LondonOllie

Hi all,

Bit of background...From London, but I was living abroad for over 13 yrs. Most of that time was spent in Austin TX, a little in California (Ventura) and the Caribbean.

The missus is English too and I happened to meet her in the USA. She moved to Clearwater FL when she was 12 with her parents and grew up there, went to college in FL too.

Nearly 2 yrs ago we moved back to London to take care of my Dad.
We are planning on moving back over to the USA by Easter 2009, so still some time to go yet.

She really wants to move to St Petersburg as her brother lives there, and her parents are planning on moving back to that general area of Florida too.

I have only been to FL one time and that was with her to Clearwater for a few days so did not really get a feel for the place.


Really all I am wanting to know is what people generally think about that part of the world?

Cali really appeals to me, because you have the ocean, mountains, some culture and cool cities, etc. However, the cost of living there puts me off somewhat and she wants to head back to her old stomping ground in FL.

We're in our mid 30s, we are likely to be starting a family soon. Like the outdoors.

Although I enjoyed Austin when I was a younger single guy, as I got older, although I really liked Texans, I found that the 'We're Texas' and somewhat insular attitude started to get on my nerves. Also, to get anywhere else was a pain in the butt because the darn state was so big!

I'm rabbiting on, so again...just some thoughts about the part of Florida I mentioned and if anyone has moved FROM Texas TO Florida and how they have found it compares.

Cheers!

Ollie

meauxna

You have a way back in sorted out? Visa/citizenship etc?

I'll bet you would like Oregon, but it sounds like her heart is set on Florida.

ScousePete

I used to live in Fort Myers, south of Tampa by about an hour and a half. We used to go up to Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Pete's whenever we got the opportunity. Loved the place.

Now we live in Texas

Ray

St. Petersburg's property crime levels tend to be higher than Florida's average level.
The same data shows violent crime levels in St. Petersburg tend to be much
higher than Florida's average level.

Clearwater's property crime levels tend to be about the same as Florida's average level.
The same data shows violent crime levels in Clearwater tend to be
higher than Florida's average level.

Typical heavy population density city problems

But you dont have to move out that far to find a better situation

LondonOllie

Yeah we have a way back. I actually applied for a 'travel visa' which lets you be out of the country for up to 2 years to ensure that you do not 'abandon residency'. I explained it was for family reasons and they were fine with that. Although that actually runs out this summer, I will just fly back into the USA every 5 months or so.

I have a green card and have been a permanent resident for over 10 yrs. The missus has dual nationality (US & UK), best of both worlds.

Thanks for the heads up on the crime. I think you are right, there are areas not far away that are fine.

I've got a friend in Portland and he does love it up there. Might be a little rainy for me though.

Dan725

I quite like living in the area; my wife is from here, as is her family - I was also working here when we met so for us its a good familiar place to be. There's plenty to do in the area, excepting the current slump in the housing market, the area is growing all the time, and I imagine several years into the future (could be quite a few...) it'll probably become something similar to San Diego - that's certainly what they should be aspiring to.

However, theres always a downside, and probably the worst thing about the area is the job market, and the income to cost of living ratio, which, while not the worst, is definately down the bottom of the chart of similar cities around the US. A lot of that is due to the fact that a lot of people from up north want to move to Florida; consequently job competion is fierce and wages are very low. There are plenty of shit jobs around; professional ones very tight, generally true in all professions. In a recent Forbes survey of 40 cities, Tampa ranked dead last on the list of places for young professionals; I'd wholeheartedly agree. I think if it wasn't for family reasons, we might be compelled to move elsewhere - but then again, there is more to life than work, and when you are not working, the sun is shining, so to speak!


This is a good source of info (not just for Tampa, but other cities too): http://www.city-data.com/forum/tampa/

Redlippie

I'm with what Dan said.

Pinellas county is NOT the place to move to, but there are nice places around if you look. I personally really like the Safety Harbor area, as it has a small village feel to it, but a tad out of the way.

Unfortunately, property/tax and insurance prices have gone through the roof the last four years or so. Used to be a really cheap place to live.