New Tampa / Wesley Chapel - Neighborhood Suggestions (Ruskin: rental, HOA) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

WendiEng101 · 08-11-2010, 10:50 PM

I live in Seven Oaks, and have for the past three years. I love it here. My husband and I considered Meadow Point but our real estate agent told us that there are alot of problems with gangs in Meadow Point. I don't know if its true or not, but it seemed less nice in Meadow Point. We weren't impressed with some of the amenities in Meadow Point and we wanted our son to go to Seven Oaks Elementary. I love the amenities here in Seven Oaks and there are plenty of young families. Another great thing is that everything is close by. There are so many things (doctors, dentists, daycare, etc.) that we can use without leaving the community. Of course, if you have to work in Tampa, you will deal with traffic...as you would in any city. But personally, we have been happy here and our son really enjoys all that the community has to offer. I think its a great place to live. But, it is more expensive than other communities because of the luxuries.

Kevin from Tampa · 08-12-2010, 12:29 AM

I have lived in Meadow Pointe for the last 6 years and have not seen anything resembling "gang activity."

We've been pretty happy with it. The one thing I don't like is the apartments, but I think that all developments have that now...I guess it's a law or something?

7 Oaks is a little nicer though, and newer as well. Meadow Pointe started in the early-mid 90s. Some of the construction in the older areas is dated compared to 7 Oaks.

dawnw30 · 08-12-2010, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annaegel

I second the advise on avoiding Cory Isle. They have had big problems with the badly designed manmade lake. Lots of legal problems from homes being flooded when it rains.

Seven Oaks is a really nice family oriented community. I know several people that either have lived or currently live in Seven Oaks and really like it very much. The CDD is a bit high, but most of the communities have high CDD fees. I live in Tampa Palms and only pay $200 a year, compared to the over $2,000 a year fees. You get what you pay for however. The schools are pretty good for Seven Oaks. If you do look into Seven Oaks, try to avoid the cheaper homes. They are most likely KB Homes. They don't have a great reputation.

Can you tell me more about Tampa Palms? How are the schools there? We have 2 boys in middle school. We were looking at Fishhawk in Lithia but would like to find something farther north.

bentlebee · 08-12-2010, 05:54 AM

Seven Oaks is great. We own a home there which we rent out since it is a little small for us, but bigger than the average home...sorry maybe I'm spoiled

We pay $ 1550.- per year for CDD/HOA so that is not too bad for what you get in return.

We don't have a KB Home in Seven Oaks, but we do own one some where else and I don't agree with one of the posters about the quality of these homes.
When we closed on the KB Home we had only 3 things that they needed to fix and that were only touch up things...We owned a Westfield Home (Standard Pacific homes called now) which had major things going on and even after closing it took months to get them fixed.

DR Hornton had also many issues, K Hovanian/Windward Homes also had major issues...

IMO it all depended on who the construction manager was at the time, and there were a lot of lousy ones when the housing market was high...as long as the homes were build fast, closed fast, any builder was happy.

The issue with KB Homes was more that the homes were sold cheap but no upgrades and many people bought them that way to safe money and live in large homes. If you added the upgrades the homes were similar to other homes, but smaller. JMO!

bgirldeb · 08-12-2010, 10:14 AM

Meadow Pointe is nice and has good schools, which are located within the community. It is all located east of Bruce B Downs.

As far as gang activity, that's news to me, and I've been here since 2007.

It is divided into four CDD's or districts, and you can use the facilities of all of the districts except there is some sort of disagreement between Meadow Pointe 1 and 2.

There are no apartments that I am aware of, but several townhome villages, and some villas, some which are in better shape than others, just as the individual villages within the 4 districts have some streets in better shape than others.

Overall, we have felt very safe living here, and our children love it as well. There are always famillies out for walks or riding bikes, and the clubhouse pool facilities are well taken care of.

Another community we liked when we were looking is Lexington Oaks.

bnepler · 08-12-2010, 08:53 PM

Before you move anywhere consider the real estate taxes and homw owners insurance. There are problems relative to each Hillsborough and Pasco counties. Also water and electrical rates are very different. Some have recycled water for your lawn, which you have to keep watered or you loose it and may get fined by your HOA or county.

bentlebee · 08-13-2010, 03:28 AM

Meadow Point has for sure gangs but hopefully it will end some day. Just as many other places and I don't think it is worse or better than else where. Scums are every where, but luckily the good people are there in way higher percentages.

If you need to know more about gangs in the area, just call the police and ask them to come to a HOA meeting. We had an undercover cop coming to our community and he explained what the signs are.

He stated Meadow Point has/had gangs. We all have seen the gravity on the Meadow Point signs which is gang member signs according to this cop. Who the gang members are, I don't know, they don't walk around during day time with guns in their hands...they try to be just as undercover as the cops, but the good guys always win in the end.

Kevin from Tampa · 08-13-2010, 05:26 PM

News to me....I've never heard of gangs in MP. MP is only a mile or so from places like 7 Oaks. If they're in MP, they're everywhere. It's not like Meadow Pointe has a wall around it, or any of the other communities do. It's all one pretty homogeneous area. I would bet any gangs in New Tampa are of the suburban wanna-be type, with a few doofusy high school kids that have a can of spray paint. As I said, I've lived in MP for going on 6 years and have never heard of this problem. I'd be willing to bet if you ask a cop, they'll tell you every community has something like wannabe gangs.

bentlebee · 08-14-2010, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin from Tampa

News to me....I've never heard of gangs in MP. MP is only a mile or so from places like 7 Oaks. If they're in MP, they're everywhere. It's not like Meadow Pointe has a wall around it, or any of the other communities do. It's all one pretty homogeneous area. I would bet any gangs in New Tampa are of the suburban wanna-be type, with a few doofusy high school kids that have a can of spray paint. As I said, I've lived in MP for going on 6 years and have never heard of this problem. I'd be willing to bet if you ask a cop, they'll tell you every community has something like wannabe gangs.

The undercover cop who was at our meeting was special for the gang unit. Of course he explained that he looks different going out on the street than when he spoke at our HOA meeting.

Luckily some gang members have been locked up for life, since they killed 2 teenagers...

The cop also explained about the signs they spray paint on the Walls like they did at Meadow Point. I had seen them but never new it was gang related and to me gangs are something we see in other cities or States and not here, but he clearly stated that they were in Wesley Chapel and else where...it was shocking to hear but also good to learn something about it.

Most people won't see them since their kids don't hang around these gang related people and I guess that gang members rather work at night.

annaegel · 08-14-2010, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawnw30

Can you tell me more about Tampa Palms? How are the schools there? We have 2 boys in middle school. We were looking at Fishhawk in Lithia but would like to find something farther north.

My kids went to a charter school in Lutz (Learning Gate Community School). I am taking my youngest out of Learning Gate and she is starting Liberty this year, so I can't say from any experience what the middle school is like. However, from neighbors, they are very happy with Liberty. The high school however, does not have a great reputation. It is only a "C" rated school. I have a neighbor whose son is in all honors class and he hardly has any homework. His mom says the school deserves its "C" rating.

Let me know if yo have any other questions about Tampa Palms.