I need some advice (Miami, Tampa: apartments, car insurance, high crime)

[caligrown3]

i currently stay in Los Angeles CA and I am looking to move to Fla within the next year. What is the best place to move to in Tampa? And is Tampa a similiar to Los Angeles in any way? Im 25 and single is this a city that will a person like me? thanks in advance for any advice

[algia]

Moving to Tampa depends solely on your income and job at this point, as our economy has been hit just as hard thanks to the housing bubble bursting! If you have a good paying job, or your career is in demand here, you may be OK, and be able to enjoy the area, if you end up making $8 an hour then it won't be the same.

Tampa is NOT LA in any shape or form, very very different......culturally, people wise you name it.

If you don't have a family to support and are willing to work your way up and not expect to come over here as the "hot shot from LA" then all may be good. Our beaches are much BETTER than LA's, THAT you will love right off the bat..........but you may take a cut in pay as salaries here are very disproportionate compared to the cost of living and everyone is pretty much expecting that you work for free or nothing. That is tough to overcome as that mentality is pretty set here.

The heat is also not the same as our humidity is much higher, but this may not be a draw back for you. Just something to consider as you will be running your AC a lot longer.......

A car is a MUST....there isn't much walking here because of:
1. Distances between stores/residential areas/business districts
2. Heat
3. No public transportation

Don't expect FL to be as liberal as LA or SF (referring to prop 8 type stuff), you'll have a shock if you think that is the case here......you'd probably have better luck in St. Pete or Miami with that.

Other than that, I like Tampa the best so far as we lived in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.......by direct comparison people are nicer here, but you will find rude people too that give you the death look for trying to help by holding the door! Driving courtesy is non-existent on the other hand, so your car insurance premium will be a lot higher here because of all the drivers who either don't have insurance or drive with expired licenses, Florida seems to attract this type of people for some reason!

Come and visit and see for yourself, nice areas are everywhere, South Tampa would probably be a better fit for you, but it will depend on your budget what type of housing you'll end up having.

[caligrown3]

Wow thanks for the insight. You really covered everything and some. When I move out there I will be a a transfer student at USF(hopefully). Ive been preparing for tis move for quite sometime because the budget out here should be a 'sin" its so high and the colleges arent accepting transfer students for a long time. My primary occupation will be a student until I can find work or a internship in sports radio.

my cousin and his wife are planning on moving to florida too either to tampa or ft lauderdale. But if they dont I can make new friends very easily.
Is Tampa a city with high crime and is the city safe from hurricanes?

[algia]

You're welcome...

Florida is always in the path of hurricanes, Tampa per say hasn't had a major one in a long time, but if it hits it hits.......it is better than Earthquakes tho....since those can't be predicted yet! at least you can see a Hurricane's path and get out of the way..........

The area around USF is not my favorite....they have pretty small outdated apartments...and it is also close to high crime areas....I realize it would be ideal to be close to there....but I would look at Carrollwood, it is a short drive straight on Bearss ave to Bruce B Downs and then left on Fletcher and there you are at USF...That's what I would do........South Tampa may be too far of a commute and also much more expensive.

Fort Lauderdale's crime has gone up horribly in the last 4-5 years.......it is a wonderful city, but the people living there are making it ugly. That's why we moved out of there, plus as Miami, it turned out to be almost all Spanish speaking, so a lot of English speaking people moved out..........can't get a job down there unless you speak Spanish.

[caligrown3]

Its def better than earthquakes. Thats another reason I want to leave LA, the big earthquake and lets just say it wont be nice.

I didnt plan on staying to close to the college, that bring unwanted problems. I odnt mind commuting so I will look into Carrollwood right now.

is the job market hurting in Tampa just like it is all over the US?

[algia]

Yeah, I lived in Europe and been through several earthquakes and it wasn't fun!
I'll take hurricanes over earthquakes any day now.........LOL

The job market does suck here too....and it is harder trying to find a job from being there because there are a lot of local candidates readily available! employers here are not too much into flying people from out of state unfortunately.

But, if you have savings to keep you floating for 8 months to a year, then you could move and then find a job, it would probably be easier. Or maybe find a campus type job....to get you through...then find something better, but being here would certainly help.

[caligrown3]

sounds like I have a lot to think about. once again thanks for the advice, i wil be sure to do my homework on the city to make the best decision.

[algia]

You're welcome, That is a very good thing to do...re-search as much as possible, that always eliminates unwanted surprises, and is cheaper than moving first...then research.....

Good Luck!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by caligrown3

i currently stay in Los Angeles CA and I am looking to move to Fla within the next year. What is the best place to move to in Tampa? And is Tampa a similiar to Los Angeles in any way? Im 25 and single is this a city that will a person like me? thanks in advance for any advice

Tampa is much, much smaller than LA, but has plenty to do, just on a smaller scale. One forum poster, Tampaguy03 has made a lot of great informative posts on Tampa in the past here, and will fill you in if he sees this post. For someone your age, I would recommend somewhere in the south Tampa area to live - more to do around there. As algia mentioned, much of the area around USF is not that nice. Tampa is overall a friendly and welcoming city, despite what some say to the contrary, I was born and raised there - it is very diverse, with many ethnic groups represented. Overall it will feel much more conservative than LA, but at the same time will be more laid-back as well. Across the bay is St. Pete, and young people love that area for it's great beaches, Bohemian downtown and other things to do.

We have hot rainy summers, but for 7 months of the year weather is ideal (at least IMO). Yes more humidity here, but we get rain so we don't have those rampant wildfires you get in California. Consequently we have beautiful lush semi-tropical landscaping and Florida has pretty clean air.

Good luck, job market is tough here, but there are still people getting jobs depending on your skills and what is in demand.

[caligrown3]

I like the sounds of that. Tampa is really sounding nice. One of my main concerns is the job market.
What is Tampa like compared to Orange County in California?