Possibly moving from NYC to the Tampa area (Orlando, Clearwater: transplants, 2014)

[kennethjv]

Hey everyone. My fiancé and i are looking into relocating to florida. We'd like some insight on moving from NYC (where we are now) to Tampa, FL.

Here's a little background:
I am a construction/project manager with 7 years experience in residential, commercial, and educational construction of all sizes. My fiancé is a medical secretary with 12 years of experience working for a well known NYC hospital. We are in our late 20s. I would definitely love to continue my career as a construction manager in florida. She is more open to switching careers and/or going back to school to get her masters degree in forensic psychology. We would be looking to rent for a year at first and then buy a house for around 200k.

We need some insight on:

1. How much of a pay cut should we expect in our respective fields (we understand that is could be half)?
2. Are there any recommendable schools for my fiance's major?
3. How much better is the cost of living compare to NYC (i know its less but i can't wrap my mind around it when compared to how much less we'd be making)?
4. During rush hour, how bad is the traffic if we lived 30 miles away from the city for example?
5. What is the overall vibe of the tampa area (more young adults? more family friendly? more senior citizens?)?

Any information you could give us would be gladly appreciated. Thanks so much!

[BucFan]

I see RIPA is hiring. That construction company seems to be everywhere around here - residential, commercial construction - I think they handled the infrastructure on my last community.

[BucFan]

Really think economy is turning around. Construction everywhere down here S. Hillsborough. New hospital Big Bend Road. Wouldn't have recommended moving here a few years ago, but things look better. Big pay decrease though from what I've read here (ie Registered Nurses make drastically less).


RIPA & Associates | RIPA & Associates - Careers | Built on Strength, Reliability & Trust

PROJECT MANAGERS
Applicant must have a minimum of 3 years of experience as a project manager, project engineer, and/or estimator. Candidate shall have detailed knowledge of commercial/residential construction materials and methods. The candidate must possess strong organizational, communication, and computer proficiency skills. Duties include: communicating with owners and subcontractors, writing purchase orders and subcontracts, scheduling, invoicing, estimating, takeoffs and coordinating with jobsite superintendents while maintaining a positive client relationship on multiple projects.

[Candh07]

Hey kennethjv!

My hubby and I moved to Tampa last month from NJ. I lived in Queens for about 5 years mysefl . Here's my take on it:

1)Concerning the pay cut, it will be hard for anyone to tell you exactely how much, since there are many variables to consider. It depends on your field of work, and who you work for. What I did prior to coming was to call the companies I was interested in working for, and directly ask them what pay rate I would get if I was to be working for them. Just check out job searching sites like indeed, apply, and call the places to find out the info you need.
2) Forensic psychology sounds pretty interesting, unfortunately, I have no expertise on the subject, sorry!
3) Try a cost of living calculator, there are several online that will break it down for you. We have noticed that utilities are about the same than in NJ for us; food, goods, car insurance and gas are also about the same except for electricity being higher in the summer (we have a 2 bedroom apartment, costing about $100/month to cool down). Housing is where we made our biggest saving: we are paying about 40% than in NJ, for a much more beautiful setting, WITH amenities (Gym, pool).
4) Not gonna lie, traffic is BAD. Tampa was obviously NOT build for the flood of people moving here. During rush hour, a 15 miles commute to my job downtown takes 50 mins, close to an hour! Unless your commute is the opposite direction of going downtown, you'll be sitting in traffic and long red lights for what seems like forever.
5) To us, it looks younger than expected. There are tons of families, plenty of senior citizens, but LOTS of people in their 20s to 30s. So far, 90% of the people we met are transplants.

Overall, we are happy with our choice, but we know that Tampa is not for everyone. Keep in mind, Tampa is VERY different from NYC, so I suggest you guys visit first, to make sure you like it before making the big plunge.

Good luck with everything!

[kennethjv]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Really think economy is turning around. Construction everywhere down here S. Hillsborough. New hospital Big Bend Road. Wouldn't have recommended moving here a few years ago, but things look better. Big pay decrease though from what I've read here (ie Registered Nurses make drastically less).


RIPA & Associates | RIPA & Associates - Careers | Built on Strength, Reliability & Trust

PROJECT MANAGERS
Applicant must have a minimum of 3 years of experience as a project manager, project engineer, and/or estimator. Candidate shall have detailed knowledge of commercial/residential construction materials and methods. The candidate must possess strong organizational, communication, and computer proficiency skills. Duties include: communicating with owners and subcontractors, writing purchase orders and subcontracts, scheduling, invoicing, estimating, takeoffs and coordinating with jobsite superintendents while maintaining a positive client relationship on multiple projects.

Thank you for the heads up. I'll look into it.

[kennethjv]

Originally Posted by Candh07

Hey kennethjv!

My hubby and I moved to Tampa last month from NJ. I lived in Queens for about 5 years mysefl . Here's my take on it:

1)Concerning the pay cut, it will be hard for anyone to tell you exactely how much, since there are many variables to consider. It depends on your field of work, and who you work for. What I did prior to coming was to call the companies I was interested in working for, and directly ask them what pay rate I would get if I was to be working for them. Just check out job searching sites like indeed, apply, and call the places to find out the info you need.
2) Forensic psychology sounds pretty interesting, unfortunately, I have no expertise on the subject, sorry!
3) Try a cost of living calculator, there are several online that will break it down for you. We have noticed that utilities are about the same than in NJ for us; food, goods, car insurance and gas are also about the same except for electricity being higher in the summer (we have a 2 bedroom apartment, costing about $100/month to cool down). Housing is where we made our biggest saving: we are paying about 40% than in NJ, for a much more beautiful setting, WITH amenities (Gym, pool).
4) Not gonna lie, traffic is BAD. Tampa was obviously NOT build for the flood of people moving here. During rush hour, a 15 miles commute to my job downtown takes 50 mins, close to an hour! Unless your commute is the opposite direction of going downtown, you'll be sitting in traffic and long red lights for what seems like forever.
5) To us, it looks younger than expected. There are tons of families, plenty of senior citizens, but LOTS of people in their 20s to 30s. So far, 90% of the people we met are transplants.

Overall, we are happy with our choice, but we know that Tampa is not for everyone. Keep in mind, Tampa is VERY different from NYC, so I suggest you guys visit first, to make sure you like it before making the big plunge.

Good luck with everything!

Thank you so much. Specifically on cost of living, did you only see a big difference in the rent? Were there any other things that made you think you were saving more by being in tampa?


Also, my father lives in Orlando so I've been there about 10 times in the past 10 years. Do you know how Orlando compare to Tampa?

[lavender]

You think traffic in Tampa area is bad, getting through Orlando from north to south - ugh !
Housing around $200,000 possible, but not a cute 3/2/2 with a pool in a nice subdivision near to stuff. You can find a home
farther out east side of Tampa Bay south of Tampa but then you have the commute. You will find rental less than NYC by miles, but if you look at downtown St Pete, which is the nicest place to live for younger folks, and has Johns Hopkins All Childrens Hospital and Bayfront Med Centre plus other hospitals down there, you can look at anything between $1.50/$2SF for a rental unit. There are cute bungalow properties in Kenwood, ranging from $250K-$350K which are selling like hotcakes and closer in to St Pete, property is very expensive. You probably need to choose which side of the bay you are going to live, Tampa side, or St Pete/Clearwater - both have great number of medical facilities and depending on construction types, there is always something going on both sides there too.

[Iching]

We moved here from Westchester/NYC in 2014. It's all relative and depends on your salary. We took our salaries with us so for us it's a lot cheaper. I couldn't fathom paying 12k taxes on a 450k crapper in Westchester.

We bought a house for 330k in November 2014 and sold it for $380k a couple of months ago. It was too big, no need for a pool etc. We bought a smaller one for $250k.

There are so many New Yorkers living here and moving you'll be shocked.

[tanyasellstampa]

If you are moving into the North Tampa area (Carrollwood, North Dale, Citrus Park area) it is the 'burbs', but nice. A rental (3/2) can be had from 1300k on up in a decent neighborhood.. we had one in Country Place.
We moved down here because my husband (originally from NY and we were in VA Beach) got a great job offer running a stand alone ER. The pay increase was significant, the housing prices cheaper, and there is no state income tax. There are a TON of NY living here.. tons of different cultural and ethnic foods. The only big things we have found is the insurance (car especially) is way higher and the registration fees at the "tax collector" are a shock.
if you go to movingtoTampaFL.com there is a free relocation guide if you are interested.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by kennethjv

Thank you so much. Specifically on cost of living, did you only see a big difference in the rent? Were there any other things that made you think you were saving more by being in tampa?


Also, my father lives in Orlando so I've been there about 10 times in the past 10 years. Do you know how Orlando compare to Tampa?

I'm saving more by being in NYC. The only thing more expensive in NYC is rent, everything else can be had just as cheap as in other cities. Orlando is a nice city, but it's landlocked. Depends if being close to the water matters to you.