What is a nicer area Tarpon Springs, Holiday or Clearwater (Tampa: spring break, to rent)

[hello47]

Hi, can you please tell me what areas are nicer to live for a family ? We wanted to look into Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, and maybe Holiday...Any thoughts on these aeas and if there are nicer areas can you please let me know...Originally we wanted to look into Tarpon but not sure if its just an old town based on the pictures I have seen....Has anyone lived or been there and can you describe it to me? thanks so much!!

[spainbrit]

I like Tarpon, and there are very nice areas of Clearwater, not that familiar with Holiday.
All depends on what you want for your family - type of home, location/neighborhood/schools?/amenities, what are the kids ages, teens have completely different needs to babies.

[gypsychic]

I like Tarpon also - charming and small scale but convenient to everything. Clearwater is large and very congested, but a nice city. I would forget Holiday altogether, my opinion it it's a dump. Lots of retirees who can't give away their homes there right now due to excessive homeowner's insurance.

[stpeteguy]

Clearwater is not that nice either in my opinion. If you can afford to live in Bellaire, it might be different. But metro clearwater is spotty, with hood and bario areas and pockets of good areas all mixed up.

You need to move to some of the surrounding localities to find a nice area. Of course if you can afford to live on the beach islands, that's a different story. Everything over there is very nice, but expensive.

[cariad]

Tarpon Springs, Eastlake, Palm Harbor, Oldsmar, Safety Harbor and Dunedin are all bordering communities and very nice areas. Each offers slightly different and some similar attributes-choice comes down to personal preference, schools, neighborhood,etc.
Clearwater- Countryside and the area bordering Safety Harbor along Bayshore Drive are also very nice.

[tnwannabe]

I have lived in the Bay area for 25 years and definitely would recommend Tarpon Springs. The schools are excellent and the crime rate low. They are a large coummity of Greek people and there are churches everywhere which usually leads to a better community of people. Clearwater is full of businesses and strips centers with alot of promotion for beach access, "spring breakers'" and the general party crowd. I agree with gypsychic, Holiday is a dump. Not that the crime is high or it has unsafe neighborhoods, but the houses are old, the schools are not desireable, and it has been this way for years and looks to continue to be unimproved. P.S. If you move to clearwater be prepared to pay an extra 40 to 50% on your homeowners insurance because of the hurricanes.

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by tnwannabe

there are churches everywhere which usually leads to a better community of people.

Mmm....yeah. Absolutely. Because, yanno, only Christians are capable of being good neighbors. (note tongue firmly in cheek)

Parts of both Clearwater and Tarpon are nice, parts can be pretty ghetto. Tarpon is, as noted, very Greek and can be a little bit of a closed society if you're not "from here"-- though if you're living out in the fields o' houses rather than in Tarpon center you might not feel it much. I agree with whomever said to forget Holiday. There's just not much "there" there.

Pinellas County is getting set to do some choreography with school boundaries, so you might want to look long and hard at PCSB's website before making any gard and fast decisions.

[Chattanooga Girl]

Originally Posted by smaridge01

hello47, I live and work, and play, in Dunedin. It's a wonderful place! You really should check it out before you decide. If you Google the phrase Dunedin Daily Photo, you will find lots of photos and information about Dunedin. It's a great place to live, and it's close to everything! Good luck!

Thanks for the info....nice blog

[Oliver99]

My parents once bought a house in Holiday to avoid the traffic in Clearwater. They put it on the market six months later because the traffic was almost as bad, and they felt there was nothing to do there. I tend to agree.

I've lived in the Clearwater area for almost 30 years. We have easy access to the beaches and Tampa, we have the wonderful Ruth Eckerd Hall, and some really good restaurants. Good malls, and convenient to grocery stores, doctors, good hospitals. Our daughter attended parochial schools, so I can't tell you much about the schools. As in any other area of its size, we have good neighborhoods and bad neighborhods, but overall, most of them are good. We love our neighborhood, and have a lot of fun with our neighbors. But, not all subdivisions are alike. We don't have that much turnover in ours.

Tarpon Springs has a rich Greek heritage, and some of the best independent restaurants in the county, especially along A19. Parts of Tarpon are old, and charming, for that reason. Not every house is a cookie cutter.

You might also want to check out Palm Harbor and Dunedin, since you seem to be looking in the northern half of our county. Dunedin is a little gem, and Palm Harbor has our highly rated Palm Harbor University High School. Whatever you decide, make sure that you visit your neighborhood many times during different times of the day and different days of the week. Walk the dog, or ride a bike, and see how the neighborhood feels. Nothing is selling that fast these days that you have to decide right away. You might want to rent for a little while to decide. And, commute times, if you are not of retirement age, can be a pain if you live very far from where you work.

Good luck!

[AngelaRed]

stay away from Holiday, theres nothing there. you may wanna consider Trinity or New Port Richey as well