After being in Tampa for a week... (Orlando, Hollywood: rental, buying a house)

[dallard]

I am from South Dakota thinking about relocating to Florida. I have been quietly listening to the conversations on this forum. Tampa sounds like a nice area. I am from a small town so I expect to hear good and bad with that many people. I think the good so far has been out weighing the bad.
I want to comment and ask a couple questions.
1. Weather. Most of us have some bad months of weather. I look at it this way, I have to stay inside for several months due to crappy weather in the north as well. I think I would rather be inside looking at palm trees instead of dead looking trees.
2. How safe do you feel there? Do you ever go into a store without locking your car? Do you always lock your house? even when you are in it?
3. Does your kids ever walk to school?
4. What about public schools?
5. Bummer girls are really that hot??? hehe
6. We are looking for an adventure and life and great shopping. We don't want to move somewhere were we can afford to barely live.

[EB2]

Originally Posted by On-da-Beach

and REAL women like it that way!

Not generally...most of the men that DO hit on the women here are so grotesque about it, I'd rather walk through the ghetto and be bludgeoned with a bat, than hear what filth comes out of their mouths....

[EB2]

Originally Posted by dallard

I am from South Dakota thinking about relocating to Florida. I have been quietly listening to the conversations on this forum. Tampa sounds like a nice area. I am from a small town so I expect to hear good and bad with that many people. I think the good so far has been out weighing the bad.
I want to comment and ask a couple questions.
1. Weather. Most of us have some bad months of weather. I look at it this way, I have to stay inside for several months due to crappy weather in the north as well. I think I would rather be inside looking at palm trees instead of dead looking trees.
2. How safe do you feel there? Do you ever go into a store without locking your car? Do you always lock your house? even when you are in it?
3. Does your kids ever walk to school?
4. What about public schools?
5. Bummer girls are really that hot??? hehe
6. We are looking for an adventure and life and great shopping. We don't want to move somewhere were we can afford to barely live.

1.) I HATE the heat, do better in the cold - but FL does have a few nice months (Dec to about late March, sometimes mid-April, imo). Everywhere has an evil when it comes to weather (be it intolerable heat - or intolerable cold. Hurricanes, or blizzards....etc etc). You may end up looking at dead grass/trees in the summer, when watering is restricted, if the rainfall isn't enough (the grass where I live is just starting to grow back in nice and green, thanks to a period of rain we had [after being sad, and fried-looking]). Each year the rainy-season seems to vary on rainfall....last year it didn't seem to rain so much. As of lately, we've been getting a little more rain, I've noticed.

2.) I live in a nicer section of St. Pete, and generally feel rather safe, though, I still keep my door locked to my house, even when inside (something I never did in my home-state of Michigan)...and also, lock the car doors when going into a store.

3.) I can't speak for "my" kids, as I don't have any...but for about a year I walked to school, while in middle school. Save for the heat and/or rainy season, it wasn't all that bad.

4.) Depends on the area you look at. Like any area, some are better than others. Most will state that they aren't up to par with MOST of the northern schools, though (and, for the most part, I agree [again, with the exception of a few schools]). When I moved here, I was given assignments that I had covered 2-3 years prior in Michigan (seriously).

5.) Pretty girls are everywhere. Most just dress more scantily here.

6.) Others may agree...FL may be "cheap", but when getting paid a FL-salary, that "cheap" living, isn't so cheap anymore. A lot of people that moved here for whatever reason, and are dying to get out, find themselves working their tails off until they die, to try to get out...many people get stuck here for years, because they just can't make enough money to get out.

Good luck, with whatever your decision is.

[On-da-Beach]

Originally Posted by EB2

Not generally...most of the men that DO hit on the women here are so grotesque about it, I'd rather walk through the ghetto and be bludgeoned with a bat, than hear what filth comes out of their mouths....

it must be the heat... has everyone lost their sense of humor??

[Mike1306]

Dallard

I am in Hernando County which is part of the Tampa Metro area but semi rural. I will answer your questions though since it will give you an idea how it might be about 50 minutes outside downtown Tampa.

1. I love the heat here. The times I could do without are when it drops down to the 30's-40's. It all depends on what you like but personally I am not stuck inside any time of the year.

2. I leave my doors unlocked at home when I am there but lock them when leaving. Just habit on that part but not really worried about anything. My car is almost always unlocked, half the time the keys are thrown in the cup holder.

3. School is a little too far away for them to walk. I do have friends who have children that walk to school.

4. The schools can vary widely from area to area even within the same county. I would not rely upon the grade the state gives each school but you can check a few different websites to see how the parents rate the schools. I have been very happy with the schools my children go to.

5. Yes, I believe the proportion of good looking women is higher here.

6. Florida did have one of the largest price increases for housing during the boom but also one of the biggest drops. This being one of the biggest cost of just about everyones budget has a big impact on how well one can live. Florida is still very affordable comparative to many areas but higher than others. Unemployment is high right now.
As far as shopping from where I am you have your normal run of the mill type stores but Citrus Park Town mall is only about 25-30 minutes and International Mall in Tampa is about 50 minutes.
Adventure is different to different people. I can throw my canoe on the truck and be on the river in 5 minutes of in the Gulf in 15, I am about a few thousand feet from a 31,000 acre preserve.
Nightlife is a little scarce up here but pretty good down in Clearwater and Tampa.

Just a different view, it all depends what you are looking for.

[algia]

1. Weather. Most of us have some bad months of weather. I look at it this way, I have to stay inside for several months due to crappy weather in the north as well. I think I would rather be inside looking at palm trees instead of dead looking trees.

Look, as far this weather thing goes, being inside due to cold or warm.....here's the thing....if you are just sitting inside doing NOTHING, you will be just as bored here........palm trees are NOT green 365 days a year here, they turn yellow and then have branches that die and look winter-ish.....In Tampa, unlike Miami, there are other trees too, we don't ONLY have palm trees here and oddly enough the other trees we have loose leafs and look just like the trees you're looking at up there in the winder, the only difference is that they are not covered with snow!

2. How safe do you feel there? Do you ever go into a store without locking your car? Do you always lock your house? even when you are in it?

Never go to a store and leave my car open, we live in a guard gated community and have had a DVD player stolen out of our car last year from our driveway! so much for paying extra to have a guarded gate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never leave the car open when going to a store! are you kidding, I may not find my entire car when I get out! LOL House is always locked even if we are home, including the entry to the garage!

3. Does your kids ever walk to school? in this heat?
no, I am not looking for a heart attack or stoke, and also here nothing is in walking distance......there are very few places in FL that offer the ability to walk somewhere! everything else is driving and LOTS of it! PLUS with so many abductions it is really NOT SMART to let your kids walk to school or anywhere else here for that matter!

4. What about public schools?
THEY SUCK BIG TIME.......You will regret that.......our experience so far was horrible......and like THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, they take money away from them constantly! I am trying to understand what the goal is....since EDUCATION should always come first!


5. Bummer girls are really that hot??? hehe
They seem hot because they are wearing bikinis........I am sure there are plenty of good looking girls up there too, the difference is the level of common sense...........people here have not discovered that they make clothes for every size yet! and what you will see is a few girls that look actually normal, the a ton who are overweight and are in denial because they still wear their toddler clothes! showing NO self respect what so ever! we went to NYC in the summer time a few years ago and I have NOT seen one good looking chick wearing inappropriate clothes just because she could! (and then people wonder how come we have so many sex offenders! DUH!) LOLOL

6. We are looking for an adventure and life and great shopping. We don't want to move somewhere were we can afford to barely live.
Move to Texas then, they have heat and palm trees there too but they do pay workers normal wages...here you will take a cut in pay which may put you in that "barely afford to live" scenario.....

[mxracer]

bad there? come on up here to Detroit!

[dallard]

Wow I like this forum. Thanks for the honest opinions. We want this so bad but I am so concerned I will make my family unsafe.
Wages in South Dakota have always been the bottom of the barrel. Most people who move here leave because there is no shopping from food to clothing and the rent is high with low wages. Tourist keep the prices high. I suppose that is also Floridas issues.
So sorry to hear of all the troubles in Detroit.

[elizabeth24]

Moved here from west palm over 4 years ago....not by choice....you cannot compare the east coast to the west coast...totally different worlds.... when I am able to move back to the east coast, this place will be but a distant, awful memory. One vow I have made to myself is that I will NEVER EVER cross the skyway bridge and come back to this area. I refer to it as "THE DARK SIDE". For anyone reading this who has a choice, spend some time anywhere from Ft. Myers south or over on the east coast....you will not be sorry. This is like a bad dream that I cannot wake up from.

[dallard]

Why what made it bad for you and why is the east side better. Isnt it over populated?