Moving from Baltimore MD to Tampa FL and I am so excited

I actually didn't realize there was an off topic forum on GRM until just now.  Three cheers for being observant.

Anyways, I've lived in Baltimore since I got out of the army in 2014 due to a bunch of injuries (thankfully nothing too major).  My wife and I have a house in the northeast corner of the city limits in a nice quiet neighborhood where we pay almost as much in property taxes as we do our actual mortgage loan.  We decided that we would like to have a kid reasonably soon and it took about 30 seconds to come to the conclusion that Baltimore is a horrible place for that.  Murder capital of America, ridiculous property taxes, awful schools unless you can afford $30K/year for a private one, real estate is ridiculous, great music scene though!  And we could move up a few miles into Baltimore County and get better schools, we would just need half a million for a tiny house.  I grew up in Florida and my parents live there (just north of Sebring) so we made the decision to move to Tampa Bay this year.  Basically as soon as we can.  We just need to finish a few things on our house, sell my old Mercedes, do some landscaping and sell the house and we're done.  And here's the best part: being a car guy my entire life, Maryland sucks.  The nearest autocrossing is more than an hour away, and there's no race tracks.  Nearest ones are pretty far, and expensive.  But Florida!  My parents live right north of Sebring and I can do HPDEs there (and other places) with Chin motorsports, and there's two separate organizations that autocross near Tampa!  And I can finally compete in the $20XX challenge, which I have dreamed of doing since reading about the $1500 challenge in the magazine!  And the cost of living is way less and violent crime in tampa is almost literally 1/10 of what it is in Baltimore!  And the schools are better!  And I'm not a big fan of heat but I'll get over it.  I'm almost 40 but I talk like an excited kid about this move lately.  I just wanted to share my excitement with this crowd.  

Congrats but my first thought was to hit Baltimore CL and see what you could bring down. 

In reply to Stampie :

Probably a crapton of high-mileage Town Cars :D

Sometimes you can find a good deal (I almost got some mustang cobra replica rims yesterday for $50) but a lot of the cars are beat up.  If you go a little north to Pennsylvania you can find some awesome deals on cars, but rust is a serious issue up there.  Early 2000s Volvos are easy to find for challenge prices up here, and various BMWs from the same time period.  If they won't pass the state inspection people just dump them cheap.  

I've been to Tampa a few times, both by sea and by air.  I like Tampa.  I still know some people there. 

We have a bunch of friends in the Tampa/St. Pete area. Good music scene, good food and some car stuff, too.

David S. Wallens said:

We have a bunch of friends in the Tampa/St. Pete area. Good music scene, good food and some car stuff, too.

 

The big music and arts scene is why we chose Tampa.  Baltimore has a huge music scene and some good festivals also, and I've been in a heavy metal band for the last three years so it would feel odd moving to a place without those things.  Tampa has a ton of festivals so I think I'll like it.  Glad to hear there's good food there, I don't think I could survive in a place without some good eateries!  Baltimore has spoiled me in that aspect.

Oooh, another grmer that's moving to ground zero of shenanigans land! You wont miss winter. 

Metal and punk bands usually play the Brass Mug.

David S. Wallens said:

Metal and punk bands usually play the Brass Mug.

My band actually did a short tour and played there last August.  The promoter ripped all the bands off at that show, but otherwise it was a fun time.

Years ago Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater was the most desirable area in the country to retire  to.  I suspect things have changed a lot, but it would have to beat Baltimore.  

I have a few friends that live down there and they say it's still great.  I think Sarasota is more the retirement area now.  I'm definitely looking forward to meeting some GRMers that are nearby and paying them in beer to teach me how to weld.  I'll definitely need to learn for a challenge car.

Congrats! What part?

All I know of Baltimore I learned from The Wire and Adnan Syed which leads me to, "Congrats on getting out." 

had an uber passenger take me to Reservoir Hill but through W North Ave and N Fulton.  I saw two cops the whole way when the place looked like it should have four patrol cars on each corner. lots of crime cameras.  lots.

  In SE DC we have few cameras but a bunch of cops. 

Congrats on the move. 

Welcome to Florida! 

Tampa isnt my favorite place, but if i had to live in baltimore or tampa, no question its 100% tampa. My bro lived in baltimore for a few years. If you left so much as a phone cable visible, your car window was going to get smashed.  I learned about “baltimore clean” cars. NOTHING visible in the car.  I drove my newish at the time nissan frontier up there to help him move. Had a alpine flip out dvd player in it. He tells me to hide everything(baltimore clean) so as he heads to his place, im street parked pulling out my radio so it wont get stolen. As my bro walk by his civic he notices the window is smashed in. Some cracky saw my sisters house key in the console and thought it was a key for the car. The house key was partially stuck in the ignition.

Then there was the shootings and drivebys meant for the neighbors that ended up leaving bullet holes in his house. Charm city! But yeah good music and good food. Not worth dying though. 

Sweet! Another GRMer coming to Tampastan! There are a few of us in and around the Tampa/St. Pete area.

I lived in Tampa previously, from 2010-2014 when I was active duty and stationed at the Air Force base here. It was a sad day when I had to PCS because this was my favorite duty station. The area is amazing. I separated in 2017 and got offered a job on the base here at the end of 2018. I jumped at the opportunity and moved 2900 miles from the PNW to be in the Tampa area again.

Tampa has a huge VA hospital and a few CBOCs in the surrounding area as well. I have received great medical care from the VA facilities here.

I think you'll like it here

infinitenexus said:

David S. Wallens said:

Metal and punk bands usually play the Brass Mug.

My band actually did a short tour and played there last August.  The promoter ripped all the bands off at that show, but otherwise it was a fun time.

Yay, another crappy promoter. That sucks to hear.

I’m not too far south in Bradenton. Welcome to the area!  I’ve had some fun nights at the Brass Mug - picture band names in spikey fonts like “Metallica” but are completely illegible.  

Also, some Tampa/St. Pete bands that we enjoy seeing: 

But you will be so far away from ottobar and the sidebar if you leave Baltimore.  And so far from ravens fans.  On second thought get the berkeley out now, ravens fans are horrible shiny happy people 

I live near Daytona Beach now, but the Bay area will always feel like home. My grandparents built a vacation rental business on Treasure Island in the early 50s. I half grew up there, including two years of school.

In 87, I moved back to FL get an AA from St Petersburg Junior college, which is now St Petersburg college. I had a wonderful experience there. I'm a huge proponent of Florida's community college system, BTW.

I moved back again after vet school, and lived in the Sarasota-Bradenton area from 97 to 06. 

I autocross with the Fast club from the Bay area occasionally. Great group of people. 

Good fishing, great beaches, scalloping.... Lots of fun outdoor activities.

You're going to have fun. I'm looking forward to updates. We're deeply settled here, but I hadn't realized that I missed the west coast this much until this thread.

In reply to Patrick :

theres a bar called ottobar?  In the U.K. that would be nicknamed the blottobar.

Patrick said:

But you will be so far away from ottobar and the sidebar if you leave Baltimore.  And so far from ravens fans.  On second thought get the berkeley out now, ravens fans are horrible shiny happy people 

Believe it or not, a stadium fulla “Florida Man” ain’t much better 

There's a gentleman in Owings, MD (southern western shore) with a pair of Mazdas for sale. A 5 door 626 with the F2T and a BG chassis 323. Both are remarkably clean, both manual transmission. I'm willing to bet that 2500 would take BOTH of them. Take them south with you. If the 626 weren't the incredibly awesome 5 door hatch with mountains of space and also in time capsule condition, I'd suggest swapping, but it's far too clean. I'd drive them both, decide what you like more, retain it and flip the other. FL actually has a fairly active BG chassis community, and I'm always only a bonus check and bad decision away from getting another one.