thinking of leaving NY area- Does Tampa have an urban side? (St. Petersburg: appointed, to rent)

[tceffo]

After 14 years in the cable assembly business in Northern NJ- The company layed off 20% of the work force. I unfortunately was caught up in a numbers game and was 1 of the 20%

Anyway, A friend of mine offered me a nice position (in a totally different business) in the Tampa area.
Ive lived in Ca, and Boston Ma- -but those were in my younger days. Now at 52 years old , this would probably be the last move I make before the final one -we all make**
My 24 yr old son wants to stay in Jersey, so it would be my G/F of 15 years and myself. We would be looking to rent close to the downtown area.
We,ve always been more of the urban sort, my question(s) would be how is the city side of Tampa. I'm sure some areas are nicer(and safer) than others- We don't want a big rent if possible. I know living costs are cheaper than NY/NJ -but everything is relative. Can I get a idea of what I could expect for a nice / 1 BR in a busy type area-?
Oh ,is there a decent public transportation system?? We only have 1 car and being in our 50,s - we would rather not spend for another one and more insurance



I didnt accept the position yet as I'm making plans to come down and investigate in July- comments???- - thanks

[tampaguy03]

Sounds like you will probably want to rent in one of the downtown Tampa areas, to be accessible to most of everything(attractions, concerts, sports, great dining and nightlife, festivals, trasnportation, etc.)

Channelside, Harbour Island, Downtown, Hyde Park

Tampa Downtown Partnership - Elevating The Potential
Hi Life Tampa - Home

[tceffo]

thanks for the info

[annaegel]

We moved from NJ (Fair Lawn) 4 years ago. My husband was recently laid off and he finds himself looking for a job. In 4 months, he has had only 2 interviews. That is how bad it is down here. If your friend gets you a job, great! However, would it be enough to pay for a 1 bedroom in an area you want to live? Hyde Park is nice, and you will pay extra being down there. The transportation that tampaguy03 was mentioning is limited to that specific area. There are some bus service, but nothing even close to what NYC has. Do a search for HART. That is the bus service for Tampa. You may find yourselves buying another car.

I would definately rent. If we rented, we could have moved out of here without any problems. We are not fond of Florida. If my husband got a job up north and we got a good price for our house (without loosing too much), we would move back in a heart beat.

I don't know what rent would go for, but I live in the burbs of Tampa (New Tampa area) and a nice 1 bedroom could go for $800 or more. Downtown will go for much more than that. You can probably do a search on rents in Tampa like the Hyde Park area. St. Petersburg is nice too. It is very diverse area.

There is a lot of fun stuff to do here. You won't lack things to do over the weekend.

Your g/f may have a hard time finding work. Can you afford to move or live here without her income? Jobs are very hard to come by. It may take a long time for her to find work. Besides my husband (and the others that were laid off too), I have a friend who has been looking for a secretarial/office manager job for 6 months now. She even went to Busch Gardens to find something in the meantime. They were so backed up with people wanting jobs. They made an appointment for 2 weeks later for an interview. She ended up not getting it anyway. Too much competition for a minimum hourly wage job. People are on hiring freezes. She went to a job fair, where there were thousands of people. One company was there that wasn't collecting resumes and they weren't hiring. She wodered why they were even there? Just make sure you can pay for everything with just your income. Make sure it is a stable, long term job. They can get you down here, then 1 year later, you are gone.

[seain dublin]

For your girlfriend you need to keep in mind salaries down here are much lower. A nurse coming from the NY/NJ for example takes almost a 50% pay cut.

And downtown Tampa is not like NYC. The trendy area now as Ybor City has a lot of problemes with crime and rowdy( youger crowds).

[seain dublin]

And regarding public transportation, there really isn't anything along the lines that are you asking about. You really need a car here to get around.

If she ends up finding work you most likely are looking at two cars.

I would really take a good look at the area before making a decision. July is a good time to come down and see if you can take the heat and humidity. It is brutal.

At least you have a job waiting for you if you do decide to make the move.

[tceffo]

Hmmmm- lots of information to digest. The g/f probably wouldn't need to work, but she always has- and would absolutely want to. As far as transportation, it sounds like another car would be pretty much the way to go. I would have loved to avoid that expense.

Well, Ill be down to check things out in July. Thanks to all- - This is going to be a huge decision- because we are not going to waste time (and my friends ) by coming down there ,only to be disappointed and frustrated- -
Yes - coming down and checking everything out will be the key-

[tampaguy03]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

For your girlfriend you need to keep in mind salaries down here are much lower. A nurse coming from the NY/NJ for example takes almost a 50% pay cut.

And downtown Tampa is not like NYC. The trendy area now as Ybor City has a lot of problemes with crime and rowdy( youger crowds).

Yes - and please keep in mind, that Tampa is a very young city of roughly 350k, compared to NYC's long history and nearly 8 million. BUT there is everything here that any large city would have, on a much much much smaller scale, so keep all that in mind.

And Ybor City being a 'trendy' area??? Been here over 20 years, and never seen that area as trendy...funky, historic, diverse...yes, but not trendy. Hyde Park, Channelside..now thats trendy.

[Tampa87]

Hyde Park or Soho district would be the way to go. Both are beautiful areas- Channelside is very nice too and offers more choices for condos. Hyde Park is a little more laid back and a very cute area with shops and resturaunts in walking distance. Soho is known to be more of a younger area, but there are great town homes in the area if you are interested in that. Good luck- Tampa is a nice place to live