that the big companies are so crooked they won't take on anything with a slight risk....

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Tarpon Springs / Palm Harbour are both in the Pinellas County side, if you are going to work in Tampa that will probably mean you'll have to negotiate the Courtney Kamakaziway, which from everyday personal experience, would not recommend.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

As Tone said, Tarpon Springs/Palm Harbor are actually quite a ways away from Tampa.

Where is your husband going to be located? If on the west side, then Westchase would be great, but if he's not on the west side of Tampa, I wouldn't live there, its very far away from everywhere else. There are great little neighborhoods everywhere if you don't fancy living in a deed restricted community.

There are wonderful homes in South Tampa and if you want to sell up in a couple of years' time, there is nowhere like it to make a load of $$ on, even though the prices are pretty steepish there.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Thank God that there are so many that think like you! Bless you for wanting to move away :D It is what keeps us Floridian-lovers sane! :D

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Thanks Izibear for your reply and thank you Vegas for your very honest comments and useful advice. My husband's business is in Odessa, so do my original suggestions of Palm Harbour, Tarpon Springs etc. make more sense now? Or have you any other areas that you could recommend? Apparently, Odessa is about 20mins drive from Tarpon Springs. If I could just pinpoint some areas that are quite upmarket, nice communities etc., then I can go on to look at the schools in those areas?? I visited Clearwater last year on a 1 week holiday, and that is it, so just dont know the area well enough to make a good judgment. Would be so grateful if someone would just point me in the right direction! My husband ideally wants to be 20 / 30 mins drive away from his work.... but if we fell in love with an area that was perfect then he will obviously commute further.
In answer to Vegas, we have no choice we do have to come and we are selling our family home here in Uk so we should have a substantial amount of money to spend on a home there, especially with the dollar the way it is against the pound at the moment. We are planning to move Aug/ Sept this year.
Thank you again, all of you, for your comments and suggestions.
Hope to hear a bit more from you guys before i start my search.
Thanks,
Sara

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Well odessa is on or near SR 54 and there must be a dozen new sub division being or been built along there ... you have the suncoast parkway close by .. so you could utilize that as well .. north for more for your money.. south for further into town.. certainly no shortage of choice ...

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Parts of Odessa itself are absolutely gorgeous. Westchase is a couple of miles down the same road from there.

Go to realtor.com and search the Odessa/Citrus Park area. Tarpon Springs is also just down the road from there along the way. I would advise against Clearwater as the traffic is horrid up and down the 19.

Northdale area also has wonderful established neighborhoods, (it is the neighborhood where Brittan's is) loads of young families, and is but a short drive (probably 15 mins or so) from Odessa.

North Dale Mabry area has turned into subdivision central the last year or so (all the farms have been sold! more's the pity ;)) and looks pretty great too, around the corner from Odessa. There is just so much going on up there, it is unbelievable. (I recall when Odessa was considered the boondocks, about 5 years ago!).

Btw, if I could afford it, I'd live on Lake Keystone anyday :):)

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Brilliant, thanks Izibear (and Ray), I will get started on some research of these areas. Kindest Regards, Sara

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

Land O Lakes is very nice and close to Odessa. Be very careful if you are buying at the height of the hurricane season Aug/Sep because you will not be able to obtain house insurance if there is even a hint of a hurricane on the horizon.

Re: Advice on Moving to Tampa
 

We live in Englewood Rotonda and love it the people are lovely. My kids are due to start school there on the 4th April so fingers crossed all will be fine. My neighbours have been fantastic looking after the house and making sure is all ok. So different to where we lived in the UK no one cares any more (my opion) Still this is my little adventure before I hit 40 so fingers crossed it will go on and on

Good Luck