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Old 10-02-2007, 08:23 AM
 
2 posts, read 6,004 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello everyone. My husband just found out that we will be moving from Chicago down to Fort Lauderdale. We have grown up here in the midwest so we are not familiar with any of the areas in Fort Lauderdale.
Here is what I need help with...
1) Where is the most family friendly areas. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year and I am a SAHM.
2) Where to look for house in the $275-300 price range with 3+ bedroom in a very safe neighborhood. My husband goes out of town a lot so I have to be comfortable being alone with the kids.
3) Private or public. What are the best schools in Fort Lauderdale area? Which school should we totally stay away from?

We are currently renting in Chicago so selling will not be a problem. We are planning on going down to fort lauderdale in the next week. Is there any place we should check out while we are down there?
****If we choose to buy a house right now, we will only have 1 1/2 month to get it complete.

Thank you so very much to everyone for whatever little or a lot of information you give our family!!
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Old 10-02-2007, 09:01 AM
 
2,313 posts, read 3,190,940 times
Reputation: 471
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamas_extra_time View Post
Hello everyone. My husband just found out that we will be moving from Chicago down to Fort Lauderdale. We have grown up here in the midwest so we are not familiar with any of the areas in Fort Lauderdale.
Here is what I need help with...
1) Where is the most family friendly areas. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year and I am a SAHM.
2) Where to look for house in the $275-300 price range with 3+ bedroom in a very safe neighborhood. My husband goes out of town a lot so I have to be comfortable being alone with the kids.
3) Private or public. What are the best schools in Fort Lauderdale area? Which school should we totally stay away from?

We are currently renting in Chicago so selling will not be a problem. We are planning on going down to fort lauderdale in the next week. Is there any place we should check out while we are down there?
****If we choose to buy a house right now, we will only have 1 1/2 month to get it complete.

Thank you so very much to everyone for whatever little or a lot of information you give our family!!
You will be doing a lot of looking around but be sure to look at this area.
CFLCA - Croissant Park (http://www.cflca.org/content/view/29/38/ - broken link)
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Old 10-02-2007, 09:04 AM
 
Location: St Augustine
604 posts, read 4,621,119 times
Reputation: 354
I would say stay out to the west, but that covers a lot of area. Weston area always has good reviews. Have you checked out $$$ for homes taxes and insurance? My inlaws live in coral springs in the forest hills area. The home is a 3/2 2000 sf and built in the early 70's. They paid about $275k a few years ago, but the home hadn't been updated at all, alot of wood paneling, avocado and gold etc. There taxes are $5k + and insurance the same.
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Old 10-02-2007, 02:42 PM
 
8,377 posts, read 30,897,443 times
Reputation: 2423
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamas_extra_time View Post
Hello everyone. My husband just found out that we will be moving from Chicago down to Fort Lauderdale. We have grown up here in the midwest so we are not familiar with any of the areas in Fort Lauderdale.
Here is what I need help with...
1) Where is the most family friendly areas. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year and I am a SAHM.
2) Where to look for house in the $275-300 price range with 3+ bedroom in a very safe neighborhood. My husband goes out of town a lot so I have to be comfortable being alone with the kids.
3) Private or public. What are the best schools in Fort Lauderdale area? Which school should we totally stay away from?

We are currently renting in Chicago so selling will not be a problem. We are planning on going down to fort lauderdale in the next week. Is there any place we should check out while we are down there?
****If we choose to buy a house right now, we will only have 1 1/2 month to get it complete.

Thank you so very much to everyone for whatever little or a lot of information you give our family!!
Do NOT waste your time on Fort Lauderdale proper, and look west. Stay west of University drive, and crime is essentially a non issue. The main issue becomes the schools...

For the 275-300k range,zero in on Davie, chiefly near Nova and areas west of University Drive . They aren't the BEST schools in the area, but are still pretty good, and it will strike a nice compromise behind safety, cost, and quality public education. Stick to the Nova or Western innovation zone Western Innovation Zone, school districts are good here and you just might happen to be able to get a very nice townhome/home for rent around there for under 1800 a month..maybe even as low as 1500. I have seen older 3 bedroom homes in some of the nicer developments (look into Shenandoah,very safe) go down into the upper 200s, but do NOT buy now.

Nova High is ranked among the nations top high schools, and 87% of Western's class graduated in 07. Very safe too, almost never heard about violence there. Middle schools and elementary schools are all solid "A" rated.

I would also recommend looking into Cooper City and Weston, which have even better school districts and tend to be more upscale, and thus more expensive. Davie is a nice compromise between cost and family friendly. All and all, the better public school districts running K-12 are in Weston, Cooper City, Davie, western Pembroke Pines/Miramar, Coral Springs, and Parkland. If you are just looking for solid elementary schools and safe/family friendly CITIES, you can go ahead and add western Plantation and Sunrise to the list. They are all worth a look, but in your price range I definitely recommend west Davie above all of these, with maybe Coral Springs come in second place (schools aren't as good anymore).

Last edited by compelled to reply; 10-02-2007 at 02:55 PM..
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Old 10-02-2007, 03:18 PM
 
2 posts, read 6,004 times
Reputation: 10
Thank you everyone so far for the advice. Thank you fort lauderdale for the advice for school. My daughter currently attends a private catholic school but for Kindergarten next year we can continue sending her there or we can send her to the #1 top elementary school in Illinois so we are very concerned about when we move that we offer her the same opportunities. How is private school ranked in Fort Lauderdale do they offer magnet public school? Thank you again.
~Michelle
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Old 10-02-2007, 03:27 PM
 
8,377 posts, read 30,897,443 times
Reputation: 2423
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamas_extra_time View Post
Thank you everyone so far for the advice. Thank you fort lauderdale for the advice for school. My daughter currently attends a private catholic school but for Kindergarten next year we can continue sending her there or we can send her to the #1 top elementary school in Illinois so we are very concerned about when we move that we offer her the same opportunities. How is private school ranked in Fort Lauderdale do they offer magnet public school? Thank you again.
~Michelle
Oh, the public schools here are going to seem terrible, LOL!!!!

To answer your question about magnet schools, yes, we do have tons of magnet programs county wide, with the Nova schools generally the most highly regarded (although a tiny sliver of Davie gets to go there without magnet to my knowledge).Check out Broward County Public Schools for specifics. From my understanding the best elementary schools are in Cooper City. Go to GreatSchools.net to get a basic idea about the public school situation, and compare elementary schools in Plantation, Davie, Cooper City, and Weston. Plantation does have an excellent elementary school, called Central Park Elementary, but the schools decline past that. Davie has a similarly solid public middle school, called Indian Ridge Middle school. Now that I know you have elementary schoolers, definitely look into western sections of Plantation as well, although be prepared to move or spend a lot for a private middle school when that time comes. I have also known people from Plantation give fake addresses to get their kids into the schools in Davie or Weston after elementary...shhhhhhh.

To answer your question about cathloic schools....I'm not sure about elementary, but it's going to be EXPENSIVE. In general, we have some of the best cathloic high schools in the country, but I'm not sure about lower grades.

Last edited by compelled to reply; 10-02-2007 at 03:37 PM..
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