Macdill AFB??

[brockash]

Hi,
It looks like we may be heading to Macdill AFB (DH is actually Army, but will be working on the AFB.) Does anyone have any experience with the Tampa area (as close to Macdill as possible?) We have 2 school-aged children, so schools and nice, safe neighborhoods are at the top of our priority list, with being as close to the AFB second.

Any input or information (neighborhoods- good and bad, schools, school districts-good and bad etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Have you look into housing on post ?

From what I've seen it's pretty nice. Quite a few of the are over looking the Tampa Bay.

If he is willing to commute you could always check out St. Pete area.

We lived in Bradenton, on the west side, only 5 minutes from Anna Maria Island.

You are one lucky duck, I'd take that in a minute. Is he going to Tinker ?

 

[bearloch]

Hi, Im married to retired Navy so Ive been on base alot!! I would check into housing on base first if thats a no go he will need to comute plan on at least a 20 min as to get away from the congestion of Tampa! the base its self is vey nice and the area onto the base is a mix from poor to rich... I have heard both very bad and ok about the schools just outside gate!! Hillsborough has a strange way of placing kids they do not always go to the closest school they can be bussed 12-15 miles to another due to choice options ( its a royal pain) my suggestion is to decide first if on base is available to you if not! Brandon is about 15-20 mins away BUT going just a little farther is bloomingdale which has better schools and fishhawlk which are great schools!! I live in Brandon and choice my daughter into Bloomingdale schools!!

good Luck!!

 

[leight]

I live in a neighborhood near the pp's bloomingdale address and we have many, many Macdill families. Its called Fishhawk Ranch and is extremely family oriented and all the schools are A rated.

Good luck and thank you for your service!

 

[brockash]

Thanks for everyones replies. I'll have one in elementary school and one in middle school, so just trying to figure out where the best places may be.

How's the wildlife? We live in a very dry climate right now, so not many bugs, snakes and no alligators lol. I'm a little concerned about all the bugs etc.

 

[angwill]

Hi,
It looks like we may be heading to Macdill AFB (DH is actually Army, but will be working on the AFB.) Does anyone have any experience with the Tampa area (as close to Macdill as possible?) We have 2 school-aged children, so schools and nice, safe neighborhoods are at the top of our priority list, with being as close to the AFB second.

Any input or information (neighborhoods- good and bad, schools, school districts-good and bad etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

I have a good Dis board friend who's husband was at MacDill and they actually still own a home there. She also has a child and did a lot of research into the area and schools. I am going to give her the link to this thread and see if she will answer your questions for you.

 

[jmskinner]

Hi! I am the pp's friend. We lived in Riverview, still have our house there. At the time many in the community were military.

I liked the area because of the less traffic, but there is a lot of construction going on, so probably going to get busier, but the roads are already built up for the traffic.

I liked the schools when we moved in, but I honestly I'm not sure about them now. The teachers were great and really worked with my child, who is special needs. We had to deal with some bullying issues, especially in the middle school.

How's the wildlife? We live in a very dry climate right now, so not many bugs, snakes and no alligators lol. I'm a little concerned about all the bugs etc.

Florida has lots of nice surprises in this area. Never saw an Alligator except for the parks.

Lots of bugs, snakes, cute little lizards, but we did have a West Nile Monitor Lizard in our backyard once. Really odd because he appeared once a year in another neighbors yard.

Have you checked out the message boards on City-Data.com, that is how I found where we are now.

I like living in VA more than FL, but I sure do miss driving over to the parks for the day. Good luck!

 

[TifffanyD]

My understanding of Fishhawk Ranch is that it's very rightwing conservative... and some of them are even kinda nuts. Is that the case? (Not the nuts part... but the fact that it's very conservative...)

We are looking to buy a house and trying to understand different areas better (live in Brandon now)

ETA: I am meaning more like the people are in your face about their views.

 

[brockash]

Thanks again for some general info. After taking a look around, I'm thinking living on-base may be best, however I called and it's looking like a 6-9 month waiting list...so I guess we'll have to find somewhere off-base. Can anyone tell me, is the area and the schools right outside of base pretty bad? That seems to have been our usual experience at all of the places we've been stationed. For whatever reason, everywhere right off of base is usually pretty run down and the schools are usually some of the worst in the district...I'm assuming this holds true for Macdill as well?

My DH doesn't like to have a very long commute, however safety and our kids needs come first, so just trying to figure out where a decent place would be with a decent commute. We've never lived in anything, but a single family home, so that's what we would prefer, but we're def. not looking for a lot of land (not a fan of bugs etc. lol). We're basically just looking for a nice, newer housing development (totally fine with cookie style homes) with pretty decent schools.

Thanks for all your help, I think this is the part about moving all the time I dislike the most, because you just never know.