[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by leavingvegas

Sorry, I guess I got confused somewhere. I thought Broward area was upper scale or at least most areas such as Parkland, Weston, Coral Springs and Boca Raton. So, would I stay more East or West in Broward County?

West. I misstated my post. I apologize for misleading you. To tell you the truth though, Palm Beach County is more upper scale overall, but poverty in those areas sinks deeper. Broward is so large, that it has vast lower, middle, AND upper scale areas. The western areas are, for the most part, the more upscale, the middle is more working/middle class, and east has its poorer pockets mixed in with a lot of other types of areas. Basically, if you live in Broward, you never have to enter anything lower than middle class to live your daily life. In Palm Beach County (except for Boca), there are a lot of poverty associated problems mixed in amongst wealth, with not much middle class at all. Third worldish, if you ask me.

Anything west of Nob Hill/Douglas Rd. in Broward is pretty upscale, and all of the areas you are looking at are consistently high end except for Coral Springs (has plenty of middle class)

And, about Davie, it has upper end housing, but it is just a more middle class family type of community, and has a couple of trailer parks. A nice place by most means, but not what you are looking for. It's for families, and only families. It's mostly known for its good school districts (I graduated out of them) but being more attainable then Weston for families.

A lot of the areas around Weston are actually middle/upscale family communities that are very diverse, like Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, and the west parts of Miramar are in that part of the county. The key is that they are family geared and not as close to good dining and entertainment,and dont have the aura you are looking for.

[stevelb]

I see that you guys are still at it. Blowing smoke. Leaving Las Vegas, you need to go spend a couple weeks in each place exploring. Then report back. My bet is that if you do this, your choice is going to be California.

I also wish you luck in selling your house in Sumerlin. I am sure that you are painfully aware of the situation in that area.

Also Ft. Lauderdale fails to mention the north east corner of Fort Lauderdale proper. Up near and north of the Galleria Shopping Center which has the two retail stores that you mentioned. Seems to me that this area would be the place for a single 38 year old male. Also if you are gay, then this is the area (Wilton Manors) that you will want to live in.

[tampaguy03]

Sounds to me like your looking for Fort Lauderdale off Las Olas Blvd. I lived there for a few years, very close to beach and downtown, very cool people I met, and lots $$$$. I didnt see myself actially settling down there, had too much fun, so came back to Tampa.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by stevelb

I see that you guys are still at it. Blowing smoke. Leaving Las Vegas, you need to go spend a couple weeks in each place exploring. Then report back. My bet is that if you do this, your choice is going to be California.

I also wish you luck in selling your house in Sumerlin. I am sure that you are painfully aware of the situation in that area.

Also Ft. Lauderdale fails to mention the north east corner of Fort Lauderdale proper. Up near and north of the Galleria Shopping Center which has the two retail stores that you mentioned. Seems to me that this area would be the place for a single 38 year old male. Also if you are gay, then this is the area (Wilton Manors) that you will want to live in.

You are right. There are some really nice neighborhoods over there, but he/she wants to live in an entirely upscale area and the vibe there is not all entirely upscale.Don't get me wrong, its nice there, but if he/she wants a really upscale vibe closer to the beach, he should be looking into Boca,or if he/she wants an entirely upscale vibe, and wants to be far away from crime issues (he does), Parkland is his place. Think about it. You just get on the SAwgrass Exwy. and take 10th street to 95 to wherever you wanna go. Regardless, I agree with the above poster about checking both areas out, but I don't really know either way about Cali.

Regardless, if you get out here for a visit, check out neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale's northeast quadrant, or coastal Fort Lauderdale. You might like being closer to the bustle, plus you ARE much closer to the beach.

[leavingvegas]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

You are right. There are some really nice neighborhoods over there, but he/she wants to live in an entirely upscale area and the vibe there is not all entirely upscale.Don't get me wrong, its nice there, but if he/she wants a really upscale vibe closer to the beach, he should be looking into Boca,or if he/she wants an entirely upscale vibe, and wants to be far away from crime issues (he does), Parkland is his place. Think about it. You just get on the SAwgrass Exwy. and take 10th street to 95 to wherever you wanna go. Regardless, I agree with the above poster about checking both areas out, but I don't really know either way about Cali.

Regardless, if you get out here for a visit, check out neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale's northeast quadrant, or coastal Fort Lauderdale. You might like being closer to the bustle, plus you ARE much closer to the beach.

I find this a way to get an idea of where to go when I visit, so I can utilize my time better. I just drove down the CA coast, and I wish I found this forum prior because I would have focused on just a couple of areas..

By the way, I'm a single woman..

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by leavingvegas

I find this a way to get an idea of where to go when I visit, so I can utilize my time better. I just drove down the CA coast, and I wish I found this forum prior because I would have focused on just a couple of areas..

By the way, I'm a single woman..

MapQuest.Com: Maps, Directions and More

IT would not let me send a link,but this was an AWESOME way to show you basically where everything is relative to each other so there is what I would do.

Put Boca Raton, Fl. Add
Put Parkland Fl, Add
Put Weston, Fl, Add
Put Fort Lauderdale, Fl, Add.

Tampa guy mentioned the Las Olas area. That is a really cool, urban type of area with a LOT of wealth. You might love it. I would check that out as well.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

To be honest, that is totally subjective.It depends on what you are looking for and they are difficult to compare due to obvious size differences. In the most basic terms (factoring in Crime, traffic, schools,basic asthetics) Miami-Dade County has a really crappy standard of living like no other, Broward can be pretty decent all around (and really crappy if you pick the wrong spot too), and Palm Beach County is good south, ABSOLUTE CRAP central, and suburban-ish north. I don't know much about So. Cal, but I do recommend posting on the General U.S forum.

Again another false assumption, Central Palm Beach County is not "ABSOLUTE CRAP". Are you speaking from experience, have you been and lived in that part of PBC? The Western Communities in Central PBC are among the most desirable, Wellington for example. Not too mention Palm Beach and the wealthy areas along the coast.

Sure parts of Lake Worth and West Palm are bad, same goes for Broward and Dade. Generalizing the area like that is not a true statement.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

Again another false assumption, Central Palm Beach County is not "ABSOLUTE CRAP". Are you speaking from experience, have you been and lived in that part of PBC? The Western Communities in Central PBC are among the most desirable, Wellington for example. Not too mention Palm Beach and the wealthy areas along the coast.

Sure parts of Lake Worth and West Palm are bad, same goes for Broward and Dade. Generalizing the area like that is not a true statement.

Wellington/ unincorporated West Palm Beach is not what he is looking for. It's for families, and the rest of west central PBC is rural/exurban. As far as I am concerned, except for a couple of nice historic neighborhoods in WPB, and the totally unattainable Palm Beach (have 2 million to spend?), the rest of it has a lot of serious issues. There is very little middle class in this region (I think a person who has acquired wealth would rather be surrounded by middle class areas versus ghettos.) Just extreme wealth, and extreme poor, and the crime is crazy; even worse than Dade, and Broward does not even have a neighborhood that is as consistently bad as Lake Worth. Don't get me wrong; I wouldn't want to be caught on Sistrunk in Lauderdale at night, but there are a lot of problems that are more exaggerated than other regions in the United States and Broward. Plus, the gangs there are crazy, and getting more and more violent every day. We don't hear much about gang warfare here in Broward (Boynton Beach Mall shootout, anyone?), but we here about yours quite a bit. Plus a member of my family had their house broken into in a guarded and gated upscale community in Boynton Beach. Sure, that can happen anywhere, but you would have to be pretty brazen to go through the guard!

Wellington is a nice place to raise a family, though.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by leavingvegas

If you had a choice to live in S.FL or S.CA; which would you choose? And within the two cities which areas would you recommend? Thank you...

SoCal is more expensive but there are more high tech jobs and they pay better but that's all relative with the insane cost of living. Miami and Miami Beach is not cheap either, $7 beers and $4 fountain drinks at some restaurants/clubs. If you have $ and plenty of it, I would choose either place. If you plan to work and make a living and don't have a career in a very lucractive say in demand in Florida, then moving here might be a big disappointment. The Service Industry is big here, but high tech jobs and employment in comparison to CA is non-existant.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

SoCal is more expensive but there are more high tech jobs and they pay better but that's all relative with the insane cost of living. Miami and Miami Beach is not cheap either, $7 beers and $4 fountain drinks at some restaurants/clubs. If you have $ and plenty of it, I would choose either place. If you plan to work and make a living and don't have a career in a very lucractive say in demand in Florida, then moving here might be a big disappointment. The Service Industry is big here, but high tech jobs and employment in comparison to CA is non-existant.

I have to agree about Miami Beach. So freaking overpriced! He wants to start a staging/decorating business, which is still in high demand here, but the job pay here is pretty weak in comparison to the cost of living.