There is such a significant variety in most of the apartments in Tampa. I find that as I search for a new place to live, I cannot help but notice some blatant differences across the city, regardless of area.

Cost in one example. I can see one place renting for only 850 or so that is enormous and beautiful, with new paint, a Washer and Dryer and a carpet you can eat off of. Then I can literally walk across the street to one of the many other South Tampa rentals and find that for $900 dollars, I can live next to a loud dive bar, have no amenities and essentially live in an unfurnished box that smells like old sock.

The design of the apartments for rent in Tampa is another example of wide variation. Some try to cater to a more modern look; others are as bland as they are large, while still others may as well be in the closet of a basement. Yet all of them tend to have prices that differ so vastly it sometimes feels as though I’m seeing apartments in different cities, rather than different blocks.

I’ll tell you what – if I didn’t have help, I probably would have been duped into the apartment near the dive bar.