Moving to Fort Lauderdale/Miami Area (Tampa, Orlando: middle-class, rental, condo)

[chicagomovers]

WE ARE A FAMILY OF 5 MOVING TO fT. LAUDERDALE WITH 3 SMALL GIRLS FROM CHICAGO. mY HUSBAND AND i are flying down tuesday to look at homes. we are currently looking at Cooper city, Davie, and WESTON. oUR TOP PRIORITIES ARE GREAT SCHOOLS ,SAFETY, AND COMMUNITY. ARE WE LOOKING AT THE RIGHT PLACES? WHICH OUT OF THE 3 CITIES TO YOU RECCOMEND?

[Marlin331]

All of those are generally nice places to live (and all of them have good schools), but I think Cooper City is the nicest of the three.

[JessieGirl84]

I am a born and raised Floridian, born in Coral Springs, college in Orlando (UCF), and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. Having lived here my entire life, I honestly cannot say enough bad things about this God awful place. Horrible rude uneducated people, bugs the size of birds, unbearable heat and humidity, nobody speaks english and they get mad at you if you don’t speak spanish, I could go on and on. And the whole beach thing, trust me it gets old and its not worth living here. Keep in mind I live walking distance to the beach and its over-run by homeless people and creepy guys in speedos. I am a 25 yr old college educated girl, and I have never been anywhere that compares to the amount of low-life men I’ve encountered here, its outrageous. Oh and one more thing, the crime...I got robbed at gun point the first week I moved into my apartment in Ft. Lauderdale when I moved back after college. Two weeks later my car got broken into, they broke off the door handle to get in before smashing the the window. And if you think that's bad, Miami area is even worse (watch a few episodes of the First 48, you'll notice most of the episodes are filmed there). I'm moving up north to Pittsburgh next month where the people are normal and nice (and the guys are much more attractive lol). But if you really want to move here, good luck!

[Osito]

You don't have to drive to the beach. You can always take the bus. It depends on how patient of a person you are but I used to not mind taking the bus from Plantation to Ft. Lauderdale's beach.

Originally Posted by JessieGirl84

I am a born and raised Floridian, born in Coral Springs, college in Orlando (UCF), and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. Having lived here my entire life, I honestly cannot say enough bad things about this God awful place. Horrible rude uneducated people, bugs the size of birds, unbearable heat and humidity, nobody speaks english and they get mad at you if you don’t speak spanish, I could go on and on. And the whole beach thing, trust me it gets old and its not worth living here. Keep in mind I live walking distance to the beach and its over-run by homeless people and creepy guys in speedos. I am a 25 yr old college educated girl, and I have never been anywhere that compares to the amount of low-life men I’ve encountered here, its outrageous. Oh and one more thing, the crime...I got robbed at gun point the first week I moved into my apartment in Ft. Lauderdale when I moved back after college. Two weeks later my car got broken into, they broke off the door handle to get in before smashing the the window. And if you think that's bad, Miami area is even worse (watch a few episodes of the First 48, you'll notice most of the episodes are filmed there). I'm moving up north to Pittsburgh next month where the people are normal and nice (and the guys are much more attractive lol). But if you really want to move here, good luck!

I'm a little late saying this but there's crime everywhere so I hope you took those SFl streetsmarts with you.

[SierraDog]

Originally Posted by Osito

I'm a little late saying this but there's crime everywhere so I hope you took those SFl streetsmarts with you.

And enjoy those Pittsburgh winters

[GypsyLady13]

Originally Posted by batman

from what i read, pretty much the only dangerous areas in the broward/dade county area are located in the northwest part of miami, especially around northwest suburban opa locka. other areas you likely do not want to live in are; hialeah, liberty city, little haiti, and little havana

broward and dade county are two separate counties.
you mentioned the dangerous areas of dade county only in your comments and nothing about broward county.
apparently you either do not live in broward or dade county and/or you are a newbie to florida. no worries, maybe you meant to say, miami/dade county. just trying to give the op some truthful information.


broward county stay away from anywhere west of dixie highway. stay away from anything south of los olas blvd and stay away from anyplace north of commercial blvd.
the reason i say this is to make it easier for you to find a safe place. do not get me wrong, there are pockets of safe, nice areas even in the places i told you to stay away from. but since you will be new to the area, you should try to avoid the entire area until you learn where the good and bad spots are.

[Nolefan34]

Your second paragraph is terribly inaccurate. South of Las Olas is not dangerous, except maybe a small area at the western end. North of Las Olas is more dangerous especially when you cross Broward Blvd and to the west of Andrews Ave. The areas north of Commercial Blvd are no better/worse than south of Commercial Blvd. I really have no idea where you got that idea. The only thing you said that was correct is the "west of Dixie" rule, but Dixie Highway does not run through Las Olas or downtown (it did years ago).

I do agree with your first paragraph though. The last poster is totally wrong and clearly has never visited here and has zero knowledge of the area.

[GypsyLady13]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Your second paragraph is terribly inaccurate. South of Las Olas is not dangerous, except maybe a small area at the western end. North of Las Olas is more dangerous especially when you cross Broward Blvd and to the west of Andrews Ave. The areas north of Commercial Blvd are no better/worse than south of Commercial Blvd. I really have no idea where you got that idea. The only thing you said that was correct is the "west of Dixie" rule, but Dixie Highway does not run through Las Olas or downtown (it did years ago).

I do agree with your first paragraph though. The last poster is totally wrong and clearly has never visited here and has zero knowledge of the area.

hi, i was just giving the basics so that they have an idea.apparently your idea of safe areas and my idea of safe areas are different. i personally would never live west of federal highway or even west of bayview drive. i am from fort lauderdale so i know the areas but i didn't want to get into the whole description. there are some bad pockets mixed in with some of the good areas so like i stated, i kept it simple enough for the op. i have always lived east of federal highway on bayview drive. i have lived at the landings by cross fox, commercial and bayview drive, oakland and bayview drive, the beach by a1a and oakland by shooters, lauderdale by the sea on bougainvilla behind the 7-11. all the areas i have lived were all low crime areas, with the exception of maybe a couple of car break-ins every so often.
The areas north of commercial off 6th avenue take you to the coconut creek area which i hear is actually nice. i would never live in pompano beach which is north of commercial.
crime can happen anywhere though so don't let living in a safe place catch you off guard.

[GypsyLady13]

Originally Posted by JessieGirl84

I am a born and raised Floridian, born in Coral Springs, college in Orlando (UCF), and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. Having lived here my entire life, I honestly cannot say enough bad things about this God awful place. Horrible rude uneducated people, bugs the size of birds, unbearable heat and humidity, nobody speaks english and they get mad at you if you don’t speak spanish, I could go on and on. And the whole beach thing, trust me it gets old and its not worth living here. Keep in mind I live walking distance to the beach and its over-run by homeless people and creepy guys in speedos. I am a 25 yr old college educated girl, and I have never been anywhere that compares to the amount of low-life men I’ve encountered here, its outrageous. Oh and one more thing, the crime...I got robbed at gun point the first week I moved into my apartment in Ft. Lauderdale when I moved back after college. Two weeks later my car got broken into, they broke off the door handle to get in before smashing the the window. And if you think that's bad, Miami area is even worse (watch a few episodes of the First 48, you'll notice most of the episodes are filmed there). I'm moving up north to Pittsburgh next month where the people are normal and nice (and the guys are much more attractive lol). But if you really want to move here, good luck!

i totally agree with you. i am also a floridian and have moved too. i live in southern pa while in college and i am moving to los angeles in the fall for school.
i never cared all that much for florida and am so happy to be out of that state. i never went to the beach, too dirty and always closed because of the bacteria in it. plus guys riding by doing perverted things in their cars.
most of the men in sf are losers. they are either on drugs or alcoholics or lazy and looking for a free ride. i said most, not all. remember if the guy is divorced... there is a reason she divorced him. and there is no culture at all in florida.
but like they say, to each his own.
good luck.
p.s. i would take pittsburg over sf anytime. plus it's close to nyc and close to wash dc.

[GypsyLady13]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Your second paragraph is terribly inaccurate. South of Las Olas is not dangerous, except maybe a small area at the western end. North of Las Olas is more dangerous especially when you cross Broward Blvd and to the west of Andrews Ave. The areas north of Commercial Blvd are no better/worse than south of Commercial Blvd. I really have no idea where you got that idea. The only thing you said that was correct is the "west of Dixie" rule, but Dixie Highway does not run through Las Olas or downtown (it did years ago).

I do agree with your first paragraph though. The last poster is totally wrong and clearly has never visited here and has zero knowledge of the area.

if you are talking about the 17th street causeway area, yes, it is a bad area. i used to work at durty harry's years ago and the ft laud police dept used to come hang out when we closed at night and they were always patrolling that area.
you see because federal hwy from 17th street causeway will take you to the airport and that hwy is full of druggies, prostitutes, thieves.
have you ever been to lester's diner late night? that diner is good but the areas surrounding are bad.
there are some nice homes and condos around the 17th street causeway but once you get to the area where the quarterdeck are and southport raw bar, back in there where it is so dark, there is crime.
used to be safe years ago but now the crime is coming into that area from the west and the south. also back behind where rio vista is there is a lot of crime, robberies. south florida isn't what it used to be. the economy has taken a dive and people rob to either support themselves or their drug habits.
even the back streets behind los olas has a lot of crime and bad areas. behind cheesecake factory is not a good area. and coming the back road from the north to south to los olas, there are so many cute little apartments that used to be homes converted to apartments, there is crime there too. around holiday park, big time crime.