there's truth and error in this post - true that south tampa is trendier and where a lot of people go, false that new tampa is that bad. yes, there's morning traffic, but it doesn't take 45 min to get to school in the morning unless you move north of where I-75 crosses bruce b downs (and even then, I doubt 45 minutes). however i would agree that the further south you can be in new tampa, the better. i live about 3.5 miles north of campus and I can get to school in 7-10 minutes non rush hour, 15 minutes when I leave around 7:30am.
i can't comment about south tampa other than to say that it is definately more expensive - you pay for being in the cool part of tampa. but if money weren't an object, yeah, i'd love to get a place right on bayshore boulevard.
temple terrace is a cute area, i would agree, and it's probably a little less expensive than new tampa. it has some nice cultural feel, too. as to the area just north of campus (between 42nd and 46th streets, between fletcher and bruce b downs), that area is full of undergrads - i'm not saying that's intrinsically good or bad, but definately be aware that they will be people with different priorities than yours.
i don't know too much about condos in new tampa other than to say that there have been A LOT of apartment-to-condo conversions in the last 2 years - i'd be very leery to buy a condo that really was built to be an apartment. the prices have gotten pretty high too - i wish i'd bought 2 years ago, because prices have close to doubled in some locations. i think you'd struggle to find a decent 2 bd/2 ba unit anywhere south of cross creek for under $200K. rents have gone up too unfortunately, and the place i'm in has gone up almost $150/month in only 2 years. but like i said, new tampa is still probably cheaper (for a comparable place) than south tampa (soho, bayshore, or the islands).
if any of ya'll have more specific questions, you can PM me and i'll try to answer them.
