Moving to Florida-Florida Real Estate Network-Living plus Relocating

Tampa St Petersburg Outdoors and Recreational Opportunities
Rivers, lakes, 26 miles of ocean beaches, parks and nature preserves are everywhere in the Tampa area!
If you like your sports outdoors in the sun, Tampa’s got it! Recreational opportunities in the outdoors are the most important assets of this area.
The fishing and boating here is incredible-both in the Gulf and the rivers.
There is always something to do here year round and our weather lets you do it. If you like the outdoors, this is the place.
Recreational Opportunities: Tampa area and within 25 miles

13 beaches
61 Marinas
151 Parks,
89 public Golf Courses
64 Campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks
17 public Tennis Courts
121 charter boats
5 major arenas-pro sports-concerts
http://www.tampagov.net/about_Tampa/local_sports/sports_arenas.asp
To see a complete list of parks and recreational opportunities see

the sites below
http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Parks/application_files/parkslis.asp
Things to do outdoors:

Fishing-Ocean, Bay and Freshwater
Boating-Ocean, Bay or river
Camping
Diving
Hiking
Tennis
Golf
Bike riding
Birding
Photography and Wildlife watching
Kayaking—canoes-there are good rental locations and lots of places to launch.
Places to visit.

Busch Gardens & Adventure Island
Children’s Museum of Tampa
Convention Center and Tourism
Florida Aquarium
Henry B. Plant Museum
Lowry Park Zoo
Museum of Art
Museum of Science & Industry
Special Event Calendar
Tampa Bay History Center
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
Tampa Destination and Visitor Guide
Tampa Theatre
Ybor City
Pro Sports

Tampa Bay Buccaneers-NFL
Tampa bay Devil Rays-MLB
Tampa Bay Lightning- NHL
Tampa Bay Storm-AFL
Tampa Yankees-Minor League Baseball

Florida Marlins A 4 hour drive to Miami-118 miles
2269 Dan Marino Blvd, Pro Player Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL 33056 · 305-626-7400

Miami Dolphins A 4 hour drive to Miami
2269 Dan Marino Blvd, Pro Player Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL 33056 · 305-620-2578

Miami Heat A 4 hour drive to Miami
601 Biscayne Blvd, American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL 33132-1801 · 786-777-432

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Tampa and Hillsborough County Education
The Tampa area Florida has some of the best schools in the country.
There are more than

181,000 students
12,000 teachers
198 elementary and secondary schools in Hillsborough county.
For a comparison of schools and school districts on a variety of criteria, view Florida School Indicators Reports at the Florida Department of Education’s Web site. http://www.fldoe.org/
Hillsborough county school specifics:

130 Elementary Schools
42 Middle Schools
26 High Schools
5 College-Universities
2 Community colleges
3 Vocational-technical schools
20 Charter schools
65 private schools
4 Alternative Schools
14 adult schools
21.400 full time staff

Tampa Colleges and Universities:

University of South Florida
Eckerd College
University of Tampa
Florida Metropolitan University
Stetson Law School
Junior/Community Colleges:

Hillsborough Community College
Southwest Florida College- Tampa Campus
Vocational/Technical Schools:

Brewster Technical Center
ITT Technical Institute
Erwin Technical Center
Leary Technical Center
International Academy of Design
Miscelaneous higher education facilities

Argosy University
Florida College
Florida Metropolitan University
Keller Graduate School of Management
National -Louis University
Northwood University
Nova Southeastern University
Stetson University College of Law
Strayer University
St. Leo University
Southwest Florida College
The Art Institute of Tampa
The University of Tampa
University of Phoenix
University of South Florida
University of South Florida College of Business Administration
Webster University
For specific locations and more information-check with either the school district or your REALTOR.

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Tampa’s location encompasses three interstate highways, two federal highways, two railways, and the Gulf of Mexico. Served by three airports, one international and two regional, the city has first class transportation options, regardless of your preference. For driving distances to other Florida and US locations go to-(use Port St Luce as your starting point) http://www.ersys.com/usa/12/1216525/distance.htm
For distances between cities go to
http://www3.dot.state.fl.us/mileage/default.asp
From Hillsborough county, it is an easy drive north, south, or east.

Automobile Interstates

I-4
I-75
I-275
Federal and state highways

US 19
U.S. 41,
S.R. 301
S.R. 60
Airports Closest to Tampa

Tampa International Airport 4.7
Clearwater/St Petersburg International Airport 13.9
Sarasota Bradenton Airport 38.2
Orlando International Airport76.9
Orlando / Sanford Central Florida Regional Airport 93.5
Commuter Airports

Vandenberg Airport (Tampa)
Peter O’Knight Airport (Tampa)
Albert Whitted Airport (St Petersburg)
Tampa Executive Airport (Pasco County)
Ocean

Port of Tampa
Cruise ships- Holland-Carnival-Celebrity-Royal Caribbean
http://www.awesomeflorida.com/cruiselines.htm
Mass Transit

HARTline – Regional Transit Authority
http://www.hartline.org/
* Serves the Tampa Area and Hillsborough County with Bus service. Site provides route and far information, plus service news.

Bus

Greyhound Bus Lines
813 229-8588
610 E Polk St
Tampa, FL http://www.greyhound.com/
Rail

Amtrak – Tampa
813 221-7601
601 N Nebraska Ave
Tampa, FL http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage
For complete listings and addresses etc, go to http://floridabusiness.org/transportation.ht

In conclusion Hillsborough county’s transportation network makes it easy to get around and connect to anywhere in the US and Florida.

Orlando is just a few hours away at most and Miami is only a four hour drive.

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Tampa and Hillsborough County Cost of Living

The cost of living index is based on the composite price of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, clothing and entertainment.

Cost of living indexes will generally be higher in areas that offer access to beaches, culture, arts and recreation. In addition areas, that offer a wider variety of services such as health and education will run higher due to higher wages, and increased quality of living.

Cost of living indexing explanation
A figure of 100 points is used as an average both for the USA and Florida. For example:
Boise Idaho is ranked at a 99
Boston Mass is rated at 240
San Francisco at 217
Statewide, Florida cities come in from a low of 90 and up.
One way to compare Florida areas to salary requirements

For example-If you were relocating from Portland Oregon (whose rate 1s 94.0) to Orlando, and you currently make $50,000 per year, the formula is as follows
Take the destination index, in this case Orlando-94.0 and divide by Portland’s index-120, then multiply by a salary of $50,000. This will give you a figure of $39,166 which would be required to make in Orlando to have the same quality of life.
See comparable Florida statewide
* Re cost of living–in some areas Real Estate has went up dramatically however costs that factor in such as food, transportation, rents etc have not increased at the same rate-so in some areas, even though housing is expensive, the overall rating may still be low
2007 stats per Sperlings best Places http://www.bestplaces.net/

Boca Raton-154.74
Bradenton-114
Cape Coral-Ft Myers-108.0
Ft Lauderdale-132.0
Fort Walton-Destin-120
Jacksonville metro-94.0
Big Pine Key fl-132.46
Key Largo-146.0
Key West-168.0
Marathon fl-162.06
Miami metro-138.0
Melbourne-92.72
Naples Fl-250.59
Orlando metro-94.0
Palm Bay-84.56
Palm Coast-Flagler-125.01
Panama City-86.35
Pensacola metro-82.0
Sarasota-108.75
Tampa 94.60
Stuart 146.63
St Pete-Clearwater-91.58
Vero-Beach Indian River-122.87
West Palm Beach metro-112.05
(Population Weighted-State Average=100
See national comparisons
Cost of living (100 = nationwide average)

* New York, NY -164.50
* Long Beach, CA -135.71
* Palo Alto, CA -234.42
* Boston, MA -127.60
* Malibu, CA -492.80
* San Francisco, -187.23
* Greenwich, CT 215
* Chicago, IL -126.45
* Dallas Tx -92,94
* Atlanta Ga -112.21
For more information about cost of living go to either
Sperlings best Places http://www.bestplaces.net/
or Accra’s site at http://www.coli.org

The cost of living across the Tampa area averaged only 94.60% of the national average as of the 4th quarter 2007.
With housing prices substantially below the national average, the Tampa, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are a great place to live,work and play.
Hillsborough County

Ad Valorem Millage Rates (2004):
Government 7.3120
Schools 8.3609
Special 5.7173
Total 21.3902
Ad Valorem Tax Exemption: No
Retail Sales Tax (Local Option) 1.0
Local Communications Service Tax 2.4
Federal Enterprise Zone Yes
As of 2004, the total Cost of living index was 99.82
Total 98.08
Food 101.07
Health Care 97.70
Housing 94.10
Personal Goods and Services 100.41
Transportation 100.73
Above stats from http://www.eflorida.com/profiles/CountyReport.asp?CountyID=54&Display=al

Housing. Minimum two bedroom (1500 sq ft) single family homes in Tampa, Hillsborough county.
As of August 2005, the median sold price is $215,600.
A typical home insurance policy based on the price of the property?(wind, Flood, Homeowners) A $250,000 home is about $1,400 per year. If in a Flood Zone then add another $700
Utilities.

For water and sewer go to
Water/Sewer (Hillsborough County . . . 813 272-6680
Tampa Bay Water District
Southwest Florida Water Management District
For electric go to
Tampa Electric Company . . . 813 223-0800
Gas Companies:
Peoples Gas (Natural/Propane) . . . 813 275-3892
Telephone Companies
Verizon (Residential) . . . 800 483-4000
In conclusion, the cost of living is really good, especially given the costs of heating in the colder northern states, let alone the change in lifestyle that the Tampa bay area has to offer.

What if you never had to go back from your vacation? You can! You can live the vacation.

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