Tampa, Florida (relocation)

Brad2770

Brad2770

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My brother in law has been asked by his job to relocate to Tampa. My sister has been researching some areas to stay in and was hoping you guys had some suggestions about the Clearwater or St. Petersburg areas specifically. They have 2 children, one of which is in 1st grade. Good schools? Nice places? They are looking to rent first before considering to buy. Thanks.
 
kudos

kudos

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I live in Tampa.

St. Pete is having a hipster renaissance of sorts. The downtown is becoming very popular for the 25-35 year old crowd. Tons of new clubs/restaurants/breweries opening there and the night life in general has really picked up.

St. Pete also has some really bad areas. It used to be the homeless area of choice but they cleaned that all up a few years ago and basically they all moved over to Tampa.

Schools? No clue. But I imagine like anywhere - find an area with a good income bracket and schools will generally follow. Clearwater I don't think is really known for any good schools. When I think of Clearwater I think beach town.

It really comes down to how much you have to spend. Tampa you can find a great 3 bedroom house for 200k-350k in a nice gated suburban neighborhood away from any crime really. You will end up having a drive though. If you want to live downtown in a highrise it's gonna be 200k for a 1 bedroom and there is no existent mass public transport except for the laughably bad HART bus system.

For Tampa - look into Hyde Park, Lutz, Carrollwood, South Tampa, Wesley Chapel, New Tampa. Those are the ones off the top of my head with either a population that earns a high income or is middle class / good schools. Some of those will be quite a drive to St. Pete / Clearwater though. Some wont be.

Tampa is not a beautiful city by any means. I call it the New Jersey of Florida. Miami the New York and Orlando the LA.
 
M

MAXPOWERS_sl

shitlord
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Aim for St Pete, just stay away from South St Pete, its like Compton. South Tampa is nice but you're going to pay a premium for the location. North Tampa near Pasco is nice and the schools aren't bad. The crime rate in the non Hyde park and north tampa is high, especially around Ybor and Seminole Heights
 
K

Kedwyn

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Just watch the schools when you buy the house. Make sure you know what zone your kids will actually go to because it might not be the closest school.

The west coast of FL isn't half bad. Little more laid back, I prefer the east coast but its not a bad area.
 
kudos

kudos

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MAXPOWERS_sl said:
The crime rate in the non Hyde park and north tampa is high, especially around Ybor and Seminole Heights
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Basically you're either in Little Puerto Rico or Africa depending on which area you're driving through.

USF is basically ghetto as fuck. Do not even go near that area at night. I've had cops ask me why I'm even in that area when I was visiting an ex-gf.
 
Z

Zajeer

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I grew up in South Tampa. If you want a family friendly area, I would recommend the South Tampa area (basically anything south of Kennedy BLVD and north of Gandy BLVD). The schools in the area are well rated still, I believe.
 
M

MAXPOWERS_sl

shitlord
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Yeah stay away from the USF area. Directly West of it is "suitcase city" where the crime rate is extremely high. Sadly there has been a spike of occupied residential burglaries in the college apartments recently. Also stay away from "the fishbowl" (56th/Sligh) area. If you're in that area and the street name is named after a fish, GTFO.
 
Echuta

Echuta

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Resurrecting this thread as I will be moving there this November. I'm currently in Orlando so I know all about the heat and parrot heads. Any recommendations on good eats, things to do (yes, I know about Mons), ISPs, etc. I figure it won't be too much of a switch from Orlando, but I only traveled to Tampa maybe 4 times a year during my time here.
 
Juvarisx

Juvarisx

Florida
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You will probably have to choose between Brighthouse and Frontier......Frontier (they took over Verizon FIOS' shit) here is pretty good I use it (I am 90min south of tampa).

If you like hockey, the Lightnings' arena is in a really easy to get to location with a ton of parking in a not so scary area. Team is good too, and Ocean Prime is nearby which is an amazing restaurant.
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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Tampa.... graagh... someone needs to make the bay bigger and take the damn hipsters out of the good side of the bay.
 
Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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LOL are you saying per % of area that St Pete is more crime and ghetto than Tampa? - South tampa as mentioned has like a rich pod area- like hyde park and that "island", outside of that- ghetto...ghetto all the way around till you get to new tampa, and even it is starting to suck now- you gatta get up to fucking Westley Chapel before you get to decent costs "nice" suburbs, and then if you have to actually get to "real" tampa you still have 1-2hrs of fucking tampa "we cant build interstates" traffic to get through in and out.

Now not saying St. Pete is perfect, but it basically has its "area" and since the firs race riots and they build the fucking interstate through the hood they kept its growth at bay.

But Pinellas has rednecks...so take your pick of annoying outlines, Cubans in Hillsborough or Rednecks in Pinellas.

Depending on where you are working and what commute you want, there is Sarasota area- but they have gotten very pricey as of late.

There is also the slightly north option- where you are kind of "on top of the bay" and you can then take whatever route you want down and go into "tampa" or "st pete" - and there is a lot of new developments there and more land - and with it better costs.
 
kudos

kudos

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I lived in various areas of Tampa from 2001-2017. I will tell you it fucking sucks. When I left I was living in Wesley Chapel, and while it was a nice area you had to drive 1 hour minimum to get anywhere outside of your little suburban bubble. There is fuck-all to do in Wesley Chapel and your food options are generic as hell (you also have to drive 15+ min to eat anywhere worth a shit.

New Tampa which is right to the south of Wesley Chapel is going to shit. Their never ending decade long road construction makes traffic absolute shit. This is where I first lived when I moved to Tampa back in 2001. We then moved to Lutz which is the same as Wesley Chapel above.

Town N Country is only getting worse. One good recession away from Mad Max level retardation with all the ghetto trash.

South Tampa has a few good streets but it tries too hard to be high end and it never will be. It's fucking Tampa. You're still driving everywhere just for mediocre anything. Then you have MacDill AFB area which is a dump.

Downtown Tampa / Channelside is overpriced. There is nothing down there except a few office buildings and a sports stadium. Downtown Tampa is big city living if you've never been to a big city.

St. Pete is a caricature of Brooklyn hipsterdom. I've never seen such try-hard hipsters anywhere else. They also LOVE to ignore their crime and poverty. If you bring it up every St. Pete local will fight you or call you a racist. Maybe both.

Before I moved from Tampa, the only place I was thinking of settling down was Rocky Point. Good luck.
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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kudos said:
I lived in various areas of Tampa from 2001-2017. I will tell you it fucking sucks. When I left I was living in Wesley Chapel, and while it was a nice area you had to drive 1 hour minimum to get anywhere outside of your little suburban bubble. There is fuck-all to do in Wesley Chapel and your food options are generic as hell (you also have to drive 15+ min to eat anywhere worth a shit.

New Tampa which is right to the south of Wesley Chapel is going to shit. Their never ending decade long road construction makes traffic absolute shit. This is where I first lived when I moved to Tampa back in 2001. We then moved to Lutz which is the same as Wesley Chapel above.

Town N Country is only getting worse. One good recession away from Mad Max level retardation with all the ghetto trash.

South Tampa has a few good streets but it tries too hard to be high end and it never will be. It's fucking Tampa. You're still driving everywhere just for mediocre anything. Then you have MacDill AFB area which is a dump.

Downtown Tampa / Channelside is overpriced. There is nothing down there except a few office buildings and a sports stadium. Downtown Tampa is big city living if you've never been to a big city.

St. Pete is a caricature of Brooklyn hipsterdom. I've never seen such try-hard hipsters anywhere else. They also LOVE to ignore their crime and poverty. If you bring it up every St. Pete local will fight you or call you a racist. Maybe both.

Before I moved from Tampa, the only place I was thinking of settling down was Rocky Point. Good luck.
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QFT

I will admit St Pete's crime- I grew up just north of 22nd Ave n and 19- grand parents house by bearcreek. And they call you racist if you mention crime because if you use statistics ... its blacks that do almost all of it...the rest, fucking redneck trash.

You want a nice 'burb with a decent 'small town, downtown" that is not (yet) ultra over priced in Pinellas - and not too north to not be able to get anywhere? Look into Safety Harbor.
 
kudos

kudos

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Dunedin is nice but expensive for what you get. That tends to keep the trash out though. Oldsmar is nice too since there is a long stretch of Tampa Rd. that keeps the trash of Town N Country out. You still have Clearwater trash on your border though.
 
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