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I have lived in FL since 1962. I grew up in Clearwater and relocated to New Port Richey in 1980 when I graduated from law school. I really prefer the west coast of Florida. Pasco County has a lot to offer. It is a growing area and just north of Tampa. There is a lot more bang for the buck in residential housing.

There are some beautiful new neighborhoods being built here. Trinity is huge and very nice. Samuelson is the best builder in that area. I have heard complaints about other builders, but none about Samuelson. The really exciting new neighborhood is Longleaf. It is modeled after Celebration in Orlando. Houses have front porches, garages are in the back an access by alley. Very old fashioned neighborhood.

Bank related employment should be pretty good, either in west Pasco or in Tampa. Unemployment in Florida is around 4.5%. Real Property Taxes are low. You have already heard that there is no state income tax.

We went for Bush in 2004. Jeb Bush said that when he wanted to see how Florida was going, He checked the election results from Pasco and Orange County. When he saw we were going for GWB, he called and reassured him that Florida was his. There are more registered Republicans than Demonrats in Pasco.

If you are going to make the move, you may want to do so soon. We are seeing an average increase in home prices of 20%+ per year. We listed one of my estate homes in the Spring and sold it for 140K, the deal fell through and we took it from the market. It was re-listed last month and sold for 159K and that was a mere 6 months. The market is hot. Rates are good right now but expected to be on the rise with the increase in the Fed rate.