Moving my family to South Florida in February

[ruski]

Originally Posted by BNBR

I found my current house on Zillow. It was listed there prior to the MLS, actually. I was lucky to find it as it would have been snatched up immediately once properly listed. Realtor.com is more up to date than Zillow, but Zillow is by no means way outdated.

It was listed on Zillow first probably because at some point it was for sale by owner.

If a real estate agent lists a house the first thing we do is put in on MLS.

Many houses never even get listed on Zillow, and you only see their pulled-out-of-thin-air Zestimate value which more often than not is way off.

[sontek]

Originally Posted by BNBR

Personally, with your budget, I would definitely look in Cooper City. Outstanding schools all the way through high school. It's not obnoxiously west and "out there" like Weston, and is surrounded by absolutely everything. We have immediately access to all the stores and shopping in Pines. 75 and 595 are both less than 10 minutes away. I get to Fort Lauderdale Airport in under 20 minutes, 25 - 30 minutes for Miami Airport, Sawgrass is 15 minutes, Markham is close, CB Smith, tons of parks and recreation activities in Cooper also. It's easily the best suburb for families in South Florida, by a long shot.

Look in Rock Creek and Embassy Lakes to start. Larger lots in Rock Creek, but there are other housing (non-HOA) areas as well in Cooper City. I have no clue about English-Spanish programs in Cooper City, though.

Can you give me suggestions of schools to look into? I'm currently using https://k12.niche.com and GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community to discover schools and then I search google/yelp/the internet for reviews to get a broader picture about them.

Looking at Cooper City the best high school is:

https://k12.niche.com/cooper-city-hi...ooper-city-fl/
Cooper City High School - Cooper City, Florida - FL - School overview

Which seems like a decent school sitting right on the national average for SAT and slightly below on ACT but when you compare that to Weston:

https://k12.niche.com/cypress-bay-hi...ool-weston-fl/
Cypress Bay High School - Weston, Florida - FL - School quality

Its significantly above national averages on everything and has higher diversity.

I don't want to turn this into weston vs cooper or cypress vs cooper high, just want to have an honest discussion with people living in these areas to get a better feel for these schools. Standardized testing only tells a small part of the store and doesn't give you a great understanding of how the schools actually operate.

[sontek]

Originally Posted by BNBR

I think it should be noted that $2500/mo is nowhere near a $500,000 house in this area. I know you are talking about renting vs buying, but I know $2500/mo can get you near a $500k house in other areas in the country, but not here. With our insurance and taxes, that is a $350k house with a sub 4% loan. Just want to make sure you are aware of that and keep your expectations realistic when it comes to purchasing.

Yeah, I understand that. Its not that $2500/month is all we can afford, its just all we want to spend on renting. Keeping our rent low allows us to put more into savings in preparation for purchasing and once we are paying towards a mortgage we are willing to pay more.

[sontek]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

You may want to consider some other areas such as Boca Raton, Coral Springs, and Parkland. If you want bigger lots, Davie and Cooper City may be good choices. All of those areas have good schools.

How familiar are you with Parkland and Cooper City? They seem like decent options as alternatives to Weston. Weston still seems best from my research but I want to gather as much information as possible.

[BNBR]

Originally Posted by sontek

Can you give me suggestions of schools to look into? I'm currently using https://k12.niche.com and GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community to discover schools and then I search google/yelp/the internet for reviews to get a broader picture about them.

Looking at Cooper City the best high school is:

https://k12.niche.com/cooper-city-hi...ooper-city-fl/
Cooper City High School - Cooper City, Florida - FL - School overview

Which seems like a decent school sitting right on the national average for SAT and slightly below on ACT but when you compare that to Weston:

https://k12.niche.com/cypress-bay-hi...ool-weston-fl/
Cypress Bay High School - Weston, Florida - FL - School quality

Its significantly above national averages on everything and has higher diversity.

I don't want to turn this into weston vs cooper or cypress vs cooper high, just want to have an honest discussion with people living in these areas to get a better feel for these schools. Standardized testing only tells a small part of the store and doesn't give you a great understanding of how the schools actually operate.

I'm in a position where I can live just about anywhere I want to down here. I grew up in Cooper City and know it well. We currently have a house in Cooper City. However, we are moving to West Davie which uses Weston for the elementary school and Davie for middle/high schools. The only reason we are moving is that Cooper City doesn't offer the type of house/property that we want and the 1 acre properties with large houses is almost entirely a Davie thing in this area. So Davie it is. I have 2 children but we are a couple years away from elementary school still.

That said, you are over analyzing the schools at this point. I know the area well and I'm fine with the Davie/Weston schools just as much as Cooper City. Both Cooper City and Weston have outstanding schools and you are better off finding a neighborhood that you prefer. Go look at houses and neighborhoods in both and see which works best for you. Cooper City is a bit more central and closer to stuff and a little more down to earth.