GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Weird Questions for FL people

Ricked_Em

Go Kart Champion
Location
STL
Wife and I are thinking about moving from St. Louis to the Tampa/Clearwater area. I just need some broad tax/cost of living/general happiness figures. Any personal property tax? What's income tax look like? Roads, jobs, etc? Thanks!
 

typevw

New member
Wife and I are thinking about moving from St. Louis to the Tampa/Clearwater area. I just need some broad tax/cost of living/general happiness figures. Any personal property tax? What's income tax look like? Roads, jobs, etc? Thanks!
That's a great area. As I recall, there is no state income tax. Property taxes may seem to be at a higher rate relative to other places, but the property values may be lower as well. Living near the water will cost more. Newer housing developments generally further away from the downtown area. Growth as far south to Riverview, Ruskin. Going North past USF.
South Tampa, Hyde Park area has older homes in a quiet setting. Davis Island is nice.
Clearwater, Palm Harbor, and other quiet places on the other side of the Bay. Honeymoon Island / Caladesi park is a nice place to getaway for an afternoon.

Don't know about the jobs scene at present. Used to be lots of Verizon telecom jobs and some IT presence supporting financial institutions. Imagine that the University of South Florida and University of Tampa are doing well and attracting research jobs. MacDill AFB probably gets a good bid of Defense contracting work.

Roads? They've got lots - and a lot of tolls, SunPass / EZPASS for your convenience. Intersection of I-4 & I-275 was known as malfunction junction years ago. They built a Hard Rock Casino not too far from that. Dog track, horse racing, and a few sports teams too. The Yankees play spring training near the Buccaneers stadium (Raymond James ).
 

bpw

Ready to race!
Location
Tampa Area
Jobs: kinda weak but you can find one

Roads: straight flat

Weather: absolutely wonderful except for about 3 months in summer when you don't wanna go outside

Housing market is a little shakey as far as I'm concerned. I'm ready for an upgrade but I'm holding out a year or two to see what happens, I sold both of my properties in 05 then saw everyone get hammered in 08. I bought my current house in the beginning of 10.

My current house I paid 47k for. The poor lady that lived here before owed 120k on it. I got a good deal but now my neighbors have sold their houses one for 113k and one for 95k. They're not worth that, I think we may have another housing bubble going on. Houses I was looking at in Palm Harbor that were 120-150 literally 3 years ago are now 250+ it's absurd. So I'm just gonna sit tight and see what happens.

If you're into nature FL has a lot to offer, fishing rivers ocean nice parks cave diving all in all its a good place to live if you can land a decent job.
 

cheech5

New member
Location
Orlando
I've lived in STL during childhood and can chime in a bit from Orlando now. Summers will be humid like you're used to, but there will be an occasional breeze where I remember STL summers basically feeling like hot stale breath.

Housing is on a tiny upswing from what I've seen, but there's an absolute glut of rental properties in Orlando that weirdly dilutes the selling market. I can expand on that if you're interested, but I also don't know if that is the case in Tampa as well.

As far as jobs go, I remember when Tampa was pushing for more in the tech sector a few years back with incentives, but I don't know if that really took off. There's a ton of banking over there, too, and they have a lot of interesting roles available. I will say that pay in Florida as a whole lags behind the rest of the US comparatively. I had to negotiate pretty hard for what I wanted in my current role, so be ready for that.

Roads are good-ish, but Tampa has some gnarly traffic from what I've experienced.

Cost of living is generally regarded as fairly cheap, I'd check out cost of living calculators to get a more accurate comparison though.

No state income tax, so that's great

We just bought in 2016, so my experience with property taxes is limited but it's much more reasonable than Texas where we spent a few years. For reference, with homestead exemptions, we are looking at around $1600 on a home purchased in the 275-300 range.

Happiness scale is pretty dependent on your interests. There's a crap ton to do in Central Florida, and you have to keep in mind that 4 hours in the car can get you to a bunch of wildly different parts of Florida. If you're willing to get out and explore, it's a really cool part of Florida to live in. There's also an ungodly amount of car related fun stuff to do. The weather really lends itself to fantastic car culture for sure.

Let me know if there's any specific questions you have! My brother lived in Clearwater for a while and I have family that works in real estate in Tampa, so I can get answers if you need them.
 

fleadog99

New member
Location
Orlando
I also grew up south of The Lou, and live in Orlando. There's a lot of Cards fan here. Probably because Jupiter is a couple hours away. Weather is awesome. I lived in Dallas for about 13 years after St. Louis and before Orlando, so humidity took a bit to get used to again. No more driving in snow, being so cold your face hurts, dealing with some unfriendly people. The south has a different mentality. Being in Orlando, no one cares who you are, how much $ you make, or where you work. It's really chill. If your a cruise fan (like I am) then no more airfare to pay for. Also remember no basements. So that could be where the price per sq. ft. is diff. But with no state tax, that helps. We just bought a house in 2015 near Windermere (nice area) built in 2010, stucco, tile roof, screened in pool, 3 br, study, open floor plan, no carpet, 3 car garage, $390k. If your over in St. Pete area, the further south, the further away from city you get. Also you may want to look into the green algae on that side, however I think it's further south than you will be.
 

Pingers

Ready to race!
Location
Cape Coral, FL
Tampa\Clearwater has a lot to offer; a bit over-populated for my taste. We ended up in the Fort Myers\Cape Coral area.

*Roads are better than any snow state I've lived in.
*No state tax
*July through September it rains almost every afternoon for at least an hour.
*October through May it's been flawless.
*I work from home so I can't comment on the job market, but that really depends on what you do for a living.
*Lots to keep you occupied. Beaches are amazing, Siesta Key is the best. Lots of trails inland for biking, trail running, etc.
*We're also huge Disney and Disney Cruise fans, having that in the same state gets you killer deals.
*Very few bugs in the Winter
*Humidity in the Summer will murder you. But I still run in it, just sweat a lot more :)
*We moved from Colorado, it's been a transition and I do miss the Mountains and "real" Mountain Biking, but there are trade-offs.
 

odessa.filez

Autocross Newbie
Location
Roswell, GA
Car(s)
2016 GSW 1.8tsi auto
We live off the Suncoast Parkway in Pasco County. SR 54 is at the edge of North Tampa and is growing very quickly with new home communities.
Prop taxes are lower in Pasco. The Suncoast (toll) is finishing up an expansion and once it's done, one will be able to get to the airport area quickly. Downside is it's a bit of a drive to the popular beaches in Clearwater/Duneden/StPete.
Tampa jobs are improving but much is middle/backoffice/call center type stuff. Devil is in the details.
 
Top