Cooper City or Davie for family relocation (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: fit in, best cities)

[mxcolin]

We are seriously considering relocating to South Florida and until now have been looking at Boca Raton, Weston and Parkland. However after some research we see that both of these areas above have good schools and are within our budget.

We have 2 kids (5 and 2) and we're looking for good public schools and somewhere safe and quiet but close to decent amenities. Our budget is around 460K for 4 bedrooms. Would Cooper City or Davie be a good fit for us?

We're a socially liberal, European family. We don't want to live somewhere that's very socially conservative (or religious). We value safety and schools above all but somewhere we can raise kids without too much religious influence is a close second.

[Lana&]

Weston Ranks Among Best Cities In Florida For Young Families | Fort Lauderdale Daily

[croatbob]

weston, west pines, cooper city are prob my 3 picks for that budget. davie has some trailer park area to it but the rest is ok. wouldnt put it in the same class as weston and the likes

[BroncoZ71]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

We are seriously considering relocating to South Florida and until now have been looking at Boca Raton, Weston and Parkland. However after some research we see that both of these areas above have good schools and are within our budget.

We have 2 kids (5 and 2) and we're looking for good public schools and somewhere safe and quiet but close to decent amenities. Our budget is around 460K for 4 bedrooms. Would Cooper City or Davie be a good fit for us?

We're a socially liberal, European family. We don't want to live somewhere that's very socially conservative (or religious). We value safety and schools above all but somewhere we can raise kids without too much religious influence is a close second.

Davie and Cooper City are wonderful safe family communities with the best schools, and the area is unique to Broward County in that it retains with pride its "All America" Small town conservative feel, so the fact that you are a "European liberal" you should stay with Boca, whoch is very liberal and very Euro style.

[wizrap]

Broward County (where all the cities you have listed, with the exception of Boca) and Palm Beach County (where Boca is located) are considered strongholds of the Democratic Party (and you can also add Dade County to the list). So if you are not looking for a socially conservative atmosphere, practically any city in any of the counties in South Florida will suite your requirements. You might find some socially conservative sections along the eastern edge of the counties (especially Broward and Palm Beach) but that's really about it. The southern part of Florida becomes more conservative as you venture north of Palm Beach County -- once you reach Indian River County. So you have no worries -- you and your family will fit in just fine with any of the cities you have mentioned.

As for your list, and I'll omit Boca as that is in an entirely separate county (Palm Beach). The two cities, generally speaking, in Broward County that get named one-two, two-one, one-one, neck and neck for 1. safety 2. public school quality (from elementary to high school) 3. beautiful landscaping and upkeep 4. no bad areas 5. as politics go, as well run as a city can be 6. close to highways and other major thoroughfares are, drumroll please, in alphabetical order: Parkland and Weston. Generally speaking, your real estate dollars will not go as far in those two cities as the other ones you have mentioned. Also generally speaking, and again, this is general, so I am going to allow that there are exceptions, but in general, Parkland is preferred if you are commuting to the northern end of Broward County/southern half of Palm Beach County and Weston is preferred if you are commuting to downtown Fort Lauderdale/west Broward/northwestern part of Dade County. Also, Parkland generally is preferred if you want to try to insulate yourself from a lot of the Spanish that you hear in South Florida -- it has one of the highest populations of non-Hispanic whites in the county. Weston is preferred by those who don't mind the Spanish, or living in a United Nations type of city -- about half of the city is white Hispanic. Full disclosure--I own a home in Weston, and have friends who live in each of the other cities you have mentioned -- we all love where we live, and it all works for each of us.

As for Cooper City, Davie and Pembroke Pines they tend to get "dinged" in some minor way, which may, or may not matter to you. Cooper City is more centralized in southwest Broward, so it doesn't quite have the ease of easy off/easy on to I595/I75/Sawgrass/Turnpike the way some other cities do. Also, your kids are young, but when you compare its high school to Douglas (Parkland) and Cypress Bay (Weston) you have some parents who feel that Parkland and Weston are better choices. I will leave others to give their reviews, as I can't speak from first-hand experience. I do have a friend who lives in Cooper City who was able to get her kids into Cypress Bay for a special magnet-type program, and she felt that was where her kids would receive the all around best education -- but that's just one example from me, so take it as you wish, although from talking to her, she wasn't the only parent in her development to feel that way.

Davie, and Pembroke Pines, both get "dinged" for their east-side halves. On the east side of Davie is Nova Southeastern University, and what has spouted up around it are apartments and townhouse geared towards students. That section of the city is also older, and some condos and apartments do show their weariness. The same can be said for Pembroke Pines -- the eastern side (generally east of University) looks nothing like the western side, especially by I75, which has many large developments with brand new to newer homes, with clubhouses, community pools and guards at the gate. My guess is that your money will go farther in west Pembroke Pines. As for schools, again, I think you would be happy with the elementary schools in each city, and I would guess even the middle schools too. High school is where you might find a difference of opinion, giving the nod to either Parkland or Weston.

Good luck to you and your family. You have a good budget and you should be able to find something within your price range. You just need to visit the different cities and developments and see if one feels more like home to you. I lived for nearly a decade in what is now Davie (both as a renter and an owner) before moving to Weston, and I think that any of the cities you mentioned would be a great choice.

As for Boca, you might want to post in that section of the forum, and search for opinions. There are different schools of thought on west versus central versus east Boca in terms of schools, safety, shopping and dining. Generally though, you'll get more house for your money in west Boca.

Again, good luck!

[mxcolin]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like my original cities are good fits. We are visiting South Florida in January for 3 days so we'll find out then. Right now it's research time. Commuting is not really an issue as I'll be a homeworker. I will go to downtown Miami once in a while for work but that will be what it will be. I have no issues with hearing Spanish. I'd actually like to learn the language and this might be a great opportunity to do so. Although I've lived in SoCal for 4 years and haven't. I feel that here in SoCal the different ethnicities really don't mix. I'm hoping that's not the case in Florida.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

We are seriously considering relocating to South Florida and until now have been looking at Boca Raton, Weston and Parkland. However after some research we see that both of these areas above have good schools and are within our budget.

We have 2 kids (5 and 2) and we're looking for good public schools and somewhere safe and quiet but close to decent amenities. Our budget is around 460K for 4 bedrooms. Would Cooper City or Davie be a good fit for us?

We're a socially liberal, European family. We don't want to live somewhere that's very socially conservative (or religious). We value safety and schools above all but somewhere we can raise kids without too much religious influence is a close second.

Some parts of Davie would be too conservative for you.