I was stationed at Macdill for 8 years and have always lived in St. Pete. 13 yrs later I'm still here!
A bit slower paced but growing busying every year unfortunately

I live in Riverview now,(Great schools) but I lived in Brandon for many years. The traffic in both are pretty bad, but I think that is true for most of the Tampa area. If you have any questions about those areas I would be glad to help you.
Ariel

I spent 2 weekends apt. hunting with my son. We looked all around the Citrus Park area. Citrus Park is nice and so is Carrollwood. Town & Country has good and bad parts. I don't know about the schools.

Some of his coworkers live in St. Pete and commute and they say it's not too bad a drive. Traffic in Tampa is always pretty heavy.

Traffic in Tampa isn't too bad if you get the right area. Stay away from Town and Country, as the traffic out of there is a nightmare and it's often quite floody.

I like the northern central area...Egypt Lake (Where I live), Lowry Park, Forest Hills...and it's not bad access to the base at all.
If you want to be closer to the base, Ballast point is nice, though a bit pricey, and the same goes for New Suberb Beautiful. Most of the Soho (South of Howard) area is vry Yuppified, and so the prices and property values are going up. I love that area for it's beautiful homes, well attended mature gardens and quaint shops, but it's a bit of a traffic problem. Not as bad as it can get though.

When K was stationed at McDill, we lived part of it in St Pete and part in Tampa. The commute from St Pete was a nightmare!

If you want something a bit out of the way, the neighborhood down at Picnic Island Beach is interesting, or at least I think so. It was very good, then it was not so good, and now people are buying the nice old homes and fixing them back up. This is also true of Seminole Heights, though that has become VERY pricy, and I think it's still dangerous. And speeking of danger, under no circumstances go for the Sulpher Springs area, no matter how good the house looks.

If you have an address that you want checked out, send it to me and I'll give you the particulars.

Amber is right on the money about the parts of Tampa. Ballast point is richie rich with a great view of the bay. The mature gardens an shops in Soho are cool. My fav part of Gasparilla is getting to see the gardens! An the Springs is a bona fide ghetto. Seminole Heights is coming back up with all the old houses they are fixing, but there is still much to do before it gets cleaned up better.

Good luck with your home search. There are some really nice places in Tampa.
Tim

Thank you for the suggestions. It's official Macdill is our new home. We are going to try to visit the neighborhoods you folks have suggested. Appreciate all the input.

Your new neighbor Christi

Welcome to the area Christi. If you have the chance, I'd be glad to meet you at a coffee house and go over a map with you.