Just a hypothetical question about Tampa FL…

[GreenSalsa]

Does anyone have any practical suggestions where someone could buy a home in / around MacDill AFB? If all goes well I will be going to graduate school this summer (NPS, Monterey CA) and will be reassigned to USSOCOM for a few years afterwards. My wife and I have started doing some very preliminary looking and nearly had a heart attack—prices are easily into the $350-400,000 range for a home like mine in NC.:eek:

If any of you have any suggestions on where to look (or where NOT to buy) please “enlighten” me—thanks.

GreenSalsa

:munchin

[Kyobanim]

GS,

All the metropolitan areas in Florida have over-inflated prices. They are just now starting to come down though they'll never get back to a realistic apprasial. For a close to fair price on a home I would be prepared for a 1 hour commute, especially in Tampa.

You might consider the Lakeland area or any other inland section. Lakeland is an easy drive to MacDill, about 30 min on I-4 with no traffic and you can find backroads and short cuts after you learn the area.

Hope that helps.

[The Reaper]

GS:

Unless you like living in a slum, the affordable housing keeps moving further and further out from MacDill.

The problem is that the traffic keeps getting worse, and being on a peninsula, the base is hard to get to. Essentially, you have to go through the downtown to get there from the east. The north is very congested, and to the west is St. Pete and the Gulf beach side. South is obviously not an option unless you have a boat or like a very long commute over a bridge that closes in bad weather.

We were there 1996-2001, and stayed east out in Brandon/Valrico. The community is decent, lots of shopping/things to do in the area, commute to MacDill will normally be 35-45 minutes. Orlando is also closer on that side of town.

Lakeland is a long way out. The I-4/I-275 intersection is called Malfunction Junction for a reason. You also have to get to MacDill from I-4/I-275, which on Dale Mabry, can take 30 minutes just to get to base.

I have had buddies rent or buy houseboats, but with the hurricane threat, not sure I would want to do that.

HTH.

TR

[soldierdoc_2005]

GreenSalsa,

I was just there last week and will echo the prior comments. Access to McDill is terrible.

One thing I will advise you of is where NOT to buy/live...anywhere in the Clearwater St. Pete area. To get to McDill, you have to cross very long, very congested bridges.

Everything near McDill is (as you have seen) very nice and very costly.

I do have a friend who works for Tampa PD. PM me if you'd like me to send an inquiry as to the lesser known, high quality areas of town to my buddy.

Respectfully,

~E

[FILO]

GS- Shoot me a PM. I moved to Tampa in September and still in the process of looking for a home, while I sell my place in CT. I've got a good real estate agent and he's shown me lots of places, including north of Tampa in Pasco County. Again as noted by everyone access to McDill sucks and besides the neighborhood south of Kennedy and east of McDill Avenue, the area is fairly economically depresssed. The one good aspect to the market today, that is if your a buyer, there's lot on the market and the prices are very good. My biggest concern is with schools, thus I'm focusing my efforts on the West Chase schools which are A rated and generally considered the finest in the Tampa area.