Relocating, please help me choose a Tampa area (Orlando, Clearwater: real estate, condo)

[Ann474]

I am currently in South Florida, Ft Lauderdale area and have been at the relocating hunt for nearly a month. I have visited Orlando and my thoughts were as follows;

Good:
1) Lots of things to do in Dr Phillips area that is near Universal downtown and on International drive.
2) Good shopping, I need a Bloomingdales, Saks, Neiman Marcus, good mall, and trendy boutiques as well.
3) Good restaurants, some individually owned, some good chains
4) Nice homes at a reasonable price for a really good area
5) Homes in the area we looked were not too far away from the University
6) close access to the parks and really you can't run out of things to do in Orlando

Bad:
1) DH is a master marine mechanic and work would be difficult, not impossible, but more difficult than S FL for work
2) I felt as if Orlando is a small city plopped in the middle of no where USA, meaning leave the hub of Orlando and it really is the country and very destitute heading North and the South in Kissimmee is just run down and feels one step from being abandoned (sorry to those from Kissimmee).
3) It feels it's lacking a good community feel (so does south florida too)
4) Lacking any culture at all ( good museums, art museums, good symphony, etc)

I am trying to hone in on some areas of Tampa we may like. We have come to these conclusions so far (before visiting)

Apollo Beach:

Good:
1) Beautiful homes on the intercoastal and really it's amazing to think we can actually live with a boat parking in the backyard and go fishing or boating everyday if we wanted.
2) Work for DH will be super easy to find, even if on an independent basis for awhile, his work really is that amazing on boats.
3) Very mentally relaxing thought for us to be able to live a life no one that isn't extremely wealthy in S FL can live.

Bad:
1) Smoke stacks
2) A bit of a drive from USF (how far is it from University of Tampa?)
3) Away from a good mall (but my understanding is Tampa is lacking in good malls and only 1 single neiman marcus at all in Tampa?)
4) Away from anything cultural that Tampa offers
5) a drive for almost anything we want to do.


Please help us hone in on other areas we may like, we are visiting next week for 3 days. We really want a different way of life, South Florida has kicked our butts and we want to be able to work, go to school, and live a bit more relaxed, but still with plenty to do.

Like I mentioned DH is a master marine mechanic and we are thinking Tampa is really a great fit, he will find work super easy. Me, I sold 2 bars I owned and am going back to school for my RN, my son will be finishing school (he's 22 with an AA).

We like to go to bars (usually fun and relaxing Keys style bars with live music, he lives near the keys now), we like culture, the theatre, museums, art, festivals, obviously boating and fishing, I like the ballet, a great posh movie theater, good seafood restaurants, good malls, high end shopping (christian louboutin, louis vuitton, dolce & gabbana, saks, neimans, bloomies, etc). The shopping doesn't have to be close, but it has to exist in Tampa. We do NOT want to be in middle of suburban USA near nothing or we would just stay in South Florida. We are looking for a new and better quality of life.

Can any of you please make suggestions of areas we should look in Tampa or surrounding Tampa? We pretty much ruled out Clearwater or St Pete due to the distance to the colleges. To give you an idea we don't want some old run down home, fully redone is ok, but we want 4 to 5 bedrooms, and want to be around mid 500K and under. we also need to be able to park a boat on our lot if not on the intercoastal. Please don't say Dana Shores, there just isn't stock there right now.

Reasons we want to leave South Florida;

1) Real Estate is out of control. I'm selling a home now to downsize (I's nearly 6k square feet now), and the real estate is just too expensive for what I want to spend.
2) You MUST speak Spanish in South Florida for work 90% of the time
3) It's lacking any sort of community feel because it's so transient
4) It's lacking real culture of a true city, meaning there are no great museums unless you consider kids museums culture. I'm from Chicago, so to me Chicago has culture when it comes to museums and the arts.
5) 40% of our real estate is being bought from out of the country so although it has diversity, it's not encouraging anything positive in my opinion.

[lavender]

Downtown St Pete - water, shops, high end stuff but drive to the Mall in Tampa (30 mins) lots to do and there is a college it is USF St Pete Campus Also St Pete College is there which has RN program and lots of hospitals. Not cheap to live there though. It is a proper city also, several museums and theaters, and is renowned for its art quarter.

[MortonR]

Why are you double posting? You've already asked this question in a similar post...

Apollo Beach is not on the Intercostal waterway. It's on Tampa Bay.

"Good mall"? Brandon Towne Center, which is less than half an hour from Apollo Beach, has major retailers. If you want the hoody-toidy stuff the only place around here would be International Mall near the airport. That's about 45 minutes away depending on traffic.

"A drive" being how far/long? I've worked in South Florida, and unless you lived in the immediate city center, you're going to be driving a while to get to anything, or you're going to be in heavy traffic. In Apollo Beach you'll be probably 45 minutes at the most from most anything cultural in Tampa.

Understand that the south county area is developing in leaps and bounds. As a result property values are climbing and will continue to do so.

RM

[MAniacTHW]

How does one go from comparing a city like Orlando to a town like Apollo Beach? Those two are nothing alike.

[Ann474]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Why are you double posting? You've already asked this question in a similar post...

Apollo Beach is not on the Intercostal waterway. It's on Tampa Bay.

"Good mall"? Brandon Towne Center, which is less than half an hour from Apollo Beach, has major retailers. If you want the hoody-toidy stuff the only place around here would be International Mall near the airport. That's about 45 minutes away depending on traffic.

"A drive" being how far/long? I've worked in South Florida, and unless you lived in the immediate city center, you're going to be driving a while to get to anything, or you're going to be in heavy traffic. In Apollo Beach you'll be probably 45 minutes at the most from most anything cultural in Tampa.

Understand that the south county area is developing in leaps and bounds. As a result property values are climbing and will continue to do so.

RM

I'm posting a similar post because I keep getting led down really opposite paths of what I'm looking for in the other post. Maybe Tampa isn't for us? So as far as Apollo Beach, being on the water with a deep water boat dock, we would certainly be able to reach St Pete or anywhere else for that matter in a 30' to 35' plus boat, no?

South Florida, you are correct. I have lived in South Florida for 27 years and where I live now, I am 10 min from 3 major colleges, but to get to the theatre or anything cultural it's 30 min. To get to the beach 20 min, to a major mall 10 min, to a very high end mall 40 min, to a sporting event 30 to 45 min, to go boating in the keys 1 hour. To us, down in South Florida, we tend to call any deep water dock that can get us access to the ocean, intercoastal, so wrong description maybe, but it's what many homes here with this are referred to.

Maybe I just need to post in a general Florida forum to find the right location in Florida for us. We really believed Tampa might be it, but we keep getting swayed to the exact kind of living we are in now and for that, may as well just stay in South Florida, the land of overpriced crappy suburbs where to live near the water is nearly impossible unless we want a high rise condo or 3 million plus home.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by Ann474

We really believed Tampa might be it

Then you should probably look, I don't know... IN Tampa. Apollo Beach isn't Tampa.