Quality of Life in Broward? (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: low crime, bad credit, home)

[lvsseasand]

Hi,
I am thinking of moving to Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, or Pembroke Pines, and was wondering if anyone has opinions on whether they like living in these places or not. What I am looking for is diversity, culture (esp..., outdoor concerts and salsa dancing), good jobs (looking for job as a speech therapist), and minimal crime. Also, I would like my mother, who is a senior citizen to have some activities to do also. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Also, how is the hurricane season in this area?


Thanx Again,
Sabrina

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by lvsseasand

Hi,
I am thinking of moving to Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, or Pembroke Pines, and was wondering if anyone has opinions on whether they like living in these places or not. What I am looking for is diversity, culture (esp..., outdoor concerts and salsa dancing), good jobs (looking for job as a speech therapist), and minimal crime. Also, I would like my mother, who is a senior citizen to have some activities to do also. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Also, how is the hurricane season in this area?


Thanx Again,
Sabrina

For minimal crime and diversity, check out Weston and Coral Springs. Both rank among America's safest, and there is plenty of culture to be found down here, but maybe not so much in those communities. Pembroke Pines would be nice too, and crime there is still pretty low.It is also close to Hollywood. Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale are not as safe(Fort Lauderdale has some really bad areas actually), but have MUCH MORE in the way of culture. If you hae any more questions, just go ahead and PM me again .
PS. your going to get a lot of negative here from people who don't like crowded metropolitan areas and/or minorities.

[rkumar3]

You are going to have lots of fun in Broward... Weather is perfect, tons of outdoor activities, restaurants, bars, nite life etc. If schools are a primary concerns then I would suggest western of Miramar, Pines or Weston... Coral Springs is also very nice and central. You can also consider Plantation or Davie. Let me know if you have any other questions... Welcome to the Sunshine

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by rkumar3

You are going to have lots of fun in Broward... Weather is perfect, tons of outdoor activities, restaurants, bars, nite life etc. If schools are a primary concerns then I would suggest western of Miramar, Pines or Weston... Coral Springs is also very nice and central. You can also consider Plantation or Davie. Let me know if you have any other questions... Welcome to the Sunshine

The schools are horrible in Plantation past elementary. It is a beautiful area to settle without children, however, and close to all of the amenities! If you can stray further from these areas, it may be worth checking out Boca Raton as well. You can get a lot of the culture in the Mizner Park area without the crime,but you trade a little bit of ethnic diversity in. In Broward, you can get diverse without crime, but you can not get INTERESTING without a certain amount of it. Like I have said in the past,Downtown Hollywood is RELATIVELY safe and interesting, but you are going to be seeing homelessness/some subdued drug deals, but not much in the way of threatning your own safety or real serious gang activity. The area is actually getting cleaned up a lot, and the Hollywood Police dept. has been in patrolling that area nightly.

[chisoxfan]

Originally Posted by lvsseasand

Also, how is the hurricane season in this area?

Broward was hit head-on by hurricanes Wilma and Katrina in 2005, with Wilma the stronger of the two in this area. It damaged a lot of roofs, fences, trees and unprotected windows, and power was out anywhere from a few days to three weeks, depending on location. The area took glancing blows from Frances and Jeanne (which both made landfall about 60 miles north of Fort Lauderdale) in 2004.

Before that in my 20 years here, Broward had some close calls, but no direct hits other than Hurricane Irene (a minimal hurricane that passed through the western suburbs and was more rainy than windy) in '99. Andrew devastated the area south of Miami, but the damage in Broward was minimal.

Generally, we'll get at least one or two scares a year (meaning we're inside the National Hurricane Center's "cone of error"). The good news is that there are a few days of warning as a storm approaches and plenty of time to prepare, especially if you've been proactive and shopped for essential supplies during the hurricane "offseason" from December to May. Search these boards and you'll find a lot of outstanding hurricane preparation tips.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Web site has a hurricane guide that includes a history of storms that have made landfall in Florida -- it goes all the way back to the late 1800s!

As far as where to live in Broward, I think you've gotten some solid advice in the other posts. You can have a very good life here if you make enough money to defray some of the high costs of living. The same urban ills that affect other large metro areas are here, but you can circumvent that by doing your homework (which you've already started to do).

[compelled to reply]

I'm going to add a general rule of thumb about Broward: the further west, the less crime. West of University Drive in Broward= almost guaranteed low crime, except for fringes of Miramar and Sunrise. The further west, also, the more boring it gets, and the more cookie cutter it gets. Areas east of I-95 are the most urbanized, and thus have many urban related problems, but no more so than any other urban area in the United States, and a lot LESS so than many urban areas in Florida. Areas between 95 and the Turnpike tend to be really rough, until you are north of Sample Rd. in Broward, and these tend to be the areas that you should truly keep your guard up, but you should keep aware of your surroundings ANYWHERE east of University. It's not really out of control, but most of the crimes occur in the eastern areas that I have mentioned.

The above poster hit it dead on about hurricane season. They suck, but if you live in a place built after 1992, your place while survive it without a doubt, and it is usually a couple days to a couple of weeks without power and not much else.Most places built before the 80s are pretty solid as well. Actually, most Broward structures are built well! If you choose Weston, you may not even lose power, due to the underground grid.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

For minimal crime and diversity

*Maximum diversity, lol!!!!!!

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by fort lauderdale

I'm going to add a general rule of thumb about Broward: the further west, the less crime. West of University Drive in Broward= almost guaranteed low crime, except for fringes of Miramar and Sunrise. The further west, also, the more boring it gets, and the more cookie cutter it gets. Areas east of I-95 are the most urbanized, and thus have many urban related problems, but no more so than any other urban area in the United States, and a lot LESS so than many urban areas in Florida. Areas between 95 and the Turnpike tend to be really rough, until you are north of Sample Rd. in Broward, and these tend to be the areas that you should truly keep your guard up, but you should keep aware of your surroundings ANYWHERE east of University. It's not really out of control, but most of the crimes occur in the eastern areas that I have mentioned.

It's funny because your evaluation of the "niceness" of areas is almost the same pattern for West Palm Beach: Urban, Historical East of I-95, crap town between 95 and the turnpike, and then nice again West of the Turnpike!

Funny how that works.....

[big rob]

Out of the 3 areas you listed I would consider Pembroke Pines as the best of the lot.It's west of most of the crime and still centrally located close enough to the beaches and Miami and Ft.Lauderdale. Personally,I live in Hollywood and it's okay as long as you live west of I-95 and don't live too close to 441.The whole 441 corridor in Hollywood has really gone downhill in the past 15 years.Be prepared for bad traffic congestion, no matter where you chose to move to.Good luck.

[honeybun]

hi,i want to move to florida and have bad credit any advice where or what realtor i can be accepted by in ft lauderdale preferably near el mar drive beach area?also i need a place with washer dryer hook up and waterview,and a balcony i do nails so i plan to work from home please help with advice im ready to go except i cant find a place due to bad credit i mean is it impossible for me to get a chance in the sun?