I will tell you all about Clearwater...
-
8/18/2006
I've lived in Clearwater for all but the first five years of my life, grew up attending public schools in the immediate area, and have seen the area grow throughout that time. I'm currently trying to situate myself so that I can move back to the northeast, and I'll give my reasonings why I want to move from here as well as an unbiased opinion as best possible about the positive factors of the area, considering I don't really feel it is desirable to me. The main problem here is a mixture of cost arising from the real estate aspect as well as the lack of jobs providing a sustainable wage (generally unless you have an advanced degree or have been a very successful business owner). As far as pricing a house in the area, I will give a personal example: my parents bought their house about 12 years ago for ~$45,000. The house was built in 1977, has 950 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, one bath, and no garage or car port. Flashforward to present time and a recent appraisal value of $210,000. This is for a house in a lower middle class / middle class neighborhood. On top of this, property taxes were recently doubled and insurance prices have blown through the roof. My aunt and uncle, who resided in Holiday (about 20 miles north of Clearwater) recently relocated to North Carolina when they couldn't take the tax and insurance squeeze. Last year their insurance jumped from $400/year to more than $3,000/year. Yes, in one year their insurance went up nearly 800%. It is no doubt influenced by the fact that Florida is a hurricane magnet, but this particular area of Florida hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane in nearly 100 years. On the issue of schools, schools in the northern area of Pinellas county (generally considered Clearwater or Largo northward) are generally good. Added to this is the fact that there is an abundance of magnet programs and the choice program which allows all students enrolled in public schools to choose a wishlist of schools from anywhere in the county that they would like to attend. I personally attended a criminal justice magnet program for high school, and can't imagine having gone through high school without that experiece. As far as weather, if you like having four seasons this isn't where you want to be. It isn't abnormal for temperatures to stay above 50-60 degrees throughout the winter, and in the summer the heat, humidity, and daily afternoon thunderstorms can be oppressive. This is the LIGHTNING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. If you are
David | Clearwater, FL