Moving to Tampa - Where?

K

karlinkelly

New member
Hey all, I'm strongly considering a move to Tampa from Colorado. I've got a family with two kids and would like to know where the better, family friendly areas/neighborhoods are - preferably with a good school district? I'm going to have to tear down my current 180g reef, but will use the move as an excuse to upgrade :), so a good community of fellow reef aquarists would be really cool too! Thanks!
 
There are lots of nicer areas with good schools. I grew up in Riverview and loved it. It's a bit different now, but I guess it's for the good (I hate change, and loved that Riverview was a small town). Good Little League there, too. There are a few nice subdivisions in Riverview, or there is still a lot of land. Close to Riverview is also Apollo Beach.

If you're looking for bigger city feel, there's New Tampa, Citrus Park, South Tampa..
 
fishhawk or lithia have some of the best schools and newest houses but is kind of far from tampa if you need to go there and land o lakes/lutz is pretty nice but the traffic is horrible
 
Check the crime rates for all of these places along with others before you make a decision. Also check the school ratings. Find out the cost of property tax, and home and car insurance, all of this might change your mind about moving here.
Regards,
Doug
 
Plant city is great still some small town charm.
you can get a 4 bdroom home in a gated community on a golf course for 200k or less with a pool maybe even on a lake. about a 30 min drive to downtown Tampa. Good schools.
 
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If you are gonna be commuting to downtown Tampa then Land O lakes is a good spot. It is right off the Parkway and has some nice newer neighborhoods. Very reasonabley priced
 
your best bet is to research the schools I have to kids in elementary and we have them in Madeira Beach Fundamental the normal public schools in florida dont seem to me to be very good. fundamentals force parent involvement which makes a huge difference in there learning also the teacher are required to have regular conferences. There are many really great areas in Tampa Bay if you are like me and like historic homes Old North East or Old South East, Historic Kenwood in St, Pete are really nice areas I dont know Tampa well but Hide Park, Seminole Hieghts I have heard are nice areas in tampa maybe someone in Tampa can confirm.
 
Pasco County is a large county. You can't make a blanket statement like that.


Anyway, Plant City is great and right off of I-4. Fairly easy commute to Tampa.

My nieces live in downtown St Pete right by The Pier, and they love the area. The oldest one likes her high school, but the younger one's middle school is rought. :( But it's a nice place to live if you want to live right in the middle of a city. They kids walk everywhere.
 
I moved from Palm Harbor to Pasco county and love it. Just like Postal said, ALL Counties have their bad areas. We could go on for hours listing them in Pinellas and Hillsborough as well. I'd say first thing is what location is the most important to you? Near good schools, highways, downtown, beaches? Every county has good and bad schools as well. Even though I have my kids in private. I wouldn't hesitate to put them in the Pasco schools that are near us. As a matter of fact we are considering putting them in Longleaf Elementary this year because of a few changes at the current school we aren't happy about.
http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/
 
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I'm in Riverview which is about 30-50 mins from Tampa depending on traffic. There is a FANTASTIC elementary school (Boyette Elementary) near by and high school and middle school within walking distance from my location. Riverview is building up but there are still big pastures around.
 
I'd maybe check out the Westchase and surrounding areas. Close to awesome LFS, good schools, clean, newer housing, and a pretty nice area overall.
 
If you like more established neighborhoods check out the Palma Cia area of S. Tampa and surrounding areas in the H. B. Plant High School zone. Stay N. of Gandy Blvd anyway. Realestate prices hold their value pretty well in this area. IMHO.
 
cside said:
don't send your kids to school in pinellas.
Click to expand...

i agree and disagree.

public schools in pinellas have their pros and cons. Alot of them have magnet programs that you can enroll your kids in. Otherwise, they will be zoned to the nearest school.

I went to Rio Vista Elementary, St. Pete but its gone now.

For middle school i went to Bay Point Middle school for their tech magnet but i switched to Riveria middle (zoned school) because of the distance.

Riveria wasn't that ghetto but the classes were a joke compared to Bay point

I graduated from Boca Ciega's medical magnet program and i enjoyed it. The "traditional" side of the school was super ghetto, but the medical magnet section was really nice. students in the program had seperate teachers and had to take additional medical based classes in order to graduate from the program. i know other schools offered different programs like criminology, technology, and automotive

I've lived in st pete for all my life and i graduated highschool about a decade ago. so my experience is somewhat recent.

If you are concerned with your little one's education, i'd recommend a magnet program or a private school.

But it's florida and i believe our education is ranked among the lowest in the country. and one of the worst in comparison to population
 
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