St Petersburg, FL
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Anonymous
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I slightly highjacked a thread in the travel forum regarding St. Petersburg. We recently spent some time in St Petersburg this summer and I have completely fallen in love with the area.
We recently left DC proper for the suburbs, and while our QOL has drastically improved, I have the itch to see if we can pull off one more move before we are empty nesters. I would love to hear from people who live in the area after living in DC. It seems like housing prices have escalated quickly in the area. Would we be priced out of any decent neighborhoods with a $750,000 budget? |
Anonymous
| We just left DC and closed on a 1350 sq ft sfh for just under 550k in Kenwood. Older homes here tend to be smaller, but we have one kid and got a very large backyard by DC standards. I did watch the prices escalate, but they seem to be a little more stable now. Really depends on what you want neighborhood and house wise, downtown areas you will likely need to spend more than 750k, but there are so many other charming neighborhoods, some less walkable but very scenic. They are developing every part of town too. Everyone is pretty nice and relaxed, neighbors are very welcoming, so far we love it. |
Anonymous
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Hello - I'm one of the people who responded to you in the hijacked thread!
You can definitely find a nice house in a good part of town for $750k. Prices have gone WAY up here since we bought back about eight years ago - I often say we got the last affordable house in our neighborhood (insane to think we only paid $330k back then!) - but that amount of $ will absolutely still get you a place where you'd want to live. If you're buying, two things to be very aware of: - Do NOT buy in a flood zone no matter how much you want to live on the water, unless it's a condo - Be aware of evacuation zones, too. In most hurricanes, you will want to remain at home if you can - but if you're in an evacuation zone, you will feel more pressure to leave. I just ran a search on Zillow for places between $500k and $800k - a lot came up: https://www.zillow.com/saint-petersburg-fl/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_content=12364777424|124722712544|aud-352785741724:kwd-472210251066|602785611748|&semQue=null&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5f2lBhCkARIsAHeTvli5_XScHmJs7959WOuZY-_FsjeLm74qwojrI8fTIp_dJq--YvcfnPcaAsv-EALw_wcB&searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22north%22%3A27.92943185087754%2C%22south%22%3A27.63905613189275%2C%22east%22%3A-82.36245205322265%2C%22west%22%3A-82.98249294677734%7D%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A26922%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22globalrelevanceex%22%7D%2C%22ah%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A800000%2C%22min%22%3A500000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A4039%2C%22min%22%3A2524%7D%2C%22manu%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22apa%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22apco%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22land%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22cmsn%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%7D%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A11%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Saint%20Petersburg%20FL%22%7D If you have questions about any of the neighborhoods for a specific house, I - and I'm sure PP - would be glad to tell you what we think. You'll probably have to get used to some different house styles here in St Pete - but we really love the eclecticism of Florida architecture. There's a lot of houses that have been updated piecemeal and I personally like that a lot - I think it's fun seeing what choices people have made through the years (keeping most of a pink bathroom but updating the floor tile, etc). If you don't like that, there are plenty of new constructions available, since St Pete has gotten hot and development's gotten a little wild - and you can always get a whole house redone, too. |
Anonymous
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Good luck getting home insurance.
And your car insurance premiums will be through the roof! But at least the state won't tax your income. |
Anonymous
| I lived in DC area for 10 years and now live in St Pete. I think it's the best part of FL. You can definitely find something in your budget. I also don't agree that you need to stay away from flood zone. Many people live on the water and love it- but expect to pay big for flood insurance. If you're not going to live on water I would recommend staying out of flood zones. |
Anonymous
. OP here. Any neighborhood recommendations? |
Anonymous
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For neighborhoods look at Old Northeast, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake, Crescent Heights, Allendale and Kenwood. You can't go wrong with most of NE St Pete. Many neighborhoods outside of the ones I mentioned may have knock downs with new houses going up that are nice.
Be careful with Shore Acres. Safe neighborhood, but known as part of city that floods- and it doesn't even have to rain hard. You may be able to find waterfront in that price range in distant neighborhoods or Shore Acres, but you should see if house elevated or if there is history of flooding. I know you are empty nesters, but the way schools work here are that most apply to magnet programs or go private, so looking at zoned school as to whether neighborhood is good doesn't matter as much. |
Anonymous
How much are you paying for your house and car there? |
Anonymous
DP I moved to FL in 2020 from NoVa and my home insurance and car insurance are about the same as they were in VA. I don't doubt that some people are having issues with both but it's not everybody. |
Anonymous
Nope, that's still a good budget there. There are many options. |