Tampa not just for older folks? (Atlanta to Tampa?) (Jacksonville: environment, real estate)

[atlantagreg30127]

I originally posted this in the Miami forum for some folks I know, but others there have suggested that maybe Tampa is the place for them, so below is a copy of that adapted for Tampa if anyone could be kind enough to reply...

Ok, a coworker of mine has a husband who has the opportunity to take a job in Tampa. Neither of them is at ALL savy on the computer (they need help checking their Yahoo mail for crist's sake), so I'm doing this as a favor one time, as personally I've never been down there or know anyone who lives there.

She is 48 years old, native southerner (Georgia), does home crafts that she actually sells quite a bit of at local arts and crafts events, and also does home made jewelry (not tacky) that she sells in a few local shops. He works for a real estate company, is 52, and also a native southerner (Tennessee). Both of them are friendly, laughing, outgoing people and most folks want to be around them after only spending a few minutes in their company. Both are around 25-35 pounds overweight (or so) and you will NOT see them in bikinis or speedos at the beach. Neither of them speak Spanish at all, though they are willing to learn. Considering their tech skill on the computer however, my guess will be they will never get beyond a "Where is the bathroom" level of Spanish.

** This (above) was an issue when discussing Miami - I'm not sure about the pretty/spanish issues in Tampa, however **

He has the opportunity to go to Tampa, as well as Miami and Baltimore (that's out) as well as Charlotte (that's also out) . Now just from what I hear, I figure she would do ok with her crafts and jewelry stuff. There are enough privately owned boutiques down there and her stuff really is cool, so I figure she'll be able to sell it to a few places, etc. They don't depend on her income anyway, but use it as their "blow money" (restaurants, etc). He as I said, would have a job lined up.

They were VERY concerned about the perception we all have here however, that Miami is only for young, "pretty", skinny people in pastel colored thongs, and that a couple of folks like these two will be simply the odd ones out, and laughed at and ridiculed for not being amonst the Botox elite. They plan on living intown so they can walk to shops/restaurants/etc and also use transit when possible (rail). Money for a condo won't be an issue; they sold a lot of land up here and have it to spend for a place. - so again, people suggested that maybe Tampa is more "down to earth" compared to Miami regarding all of this... (?)

So - is this doable? The perception in Atlanta is that Tampa is either ultra high dollar time share condos, or high-end trailer parks for the elderly. I'm sure there's much more to it than that, but it's simply the stereotype they have here.

As a small side note - does Tampa have any kind of light rail system in place where if folks wanted to live intown they could use that to zip around as an alternate to driving?

Thanks

[gypsychic]

Tampa is NOTHING like the stereotype, and NOTHING like Miami.

They will do fine here. One of our poster's on the forum is "Tampaguy", he can give you great advice if he sees the post. If not see if you can do a search at the top of the page for posts on Tampa, and read what he has to say.

Good luck!

[dunno]

They sound very much like half the population of the greater tampa area.

The other half sounds like they are from NY, NJ or MI. (LOL!!!)

Scatter in a few natives and canadians and you have Tampa.

Spanish will not be necessary for what they do.

[FireballFL]

Tampa is heads and toes ahead of Miami. Although I am a huge fan of Key West, I give Tampa two thumbs up. If they are open minded to constant change in a city that is moving up, then I think your friends will do well. I love living in Tampa. People like to make their comparsions to Miami and Jacksonville, but Tampa has a personality all it's own. We are not full of young people (like spring break), but we do not have a bunch of old people either. Tampa has a fair mix of young and old and the everyone generally respects everyone else. I would push Tampa on them in a heartbeat. Plus if they are fans of the various theme parks, they will get a ton of them here. Busch Gardens is in their backyard, Lowry Park Zoo is fab, the beaches are lush, friendly, inviting, and peaceful. We are a hop, skip, and jump from all the fun of Orlando's theme parks also. They will do fine.

Oh, if your friends do move here, I am always interested in trendy arts and crafts....... feel free to give her my email address: steven1976@tampabay.rr.com

I am always interested in the arts and crafts stuff.

[atlantagreg30127]

Thanks for the comments - I'll pass them on.

Any comments on the transit there? Obviously these two both drive, but they would like to live in an urban area where you could hop on a light rail or trolley and zip around the basic areas without having to drive. Has Tampa made any progress regarding something like that, or is it pretty much an auto town?

[Team_Roberts]

No light rail system here - but I did hear them talking about it recently on the news. (I wouldn't look for it anytime soon though.)

Spanish is not a requirement or a necessity for the Tampa Bay area. I think your friends will be fine and not have any trouble not knowing Spanish. :-)

Tina

[tampaguy03]

As the above post mentioned, no light rail, but changes are coming, but I wouldnt expect to hop on anything until another 10 years. Downtown has the Streetcar which runs about 2 miles from the Convention Center, through Channelside District to Ybor City District. There is also the In-Town trolley which runs throughout downtown and Hyde Park/SOHO district. Other than that there is the Hart Line bus system(Welcome to HART).

[FireballFL]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Thanks for the comments - I'll pass them on.

Any comments on the transit there? Obviously these two both drive, but they would like to live in an urban area where you could hop on a light rail or trolley and zip around the basic areas without having to drive. Has Tampa made any progress regarding something like that, or is it pretty much an auto town?

Transit is the one thing I yearn for in Tampa. Light rail is not here, but we have both the PSTA and HART lines that come through. That is our local buses that take you around the town. If they are closer to living in Downtown, Ybor City, or the Channelside area, there is the economically and environmentally friendly, electric street buses that run. It can transport them easily from Downtown to Channelside to Ybor City and vice versa.

[INeedAChange]

How is the housing market doing in Tampa? Is it in as bad shape as So. Fla?

[yukon]

Spanish nor Speedos are required in Tampa

I used to live in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Baton Rouge and absolutely HATED Miami-Ft Lauderdale. But I really like Tampa. The two parts of Florida are very, very, very different.

If they're wanting decent transit, then they need to check out St Pete and Pinellas County as the bus service over there is much better than Hillsborough (Tampa) transit system. It's pretty sad when it's easier to get from St Pete to downtown Tampa than it is to get from Carrollwood to downtown Tampa.

They're making noises about a multi-county transit agency here, but I'm not sure the demographics and business concentrations are right for light rail. HOV lanes we can definitely use, but it does take a certain business/residential configuration for light rail to be successful (IMHO).