Why should we NOT relocate to Tampa, Florida? (University: appointed, insurance)

[daaronm80]

I have read many threads from other people about relocating to Florida. I know that everyone from the North has this preconceived notion that Florida has great weather, beaches, palm trees, etc. What I don't see very often are the negative aspects of Florida. So, I would like to hear some of the reasons why we should not relocate to Florida from both life-long Floridians as well as people that have relocated in the past few years.

For the back story, my wife has been offered a job as a professor at USF, but she has not accepted it yet. She is also interviewing at and anticipates potential job offers from University of Florida, University of South Carolina, University of Kentucky, and Michigan State U. I mostly work from home and can relocate anywhere.

It seems like there are a number of people that have relocated to Florida only to turn around and move back north after 2-3 years. I am just trying to prevent us from making the same mistake, so I am looking for the cons of relocating.

[sinatras]

I am a native Floridian who has lived here off and on; also lived in Boston, DC, LA, Austin, NYC.

If you are the least bit intolerant to heat/humidity, you will not last here.

If you hate giant reptiles (gators, pythons, etc.) and bugs (mosquitoes, roaches, etc.), you will not last here.

If you are annoyed by paying high insurance premiums (home, auto, etc.), you will not last here.

If you are annoyed by paying high taxes, you will not last here (although we do not have a state income tax).

If you are annoyed by traffic and choose to live far from work, you will not last here.

If you care about the quality of public education (for your kids), you will not last here.

If you care about the quality of public transit, you will not last here.

If you are a foodie and love going to gourmet upscale markets and restaurants, you may be disappointed by Tampa Bay's culinary scene.

If you are from a big city and love going to museums, theater, arts, concerts, spas, you may be disappointed by the choices in Tampa Bay.

If you are from a small city and love going to museums, theater, arts, concerts, spas, you may love the choices in Tampa Bay.

If you are accustomed to top-tier universities and all they have to offer, then you may be disappointed by USF in various ways.

If you are accustomed to small-town/rural living, then you will be turned off by Tampa Bay's many MANY gritty areas and crime (that includes the USF area).

If you are accustomed to big-city living, then you will be turned off by Tampa Bay's lack of things to do.

If you are accustomed to medium size cities, then you will prolly be OK with Tampa Bay and love the winters.

If you care about birds, beaches, boating, sunshine, being able to go to Disney World for the weekend, palm trees, "the salt life," bragging about 75-degree days in December on Facebook, having a lower cost of living and better quality of life than many major cities offer, then you will love it here. Come on down!

[lluvia]

^^^
That should be the post of the year.
You nailed it.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by daaronm80

It seems like there are a number of people that have relocated to Florida only to turn around and move back north after 2-3 years.

Who are those people?

Usually they stay and complain about everything here sucking, but refusing to leave.

[hokiepoke]

Took us five yrs before we got to experience a near-hit from hurricane last year and hit the road as part of large scale evacuation. So I'll add that if major weather events worry you, then you won't last either.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by hokiepoke

Took us five yrs before we got to experience a near-hit from hurricane last year and hit the road as part of large scale evacuation. So I'll add that if major weather events worry you, then you won't last either.

Yeah, forgot that one! Then again, everywhere has major weather events. Don't you think? If it's not hurricanes it's tornadoes. If it's not tornadoes it's flooding. If it's not floods it's snowstorms. If it's not snow it's dust storms. Then there's hail, fires, mudslides, earthquakes, rockslides, the list goes on and on! Even Hawaii just got 50 inches of rain in 24 hours the other day............that is EFFED UP.

[Crashj007]

Originally Posted by daaronm80

<>It seems like there are a number of people that have relocated to Florida only to turn around and move back north after 2-3 years. I am just trying to prevent us from making the same mistake, so I am looking for the cons of relocating.

Here in North Carolina we call them Half Backs. They realize they overshot the landing but the reasons they left the far north are still valid. So they move halfway back and end up in Raleigh, Charlotte, the Mountains , or the Beach.
We even have a special town for you here, CARY, NC often designated as a terrific place to live, despite being called the "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees."
Plenty of Universities here, but you have to come to prefer basketball over football, although baseball is progressing.
South Carolina Coast would be a close second. Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Savannah are very entertaining towns.

Florida, "Nobody goes there anymore, It's too crowded." ANd HOT.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Crashj007

Here in North Carolina we call them Half Backs. They realize they overshot the landing but the reasons they left the far north are still valid. So they move halfway back and end up in Raleigh, Charlotte, the Mountains , or the Beach.
We even have a special town for you here, CARY, NC often designated as a terrific place to live, despite being called the "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees."
Plenty of Universities here, but you have to come to prefer basketball over football, although baseball is progressing.
South Carolina Coast would be a close second. Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Savannah are very entertaining towns.

Florida, "Nobody goes there anymore, It's too crowded." ANd HOT.

Everyone I know who has left Florida has moved to Georgia or North Carolina. And guess what they do? WHINE about the cold weather.

[MortonR]

I think sinatras pretty much nailed it.

Along with that, as a former USF employee, I can assure you that like most bastions of higher education, it's a nasty, cutthroat environment that is driven, and I mean DRIVEN by how much you can bring in to the university. I saw more top talent leave during my tenure there due to the incessant pressure to make it a Top Tier research university than you can imagine. It's also why I chose not to pursue my post graduate work there as well, as it was clear I would rarely be involved with real education, rather, I would be a gofer for my supervising professor(s) so they could churn out as many grant applications as humanly possible. I realize that's not terribly unusual in higher education, but the stress and angst I saw among the graduate and post graduate people there was truly frightening.

They rely heavily on adjunct professors any more, to the point where the adjuncts were recently successful in organizing after the death of an adjunct that essentially died with no benefits after being there many years. This should come as no surprise to you since you're in a tenure track job.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/educati...wage_162644741

Get crosswise with the administration and you're done. I was never so glad to get out of that place, and when I did my stress level dropped substantially. And I was offered positions as a research assistant and graduate assistant to stay, so it wasn't like I wasn't doing a good job and respected by my peers. That whole environment scared the sh*t out of me, to be honest.

RM

[bobandsherry]

If you are looking for reasons of why NOT to locate here then you are already setting yourself up for not being happy here. There are so many reasons to be here, I moved from Chicago myself and love it. But there are also negatives, no area has it all... but with a focus only on negatives it's probably just not a good fit for you. I can say I'd not be looking to move to Kentucky and def not Michigan, and South Carolina won't be much different than Florida.