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My info is outdated, but I lived in Tampa in 1995 and 1996.
I lived and worked to the northeast of downtown, in the Busch Gardens area (USF). It was pretty decent. The apartment complexes are all nicely landscaped with nice pools, and it was cheaper at the time than my rent had been in the northeast. I think I had strippers at the complex, 'cause hot chicks would sunbathe during the day (so I assumed they worked at night).
The weather in Tampa is "nine months of hot, and three months of really ****ing hot". It was unbearable for me... but, then again, I'm from New England and love the cold, AND I had a car without A/C.
Keep in mind that Tampa is the lightning-strike capital of the world. Also, while they haven't had a hurricane in a long time, they are RIPE for a Katrina-style disaster if one hits them directly. Just saying. If you end up with beachfront property... pack light and make sure something large on your land can double as a flotation device.
Downtown Tampa (at that time) was fairly dead, with the exceptions of the Tampa Theater (nice old-style Loew's movie palace where they did some productions) and Ybor City. They then built the Florida Aquarium (which was overpriced but nicely done). Apparently they've now added something called the Channelside district, which has surpassed Ybor. I would think in Ybor you'll find a younger more drunk crowd and at Channelside you might find more sober thirtysomethings, but that's a total supposition.
The bugs in Tampa are big enough to saddle. The cockroaches are giant and they fly, and are EVERYWHERE. I had to scour the house for them daily. Palmetto bugs are the size of a coffee-cup saucer, I shit you not.
There are (or, at least, were) some decent malls: a fancy-schmantzy one downtown near the Sombrero (which has now been replaced with Raymond James Stadium); the University Mall near USF; and the Brandon Town Center.
St. Pete is nice to visit. Good beaches, John's Pass is (was?) a touristy area, and they have the Salvador Dali Museum. Plus you have the MLB Rays, and tickets should be easy to come by.
Since we lived on the northeast side of town, and Disney is on the west side of Orlando, it was 75 minutes from my parking lot to theirs. That was pretty cool. We got annual passes and would go once a month for a weekend.
Busch Gardens is awesome, obviously. And Tampa has a decent zoo (Lowry Park). As usual, it's in a bad section, but it's a good zoo.
Speaking of "bad sections", that's one thing about Tampa which was strange to me: the bad parts of town look just like the good parts. One side of the street could be "bad", the other "good", and they look the same. So make sure you research carefully and talk to some of the board people here who live(d) there more recently.
If you enjoy outdoor activities (fishing, rollerblading, etc.,.) then Florida's probably for you. If, like me, you don't really love hot weather, and you hate bugs, then Florida's probably not for you.
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