We've never been in housing. I'll admit that I have an irrational fear of base housing.

Housing prices are insane. This is the first time in a long time that we've opted to rent. Life is very expensive here, and this is coming from someone who moved from notoriously expensive Alaska.
We were in St. Pete the same time you were in Clearwater (98-01).
DH is an O...but don't hold that against me
I can't pretend to be an expert since we've only been here 6 months, but feel free to PM me if you have any question.