Relocate from DC to Tampa -- Advice? (how much, houses)

[saintcharlie]

Originally Posted by steve dunedin

You would have to try Dunedin or Safety Harbor they both have nice towns you can walk in. Dunedin is by the inter coastal waterway outside of Clearwater Beach, and has a nice town and a marina area, plenty of restaurants. It has the bike trail that runs from St Pete to Tarpon Springs and lots of things going on every weekend. Safety Harbor is a bit more quaint with a long stretch of town that runs down towards the Marina area. Both are nice. Personally, it is what you prefer. I seen you mentioned West Chase and out in that area, in my opinion there is not a lot to do there, just developments. That is the major thing you need to decide when you move to Florida. It took us a year and a half from South Jersey shore area to find this place and I have no regrets. The summers are hot, but its Florida you just need to adapt. I would love to help you out with your quest if you ever have any questions always feel free to ask.

Thanks Steve!

[saintcharlie]

Originally Posted by NALEXAND

Hi SaintCharlie,
I am a DC area transplant and have been here nearly 10 years. It was hard leaving family and friends but I can honestly say that my husband and I are now happy to have some distance from our family members. Your plan to visit and spend the holidays and have them visit is what we do and it works wonderfully for us! It took me YEARS to get used to living here and adjusting to the climate but if you can deal with many months of summer temps then I think you will be just fine. One thing I can never gripe about in Tampa is the QUALITY of life I have here and the escape from the DC rat race! I think you guys will be just fine! Best of luck to you!

Thank you so much! Hearing another DC native loving it there is definitely encouraging. We both love the heat and look forward to endless summer. Even 90+ degrees is great for us.

[saintcharlie]

Originally Posted by cheesebugle

Lifetime DC resident (mainly NoVA) who moved down here in 2011. It's ok here. Not great, but ok. It definitely beats living up there on many fronts. We don't plan to stay forever, though. I had a huge post written on this, and my kid turned off my computer. Ugh. I'll try to summarize.

First, I would recommend visiting in summer before you move. Winter is great here. Summer is a different animal.

Westchase is nice, but it's overpriced and in a flood zone. Something to consider.

If you do decide to buy, have the home checked for chinese drywall if it was built in the 2000s (google it).

Like you, my entire family is up there. Moving 900 miles away was easy. Staying 900 miles away gets old, as does having to board a plane when we want to visit (we could drive, but after driving down I can think of many better ways to spend 14 hours). Now that we have a little one, it makes it even harder to be so far apart.

I know how miserable it can be in a DC winter. It's gray, cold, windy, and everyone has seasonal affective disorder. I would recommend a long vacation to somewhere warm first, then go back home and reassess. We had rose-colored glasses on when we visited (in winter, as well) and moved. It will wear off no matter where you go. I would advise more than anything to reassess your connection to family. If you honestly think you and your SO would be ok long term living so far from them, give it a shot.

Thanks for the words of advice. One positive about being from DC is that we know in the back of our minds, if Tampa doesn't work out, we can always return to DC. I've been to FL on vacations throughout my entire life. I have family in SoFla and Jacksonville. I have been through the summers and genuinely do not mind the intense heat. Thanks again!

[saintcharlie]

Originally Posted by sinatras

Yeah I think if you are FROM that area, if you have your main family in that area, it's harder to see the benefits of staying here.

I was never from DC, or had family there. I never saw the place as anything more than a region with excellent job growth and a great place from which to take weekend trips to NYC.

Other than that, I was happy as a clam to get away from the traffic, the abysmal (yet very pricey) Metro system that is unreliable, the weather, the housing prices, etc. Life is just wayyyyy harder there than it has to be.

So to review:

DC pros:

Jobs
Proximity to Philly & NYC restaurants/shopping
Lots of nonstop flights from IAD and DCA

DC cons:

Extremely bad air quality/pollution/smog
Weekday traffic (getting stuck in your car for 8 hours on the Beltway when it snows is not uncommon)
Weekend traffic (wanna go to a museum or concert on the weekend? no way. Saturday and Sunday traffic is so bad you stay in your house for fear of getting stuck in gridlock. and subway has limited hours or is very slow on weekends so thats not an option)
Weather (ice storms, tornadoes, tropical storms, hailstorms, snowstorms -- you name it, they get it)
Spring pollen season
Astronomically expensive housing costs
Heating costs
Winter associated costs (extra clothing & shoes, ice melt, shovels, dry skin care, humidifiers, etc.)
Crowded stores, restaurants, you stand in line a lot
Lack of sun in winter and spring
If you take the car anywhere it costs an arm & a leg to park and you will be ticketed aggressively


Oh and the biggest negative of all: It's the No. 1 target of every terrorist on the planet.

I agree mostly with your assessment of DC, especially the traffic, cost, and winters. I don't find the extreme weather scenarios realistic though. In fact, I find the lack of frequent extremes here as one of the few positives. Thanks for the insight!

[sinatras]

"extreme weather not realistic"????


during the 13 years i lived in DC/NoVA, 1997-2010, i experienced:

---2 tropical storms, Gaston and Isabel, during Isabel we lost power for three days
---many many hailstorms, enough to cause damage to my car and gutters of my house (both required insurance claims)
---tornado warnings galore, none hit my home though, but close by yes
---snowstorms galore, including the presidents day weekend storm of 2003 that dumped 20 inches on DC
---way too many ice storms to count, we lost power during these as well

[saintcharlie]

Yeah, NoVA is a different beast. I'm in MoCo MD and we tend to dodge the crazy stuff. We also don't lose power as easily as folks on Old Dominion power. Be that as it may, Tampa doesn't seem to have any major weather events. People associate hurricanes with FL, but my research shows that Tampa doesn't get much.

[sinatras]

Tampa gets a lot of lightning and storms and we are in a lull as far as hurricanes go. But everyone is convinced that the Big One is coming any year now....

[ChuteTheMall]

Before moving to Tampa, you need long summer visits. It's rather different from December.

[saintcharlie]

Originally Posted by ChuteTheMall

Before moving to Tampa, you need long summer visits. It's rather different from December.

I've spent many summer months in FL. As I said before, I have family in SoFla and Jacksonville. I have to assume the summers in Tampa are comparable to Jacksonville. In which case count us in. My wife is from South America and I love the heat. Heat is the least of my concerns. That's what the beautiful beaches and pools are for!

[saintcharlie]

I guess that's where they got the name for the NHL team. Good info. Love meeting people that made the same switch from DC to TPA.