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I know there are a few of you fellow posters who live in Florida so I figured I would try to get your opinions on a few questions.
I will start by saying my wife has the opportunity to transfer from her current job here in Columbu, OH to either Orlando or Tampa. Just looking for opinions on both. Which one would you recommend? We are planning on a trip down there in August. With a possible move scheduled for next April.
With our search, we have noticed alot of real estate going for as much as 1/3 to 1/2 what is bought for, alot of short sales. We can get alot of house for between $75,000 and $100,000. Are we missing something here?
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Do you two have kids? If so, how old? What are your interests? What is the most important thing to you in a city? Do you plan on staying in this city for a long time or just a few years? Answering those questions will help us help you. 
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So you're "taking your talents to south beach?" 
"Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things."
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Quote:
So you're "taking your talents to south beach?"
No, his wife is. 
yebat' Putin
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I've started to do some research for a planned move in a couple of years.. I'm totally sick of snow..
I was looking for something like I have here.. So rural yet close to a major city center.
I've been exploring towns just north of Tampa as I want to live on the west coast.
I found a little town named Spring Hill. Might be too far for your wife to drive to tampa.. But all I've read tells me that it's a nice community.
Housing prices at this time are a steal. You can get a helluva lotta house for the money.
Online yesterday, I noticed a 2700 SQ FT Ranch, three car garage, 4 bedroom, 3.5 baths on pretty much a postage stamp size lot on a channel. Meaning you could park a boat out back and run it right out to the gulf.
160k and it didn't' say it was a short sale, but I suspect it was..
That's all I know,, Like I said, I'm just starting to look now.
#GMSTRONG
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When we move to either city that is where we will retire to.
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If I'm living in Florida it would have to be near the water. I'd never want to live in the middle of the state. So, for that reason, I'd definitely choose the Tampa area between those two.
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I would choose Clearwater, which is across the bay from tampa. I visited tampa area twice, and the city itself wasn't anything to write home about. Lot of run down areas. Downtown is very nice. But yea you could get a nice home for 100k. Florida was hit hard by the economy a few years back. Lot of people out of work down there.
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Quote:
If I'm living in Florida it would have to be near the water. I'd never want to live in the middle of the state. So, for that reason, I'd definitely choose the Tampa area between those two.
Yeah, you are maybe 60 miles from either coast.
As many said, I like the west coast. I have a home in Venice....maybe 60 miles south of Tampa.
Much depends on where she works.
I myself wouldn't live in Tampa or towards Hillsbourgo county.
Look in Pinellas county...Clearwater/St. Pete. If she works in Tampa, it is a bit of a commute, but traffic flows pretty well unless there is a wreck on the Howard Franklin or Gandy bridges, or Courtney Campbell Causeway out of Clearwater, but the bridges are pretty wide with wide side lanes that allow traffic to pass in most cases.
In most cases unless it happens right in front of you, you can make a short detour to hit another way across the bay.
Yep....think Tampa Bay....MLB baseball, NFL football, NHL hockey, sun beaches....and a couple of the best restaurant in the country....Berns in Tampa, and The Columbia, that now has 3-4 restaurants in the region.
Orlando is nice as said, you have options on coasts, but with Disney, it is always full of tourists and snowbirds.
I always liked central Fla as it is much like the South, but not Orlando....not anymore anyway.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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Wife just told me to add St. Petersburg (Pinellas Park) to her choices, she works for The Cintas Corporation. The Head boss from the Orlando branch was in town last week and told her she would make an extra $8 / hour in Orlando.
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Granted the beaches are in Pinellas county but it's also all concrete. Bradenton or Sarasota would be a good choice, beaches, still some vestige of grass and plant life and just far enough from Hillsborough county that you can go there easily but stay away too. That or keep going south and head down to Ft. Myers and Naples.
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Whats wrong with Hillsborough County?
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Granted the beaches are in Pinellas county but it's also all concrete. Bradenton or Sarasota would be a good choice, beaches, still some vestige of grass and plant life and just far enough from Hillsborough county that you can go there easily but stay away too. That or keep going south and head down to Ft. Myers and Naples.
Then you are driving the Skyway every day....you don't want that......and Sarasota is just north(15-20 m)i of where I have a home....that's 40 miles or so. That is a long way if you did it every day.
And Naples/Ft Meyers?? That's 100 miles away. Who is going to live in Toledo or Columbus and work in Cleveland??
These people aren't going there to retire. They are going to live and work.
If you are going to move 700 miles to take a job, you aren't going to move somewhere 100 or so miles away from where you are moving to take the job......but...that's just my opinion.
Pinellas Park.....ahhh....that is pretty "iffy" to me....think Seminole or Indian Rocks for affordable housing.
Pinellas Park is pretty rough in many areas.....but then again I am not young and past certain phases of life, so maybe it is just me......but I wouldn't live there.
Think Seminole...the next town down Park Blvd.......better area.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Tampa, Orlando or St Pete.
I'd pick St Pete in a heartbeat. It is a nice area with beaches and things, yet close enough to Tampa to enjoy the city side of things, NFL, MLB, NHL, concerts, Busch Gardens. 45-60 minutes from Orlando for Disney and Universal.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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I moved to Florida right outside of Orlando around Daytona after graduating college for a job. I can say of the many places I've lived, it was by far the worst experiences I've ever had. I hated Florida outside of the decent weather during the winter. My experience could have been due to young kid right out of college, but I was looking for my next job within 2 months of being there.
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All Pro
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Tampa is better to me than Orlando by far. Dunedin seems like a nice place for families. I have a couple friends up there. Had some friends in Orlando too.....I wasn't crazy about the area.
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Quote:
Pinellas Park is pretty rough in many areas.....but then again I am not young and past certain phases of life, so maybe it is just me......but I wouldn't live there.
Think Seminole...the next town down Park Blvd.......better area.
I agree I used to live around the corner from the 'wagon wheel' flea market in Pinellas Park.
I moved from there North to Tarpon Springs and it was an improvement.
Also I lived in Maximo Moorings on the South side.
Not a very neighborly place or place to raze your children imo. Was once a beautiful neighborhood.
Pinellas County is one big parking lot. .Meaning there is not much that nature made left that hasn't been built over.
As Peen said think Seminole or Bay Pines not Pinellas Park.
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Whats wrong with Hillsborough County?
Too many people.
It's the only place I've lived that you can get up at 3:00 in the morning, go out for a soft drink at 7-11 and be gone an hour. Dale Mabry, where the slogan "I'd walk a mile for a camel" was born since it's faster than driving. Howard Franklin Bridge when there's been a wreck, hope you have a full tank of gas.
#GMSTRONG
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I'd take the Skyway over Dale Mabry anyday. Say they work downtown, coming in from Bradenton might just be a faster commute than coming in from Lutz.
Oh and Happy Birthday!
#GMSTRONG
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Thanks.
No doubt it is a better, wider bridge, but there is a toll. I don't know what a yearly pass might run. I know it costs a buck a trip. Not sure if a pass gives some sort of discount.
That bridge closes due to winds fairly often since it is so high and near the opening to the bay. It closes more often due to winds then do the others due to choppy conditions on the bay. If it closes, you have one big detour...like 50 miles of detour.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Really, they're closing the new one due to winds, didn't know that. I thought they'd fixed that since they lowered it. Now the old one, that was a bridge! 200 feet in the air and nothing but a metal grate to shimmy across. It was like a carnival ride every trip.
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I would definitely take Tampa over Orlando. You have the gulf and I think Tampa is a pretty cool city. Ybor City in the tampa area is a place to check out. Also it's pro sports put Orlando to shame.
Being in Orlando, the distance from the beaches sucks. Although, since I'm in the middle I can choose to go to one beach one time and another the next and you are never more than 90 minutes from the beach.
That being said, If you can make more money in Orlando, it might not be a bad move to come here. I can vouch for Winter Garden as having a very charming downtown area it's not too far from Downtown Orlando. One other negative to Orlando is the toll roads. They are expensive. I pay over $1000 a year easily.
Given choice the unanimous winner is Tampa in my book, but you have to look at what's best for you.
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I've also never seen more drunk drivers in my life then my breif time in Orlando Area. I was working for a company at the time and we did some work for a bar. We showed up to the bar about 730/8 am in the morning and it was packed on a Tuesday morning. I've never seen anything like it before. Not sure if thats an Daytona thing or just that bar.
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Quote:
I've also never seen more drunk drivers in my life then my breif time in Orlando Area. I was working for a company at the time and we did some work for a bar. We showed up to the bar about 730/8 am in the morning and it was packed on a Tuesday morning. I've never seen anything like it before. Not sure if thats an Daytona thing or just that bar.
In the late 90's I worked for Tilt-Con cop. Head quartered in Altamonte Springs Florida [pump superintend] and prior to that Pumco out of Tampa, so I had to drive that round trip from Tampa to Orlando more often then I cared to.
Many times in the rig
[Boom truck]
(I 4) has to be one of the most deadly stretch of highway east of the Mississippi.
I have seen all my eyes would ever care to see. In fact I could probably count on one had the times during my round trip that I did not see some sort of an accident.
Plus Tampa had it's own 'Dead mans curve' at the confluence of I (4) & (75). [I left just after they started to redo the mess, wonder if they ever finished?]
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All the amusement parks empoly a army of people who work overnight to make them look like new. Seems I read somewhere that for every employee who worked the park during open hours, you have two who work while the park is still. That's when everything is cleaned and maintained and all vendor deliveries are scheduled. That means a lot of maintenance mechanics, clean up crews, and dock workers to unload what would have to be 50-100 trucks a night.
Multiply that by 5-6 major theme parks and you are talking tens of thousands of workers.
Go in to most bars at 6PM and they are pretty busy.
Same deal, just a different shift.
Back when I was young and the steel mills and Ford were running full 3rd shifts, you could find all kinds of bars with full parking lots at 9AM down in the flats or over on Brookpark.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Yes...that mess at 4 and 75 was reworked.
4 does suck. I don't know why, it just seems a few feet narrower than other interstates.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Quote:
Yes...that mess at 4 and 75 was reworked.
4 does suck. I don't know why, it just seems a few feet narrower than other interstates.
I think it was.
Next Question... Was it a fix 
and did they keep in mind future growth?
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Yes they widened I4 a few years ago. Still think it's a mess of a road, just too many driving styles on one stretch of road I think.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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Anyone have any info on these areas of Orlando:
Richmond Estates, Kirkman South, and the Lake Catherine/Buchanan area.
I know anywhere you go you have good and bad, and real bad areas. The real estate lady told me to avoid Pine (Crime) Hills for one.
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Quote:
Anyone have any info on these areas of Orlando:
Richmond Estates, Kirkman South, and the Lake Catherine/Buchanan area.
I know anywhere you go you have good and bad, and real bad areas. The real estate lady told me to avoid Pine (Crime) Hills for one.
Avoid the Sanford area Southeast of the city.
Lake Mary is also infected from that high crime/drug zone. Think Southwest of Orlando.
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thanks, would you happen to have a street name or two so I could check it out. I've been looking at something called spot crime for the 32811 zip code. It shows mostly vandalism and theft in that area.
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thanks, would you happen to have a street name or two so I could check it out. I've been looking at something called spot crime for the 32811 zip code. It shows mostly vandalism and theft in that area.
It's been about almost a decade, but IIRC it would be Rt. 46A exiting south off of I-4.
I was there building a Publix grocery store and strip mall off of 1-4 and the Lake Marry exit just West of 46A and had my Van and all my tools stolen right from under my eyes. They found the van in Pittsburgh of all places a few days later (out of gas) with some of the pawn recipes left in the van so I was able to recoup some of my tools.
I found out from the local law enforcement that I was in one of the highest crime zones in the area and why.
The I-417 bye pass runs threw Sanford as well.
Edit: the theft was only a means to an end and that was drugs and more specifically meth (and possibly others)...as there were signs left behind in the van.
They most likely were picking up the drugs there and probably took a car in Pittsburgh to get there, but did not want to drive back with the same stolen vehicle, because in there simple thinking or lack thereof, they thought it would give them a better chance at getting themselves and their drugs back to home base.
Last edited by FL_Dawg; 03/09/11 05:00 PM.
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I would choose them in this order. St. Pete, Tampa (area, not in town) then Orlando as places to look at retiring. As far as places to work, for me it probably be Orlando first because of my Hotel/Property Management exp. But that's just a fiscal decision there.
I liked the St. Pete area a lot when I was up there visiting my Mom.
KeysDawg
The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. - Carl Sagan
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Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
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Quote:
How's Naples?
You didn't ask me , but Naples is great, but like Venice, it is a retirement area. Mostly older folks with a few bucks to spend.
If you want low crime, nice restaurants, it's a great place. If you are looking for action after 9PM, not so much.
I don't think you are looking for that, so I think you would like it.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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Wesley Chapel is nice, it is in the Tampa area, far from downtown.
It is now considered New Tampa, not far from the beaches, a very nice area with relatively good house prices in Pasco County.
Not a lot of crime, much development in the past couple years....it is a nice place overall, I like the area a lot.
It is close to the ocean, and away from a lot of crime!
There are better places in Florida, but just giving you my 2 cents.....Wesley Chapel is good
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If it has all that and nice beaches, it is totally my speed.  Being sober, the typical "after 9pm" stuff doesn't hold much interest for me. The biggest draw to me is that it looks like it is far enough south to miss most of the cold snaps that hit Florida  Thanks for the info
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
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we appreciate all of your thoughts, suggestions, and opinions.
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The biggest draw to me is that it looks like it is far enough south to miss most of the cold snaps that hit Florida
Thanks for the info
What, miss the 2 cold snaps a year??
I know what you are saying. Once you get down to Sarasota, it is pretty darn rare it doesn't hit at least the 60's in the winter.
You will still get some cold every once in a while, but it is the sort of thing where you have to think back 3-4 years to remember it being as cold or colder.
After years NE Ohio, it's going to take you a decade or more to complain about it being too cool.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong
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How's Naples?
Like Ballpeen said, it's not a real lively place. There is a little nightlife, but it's not always easy to find. Naples/Fort Myers are more to me like places where people have places they are comfortable and that's where they go. The younger club goers have there scene which changes every couple months since most are lemmings and go where they are told is the new "hot" place in town. Which all the others go belly up. So it rotates between half a dozen or so buildings, with new names every year. 
Biggest thing in this area is the Twins and Red Sox spring training, and the ECHL Everblades hockey. Tampa Bay Rays training about 1 hr north. Miami and Tampa 2 hrs either way, Orlando 3.5 hrs.
Beaches are nice, people are mostly nice. Tourists season is a pain.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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