27 y/o professional female moving from Philly to St. Pete area. Any suggestions? (Tampa: apartment complex, rentals)

[amiles2]

So I am looking at transferring with my job down to the St. Pete area in April of 2012. I'm originally from Tennessee but have been working in my company's Philly office for the last two years. (which is technically in Norristown which is where I have lived the last 2 years). Before taking the transfer, I am just trying to make sure that I could do it without too much stress on the budget I keep for myself.

Where is your employment and the hours you will be working.

I will be working in St. Pete around the Lake Carillon Drive area during the typical M-F; 8-5 time frame.

What is your budget for housing. Do you want to rent or buy?

Definitely looking to rent. Need to stay around $700 or less a month renting. If I could find a roommate it could be more but don't know anyone there that is looking and to me Craigslist is very sketchy.

What would be some decent neighborhoods/places to rent? Especially since I am doing this alone. I've also read that I could rent a little cheaper in some decent places in Tampa and commute to St Pete and the commute wouldn't be too bad since I would be going against normal rush hour traffic patterns. Is this true?

Are schools a concern?

Nope. No kids so not too worried about it.

What is an acceptable commute time?

I want to keep the commute time to 30 minutes max

What else is important to you?

Just being in a decent neighborhood and not being afraid to walk into my apt.


If anyone has any suggestions or know of any decent rentals I would REALLY appreciate it. Thanks!
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[LKJ1988]

$700 a month and being in a good hood is gonna be very hard to do. If you can rent a room from someone in a nice area close to work and keep it around $700 or under then maybe that is the ticket. Hard to find any nice apts for under $700 a month.

[PrISM]

Check out The Verandahs and The Coves on Brighton Bay. That would be basically a 5 minute commute for you and an easy jump onto 275 to get around Tampa/St Pete. I'm not sure what the current rental rates are going for, but when I looked they were around your price range for a 1 bed.

[BBI]

What kind of neighborhood do you want to live in? What kind of apartment is OK? There's a TON of neighborhood variability within 30 minutes of Carillon. If you want cookie cutter gated with a golf course, that's one set of recommendations. If you want to be able to walk to restaurants and bars with people your age, that's another. Either is possible for 700/mo, though, as is always the case, the less desireable the location, the better interior features for 700.

FWIW I'm 30/married/no kids, and we moved here from the far western Philly burbs also. So if you're of like mind, there are two neighborhoods with good nightlife: SoHo (South Howard Ave in South Tampa) and downtown St. Pete. Carillon's a great spot to work because it's a reasonable commute to either of them. Downtown St. Pete isn't more than 20 mins at the peak of rush hour. South Tampa will be about the same on your way into work, but probably a bit over 30 minutes on your way home (depending on where you are in South Tampa). For some reason, traffic is bad heading into Tampa at both rush hours. Anyway, SoHo and downtown St. Pete are very different, and lots of posts here for you to research.

We picked the Old Northeast neighborhood, which is just north of downtown. If you pick St. Pete, I'd stick north of 5th Ave S and east of 4th St. If you pick South Tampa, you'll want south of Kennedy and north of Gandy (even better north of Bay to Bay). If you want a townhouse on a fairway, that's a different set of recommendations...

[amiles2]

Thanks for the info BBI. The neighborhood I live in now is pretty laid back. My apt complex is right on the Schuylkill River so its really nice. I'm not afraid to walk into my complex at night. I am just looking for a nice apt (fingers crossed for a dishwasher & washer and dryer in the unit) in a neighborhood where I won't be afraid that my car will get broken into on a nightly basis.The nightlife I haven't really thought about. I was just trying to find a decent apartment.

If you have any recommendations on places that would be awesome. I've been to the area on vacation the last few years so I know a little of the area but I won't have a chance to head down and look before I would have to move so almost all of my research is here online and trying to get it all down before I have to move down.

[BBI]

Originally Posted by amiles2

Thanks for the info BBI. The neighborhood I live in now is pretty laid back. My apt complex is right on the Schuylkill River so its really nice. I'm not afraid to walk into my complex at night. I am just looking for a nice apt (fingers crossed for a dishwasher & washer and dryer in the unit) in a neighborhood where I won't be afraid that my car will get broken into on a nightly basis.The nightlife I haven't really thought about. I was just trying to find a decent apartment.

If you have any recommendations on places that would be awesome. I've been to the area on vacation the last few years so I know a little of the area but I won't have a chance to head down and look before I would have to move so almost all of my research is here online and trying to get it all down before I have to move down.

Happy to help, as best I can anyway. We only rented short term before buying, and most of my friends who rent are in small apartment buildings, townhouses, duplexes, etc throughout St. Pete; for rent by owner stuff. So I'm not going to be helpful on that, but I did investigate literally every neighborhood within 45 minutes of Carillon when we were house shopping. So, armed with that experience, I'd say two general things, which hopefully are helpful. First, safety isn't much of a limiting factor. Obviously you shouldn't pick midtown St. Pete, but there are safe neighborhoods and complexes in basically every municipality.

Second, unlike in southeast PA, the municipalities here generally do not have downtown areas. I know Norristown isn't some great nightlife spot, but most of the municipalities here are busy roads and stripmalls around subdevelopments. If you enjoy being able to walk to stuff from your apartment complex (it sounds like you do), then your options are actually quite limited in the bay area. Not sure if that's important or not.

[Eastern Roamer]

Camden has a decent property just down the road from Carillon. They might be in your price range. I work at Carillon and a 30 min. commute is not a problem. It seems to be exactly 30 minutes from everything, in fact.

I don't know that Tampa is any cheaper, and if you're working on this side of the bridge, you'll probably want to live on this side, too.

[Angler]

Originally Posted by amiles2

I've also read that I could rent a little cheaper in some decent places in Tampa and commute to St Pete and the commute wouldn't be too bad since I would be going against normal rush hour traffic patterns. Is this true?



What is an acceptable commute time?

I want to keep the commute time to 30 minutes max


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I drive from St. Pete to Tampa every morning and back every night. The traffic NORTHbound from St. Pete into Tampa is as bad, just in a different place. The traffic going north starts backing up around Dale Mabry and extends to the Howard Frankland Bridge, soemtimes to the hump.

FDOT is doing a study to prepare for replacement of the older bridge segment, and in a presentaiton they gave, they showed daily car movements are close to equal going into Tampa and into PInellas from either side.

[chi_tino]

There are literally dozens of apartments and condo communities within a 10 minute drive. If you go a bit south of Carillon to the Roosevelt/4th/Gandy (Gateway) corridor, you will find many, many properties.

$700 should not be that hard of a stretch. 1 BRs in decent condo communities can be had for that amount, and the amenities are usually pretty good (gated, fitness facilities, etc).

[NotWonderWoman]

Would you be able to "name" a few of these communities. I know someone who is looking in that price range, but wants to be able to meet other young professionals, and perhaps walk to nightlife, etc. They will be commuting to Sarasota, and will just "deal" with that.