Moving to South Florida from PA....soon! (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: best neighborhoods, renters)

[DEENYCPA]

Hello to all!!

I will be relocating with my family (DH and 2 kids) to the Pompano Beach area from Pennsylvania. We will be staying with friends until we settle. They live near NE 11th Terrace.

Can anyone tell me if this is a good area?

We are very excited about the move since we have alwasy lived up north and we are so ready for some warm weather.

To anyone who has gone through this relocation transition. What will make this relocation easier?

Any tips or suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Dee

[alwaystraveling25]

Originally Posted by DEENYCPA

Hello to all!!

I will be relocating with my family (DH and 2 kids) to the Pompano Beach area from Pennsylvania. We will be staying with friends until we settle. They live near NE 11th Terrace.

Can anyone tell me if this is a good area?

We are very excited about the move since we have alwasy lived up north and we are so ready for some warm weather.

To anyone who has gone through this relocation transition. What will make this relocation easier?

Any tips or suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Dee

Hi Dee,

I relocated from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale for two years and recently returned back to Chicago.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you moving from in Pennsylvania? A larger city, like Philly or Pittsburgh, or from a smaller town? South Florida (the Palm Beach/Broward/Miami-Dade Counties) is the most populated part of Florida, and has a pretty fast pace of life compared to other parts of the state.

I cannot speak to your specific street, but I know that Pompano beach east of Federal Highway (U.S. 1) or east of Dixie Highway is okay. Once you go west of Dixie Highway, it's not the best neighborhoods, to say the least.

Here are some tips to help you with your relocation:
1) Tour the neighborhoods of the city you want to live in. Unlike some other parts of the country, where you might have a "great city" and a "not-so-great city", a lot of Fort Lauderdale (especially the eastern part, like Pompano Beach), varies by streets. I used to live in Oakland Park, which is very rough west of I-95, but where I lived (east of Dixie Highway) was okay and I had no crime or other incidents in my condo complex. I would not commit to a lease before touring the cities and the immediate area of where you will live.

2) Plan on driving very defensively and aggressively. Fort Lauderdale was recently voted by a major survey (cannot recall which one off of the top of my head) as one of the most dangerous cities to drive in, due to the high number of fatalities. You are coming here in PEAK season, so please be aware of your surroundings and prepare for aggressive drivers, people not using turn signals, and people driving way slower or way faster then the posted speed limit. The lights are very long in parts of Broward County, so that further adds to people aggravations and the amount of people "blowing through" the red lights.
Also, I'm assuming you are not switching your plates right away, so be prepared for some people honking at you or being more aggressive since you have out-of-state plates. During the winter months, everytime I saw plates from out-of-state (especially Quebec or NY/NJ), I was always ready to blow the horn at them, since they were not year-round residents who oftentimes drove way under the speed limit or had no idea where they were going. For me, driving in the city limits of Chicago is less stressful then heading anywhere in Broward County during the winter.

3) Be prepared to spend more money on certain things. Unless you are coming from Philadelphia, I'm sure that it will be more expensive to live here. Car insurance for me doubled in Florida (due to extremely high fraud) and my Renters Insurance was doubled (due to the proximity of the ocean and Hurricane Insurance). No State Income Tax was very nice, but my A/C bill on my 2/2 condo ran over $100 per month most months since you run your A/C almost year-round.

4) Culturally, Fort Lauderdale is a huge melting pot. People from all over the US and beyond land there. You will hear Spanish spoken often and will see/meet people from all over. It's definitely a lot different then living in the Midwest. It's a very, very diverse area (not only with Latin America cultures, but all other cultures).

I think your best bet is to be realistic when you get here. It would be very easy to head right away to the beach or spend time hanging out on Las Olas, but become familiar with major things right away. Where is your closest grocery store? How close is it to work? Where will you get your vehicle serviced down here? I've said it before and I will say it again, Vacationing in Florida is completely different than living here. When friends would visit me, they would love the beach and ocean life, but they didn't see the other aspects of it (the traffic, higher cost of living, etc.) I just would hate for you to get sucked into the beauty of living near the ocean without seeing all of the other things that are impacted.

Good luck! Although Fort Lauderdale was not a good fit for me, it is for a lot of people, and I wish you the best of luck!

[DEENYCPA]

Thanks Alwaystraveling!

I will be coming from Reading, PA. This is a small town.

But I was born and raised in NY, so I am used to the city and fast paced life. I know what aggressive means!! Have to switch to my aggressive hat when driving in NYC!.

I will be staying with friends, until we settle down. I will take that time to look around and know my surroundings.

Thanks again
Dee

[tankev]

We moved from West Allentown to Weston (West of Fort Lauderdale) 3 years ago. We lived outside of Philly (South Jersey) before that. We have 2 teen boys and moved them at the start of middle and high school. The move wasn't bad but we were used to moving around. Alwaystraveling is correct. EVERYTHING is more expensive here. Groceries, gas, housing, taxes, insurance, etc. My husband doubled his salary and our means of living is about the same as in Allentown.

But... we really like it here. Our kids adjusted well and go to a good school. The school they go to has 3000+ (yes you read that correctly!) more kids than the one they would have gone to up north but again, they have adjusted and they love their school and have met great friends.

If you can afford the move, want different cultures around you, and can handle the crazy drivers you should be fine. I don't know much about the area you are looking in but search the posts for info about schools and areas. You'll find that most will say the farther west you move the better the public schools. I'm sure there has to be some good schools east, though.

Good luck!

[Nolefan34]

DEENYCPA-

There are many NE 11th Terrace's in Pompano Beach. Hard to explain but the street runs in segments in various residential areas. Some segments run only 3 blocks and dead end. This is common in South FL since the roads are all on a grid system. Terraces are usually small residential streets. You are going to have to give us an address or a general street number range, such as 2000 block.

I am inclined to say the area might not be very good since NE 11th Terrace is to the west of US1. In Pompano Beach, the neighborhoods to the west of US1 generally decline the further west you go. Once you go west of Dixie Highway you are in ghettoland in many areas. In fact, Pompano Beach has the highest crime rates in Broward County statistically. Yet most of the crime occurs in the neighborhoods west of Dixie Highway. The areas to the east of US1 are general much safer and much more beautiful.

There are way better areas to live around here than Pompano Beach. If your family feels safe there, then I am sure you can make do for several months until you find a new home. But I would look in other parts such as Coral Springs and Parkland.

[JSnFla]

reading, PA to broward county would prolly be the biggest possible culture shock one could achieve....having kids there are only a handful of decent areas with acceptable public schools.... areas like weston, some of coral springs, parkland and cooper city otherwise it will be pure insanity....broward county is VERY rough in MANY spots, just be careful wherever u go

[DEENYCPA]

Thanks for the tips guys!

@Nolefan- I believe its the 4000 block of 11th NE Terrace. I guess I will know more when I get there and walk around.

I grew up in NY and not in the best of the neighborhoods, so I will know the ghetto when I see it and I will not raise my family there.

Looking at the map we are East of Dixie Highway, so hopefully the neighborhood is not bad. They are near E.Sample Rd.

How is Norcrest Elementary School? This is the school my son would go to.

[Nolefan34]

DEENYCPA-

4000 block of NE 11th Terrace looks like it is located just north of Sample Road, between US1 and Dixie Highway. The area is mixed. I am not familiar with the exact subsection, but the neighborhoods on the opposite side of Dixie Highway are really bad. The good news is that the railroad tracks act as a barrier between the really bad neighborhoods and the ok neighborhoods.

I personally would not recommend living in that area at all but I am assuming if your family lives there and feels comfortable it cannot be too bad. I do know that once you go east of US1 the neighborhoods are better. There is tons of shopping and restaurants along US1 there too. The beaches are very close too which is a plus.

[DEENYCPA]

Well that sounds good. They tell me that its a nice area and they have 2 small kids too, so it can't be that bad.

Do you live in Florida Nolefan??

[Nolefan34]

Yes I live in Fort Lauderdale. I have driven through the areas near where we were talking about, but have never actually gone into that particular subsection. It looks like it should be ok on maps. I am just warning that the neighborhoods just west as you cross Dixie Highway are really bad. I can personally attest to that.