moving to Ft. Lauderdale (Miami, Tampa: relocate, real estate, condo)

[lesgru]

Hello,
I am a African American single parent with 3 teenagers looking to relocate from Michigan, the northwest suburban Detroit area (birmingham, bloomfield,beverly Hills). Looking to escape the cold winters ,I have narrowed it down to Houston TX (sugarland, Missouri) or Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Miami) area, looking for preferably a suburban racially diverse area, with low crime, an excellent public school district, that is geared towards families. Is it possible to find a good area with houses between 250k and 350K, in the above mentioned area of FL. I am a Network Engineer and I also teach (CISCO) how is the IT industry in this area?

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by lesgru

Hello,
I am a African American single parent with 3 teenagers looking to relocate from Michigan, the northwest suburban Detroit area (birmingham, bloomfield,beverly Hills). Looking to escape the cold winters ,I have narrowed it down to Houston TX (sugarland, Missouri) or Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Miami) area, looking for preferably a suburban racially diverse area, with low crime, an excellent public school district, that is geared towards families. Is it possible to find a good area with houses between 250k and 350K, in the above mentioned area of FL. I am a Network Engineer and I also teach (CISCO) how is the IT industry in this area?

I.T. jobs in South Florida are ok, you should be able to find something. Have you visited and spent much time in South Florida?

[lesgru]

never been to South Florida only Orlando (Disney World) love the climate, tropical atmosphere. I hate cold weather it is in the single digits in MI today. Looking for good school district. I have 3 teenagers. Not sure how affordable it is to live in FL.

[Momma_bear]

$250-$300K for a house in a decent neighborhood in Broward is possible. Job market for IT is ok, not sure about salaries though. Schools here are all bad, even the "good" ones.

[lesgru]

Not being familiar at all with the area, I've only been on vacation in Orlando, I need names of communities, and surrounding cities. It doesn't get too hot for me. I love Las Vegas in July . Mainly concerned with school systems, cost of living in relation to salary, and ethic diversity and harmony, and low crime. My teenagers are high school age but the oldest will be needing to attend a community college by the time we make the move in fall.
I forgot to add i would be wanting to rent or lease a 4 bdrm home or condo initially, until becoming more familiar with the areas. Is 1500-1600 a month realistic wanting no less than 2000 sq ft. Do the homes there have basements? In MI for 1600 rent you can easily get 4 bdrm 2 1/2- 3 bthrm at least 2000 sq ft. easily. Whats the going rate in Ft. Lauderdale area. Also how does this area compare to say Tampa for same things? I know nothing about FL but the weather which is what i am trying to escape.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

Schools here are all bad, even the "good" ones.

Their about the same as Texas but I kind of agree lol.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by lesgru

Not being familiar at all with the area, I've only been on vacation in Orlando, I need names of communities, and surrounding cities. It doesn't get too hot for me. I love Las Vegas in July . Mainly concerned with school systems, cost of living in relation to salary, and ethic diversity and harmony, and low crime. My teenagers are high school age but the oldest will be needing to attend a community college by the time we make the move in fall.
I forgot to add i would be wanting to rent or lease a 4 bdrm home or condo initially, until becoming more familiar with the areas. Is 1500-1600 a month realistic wanting no less than 2000 sq ft. Do the homes there have basements? In MI for 1600 rent you can easily get 4 bdrm 2 1/2- 3 bthrm at least 2000 sq ft. easily. Whats the going rate in Ft. Lauderdale area. Also how does this area compare to say Tampa for same things? I know nothing about FL but the weather which is what i am trying to escape.

Cost of living is high when compared with wages. I think you can find something livable for $1500-1600 per month in a nice neighborhood, but maybe not that much square footage and probably not a 4 BR.

Crime can be high but like most metropolitan areas it varies quite a bit by location.

Ethnic diversity should not be a problem. We have everything here (and I like that).

High schools are bad. Community colleges are ok.

Tampa is cheaper.

[Wild Style]

lesgru

You should be able to pull anywhere from 50,000 to 80,000 maybe more for your field. I am a network admin and most of my friends here are programmers or network admins as well. Do you have your certs and college degree? I am not to sure about 4 bedroom rentals, but given the present real estate market you should be able to find something. As other have said, the schools here are not the best, but they aren't bottom of the barrel either. I taught for awhile down here, so I had first had experience with the school system. If I remember right, plantation high school wasn't bad, South plantation isn't bad either. Actually I think S. Plantation actually teaches kids the cisco curriculum if I remember right.

[lesgru]

I am a Cisco Network Engineer. I currently have CCNA, CCAI (academy instructor), MCP and A+ certifications. I have some college, no degree. I am currently working on my CCNP. Currently I contract for a major telecommunications Co. and grossed over 90k some of this due to overtime. a little over 84k base without OT. This is a little above average for MI market but i have always been fortunate when it comes to jobs, salaries. I am hoping the CCNP will take me to 6 figures without the OT which it will in MI. What do you think about FL rates in comparison? I have been in industry for about 9 yrs and am planning on going back to school to get degree this yr. I have a little under 2 yrs to complete maybe shorter with online and advanced classes.

[Wild Style]

lesgru

I say, apply for jobs at a universities. The education is usually free or 75% off on tuition. Depending on the University, the pay can be decent to down right horrible. I honestly have not seen many network engineer positions lately. I am currently applying for jobs both locally and in two other states. I am seeing a ton of network admin jobs both for active directory and unix based. Do you have any server side experience, maybe you can do that until you can get a proper network engineer gig. Look at University of Miami, I have seen jobs over there, probably once or twice a week they have decent network admin and engineer jobs.

You could also look into contract work through one of those agencies. I personally wouldn't go that route but, its a option.

There was a article in either the Miami Herald or Sun Sentinel. It basically stated there is a HUGE I.T. personnel shortage in South Florida. One company actually packed up and moved to DC because they couldn't find enough workers. I also know one of the programmers at Citrix and he told me, they too, are having a extremely hard time finding people to fill positions. As a result, they outsource to India and a lot of the code comes back screwed up.

I think you should be able to get something, I am just not to sure you can find a network engineer job. Like I said, I have not seen many of them posted here. Also check Broward County job website, they tend to have a lot more network infrastructure type jobs than most other places I have seen. I think you should at least be able to clear 60,000. that is far from what your making now but, this is South Florida and the jobs here notoriously under pay.