[immster]

My husband may be changing jobs and would be employed at Turkey Point in Homestead. I am interested in finding a nice area to live. We have 3 boys and I would be interested in good schools and nice family neighborhoods. Looking for some input into the surrounding areas and cities so we know where to start looking should he accept a position there. My husband does not mind a commute somewhere in the half hour range. Thanks in advance for any advice or tips.
Blessings.
Lisa

[SunnyDog]

Look into Keys Gate. It's a big planned community about 5 miles directly west of Turkey Point. Far enough that you can't see or hear Turkey Point, and very nice. Multiple developers have gone in and around there building, condos, townhomes, single family houses. Cheap housing compared to the rest of South Florida. Homestead Miami Speedway is there.

[bgmiami]

The big problem with Homestead is that it lost it's middle class after Hurricane Andrew destroyed the Air Force base. It is just now starting to recover. Schools are horrible except for the Keys Gate charter school Shopping consists of a Walmart, a Home Depot, BJ's and a failing outlet mall. The population is heavily Latin. Although housing is affordable, I would not recommend living there. If schools are important I'd recommend Pinecrest or Palmetto Bay (both about 20 minutes to the north). Housing is more expensive, but these communities have all A schools.

[grldollies]

We stopped in homestead going from Miami area back to Orlando a couple of years ago and we were appalled at how awful it was there. Very run down. we stopped at a McDonalds and it was so bad we didn't dare buy any food. I thought I read some were Homestead had the highest of population of aides. Before you move I would take a trip down there to check out the area.

[robivi3]

Crime is very high there, it is listed as one of the "foreign born" cities on this website. it is not, overall a nice place to live. If you are american you will not feel very comfortable.

Check oput the crime stats on Sperlings, I live down here, before Andrew, yes, post Andrew, heck no.

[bunnywabbit!]

Good to know this as I was considering visiting someday. The travel books sure tend to exaggerate a lot.

[Migsly]

Homestead is a third world country now. I grew up there in the 60's and visited recently and was shocked.

[D&V305]

Dont go so far south...Old Cutler by Saga Bay or Culter Bay is nice. I like it but then again I am in a walled in community. I want to move from here only to pursue a career. I find the already established neighborhoods are pretty cool. Homestead is scary for me, yes ther eis lots of new places but its all bought out my investers and no one actually live there...Keys GAte is nice but if you dont work down there YOU WILL BE SCARRED FROM THE TRAFFIC to get to anywhere in South Miami ...Saga/Cutler Bay has a Publix, Walgreens, parks and recreation near by....Southland Mall was struggling for a while but its like 5 miles away and is having a re-birth..Honestly if I could find a job in the area I would not move.

[Michaelfla]

Wow.. I can't believe... well I take that back, I CAN BELIEVE, how biased and racially inclined some of these comments about Homestead are... I've lived here for 23 years and love it... Yes, granted it is a bit congested but what isn't nowadays?... Hispanic population? Yes, but...ummm... have you traveled up to Miami or even as far up as Broward? What about the "elite" Kendall?... AIDS outbreak here?... Haven't heard about that one as of yet... Schools? I work for the school system myself and am proud of the achievements of our local schools... Stop scaring people away from the possibility of making up their own mind of living in the very progessive Homestead area... I for one love it here and plan to spend my days here as retirement closes in for me in about 6 years... Come visit and make up your own mind! :-)

(of course I'm sure there'll be another biased follow-up to this one... knock yourself out...lol...)

[tallrick]

I lived in the area west of Homestead briefly in the late 80's, I enjoyed it very much, but the property values skyrocketed and I eventually ended up in Key largo. When the air base was open there was a nice mix of people in town, although Florida City was (and is) extremely run down and corrupt. Homestead used to mean farms, and fun people. Now it's really built up, with high density suburban development and third world residents. Take a drive along the Turnpike and see the suburban sameness and abundance of vacant pigeon holes. Now if you're lucky you might be able to afford one of the few remaining homes with land. Just be aware of the abundant "welfare state" neighborhoods everywhere.