OT, need help from Florida residents,Tampa area.

[Poorman]

We are flying into TPA the end of the month.

We are going to drive up the coast towards Spring Hill. We want to stay in a hotel near New Port Richey or Holiday,Tarpon Springs area.
Any suggestions for a nice hotel/motel? Has to be clean and neat.Second night would be Spring Hill area,then on to OKW.

The purpose of the trip is to start looking for areas we may want to retire to.
The return trip will be OKW to Tampa,staying the night around the Tampa area,still looking for areas for our retirement. Any help would be appreciated.


TIA,

Rich

 

[floridafam]

Well, there are all kinds of little hotels on Highway 19 in Port Richey and New Port Richey.

I believe they have a Holiday Inn Express, a Comfort Inn and I think they just built a new Hampton Inn on 19 either in New Port Richey or Hudson. We were in Sand Key last May and took a drive up to Hudson (we used to live in Holiday) and I think they were building the Hampton Inn at that time.

IMO, you really can't go wrong with Hampton Inn. We always find them to be clean.

There is a big resort in Palm Harbor, Innisbrook, I think it's called. This would be between Clearwater and Holiday.

Dh and I both remarked how much Hudson was expanding on our last trip. Had we stayed in the area, I'm sure we would have checked out Hudson for a place to build a home or find a home.

Enjoy your trip. Any other questions, just ask.

 

[zalansky]

I can't suggest any hotels in the area of Port Richey.....but (here is a little story) my parents retired at the ages of 58 and 60 to Hudson. They built a home in a community called "the Estates" in 1992. They had come to Hudson to visit friends who had relocated to the area from Long Island...where we were from. (and homes are very $$$) For fun, they went looking at model homes and when they saw they could build a beautiful brand new home for such little money, they decided to retire early and take the plunge. About a year after they moved in, they were unhappy they moved there. Although they lived in a nice community, the surrounding areas made it not so nice to go out and shop and eat. (lots of trailer parks in the area) I don't know why you have chosen that area, and I believe Spring Hill is a little better....but I would look at some other areas too as you seem to plan on doing. Tampa offers so much more culture-wise.
As far as hotels in Tampa, there are soooo many. What are you looking to spend? And do you want to stay near the airport? I used to work at the TPA airport Marriott. It is nice and SOOOO convenient when you are flying out early the next day.
Regardless of what you choose, I hope you will love it here as much as I do!

 

[Poorman]

Thanks for your replys.

The reason we are looking in that area is , it looks to be close to beaches and about 90 minutes from WDW. The housing apears to be reasonable. Where did your parents move to? We have a friend that moved to Spring Hill and she loves it there.

I think I would like to move towards Sarasota, but DW thinks it may be too far from WDW, and housing may be less affordable.

Any other suggestions? This is just a "fact finding" vacation, basically looking for areas on the Gulf side. We are open to suggestions for nice towns near the gulf not too far from WDW.

We lived in Fort Walton Beach many years ago, loved the beaches in Destin area. That was while I was in the Air Force in the late 60's. That is too far from WDW for us to live there.

We thought that Tampa/St.Pete would be a little to crowded and urban for us.

Thanks for any info.

Rich

 

[zalansky]

Rich-
The beaches up in that area (Hudson) are not really typical Florida beaches. I suppose if you are not really picky then it would be fine. But the beach area is not at all like Clearwater and it is very rocky.
My mother had said she wished they looked around and took more time before they built their home in Hudson. They made a quick decision and regretted it later on. Mom always said she wished she had looked around Sarasota. But yes, it was more expensive to live there. I can't say much about Spring Hill, I have never been there, but I know it is about 20 minutes north of Hudson.
The drive from Tampa to WDW takes us one hour door to door. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the beach.
I would call an experienced Real Estate agent and tell them what you are looking for as far as recreation and what you would your lifestyle is.
The problem with Hudson, to be blunt, is there is alot of what my dad calls "white trash" in the area....because of the surrounding trailer parks. I am not saying there is anything wrong with living in a trailer....it is hard to say without offending so I will stop it there.
Have fun in your search, and take your time.

 

[floridafam]

The area is really getting a lot better in terms of development thatn it was years ago.

There are several nice communities with decent priced homes.

We often drove down to Sand Key for the day when we lived in Holiday. We thought it was nice to be close to the beach but not right in the middle of a big town.

I can ask my DH if there are any areas he thought were better than others. His job put him in many houses in Holiday, Port Richey and New Port Richey.

WDW was probably a 2 hr drive at the most.

Yes, there are streets with waterfront homes that are huge and there are streets with junky houses on them. You just have to find the right place to live.

 

[floridafam]

I just wanted to expand on some of the less nice places to live around that area.

One thing that made us uncomfortable was the fact that my DH's office was in a very rural area at the time and there was a lot of Klan activity in the woods very close to his office.

Down the street there was a brand new gated development with beautiful houses and just a few hundred yards away was woods with this kind of thing going on.

It's true the beaches up that way are not your typical Gulf Beaches.

The only problem is most of the areas with good beaches are already developed and it costs a lot to live there.

Have you thought about Tarpon Springs?

DH was looking into moving to Sarasota a few years ago and I think he said he saw some pretty nice areas near there. I thought he said North of Sarasota was cheaper than towns South of Sarasota but I could be wrong.

Are you certain you want the Gulf side of Florida?

 

[Poorman]

Thanks again for the input.

Funny you should ask, I called the Hampton Inn in Tarpon Springs today, I asked about a beach and she said the Fred Howard state park had a nice beach.

We are sort of picky about our beach. We loved the Destin area beaches,spent a lot of time on them,didn't have the money to do anything else.

We were in Clearwater a few years ago and I wasn't impressed with the beach there, really flat and the sand wasn't like up in Destin.

We are not set on the gulf side but we thought that was a good starting point. My brother lives in Melbourne, don't want to be too close to there.

My sister has a house in Leesburg. Looks like a very quiet southern town. Close to the Villages.

But too far inland.

We would be happy with something 1- 1-1/2 hours from WDW and near the water. We also thought something near Orlando would be super hot and humid, with no breeze in the summer, I know the Tampa area is hot also, but at least there is a breeze.

Keep the suggestions coming, the more I know the better I feel about looking at these towns.

zalansky, you didn't say if your parents moved or if they stayed in Hudson??? You live in Tampa and it takes you 40 minutes to get to the beach? I thought Tampa was the Beach

 

[floridafam]

Honeymoon Island and Caladesi State Park have nice beaches.

We got married on Sand Key Beach which is near Clearwater. I don't particularly care for Clearwater Beach. Sand Key is big and quiet.

I think it's fair to compare the Hudson area to Panama City Beach (without the high rise condos) and to compare Sarasota to the Destin area (at least $ wise.)

Good luck with your search. We are hoping to move to Sebastian, Florida in the near future.

 

[disneyisfun]

Hi,

We live in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and absolutely love it. Definately more close to the actual beaches (Clearwater) then say Hudson or Spring Hill.

But to stay on topic, you will definately be able to find a decent hotel somewhere on US 19 in New Port Richey. They just built a nice Hampton Inn in Tarpon Springs as well on US 19.

Good Luck in your search and enjoy your visit!!

 

[zalansky]

Poorman,
My Dad is still in Hudson. Unfortunately...my mom passed away in 1998 so my Dad stayed because they had been there 6 years and had made some friends. If she were still alive they probably would have moved. They looked into a community called "Solavita" http://www.solivita.com/2001/ not far from WDW...they were not big on the beaches so being inland didn't bother them. Friends from Hudson moved there and LOVED it.
No, Tampa is considered to be the "city"...LOL. There are some small "beaches" in the area, which are actually on the causeway (rt 60) and not your traditional beach at all. When we go to the beach, we go to Clearwater, St. Pete (Indian Rocks Beach) and Honeymoon Island. (like Floridafam said - it is beautiful there)
So it takes us anywhere from 30 -45 minutes to get to the beach, depending on traffic.
Floridafams suggestion of Tarpon Springs I think is a good place to look also. That is near the beach and about 1 1/2 hours from WDW.