With so many areas in Tampa, knowing which neighborhood to move to can be tough…
But don’t worry!
In this article, I’ll use my expertise as a licensed Florida realtor to give you the best options. This site, and my Youtube channel, are dedicated to explaining what it’s like to live, work, play, and move to Tampa, Florida.
Let’s take a look at which areas I recommend the most for those thinking about moving.
I wanna talk about the areas that I end up recommending the most when people reach out to me, and I end up recommending these areas for all kinds of reasons. So it’s not like these are my favorite areas, but these are the most likely to be recommended areas in Tampa.
If you have any questions while reading, I am a licensed Realtor in the state of Florida and would love to help you out!
Phone # (727) 677-5337
Email: info@livingintampafl.com
1. Brandon Riverview
Whenever people tell me they’re moving here, my go-to recommendation is the Brandon Riverview area. It’s not my go-to recommendation because it’s my personal favorite, but it is the most common target for new clients.
It’s requested so often because it has a nice suburban feeling with a little bit of rural access. Residents don’t feel crowded but also have pretty easy access to downtown Tampa.
If you’re interested in building a house, this area is really common because you can get a lot more for your money out in Brandon. Substantially more than some of the other areas that are a little bit closer to downtown.
While it’s not as close as some areas, Brandon is only about 30 minutes from downtown Tampa. Which is really not too bad of a commute.
If you choose to buy a house in Brandon, rather than build, you can get a four-bedroom / three-bath house with a pool for a little over 400,000. And those are pretty new and pretty updated.
Houses do move pretty fast in this area, but you can still find them, it might just take a few tries.
If you don’t want the hassle of chasing down leads, just reach out. That’s what I’m here for!
2. Wesley Chapel Lutz
My second most recommended area when people reach out to me is the Wesley Chapel Lutz and New Tampa area. This area starts just north of Tampa and then up into Wesley Chapel and Lutz, which is in Pasco county. And it even spreads over into Lando lakes.
Wesley Chapel and New Tampa are the most developed and suburban feeling areas on this list. The areas of Lutz around the lakes are a lot more rural feeling. Which is something those looking for a big yard will appreciate. The recent pandemic has pushed people to have bigger lots and bigger houses. So this is an area where you can also get a lot for your money.
For example, in December of 2020, I helped a client purchase a house in Lando Lakes that was on a nice-sized lot in a really, really cool neighborhood. This house was a four-bedroom / three-bath with a pool and we bought it for 315,000.
That was an older house that had been updated, so those prices might be a little higher now, but this example just shows you what is possible. Even if it’s up to $330,000 now, that’s still quite a bit cheaper than other areas.
Wesley Chapel is also great for new construction. There are a lot of new communities being built in Wesley Chapel. There’s something that’s very interesting about these communities…
The bigger ones are owned by a developer and not by a builder. The developer hires different builders to build throughout the neighborhood, making every little section of the neighborhood look different.
The houses still all share the same amenities, they all share the same HOA, but have different builders.
One thing to keep in mind about these neighborhoods, especially the extremely developed ones, is you’re gonna have CDD fees. CDD stands for Community Development Deed.
This fee is really just money paid to build out all of the infrastructure related to a new community like this, and you pay it back in connection with your property taxes.
So this is anywhere from 1500 to $3,000 a year. And that usually lasts through the first mortgage on the house, which works outs to around 30 years after the house was built.
3. Westchase
Westchase is my third most recommended area to move to in Tampa. Westchase is a part of a master planned area right in the middle of town. The actual area of Westchase is defined by its zip code – 33626.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you can go to my Youtube channel to get a blog tour of Westchase.
Westchase is not its own town, it’s still just part of Tampa. It has a kind of dense, suburban feeling to it but has been very thoughtfully built. Each house has pretty easily accessible roads. The airport, international mall, and downtown are all pretty accessible from Westchase… but the prices are quite a bit higher.
So to get a four-bedroom two-bathroom house with a pool, you’re looking at around the $500,000 range in Westchase. Remember, you still have HOAs and CDs in Westchase as well because of how designed the area is.
It’s expensive, but the area is really nice. I was actually meeting with some potential clients that were in town last Saturday. We met at their hotel and talked through the timeline of their move. They ended up asking, “What’s the area that people wish they could live in?”
I ended up settling on Westchase.
You know, some people wanna want that beach life while other people want their own dock in their backyard. But if you’re moving to Tampa with a young family with kids in school, then Westchase is usually your top choice. The combination of great schools and nice areas is unbeatable.
Now maybe you can or can’t afford it, but that was how I answered them. And I’ve seen that to be true among people that move here, but also it’s also been a similar story for those looking to upgrade their house. They end up choosing Westchase too.
4. Town ‘n’ Country
My number four most recommended area is the Town ‘n’ Country and Citrus Park area, which is on either side of Westchase. The areas are actually pretty similar to Westchase, not as thoughtfully designed, but quite a bit cheaper.
I end up recommending these areas when someone says, “I wanna live close to the city, I want lots of restaurants, but I also want pretty easy access to the beach.”
You can hop down on highway 60 from these areas and just cut right to Clearwater Beach or Honeymoon Island, or even down to Belleair or St. Pete Beach.
It’s not just me that thinks Town’ n’ Country is a nice area, the area actually been receiving some press lately for how fast it is growing.
5. Largo
My number five most recommended area is Largo. Largo is also growing very quickly. Largo is very similar to Clearwater, but it has much more of a small-town feel. Largo is just south of Clearwater, over in Pinellas county. It stretches across most of the county.
It has access to all of the amenities of the shopping and restaurants one would expect. Like Clearwater, it has beautiful beaches itself and easy access to all those beautiful beaches.
The difference is that Lago has a little bit slower pace than Clearwater, in part because there’s no gigantic main road going through it.
Clearwater has highway 60 running through it. It’s nice because connects from Clearwater Beach all the way to Brandon on the other side of Tampa,but it makes Clearwater seem kind of congested to me.
Largo gives you a little bit of a slower pace with the same style houses, the same amenities that Clearwater offers.
The homes in Largo do tend to be a bit older than Clearwater. They’re typically a block style ranch kind of home. You see kind some shots here of homes that are really close to the water.
You might find these homes a bit boring, and that’s okay. Some people don’t bother to use their landscape to make their house unique or even paint it. Just being so close to the water is enough for some.
6. North Pinellas County
My number six most recommended area is the North Pinellas County area, which is cheating a bit since it includes a few small towns.
You have Tarpon Springs and East Lake, which are kind make up the northern stretch of this county. Then you have Palm Harbor and Dundon, which are to the South of those cities. So it’s really this northern stretch up from Clearwater that covers the whole north side of the county. I even like to include Trinity in this, despite it technically being part of Pasco county and even a bit in Newport Richey.
This larger area, made up of all these tiny towns, has a lot slower pace than all the other areas in the Tampa region.
The North Pinellas County area is an area that’s being developed pretty quickly. Some parts of the area are very developed from new construction, while other parts are made up of older homes. These areas are more rural, with ranches and farms.
But the stretch of towns down the Gulf Coast, Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, and Dunedin have a lot of home options. There are plenty of new homes and old homes, but not a lot of new construction.
If you are looking for new construction, this would be a difficult area. This is the region of Tampa that I live in and that my wife’s family is from – born and raised here in Taron Springs. I really like this area. As someone who didn’t grow up here, this feels like a really unique and special place to me.
These small towns have some rich and unique history that they are happy to share. I’ll have a Tarpon Springs vlog tour coming up pretty soon where I can show you some of the areas that Tarpon Springs is so famous for in some of these areas.
To catch that video, be sure to subscribe to the Youtube channel.
Some of the developers, like the local developer Pioneer Homes, have built a lot of villas, townhouses, and single family homes over the past 20 years. They’ve established a lot of neighborhoods in this area. They have a current development called River bend just north of Anclote River in Tarpon Springs. I think it’s pretty much sold out, but there are all kinds of houses in the area.
If you’re looking for that typical stucco and clay roof Florida style house with four-bedroom /three-bathroom and a pool, then you’re looking at around $450,000 in this area. That’s simply because there are not as many homes in this area.
No homes for sale make the prices more expensive, but it’s also a sign of a really nice neighborhood.
Next Step
I hope you found this information useful! I wanted to approach the topic a little differently and talk about what I actually end up recommending to people when they’re thinking about moving here.
If you have any Real estate questions, feel free to reach out to me at:
Phone # (727) 677-5337
Email: info@livingintampafl.com