Moving To Florida From Baltimore (Miami, Tampa: apartment, condo, loan)

[JKisses]

OMG I absolutely HATE IT Baltimore MD So me and My Fiancee are thinking T Move to FL! I know alot about hot weather cause I was Raised in the Islands Plus I use t vacation there when My Grandparents lived there....Im looking for a place t settle in where its close enough to the action but Not to far away im 22 yrs old and I like the Party scene but i also LOVE T relax! Not a Fan of Hurricanes To much so I wanna Live more Inland But be able to not travel far for beaches! I wanna be in a place where I can have fun and Work. I been seeing alot of people saying the job market is bad but it CANT Be as Bad as Batimores

ANY HELP?!?!?! THANKS!!!

[craigm1841]

1. Hurricanes are not quite an issue here like it is on the Atlantic side or further northwest on the gulf. Hurricanes either have to cross land from the Atlantic to get here. They tend to move northwest and Tampa is kind of protected by the peninsula.

2. What do you do for a living? The job market sucks everywhere for most.

3. What are you looking to spend (monthly) on housing?

4. I noticed a few times you capitalized a "T" instead of typing "to". Theoretically you are hitting the same number of keys (do to hitting the 'shift' key). Since you are attempting to type in “short-hand” so to speak (maybe to save time?), I don't really see the point, but I digress.

5. Not everyone in Tampa is as mean as me

[JKisses]

1 cool

2 I work as a Loan Officer But Im In School for Broadcasting so I wanna try and balance between the 2 to see which one would make a stable career

3 Monthly Spending wise the most im going to is 1200.00

4 Naw I just have a wack computer! so the keys do what they want i didnt notice until i posted it lol

5 Im from Baltimore we are WAY Meaner! lol

[craigm1841]

I spent quite a bit of time in Baltimore. I was staying near the Anne Arundel mall, but spent a lot of time dowtown. Tampa IS MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better.

1200 a month for an apartment will suit you quite well. You can live in a nice gated, new complex in a great location for that. Depends on what kind of nightlife you want.

Will you be going to school down here? that will probably skew where people are likely to reccomend you live, depending on which school you wil be attending.

[galactic_hombre]

http://www.btco.net/ghosts/streets/paving/brick_oliver.jpg (broken link)I drove through Baltimore and remember seeing all these brick townhouses--they looked like eye sores. Maybe it was the projects I passed by. Either way, the city looked like it was in decline. Tampa has far less brick, but still more than Miami. I miss all of the pastel colored builidings in Miami. Maybe this is why I'm drawn to the Don Cesar hotel/St. Pete Beach area. As for travel to the beaches, you should be able to get to a Pinellas County Beach in about 45 minutes or less from most areas in West Tampa. I commute to Tampa a couple of days during the week. It is not too bad eventhough congestion on the Tampa side of I-275 is to be expected during the week.

[algia]

It is highly crass to make a comparison between Baltimore and Miami.......
BECAUSE:
1. 1001% is just personal preference
2. Baltimore is a million years old.......(give or take!)
3. Completely different mentality/lifestyle
4. Completely different architecture.....! (since you are comparing a hotel with a STREET!) A street in Baltimore is not meant to look like a 4 star resort! or any condo complex that was build 100 years ago without the "resort feel" in mind! and by the way, the interior of that Don Cesar needs work. The carpets are as old as Baltimore and they stink, the entire interior smells like mildew!......

I invite you to drive on the other side on 275 in St Pete and take a few pictures there, but be careful, you may need a disposable camera as that area is not safe to bring a basic point and shoot and still have it after you take your pictures!

[galactic_hombre]

[quote=algia;12906028]It is highly crass

For me, aesthetic beauty is a big deal. And, I'd bet it is for a lot of people who have considered locating to the Tampa Bay area. I just happen to drive through Baltimore and that is what I saw--in abundance. I just happen to drive to the Tampa Bay area and that is what I saw--beauty. I choose to live in the Tampa Bay area. Was the beauty of the area my only reason for choosing Florida? Of course not. By the way, the Don Cesar is not the only jaw dropping beauty to be found here. Drive across the Howard Franklin at sunset, or drive to Clearwater Beach. I'll take Florida any day over that funk in Baltimore. Just my opinion

[gypsychic]

[quote=galactic_hombre;12914765]

Originally Posted by algia

It is highly crass

For me, aesthetic beauty is a big deal. And, I'd bet it is for a lot of people who have considered locating to the Tampa Bay area. I just happen to drive through Baltimore and that is what I saw--in abundance. I just happen to drive to the Tampa Bay area and that is what I saw--beauty. I choose to live in the Tampa Bay area. Was the beauty of the area my only reason for choosing Florida? Of course not. By the way, the Don Cesar is not the only jaw dropping beauty to be found here. Drive across the Howard Franklin at sunset, or drive to Clearwater Beach. I'll take Florida any day over that funk in Baltimore. Just my opinion

galactic - I agree with you 100%. I went through Baltimore once, and thought it was one of the most depressing looking places I had ever seen. I too love the pastel color stucco buildings of Florida. Here in Sarasota, our downtown is full of pastel and/or shimmering glass buildings, and landscaped with lush foliage. Not to mention our beautiful beaches and waterfronts. Sometimes I feel like I am living in a picture postcard!

I absolutely despise a sea of old dark brick buildings and could never live anywhere like that. I'm sure plenty of people like that sort of thing, but for me, it's the beauty of Florida all the way.

[algia]

Each city has it's own beauty, I just think it is not fair to compare such different cities like that.....You think that Don Cesar is cool.......OMG In that case you definitely have to take a trip and visit the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables and the Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach......your opinion will change very quick.........trust me.....
Neither of these two cities have been built with the same things in mind, not to mention that Baltimore is an older city and it is not in a resort like place! even if you put a pink Don Cesar there it will still look like the old buildings.......Baltimore is not tropical in any way.......it is not fair to expect that from it or compare it with tropical places! it's like apples and oranges.....I can understand you're sick of it, don't like it's architecture etc....but you can't do split screen with Tampa/St Pete!
We have really ugly places here in Tampa too, believe me it is not all pretty! I am not sure why some people ONLY want to point out the "pretty" and pretend nothing else exists here and give this false image that we have no crack towns and run down buildings and holes in our roads....take a drive on Ramblewood rd and you could count quite a few of those, not to mention the abandoned properties that no one is taking care off.......no place is perfect, but if I were to make a comparison to "up north" I would say the most noticed differences are that we don't get abusive amounts of snow, the square footage found here is bigger indeed (which you will feel in your electric bill) You'll have quite a lawn to mow, and you can drive 2,3,4 hours and be by the beach again, and lastly, we killed the "mom and pop shop" concept! everything else is just visually different because we're not on the same hemisphere, but you will find the same Walmart here except that the people working there are not as nice as they are up north and you will have your bags checked upon existing some Walmart's here!!!!

[heatherm941]

Since you are not of retirement age, stay towards a city like Tampa where there will be more things to do. Much of the rest of the southwest coast from sarasota down to naples is a prime area for half year residents, which means things to do during "season" not much out of season.
Good Luck