Anyone From Tampa?

[IggyWH]

I'm considering a move to Tampa and I'd like to get some peoples opinions on it. I've been wanting to move out of Pittsburgh now for several years but never had any outs.

My current roommate's job is getting transferred there in May though and he wants me to go too. I'm pretty much 75% sure I'm going. I've never been to Tampa. Hell, I've never been further south than NC so I don't really know what to expect.

I'm pretty poor. I've saved up a little money anticipating the move but I'll have to get a job ASAP down there. Is it going to be hard for me, a 24 year old without a college degree to find a decent job? That's my main worry is I'll get down there and not be able to find a job.

I've used some city comparisons between Pittsburgh and Tampa and Tampa has a lot lower unemployment rate and cost of living is cheaper. I don't need a 100,000 job but I also don't want to have to work at McDonalds.

Any info you can give me I'd appreciate!

[jimymat]

no

[DemonDeac]

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no

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me neither

[snorer]

my brother lives right outside of Tampa. I'm considering moving down there myself. It's very very nice, great weather obviously, beautiful women, not really that big of a touristy area compared to the east coast, seems very enjoyable. Unfortunately everytime I've been down there it's been with my mother so I haven't really gotten a chance to see what the social scene is like but I'm sure it's nice. You'd be amazed at the property you can buy down there for 150k and up... just unbelievable.

As far as jobs, there is a lot a lot of development in the suburbs around Tampa constantly... so I'm sure you will be able to find something. Every corner you turn there are new shopping plazas and houses. Crazy amounts of construction... real estate is big down there. You should be able to get something decent relating to that if you look in the right spots. Consider buying property in New Port Richey, Oldsmar, Pascoag, Brandon, Odessa, etc. Good luck

[theredwave]

I used to live in Lutz, which is just a couple miles outside of Tampa. The taxes are somewhat low because all of the senior citizens that shoot down any new measure to spend on the city and improve it. Weather was nice most of the time, except it rains nearly every afternoon during the spring. I definitely wouldn't want to live anywhere in the inner-city, lots a bad neighborhoods. The real estate is guaranteed to be more expensive per square foot in Tampa than in Pittsburgh but I'm sure you could find an affordable apartment. You should probably take a trip down there before you decide on anything obviously. Check out some of the classifieds too, http://classified.tbo.com/ , to see if there's anything you're interested in doing. You're probably not going to get too much since you don't have a degree though. If you do take a trip down there to check things out there's a great fish/sandwich place called Frenchy's in Clearwater that has an awesome grouper sandwich and is right near the beach.

[IggyWH]

Thank you both for your replies. As far as buying property, we're just probably going to rent. We've looked on Yahoo and have seen some nice looking townhouse developements with 3 bedrooms for around $1,000 a month.

We're planning on taking a trip down to Tampa in about 3 weeks to check things out. We have about 5 different areas from Yahoo that looked nice but we need to see them in person and see the area around each of them. It also depends on how close these places are from my 2 roommates jobs.

I'm not one who needs a lot of money to survive. I don't live like a bum but I'm also smart when it comes to spending money. I'd like to find a fulltime job down there with benefits if at all possible. If it's fulltime, $6/hr is quite fine by me. That'll pay the bills and give me some money to live off of just fine. The problem is finding a job like that without a college degree and without much experience in anything.

My parents are very anti of me going. Nothing would suck more than me saying I can do this and fall flat on my face and have to come back to Pittsburgh.

[BK_]

i grew up in tampa. (im 22 now). loved it. i lived in odessa (near lutz) but from what ive heard, it is a pretty expensive area these days. my parents currently live near the peir in st. pete and that area is beautiful, but im not sure what is available in terms or apartments/houses.

[The Venetian]

I can think of a lot worse places to move to. I live in Venice, about an hour south of Tampa/St. Pete and haven't regretted it at all. Tampa's a booming area now.

I will say that if you don't like rain and extreme heat, you may not like it. Winters are beautiful, but the summers are absolutely brutal. Heat indices reaching 110+ regularly can make you long for a more temperate environment quickly. Oh, and hurricanes.

As for a job, you should look at Starbucks if you're just looking to get by. They provide 100% benefits to all full-time employees and some part-timers. There are plenty of other choices, though...look around while you're down.

[IggyWH]

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I can think of a lot worse places to move to. I live in Venice, about an hour south of Tampa/St. Pete and haven't regretted it at all. Tampa's a booming area now.

I will say that if you don't like rain and extreme heat, you may not like it. Winters are beautiful, but the summers are absolutely brutal. Heat indices reaching 110+ regularly can make you long for a more temperate environment quickly. Oh, and hurricanes.

As for a job, you should look at Starbucks if you're just looking to get by. They provide 100% benefits to all full-time employees and some part-timers. There are plenty of other choices, though...look around while you're down.

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I don't mind the rain and heat at all. One of the reasons why Tampa sounds good to me is no more cold ass winters.

I'll know better what areas we're considering once we make our trip down there in middle March. Then I can ask some of you about specific areas.

I don't think finding a job will be too tough since it looks like Tampa has a low unemployment rate. What I'm worried about is a decent job. Like I said before I'd be completely happy with a fulltime job that pays $6 an hour and some benefits. While my standards are low, lack of a college degree and lack of long experience in a specific skill hurts me. I do have around 80 college credits though so maybe I can use that to my advantage.