Ahah , I had a similar case when my Gunslinger oneshot killed the VIP with Faceoff . Excess of enthusiasm . <| sep |> Welcome to Tampa ! Brandon is a great suburb of Tampa . Here you will have access to all the amenities and easy access to the city . It is a great choice . There are a lot of great places in the Brandon area and the commute is not that bad . The Selmon Crosstown is usually traffic free and the lanes going directly into downtown are reversible which really reduces the traffic . That being said , if you have kids , there are only three areas that have great schools from elementary through high school , in order from most affordable to least Bloomingdale , FishHawk , and parts of South Tampa . You can see these areas on Zillow using their school filter . For some great , nokid options , try searching for apartments on Falkenburg Road , but stay south of highway 60 . There you will find several brand new or fairly new complexes , but shitty schools . Also , the Crosstown dumps you off right there so your commute is easy . For good kid and school friendly options , you can look at Bloomingdale Woods . It ' s not as new but it does get you in the area of great schools and a reasonable commute . EDIT Note that there is a great Magnet school program here in the county . Even if you live in an area with terrible schools , you can use the magnet system to put your kids in a better school .