Any good reason to come to Tampa? (Miami, Orlando: home, job market)

[Dane Austin]

My wife and I have been researching the Tampa area to relocate to. I have read several posts on here and mainly heard many reasons NOT to move to the area. What I get out of them is this:
1) There are no unskilled jobs availible. I see a lot of whining about low pay jobs (under 40k) not being availible. Personally I don't care about these jobs anyway. I am relocating my business there as well and will create my own job market.
2) Apparently there are no good schools in the area. I have three very intelligent children. Is there an school that can challenge them? We also teach our children at home in addition to what they learn at school (You know like it used to be before parents expected the schools to raise their kids).
3) Traffic sucks. Is it worse than any other major city in the US?
4) Apparently no-one that lives in Tampa likes it?

These are all things I have gotten from reading posts on here. Is this really how the Tampa area is?

Thanks,
Dane

[MT8]

If you tell me the type of business you own, I'll tell you that it's a bad market for that business.

[annaegel]

Good reasons to move to Tampa:

Winters are GREAT! Summers too hot though, but this IS Florida.

Plenty of wonderful beaches and beach activities like boating, wave runner, snorkling, seashell hunting, etc.

Fun things for people with kids (Busch Garden, Disney/Universal not too far, Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, etc).

I came down from NJ where EVERYTHING you do has a crowd. I use to wait an hour in line to pick up my prescriptions. Now I pull up to the drive thru, no hassle. Grocery shopping in NJ, I had to circle around and around just to park my car. Forget about the actually shoppping experience. In Tampa, I have never had to park my car more than 10 parking spaces away from the store. The workers are very pleasant too, and they bag your groceries! I had to bag my own in NJ.

Hardly a line for the movies, and they have stadium seating, something you rarely find in NJ.

I love to go strawberry picking in late spring. I have found a wonderful organic farm that I take my kids to and eat and pick the strawberries, corn, string beans, lettuce, etc.

I like the year round activities. Even in the HOT summer months, you can enjoy the outdoors like the beach and pool.

If I sat here long enough, I would probably find a few more things that I do like about Tampa and Florida.

Now I am one of the ones that does not like living here. If I could, I would still move back, but we are stuck here. These are some of the things I appreciate living in Tampa.

Like the previous poster, I am interested in what your business is. Many businesses are closing down. I hope your have a business that you KNOW will do well here, even in our sucky economy.

[I_Want_Snow]

Well I never lived in Tampa, just worked there. I lived in N. St. Pete for 3 1/2 years before losing my job in the spring of 08'. I lived off of 4th Street close to downtown. Me personally, I LOVE the Tampa/St.Pete area. I currently live in ATL and ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tampa/St.Pete area to me is the what I consider home. The 3 1/2 years I was there, I never had any complaints. There is a good mix of cultures and all kinds of activities you can do. There are all kinds of outdoor events and concerts. And you have access to all kinds of water activities- Numerous beachs, swimming, boating, kayaking and I liked the parks that St. Pete had also.

As far as schools go, sorry I can't be of any assistance as I don't have any kids. Quite a few of the friends I made there actually went to private schools.

To me the Tampa/St.Pete area was a perfect location. You can hit Orlando for Disney, Sea World, or visit a lake, etc and its about an 1 1/2 drive, Daytona Beach or Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic coast is about 2 1/2 hours away, and Miami is about 3 1/2 hours away.

As far as traffic goes, its just like any other major city. It's DEFINITELY not as bad as ATL!! Nothing like being on 7 lanes of traffic idling in 1st gear doing 8 mph going into work and coming home!!

But I may be biased as I spent 30 years of my life living in MI dealing with cold, snow and gray cloudy skies... so FL was heaven for me.

But I have been saving up for the past 6 months and next June I am heading back to either St. Pete or Madeira Beach...

The way times are now with the economy and jobs, it seems a lot of people complain about where they live. Most of that is probably frustration. I see it as if you don't like it... move!

If I was able to start or move my own business I would move it to St. Pete. It's a little smaller than Tampa and it has less traffic. I would also choose to live in the St. Pete/Maderia Beach/Pass-a-Grille/Treasure Island area... But like I said, I am biased and I am true beach/ocean/outdoors person.

I know you asked about Tampa not St. Pete, but really its all the Tampa Bay area.

[nucat78]

As someone who heads to Pinellas every chance I get, I'm with I_want_snow. I've lived in Chicago and Upper Michigan virtually all my life and sunshine, palm trees, and the ocean are heaven to me.

Traffic? Try Chicago during rush hours. Better yet, my son lives in LA. You want to see traffic? Nothing as much fun as sitting on the 5 during rush hour.

Florida public schools seem to have a bad reputation. I suggest you research test scores, college placement and teacher education to see if that's warranted. Not an issue for me as my youngest is now a high school senior and will be gone to college before I move south.

The economy is bad all over right now. But it will turn around - it always does, unless you really believe it will start moving sideways like Japan's did for so many years. If you have an essential and / or highly marketable product or service, I'm sure your business will do well. I'm looking into buying a franchise down there, so...

Don't forget that many times Internet discussion groups, like any sample, suffer from a selection effect. When people are content, they tend not to say much. When they're unhappy, they get vocal.

(Disclaimer: Tampa I don't know well at all, but I love the Gulf Beaches like IWS.)

[TampaKaren]

I've lived in Tampa since the early 80s and don't plan on moving anytime soon. I hope when I leave, it's feet first. I love my life here. IMO, it is what you make of it.

[Stewabby]

Originally Posted by Dane Austin

My wife and I have been researching the Tampa area to relocate to. I have read several posts on here and mainly heard many reasons NOT to move to the area. What I get out of them is this:
1) There are no unskilled jobs availible. I see a lot of whining about low pay jobs (under 40k) not being availible. Personally I don't care about these jobs anyway. I am relocating my business there as well and will create my own job market.
2) Apparently there are no good schools in the area. I have three very intelligent children. Is there an school that can challenge them? We also teach our children at home in addition to what they learn at school (You know like it used to be before parents expected the schools to raise their kids).
3) Traffic sucks. Is it worse than any other major city in the US?
4) Apparently no-one that lives in Tampa likes it?

These are all things I have gotten from reading posts on here. Is this really how the Tampa area is?

Thanks,
Dane

1. Yes, apparently the pay range for unskilled work is lower here than the rest of the country. Also, call centers are a major industry in the area and they don't pay as well. However, there are still plenty of people making very good money here.
2. We don't have kids yet but you can always find good schools if you try hard enough. Berkeley prep looks like an excellent private school. Check out the Newsweek Top 100 public schools in the country. Several Tampa Bay schools made the list.
3. Traffic is no worse than any other similarly sized city.
4. We love it so far.

[Dane Austin]

Thank you all for the responses. I own a commercial floor care business (I clean carpets, strip/wax tile) so the more call centers the better for me. Unskilled labor has been inflated over the years anyway, it is going down everywhere. I had thought about private schools for my kids. It really just depends on how the public schools are. I live in a small town outside of Cincinnati and the school here is so-so. Schools are only as good as the parents that send their kids there. I have found that if I stay involved with the teachers and goings on at the school I don't have any problems.

Thanks,
Dane

[annaegel]

I didn't know you had kids, so I did not comment on the schools. I have 2 kids. One is 10 (5th grade), and 13 (8th grade). Both are in a charter school in Lutz (Learning Gate Community School). We are zoned for Tampa Palms Elementary and Liberty Middle. My kids had a hard time in Tampa Palms Elementary because of snobbery ("my parents are smarter and richer than yours", "we don't like you, you're not invited into our club", etc). They both have excelled at Learning Gate. It is not the PERFECT school, but they have done better there. When first moving down from NJ, I noticed at Tampa Palms (an "A" rated, blue ribbon school), was at least a year behind and did not offer several added programs like foreign language, dance/yoga class, theater, etc. However, if you feel Cincinnati has so-so schools, maybe Florida's schools won't feel as lacking like we did. If you send your kids to private (which are expensive), be very careful which ones you send them to. Private does not necessarily buy you a better education. Private schools can suck as well. You may be better off sending them to public.

Your business should do fine here, IMO.

[full_disclosure]

I want to address the traffic issue for you. Tampa and the surrounding cities have a few bottle necks, but the roads are designed so much better than most places. Lanes are wide and potholes are uncommon. The traffic lights in Tampa and surrounding cities seem to hold you at the light a little longer than most cities. Tampa is not overwhelmed with road projects. Semi-trucks seem to be missing from the area as well (no diesel fuel haze to induce asthma and yes there is a breeze here). You'll find Tampa relatively easy to navigate. Considering all of the advantages of living in the area, traffic should not hold you back. The area still has plenty of room for growth. You're going to love it here.