Relocation to Florida
 

Hello-we are considering relocating to Tampa area, looking around Wesley Chapel. My husband works from home and I'm an LMT. I'm trying to figure out a great neighborhood for families (we have 4 children) and a decent HOA. We are currently outside of Wilmington, NC and our current neighborhood HOA is like the gestapo. I understand having rules in your community, but I feel like we are being policed. It's majority retirees with not many children. The kids are not allowed to jump in the pool. No jumping, I understand no diving, but jumping in the pool?!
I would like to find a neighborhood with young families, orderly, clean but not feeling like you are constantly being watched. Our $ range is 300-400000. Any input would be great! Thx!

What is an LMT?

Know this, Florida is very different from living in NC. I moved from Myrtle Beach to Sarasota then over to Fort Lauderdale.

It's much more expensive. Car insurance, gasoline, property taxes, etc are inherently more expensive down here.

Make sure you do a lot of research, $300-$400K is barely middle class in many Tampa areas.

Any HOAs are going to be pretty much the same.

Good luck!

You might want to post your question on this relocation forum as well:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tampa-bay/

I live in Tampa, right on the border with Wesley Chapel. $300-400K will get you A LOT of house in the "New Tampa" area. Check out Lexington Oaks or Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel. Or the communities in the very north of Tampa, aka New Tampa: Oak Preserve, Tampa Palms, Hunters Green. Watch the school ratings -- some prefer Tampa schools (Hillsborough County) over WC (Pasco County). Let me know if you need more info.

I live in South Tampa and am therefore unfamiliar with New Tampa, but I think GinnyJo is giving you good advice. Your budget sounds healthy to me, and yes, public schools vary quite a bit in quality--there ARE great ones, don't let anybody tell you otherwise--so look into the details.

And, as you probably already know, because there is no state income tax, Florida property taxes are higher, so keep that in mind as you house hunt.

Good luck!

Oh, I also disagree that HOAs are mostly all the same. I think they vary a lot, depending upon median age of residents, size of development, median price, and a lot of other things. Unfortunately, I don't know an easy way to determine if an HOA will suit YOU; you have to spend some time online and in person, walking around, attending a meeting, if possible, reading past minutes and studying the budget.