Has the cost of living rose faster than pay in Tampa?

[NYorker4now]

Originally Posted by tampaguy03

Thankfully my company has provided "market adjustments" over the past 4 years, and looks like they are getting ready to do another one in 2009, so instead of a typical 3-5% increase each year, most of us in the area are seeing a 6-11% increase year after year, just trying to keep up with the other companies pay scales in the area to better atract and retain good associates.

Tampaguy03, What profession are you in?

[tampaguy03]

Originally Posted by NYorker4now

Tampaguy03, What profession are you in?

Financial Services/Insurance.

[jimbo1102]

Maybe as a former Canadian I just got too used to a good paying job with great benefits and stabilty in my expenses.
You will always hear about FL being a "Right to Work" state, which translates to being a right to make you not work without reason. As such workers here have historically just accepted whatever was handed them. Companies don't locate here for any reason other than they either get huge incentives to locate here, or they can pay 30% less to get the job kinda sorta done. Since 2003 home prices have doubled then cooled 15%, the cost to insure these homes has tripled, the taxes have tripled and cost to but the fuel to get to you 3% increase per year if you are lucky job has quadrupled. Once there yopu paltry health insurance cost has trpled while the coverage has dwindled.

It comes down to this, The weather is nice, but you pay for it dearly.

[amsterdamque]

There is nothing here but Call Center Jobs. This is NOT the place to BEGIN a professional career , as a new/recent college grad. The corporate training/career path is little to non-existent.. Most professionals not in ANY cities core industries (Sales, Education, Medicine, Law) , are midlevel/senior and get their positions via transfer... I made the mistake after getting laid of in the Investment Banking bloodbath and relocated home, and its either call center or .........

[JSnFla]

Originally Posted by amsterdamque

There is nothing here but Call Center Jobs. This is NOT the place to BEGIN a professional career , as a new/recent college grad. The corporate training/career path is little to non-existent.. Most professionals not in ANY cities core industries (Sales, Education, Medicine, Law) , are midlevel/senior and get their positions via transfer... I made the mistake after getting laid of in the Investment Banking bloodbath and relocated home, and its either call center or .........

great post, very accurate....tampa bay is a corporate backwater at best. it has never been able to attract or retain great young minds like other midsize cities (austin, raleigh, portland, etc etc). thus young people with skills either leave or stop coming here. the minority that have good corporate jobs will come on here and deny this but its the truth....there is NO job market here.

[TampaKaren]

Only 59 percent of the 654 companies in a MonsterTRAK survey say they plan to hire 2008 graduates—a 17 percent drop from last year... Fewer Jobs, Better Pay Await Class of 2008 | workforce.com

[jackacc]

Florida in general is grossly overpriced and the pay scale is lagging from what I can see. I lived in FL 6 years ago just as the boom was starting to gain steam I watched our townhouse go from 100k to 200k, then after we sold, it climbed to 300k. That is just absurd in a 3 year period. The jobs in FL don't pay very well on average and to think the economy can support that kind of housing cost growth is not smart.

We look on the public records per county and do a search for the houses we are interested in buying. You can see what the house has sold for in the past and see what the taxes are. Some of these homes were bought for 200k 5 years ago and now people are asking 350k? They are smoking crack if they think they are going to get it these days.

There was a boom, for no apparent reason...maybe because everyone saw those commercials about how easy it was to flip houses and make $ so everyone thought "hey, FL is cheap, lets flip some homes and get rich"... builders flooded the market, people took bad adjustable loans that just clicked up, now there is so much inventory, the real estate market is flailing in general in FL (and other places, but more in FL).

In my opinion, the prices from 6-7 years ago were proper FL home prices. Probably on average, they were 50% of the prices people are asking today. There is just no reason to pay so much for a home in FL these days. People need to understand that there are not that many good jobs in FL, gas is bankrupting people, the car insurance is crazy expensive because too many morons don't carry insurance and you have to pay for them in case they hit you...and homeowners insurance in FL is double, triple and quadruple in some cases more than other areas because of the "speculation" of hurricanes...they will never lower the rates now...maybe for a bit, then one more storm and up they go.

I just can't see how people can justify selling these homes for so much in FL, it used to be a cheaper place to live...not anymore. Sure, there are some jobs that pay well in Tampa or in FL as a whole, but they are few and far between. And anyone who gets a 3-4% raise or above these days is damn lucky. Most companies are retracting bonuses and laying off. Very sad...