Thanx for the replys to all,

We were really depressed 3 years ago when we had to bail on the move. I'm sure it will still take some time to find the right job. I'm highly skilled (IMHO) and employed at a good job in NJ/NY right now so I'm not interested in the low-balling some of the headhunters are doing with me.

Hopefully things will open up more in the coming months afte the new year.

West coast.

I'm with Formula on this one, but I just moved from the sarasota area to freekin cold azz oklahoma 3 months ago. Had a 3 bed canal front on the manatee river by i-75 and sold it for 300,000. col is real good, just watch the prop tax, lower than tx, but higher than other areas, as from what the rest of the people will agree that live there, a lot more scams and cons than what i have seen in tx. Along with harder to get good employees to show up the day after payday, but this is also reflected in what you do.

I went to school at USF in north tampa and loved it. Although i had to leave after 3 years and move back to boston so i would graduate in under 9 years. I would say with a family that tampa/st. pete is the way to go. Just make sure you look in south tampa in the hyde park area or on the bay. Or north st. pete is a nice area to. There is a great place down there, i;m not positive on the name but i think it is john's pass, maybe someone can help. It's a great mix in that area. Laid back, but if you wana tear it up a little you can go to ybor city ( although ybor city is the reason i had to move back to boston to graduate). Don't forget Shepard's in clearwater. It's one of my favorite beach bars of all time. You can pull your boat up and order a mudslide right on the beach. If you need one more reason, this should do it. I think Tampa has more strip joints per square mile than it does traffic lights!!!!!!

2

impulsive is right about tampa and guess what! you don't have to speak spanish to live there.

I did some research on the net and it gave me some comparisons again col in my area of NJ;

Tampa St. Pete

Groceries -14% -18%

Housing -42% -46%

Utilities -31% -36%

Trans. -5% -10%

Healthcare -30% -41%

Misc Svcs -16% -19%

Also if you had a salary of 145K, you would need to make 106K in Tampa and 102K in ST. Pete.

Do you guys agree with these numbers? again they are off a web site but real experience is where it's at.

When I used West Palm and Miami, the numbers were only -5% -10% for the same criteria.

I would wholeheartedly agree with those numbers. I assume those are percentages less than your area, not percentages of your area.

that's right

Well guys,

Maybe I can hook up with you in March. I just booked a trip for the week to come down and check everything out. I have already done this in Miami area.

I'm going to hook up with a realtor and look at some houses and drop in on a school or two. If I am lucky, maybe an interview or two. I applied for quite a few this week, but probably nuthin until the new year.

Might be cool to meet fellow OSOers to give me and the missis the scoop over beers (my treat of course)