Early 30 ' s couple. NYC to St. Petersburg

[ms murrr]

We just moved to Gulfport a little over a month ago. LOVE it so far.

We were looking for the opposite of a gated community, though, so I'm not sure if it'll be your bag - there's no HOA, the houses are all really different from one another. It feels very safe - we haven't been here long enough to know if that feeling is correct yet.

There are some condo complexes around town that might have more of that feel. I walked my dog around the Town Shores grounds yesterday and was surprised how many units there were. Shuffleboard, bocce, pools, and kayaks, too. That'd be walking distance to Stetson, if that matters.

Good luck!

[071402]

Ms Murr: are there kids around the condos there or ? How far are you from stores and things you can bike or walk to? Enjoy!

[Concert D Major]

Sorry to hear about the work injuries. Relative to the area cost of living, some of the cop shops around here don't pay too bad. It's not unusual for deputies (at least with a chunk of experience) to clear a good $65 - $70k (which is considered pretty good money in Florida Dollars). And most sheriff's offices are on the state's FRS retirement plan which is about the best there is out there (despite the new 3% mandatory contribution pay deduction that started about 4 years ago thanks to our uber right wing state government).

Here's a website where you can see local government salaries: Government Salary Database.

South St. Pete is known for a lot of drugs and high-crime areas, but there may be a few small pockets of OK areas mixed in. The area between Gulfport (where Stetson is) and downtown St. Pete is mostly known as "Midtown" and is probably one of the worst areas in the whole County.

The map posted above is not the entire city. There's a western part of St. Pete called Tyrone that isn't too bad. I do think the green box around the northern part is more bordering on blue-box material. And the northern part of the top red box should probably be green. The other blues are spot on. Just be aware that the blue box areas called Shore Acres and Snell Isle are among the lowest-lying in the Tampa Bay area and are prone to flooding (think insurance). The properties will probably not be cheap either.

And, I used to live in West Bradenton myself and really miss it down there.

[ms murrr]

Originally Posted by 071402

Ms Murr: are there kids around the condos there or ? How far are you from stores and things you can bike or walk to? Enjoy!

I'm not sure if there are kids in the condos - we don't have kids, so that's not generally something I'm paying attention to, sorry!

There are loads of stores and restaurants in town you can walk/bike to. But you'd probably have to drive to things like CVS and the grocery store. At least that's what we've found so far.

There's a couple of convenience stores that have a gallon of milk in Gulfport proper; one convenience store also has a Thai takeout counter in back!

But we do most of our real shopping using the car so far. The Stetson part of town is closer to the strip malls where you'll find Publix and CVS - we're on the opposite side of town - so you may not feel as tied to the car to pick up your basics.