I like Weston, but want closer to Boca (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: environment, real estate)

[Floridabound2008]

We're (me, husband, and 5-year-old child) moving to Florida sometime this year from the mid-Atlantic.

Have close family in Miami and in Boca, and, looking for a diverse neighborhood with good schools and a community feel somewhere in between, we've come upon Weston and Davie as strong recommendations. Seems, however, that they're still about 45- minutes from both Miami and Boca.

Any thoughts about a Weston-like town that's a little closer to Boca?

We've also looked at Boca a little (and like what we've read about Del Prado Elementary), but 1) wonder whether Boca is diverse enough and 2) were hoping not to be right on top of where our Boca family lives.

Oh, also:
1) we plan to rent initially
2) I'm moving with my job, my husband needs to find something health-care related
3) I need to be not too far from an airport(s) for work travel

[CJFlorida]

Check out Parkland, right next to Boca. Tons of rentals since the bubble burst.

[compelled to reply]

Second CJFlorida. Tons of information on the forum about Parkland, although thats taking you even further from Miami. Weston and Davie are your happy medium between Boca and Miami, and you might want to add Cooper City into your consideration if you want to be just a tad closer to Miami.

Boca and Davie are about the same on diversity (pretty homogeneous, the latter having a couple of Asians and quite a few South Americans), but Weston has a major edge here. Parklands racial demographic is similar to Davie and socioeconomic demographic is similar to Weston. Parkland is a little nicer than Weston in a few ways actually, and it's literally right next door to Boca but with less crime and traffic.

[Floridabound2008]

A couple of years ago, we visited Plantation and it seemed sort of "in the middle of nowhere...." We'll visit Weston, etc. as soon as we can get back down to FL, but wonder whether anyone can comment on the "feel" there - does it feel like Coral Gables, like Boca (which doesn't really have much of a downtown), or something else?

Also, I looked at a U-Tube video of a July 4th parade in Weston -- looked nice...didn't actually look quite as diverse as people say, but the area looked nice and seemed like a nice community.....

What's traffic like getting to the airport (i.e. Ft. Lauderdale)? What about if you have a job in downtown Ft. Lauderdale?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2008

A couple of years ago, we visited Plantation and it seemed sort of "in the middle of nowhere...." We'll visit Weston, etc. as soon as we can get back down to FL, but wonder whether anyone can comment on the "feel" there - does it feel like Coral Gables, like Boca (which doesn't really have much of a downtown), or something else?

Also, I looked at a U-Tube video of a July 4th parade in Weston -- looked nice...didn't actually look quite as diverse as people say, but the area looked nice and seemed like a nice community.....

What's traffic like getting to the airport (i.e. Ft. Lauderdale)? What about if you have a job in downtown Ft. Lauderdale?

Plantation is directly above Davie. The schools are terrible, so a lot of people use fake addresses for Weston or Davie Schools. It feels a bit like Boca, although more closed in, but it's known for it's abundance in shade trees. It tends to be more dense and packed together than Boca or Weston, but not particularly in a bad way. It's very easy on the eyes, but past elementary school, the public schools are pretty much terrible and the community is undergoing an aging process where there is a large "Empty nester" population and it is verging on population loss, which could affect the stability of the community. Stay west of the turnpike in Plantation, and preferably west of University Drive. It's not quite the "middle of nowhere" like it used to be, but it's definitely a suburban layout.

Davie on the east side actually feels kind of gritty and run down. I wouldn't live in east Davie. Stay west of University Drive. Once you enter Davie from Plantation, you see a series of mobile home parks from most areas immediately off the interstate. Mostly normal middle class residents living there that were priced out of other "family" areas. Don't worry about that. The only nasty trailer park is off of 136th ave near Western High School and it is very small. Past the (mostly well maintained) mobile home parks, you pass through a suburban area that resembles "Anywhere USA", with plots of preserved land, a semi-rural feel, mostly middle class communities with a sprinkling of very upscale homes and equestrian areas. Crime is very low west of University, and fairly high east of University. At times, it can feel like the "middle of nowhere", but your never really far from "somewhere" anywhere in S. Florida.

It's about a half hour into downtown Fort Lauderdale from any of these communities. 595 on some days can get a little backed up (usually not a parking lot, but stop and go) between Flamingo Road and the turnpike during the morning rush hour. In the afternoon, there is a little bottleneck at University Drive, but it's mostly fine. The other traffic spot is University Drive through Plantation. Between Broward Blvd and 595 it can get laggy during the weekends because of all of the shopping. The rest of the local roads in Plantation have light to moderate traffic, and Davie traffic is light all around.

[Momma_bear]

Parkland is all that comes to mind. It's close to Boca, but far from Miami. Since Boca is north and Miami is south when you get closer to one, you get further from the other. Weston is a great place to live because it's within an hour of Boca, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami.

[Floridabound2008]

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

Check out Parkland, right next to Boca. Tons of rentals since the bubble burst.

I looked on REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale, which is where I've been going to get a general sense of rentals.....looking mostly at the 3+ bedrooms and 2+ bathrooms in the $1600-$2000-ish range....found hardly anything in Parkland, medium amount in Davie, lots in Weston, and (also small chance of Miami) found slim pickings in that range in Pinecrest.

Regarding schools....we're coming from a small (i.e. 100 families, more or less) Montessori pre-K through 6th grade school in Maryland...going into Kindergarten and aiming for public school if possible....have read about some good public elementary schools (i.e. Del Prado in Boca, can't remember the names in Weston), but have also read a lot about the schools being very focused on the FCATS (I'm sure the public schools up here in Maryland are also very focused on testing).....any good, safe (public) or affordable (private) options of a nice, intimate kindergarten environment? We'd also consider a Spanish-immersion, a Jewish Day, or a arts/drama type of environment.

[compelled to reply]

Aw crap, I was supposed to comment on the feel of WESTON .

Weston basically feels like a planned resort community. It's not like Boca, nor is it like Coral Gables. It's more like the former than the latter. The community, for the most part, was built within the past 20 years, and thus feels fresh and new. The look is homogeneous, but most of the city consists of planned communities. Driving on the major streets doesn't feel like driving on a major street at all; the streets are free of congestion, there is shopping and restaurants splattered throughout the city, and you can expect a barrier of well maintained tropical landscaping on both sides of you and in the median of the street you are driving on. Neighborhoods consist of newer, Florida-Spanish style tract homes and have a lush, clean, but cookie-cutter look to them. The city is abundant in parks. We also have a fake "Town center", which kind of brings in a sense of community with local-oriented events. The population is about 40% White, 40% Latino, about 5-10% Black and 5+% Asian or other. Just about the entire community is spotless. It's one of the cleanest cities I have seen for it's size.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2008

.any good, safe (public) or affordable (private) options of a nice, intimate kindergarten environment? We'd also consider a Spanish-immersion, a Jewish Day, or a arts/drama type of environment.

Forget about intimate environment in the public system, but we have a few schools that meet very high academic standards. For a Jewish day school, you have the David Posnack Hebrew Day School, which I hear nothing but good things about and is supposed to be a small, community oriented environment. It's a lot of money though...

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by Floridabound2008

I looked on REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale, which is where I've been going to get a general sense of rentals.....looking mostly at the 3+ bedrooms and 2+ bathrooms in the $1600-$2000-ish range....found hardly anything in Parkland, medium amount in Davie, lots in Weston, and (also small chance of Miami) found slim pickings in that range in Pinecrest.

You are correct, you will not find rentals in Parkland for $1600-2000. It is a very upscale area. Rentals are great deals right now, but I am talking about $2500-3500 for houses that are listing for $650,000-1.2 million.

The other posters are providing you with information on the other areas that are more in that price range.

Good luck.