In Florida..flying in monday to find a house. Any general feedback from fellow Ags in the area is appreciated.

Check out the city-data forum for the Tampa/St. Pete area. You can lurk around and get some good ideas of where to check out, what's good, what's not.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tampa-bay/

My next assignment may be in the Tampa and I have been researching the area. NYC to Tampa will be a welcome change.

[This message has been edited by 95 Ags (edited 6/20/2013 9:11a).]

Renting? Buying? South Tampa is a good bet, perhaps Seminole Heights but it gets patchy in terms of good and bad spots. I would live in the St. Pete side of things if I planned on staying longer.

A lot depends on where you'll be working. Are you working in Tampa, or the other side of the bay?

I now have a house in Spring Hill...beautiful home and neighborhood. I would like to meet fellow Ags in the area.

Sorry to be so vague. I dont have a job but interviews. I recently sold a business, and my wife's family is in Florida. I am very new to the area and would like to meet fellow Ags. We will be moving in a couple of weeks..

South Tampa is expensive as **** - overpriced if you ask me, unless you just insist on being in the middle of things downtown. But even then, downtown Tampa is not like a super-happening place with lots of daytime activities and a happening nightlife.

I agree on needing to live on the same side of the bay that you work in. Hell, a big reason the Rays attendance is so ****ty is that the morons originally located it on the wrong side of the bay. St. Pete is old people and poor people. The younger crowd and the family crowd live on the Tampa side (plus the Orlando crowd is only 45 minutes away) and the trip across the bay is too much on a typical afternoon after work for most to bother making (time, traffic). Just an example of how journeying across the bay can be more of a pain in the ass that it might appear on a map. I had to do it quite a bit for my job, so I know.

Traffic is a pain everywhere, get used to piss-poor planning and design by FDOT.

Pretty much everywhere seems to be exploding growth-wise. Stay out of Seminole Heights and "East Tampa" - crime, etc. Stay out of Pasco County - white trash heaven.

And just remember - Florida is the state that's brought the world Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman, the white-trash preacher who wanted to burn the Koran for his own publicity reasons, and on and on. Be prepared for humidity that makes it unenjoyable to be outside if you're not on the water; no landscape features at all for hiking or biking or anything else; public schools bad enough that my teacher wife wants to send our son to private school; and white trash overload.

I agree with FL_Ag, but maybe not quite to the degree he's stated. I'm trying to get out of FL after two years of living here. I've lived in Michigan, and would rather return there. The ability to visit some of the theme parks on a whim is a bonus, but not enough to warrant staying.

Traffic does suck though. They drive slow, they leave huge gaps between cars (like quarter mile gaps, not 2-second rule gaps and it's just inefficient use of road), they don't know how to merge for beans, and I-4 between here and Orlando makes me want to blow my brains out.

Yeah, I forgot to include just how bad the drivers themselves are.

I've had over 11 years to adjust to Florida and learn to love it, and yet as soon as my wife finishes her Masters and can teach anywhere in the nation we'll be trying like hell to get out.

Just moved to the Tampa area a couple of months ago.

We are leasing a home in the "new Tampa" area while we take our time and figure out where is the right place for us.

nice beaches, great fishing!

I was at Honeymoon Island this morning and met an Aggie, class of '79.