Convincing arguments for moving to Tampa (Jacksonville, Palm Harbor: best neighborhoods, transplants, rentals)

[jnichols2]

Here's the bottom line, in my opinion....
If you have the means, Tampa can really be a great place to live. Given your profession you will have no trouble finding a very nice, safe, convenient, and vibrant place to live (as always, I would recommend So. Tampa, but you did not list TGH as a possible work place, so I'm not sure it would work). Also, if you are upper middle class you will get A LOT more value for your dollar here compared to other cities (i.e., Hyde Park, Palma Ceia, and Bayshore Beautiful are a couple of neighborhoods that are comparable to nicer parts of San Diego, let's say, but at half the cost for housing).

Of course, I agree that DC is superior in many ways. But most people do not really ever experience the true "DC lifestyle" they imagine. The move there and then end up relegated to the outer-Beltway hell of traffic, high housing prices, crappy weather, and generally high stress level, with few of the city benefits. If you want to live the idealized postcard DC, NY, Boston, etc. life, you had better be loaded with a capital L. If that is a possibility for you, I say go for it. Otherwise I would say that you'll find Tampa a remarkably easy and fun place to live for what you'll pay.

[FloridaKash]

Is there anyway you got get assigned to a medical facility in Pinellas County? Either around Clearwater, Largo or St. Pete?

[TampaKaren]

I have to agree with Algia. When Mama's not happy; no one is happy. Do you think she'll like living in Tampa when she doesn't like Jacksonville? If you're building a business case for a move to Tampa Bay, you should also research DC at the very least.

[user8]

if you want me to provide your wife with a laundry list of reasons not to move to dc, please let me know.

[OrlFlaUsa]

Originally Posted by Strel

Excellent schools?

You're looking in the wrong part of the state.

No they're just looking in the wrong state all together. Sad thing is, I wouldn't have felt that way if you asked me a week ago, hmm what changed???

[algia]

Every city has a laundry list. It is what intrests each of us that makes our experiences succesful or not.

Maybe for you it was a bad experience, that however is not going to apply to everyone else.

DC has a lot to offer for a lot of people. Same as Tampa, for some it's heaven, everything they wanted, for others is plain boring, you can't make a rule either way as we are all interested in something different.

Plus, you cannot even compare the job markets right now between Tampa and DC, DC wins that one by a long shot.

Originally Posted by user8

if you want me to provide your wife with a laundry list of reasons not to move to dc, please let me know.

[user8]

Originally Posted by algia

Every city has a laundry list. It is what intrests each of us that makes our experiences succesful or not.

Maybe for you it was a bad experience, that however is not going to apply to everyone else.

DC has a lot to offer for a lot of people. Same as Tampa, for some it's heaven, everything they wanted, for others is plain boring, you can't make a rule either way as we are all interested in something different.

Plus, you cannot even compare the job markets right now between Tampa and DC, DC wins that one by a long shot.

see, that's the problem (as i see it) with 99% of people in the dc area. they move here for a job. that's it. a career (or at least a job that pays well), and they hate their lives. they were given offers that pay better than their hometown and they take them, further clogging the already miserable roads, crowding the inner and outer cities, and then they start complaining about their hour+ commute to a home half the size of their old one, that costs 3 times more. so they move 40 miles away to the remote 'burbs to afford a cookie cutter house, then they whine about the lack of culture in an area that 15 years ago was farmland.

they whine, moan, and groan about how it takes forever to get anywhere and how driving downtown is a joke (great subway system, though). they complain about taxes. about how everything revolves around politics and the washington redskins. they moan and groan about their rent or their mortgage. they're miserable, yet they feel semi-trapped because they think they'll never find a good job that pays as well in another market. to an extent, most of these people are right. but at what cost? sanity?

i've lived here for all 34 years of my life, and i have never, not once, met a transient who moved here because of "quality of life." sure, dc has plenty of things to do, places to see, foods from every culture imaginable. but ask anyone who didn't grow up here what they think about the area. i'll be SHOCKED if you get an answer that's any more positive than "eh, it's alright i guess."

yeah. people generally make more up here. but guess what? they PAY for it. rents/mortgages, state income tax, personal property taxes, etc. let's put it this way. for what i'm paying on my mortgage for a 65 year old shoebox condo 7 miles outside of downtown dc, i could buy a brand new, 2500+ sq. ft. home in tampa with a 2 car garage and a pool.

dc is a rat race where most people are miserable, arrogant, and in a hurry to sit in gridlock.







your mileage may vary

[Keeper]

Great comments everyone. I agree with you all. Tampa is not DC, nor do 99.9% of ppl want it to be. If you had to move there from someplace you liked/loved Tampa will never compare to that place.

If your wife is unhappy in JAX why don't you both list the things that would make you both happy and then which city meets those things. What are the things that you can live with or without. If you take a job in DC to make her happy, is probably not going to make either of you happy either.

You have to look for the good in any place and you will never be happy if all you focus on are the things that make you unhappy. They are there and show up no matter where you live. No place is perfect.

I have met ppl who 'hated' where they lived, couldn't wait to leave. Once they left they realized that they actually missed it and then wanted to come back. How can you ever be happy if you are always looking for the silver ring someplace else instead of the one that is right in front of you.

[algia]

I almost agreed with you until this paragraph...
You get that here on our former pastures as well, but on half the DC salary!!! also with nothing around....and the people who complain about it....

In theory there is nothing wrong with suburbs, what sucks is that alongside there was never a plan to build any good quality entertainment, so now you have all the entertainment venues down town which is neighbored by crack towns and the clean people from the burbs have to spend hours and hours driving to get back towards downtown where the action is!!!!

Or pay a lot more (in taxes) to live in South Tampa...it is a trade off, but if she is looking for the DC type
of entertainment etc then it will be very hard to sell her on Tampa.

Like Keeper said, you have to make a list of what is more important to each of you and go from there....we want to leave Tampa because for us it's been there done that! we're done and bored, we want more diversity.

Originally Posted by user8

let's put it this way. for what i'm paying on my mortgage for a 65 year old shoebox condo 7 miles outside of downtown dc, i could buy a brand new, 2500+ sq. ft. home in tampa with a 2 car garage

[user8]

Originally Posted by algia

I almost agreed with you until this paragraph...

the numbers don't lie.