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Hello guys! My husband and I (both 45)will be moving in the next few months, looking to purchase a house in the Tampa Bay area. I'm familiar with the area, camp at Ft. Desoto frequently, love South Pasadena, Riverview, Brandon, Valrico but am trying to pay under $140,000 and most important to me is a safe neighborhood (one where you can safely jog or walk the dogs). Suburb's would be ideal, but we're open to nicer areas in Tampa/St. Petersburg if they're more affordable somehow. We are also looking to purchase a second home to flip or rent out. So, am open to "up and coming" areas that are on the rise too for that house. I'm sorry, I know it is a tall order and I imagine I'm getting some eyerolls from the locals. But I have researched online and in person for 4 years and it's hard to do from Indy through the internet. Thanks for your patience and time
Hello guys! My husband and I (both 45)will be moving in the next few months, looking to purchase a house in the Tampa Bay area. I'm familiar with the area, camp at Ft. Desoto frequently, love South Pasadena, Riverview, Brandon, Valrico but am trying to pay under $140,000 and most important to me is a safe neighborhood (one where you can safely jog or walk the dogs). Suburb's would be ideal, but we're open to nicer areas in Tampa/St. Petersburg if they're more affordable somehow. We are also looking to purchase a second home to flip or rent out. So, am open to "up and coming" areas that are on the rise too for that house. I'm sorry, I know it is a tall order and I imagine I'm getting some eyerolls from the locals. But I have researched online and in person for 4 years and it's hard to do from Indy through the internet. Thanks for your patience and time
You're better off in Monrovia, believe me. And I know Monrovia well, as I grew up on the southside of Indy and owned homes there, Greenwood and Avon as well as employed people who lived in Monrovia.
You won't find a free standing house in the area for that kind of money unless you're looking to live in west Pasco or some "hood" area. If you've done anything in the way of research you would be aware of this - unless you're looking for a mobile home in Pinellas.
You say you're "familiar with the area", but your expectations don't reflect this. Our real estate market borders on insanity as far as turnover and pricing, both for purchases and rentals. I can't imagine anywhere in the area where you could purchase a home in that price range and be in a safe area.
Flippers have pretty well exited our market, mainly because the prices are inflated enough that there are few, if any, candidates for flips that can be done profitably.
If you've got the funds for a second home, why not invest it in your primary residence and forget about trying to make a fast buck on a flip, which is highly unlikely to happen in this market?
I appreciate the brutal honesty, RM. I thought we had really done our homework, although I did have concerns about the market of late. This will help us to refocus and formulate a new plan. I imagine will have to take your advice and put everything in our primary residence and step away from flipping. Doesn't matter much to me, truly. Husband wanted to get in the rental game at least but your comments concerned me.
So, I'm sure you expect my next question. Where can we live somewhat "safely" (NO, it doesn't have to be gated) in a house for $220K NEAR Tampa, within a 45 minute drive or so. I have looked at Gulfport, Oldsmar, Town 'N' Country, even Thonotosassa is just fine. We are from the country and used to commuting an hour to get everywhere, just want to not live in a Ghetto, that's why I've deviated from the Clearwater area, I have many fears of that market. Any honest perspective is truly appreciated. I know that this is a common "midwesterner's dream" and Florida is flooded with folks that think they can live in paradise and end up busted and head back. But, I'm incredibly determined and we are very resourceful, have no kids, and he can relocate to Tampa or Miami with his company. Now is the time, and I want to go for it but SUCCEED. Thanks for your time
I appreciate the brutal honesty, RM. I thought we had really done our homework, although I did have concerns about the market of late. This will help us to refocus and formulate a new plan. I imagine will have to take your advice and put everything in our primary residence and step away from flipping. Doesn't matter much to me, truly. Husband wanted to get in the rental game at least but your comments concerned me.
So, I'm sure you expect my next question. Where can we live somewhat "safely" (NO, it doesn't have to be gated) in a house for $220K NEAR Tampa, within a 45 minute drive or so. I have looked at Gulfport, Oldsmar, Town 'N' Country, even Thonotosassa is just fine. We are from the country and used to commuting an hour to get everywhere, just want to not live in a Ghetto, that's why I've deviated from the Clearwater area, I have many fears of that market. Any honest perspective is truly appreciated. I know that this is a common "midwesterner's dream" and Florida is flooded with folks that think they can live in paradise and end up busted and head back. But, I'm incredibly determined and we are very resourceful, have no kids, and he can relocate to Tampa or Miami with his company. Now is the time, and I want to go for it but SUCCEED. Thanks for your time
Property values are rapidly approaching their pre-collapse numbers, and with the constant flow of people into the area it's unlikely we'll see a drop or decrease. For that matter, institutional investors drove up values immediately following the economic collapse by buying up nearly everything that came on the market below $300k and turned them into rentals. Between the influx of new people and the folks cut out or dumped out of the housing market, rental prices have risen to the point of being somewhat ridiculous in some areas.
You've fallen into a common misconception that a gated community is somehow safer. They're not. In fact, it was shown some years back by a local TV station that gated communities can often be targeted more frequently because they're gated. As for security, I'm betting I can get into nearly any gated community in this area with minimal effort, so the idea that they're safer is a misnomer.
I doubt you're going to find anything remotely decent or safe in that price range in Pinellas County. I may be wrong, and if I am I'm sure other forum members will interject. I don't know that area well, but in general the places you've mentioned are considered pretty desirable, so I'm guessing their values will be out of your range.
Oldsmar, possibly. Again, I'm sketchy on that area. "Town 'N Compton" I'm sure you would find something, but it's probably not going to be in a safe area or one where English is the primary language spoken, if you get my drift.
Farther east, such as in the Plant City area or Thonotosassa are definite possibilities. Stay away form Seffner ("Methner") and head east of there and you'll find a fair amount of rural properties that would probably fall into your price range.
You're ahead of the game if you can get relocation out of this. At least that will subsidize a portion of your costs.
A couple things that you'll get slammed on here:
Car insurance. It will cost you easily 3x as much as Indiana, probably more. There's no way to get around this, period. Florida is a "no fault" state and the surrounding industry is crooked as heck, taking advantage of the system and lobbying the legislature to keep it that way. Insurance reform is a long way off, if ever.
Homeowner's or renter's insurance. Again, big bucks. Figure double what you currently pay, possibly more depending on the age and condition of the home you rent/purchase. Newer is better and less expensive to insure. To give you an idea of the difference, I recently owned a 4,000 square foot house in Avon off of 21st Street just east of SR 267. I paid $1,100/year for full coverage, sewer backup, tornado, you name it. On a 2400 square foot single story home in the Tampa area that was built within the last 20 years, you'll pay around $2,000/year depending on the age of the roof.
No basements. If you've got a basement now and a boatload of personal stuff, a workshop or things like that, figure on losing it here. There are no basements in this part of Florida that I am aware of.
Are your job(s) home-based or do you have to go into an office? If so, where is it located? Traffic here is a nightmare,mainly due to the lack of infrastructure development over the past 20 years. The population has exploded in this area one that time, but little has been done to improve the roads and related infrastructure. As a result commutes can be horrible depending on where you live and where you have to go. Don't even consider crossing the bay, as it can easily be an hour's drive in each direction depending on location and time.
Any one of the areas I mentioned are well within a 45 minute drive of downtown Tampa. not sure what you want to do there, but as far as retail and restaurants, you'll have plenty close to you in any of these areas. You'll be an hour from the beach. Everyone who wants to come here wants to be "close to the beach"". What they don't realize is that everywhere that water touches land is not beach. There are, for the most part, no beaches in Tampa Bay. To get to beaches on the Pinellas coast you're looking at around an hour, but they're often jammed with touristas, so many of the locals go south to the Bradenton area to places like Anna Maria island. Much nicer and not as heavily traveled - and the same time/distance for the most part.
If you're open to south of the Tampa area, check out those areas, too. I did a quick check using their crime map overlay and there are properties in your price range (i.e., Gibsonton, Parrish, Ellenton, etc.) that will still give you close proximity to Tampa.
Otherwise, as the previous poster mentioned, you could go south to Parrish or Ellenton, however, be careful as those areas are rapidly building up, so property values may not be in the range you're budgeting for. Farther east of there would probably work, but then you're getting pretty rural and at the fringes of a reasonable drive to the Tampa area.
Again, you haven't said if there will be commuting required, and if so, where the workplace(s) would be. If this is a factor, some of these places would not be realistic for a commute into Tampa unless you want to drive two hours round trip daily (or more.)
You are just a wealth of information and I appreciate your candor so much! That last post of yours really educated me regarding the market! We WANTED to live in Pinellas but honestly figured we are looking more at Hillsborough at this point. The jobs are located on the north side of Tampa, but he is in construction so could honestly be anywhere, just his shop is located north of downtown Tampa. I'm in local government but looking for anything clerical possibly just part time so maybe not necessarily in Tampa, we shall see. Although, your insurance numbers (which I was already informed of) make me think I may be looking for full time I really do appreciate the ideas and information, truly helpful.
You are just a wealth of information and I appreciate your candor so much! That last post of yours really educated me regarding the market! We WANTED to live in Pinellas but honestly figured we are looking more at Hillsborough at this point. The jobs are located on the north side of Tampa, but he is in construction so could honestly be anywhere, just his shop is located north of downtown Tampa. I'm in local government but looking for anything clerical possibly just part time so maybe not necessarily in Tampa, we shall see. Although, your insurance numbers (which I was already informed of) make me think I may be looking for full time I really do appreciate the ideas and information, truly helpful.
Living in Hillsborough would probably be better in the construction industry, as you're pretty locked in as far as transportation from Pinellas. That is, it's easier to get around the area from a point in Hillsborough than in Pinellas, I would think.
I work in county government, and they're hiring regularly here, but if you're just looking for a clerical job I'm sure you could find something closer to wherever you end up. Do understand that service and clerical jobs around here often only pay minimum wage, or close to it.
Living in Pinellas brings up potential issues such as evacuations during hurricanes, aged development due to it being built out years ago, and traffic/congestion due to the same. That's not to say that Hillsborough doesn't have its share of issues, but it's far less built out and still has a great deal of undeveloped and rural land.
You won't find "rural" here like you have in and around Monrovia. You have to go east and south to get it.
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