Best places to live near Ft. Lauderdale (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: houses, neighborhoods)

[mczabe]

I know these questions are asked a lot, but I am sooo unfamiliar with this area, I can't even make sense of it all as I wade through posts.

If someone would please take pity on my and t-a-l-k s-l-o-w-l-y about places to live near Fort Lauderdale. I have young children who will be starting school in the next couple years. I would like a safe, somewhat self-contained town/area with a nice, boring suburban feel. Would like to keep the cost of a home below $400K. Not even sure what a typical commute in the area is like, but my husband commutes over an hour now. We'd like it to be shorter - his job would be near the executive airport - but 30 minutes or so is fine.

TIA for any help you can offer.

[compelled to reply]

Young Children, safe, boring suburban feel, house below 400k? Sounds like Cooper City. But that's pushing 30 minutes. If you have young children, Coral Springs is 10-15 minutes away from the executive airport and you shouldn't hit any traffic, constantly gets ranked one of the safest cities in the US, and the elementary schools are decent. There is a big dropoff in the middle and high schools depending on what part of Coral Springs, but if you pick the right elementary school district, Coral Springs elementary schools are mostly good. As far as self contained, well, the community has it's own performing arts center, restaurant row with a few good restaurants, it's own mall, and pretty much anything else you need right in the city. It's also culturally diverse, just warning you because this site tends to have a lot of xenophobes, but the class of people is similar to other suburban areas anywhere else.

[mczabe]

Diversity is preferred - just looking to avoid crime, lousy schools, and long drives to stores/groceries/restaurants.

Thanks for the info. It's a place to start...

[TallblondeguyFL]

Mczade,

With recent reductions in housing, your price range seems totally doable to me.

A couple of neighborhood ideas to check out:

Poinsettia Heights - there are homes in P Heights on the market for $289 to $359 right now, 2 and 3 bedroom. These same homes were on the market for $400+ a year ago!
P Heights is a decent neighborhood, eastern location,near beach and US1. Convenient to 95. Nice area to walk the dog, with the kids, and enjoy the weather.

Oakland Park / Lloyd Estates / Royal Palm Isles (Formerly Royal Palm Acres) - 3 Decent areas, just east and just west of 95. Some homes on the market now for $269 to $397. Canals, lakes, parks, walking trails, and dogparks nearby. Convenient to Beach and Downtown. Borders Tamarac and the Executive airport, access via Prospect Road, no need to even get on 95. Royal Palm Isles is 2 miles to Executive. Takes me 10 minutes.

If you're looking for a Realtor, Keller-Williams is well spoken of in the area. They have an office on US1 near 38th. ...and, no , I don't work for them.

Good luck in your search.

[compelled to reply]

You caught me just before I'm going. The above poster gave you some great suggestions if you want to live near the beach. Not as much of that "boring suburban feel" but it still meets the criteria you would need. Hey, you might even have fun living there!

Except I have to scratch out the Oakland Park suggestion. It has some ok places east of Dixie but you are best off not looking in that area. In fact you are best off not even going in that area at night, it's starting to gentrify but it's up there in the "crummiest cities in Broward" list IMO and there are only a few sections with good elementary schools. Poinsetta Heights is also getting kind of far from the airport, like 20-25 minute range and you might hit a little bit of traffic there...looking at what you want you are probably best off sticking with "Boring" Coral Springs and the shorter commute, and a home of that price is no challenge anymore.

[harry chickpea]

None of the south Florida cities are self-contained or boring. Sorry, there is just too much going on in the area and too many changes happening. We lived in the Kimberly Forest area of Margate, which is a very stable and quiet neighborhood, and within a 20 min drive or less to the executive airport. I used to bike to the bank in the Publix shopping center, and a neighbor worked at the local public school, which seemed to be a little better than average for south Florida. I don't know much more than that about the schools. You can get a quick idea of the safety of a neighborhood while doing a drive through. See if there are bars on the doors and windows. If those predominate, forget that area.

If you want more detailed info from me, direct message me as I only scan this forum once in a while.

[compelled to reply]

That's actually bad advice about the bars. I have never seen bars on the windows in the worst neighborhoods. That's more of a Miami-Dade thing. Yet those bad neighborhoods are still unsafe, bars or no bars. I have only seen them in some of the Caribbean neighborhoods like Lauderhill which may or may not be that bad...more of a cultural thing...

Regardless, you will be able to tell. And about stability, the University Drive/Turnpike barrier remains pretty well alive to this day, and I don't know what's not self contained about Coral Springs with it's own mall, restaurants, stores, family activities, etc...or boring for that matter. Growth phase is done, Coral Springs is built out, the people are settled in, so don't see how the huge changes could happen that you are speaking of...

[mczabe]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

You caught me just before I'm going. The above poster gave you some great suggestions if you want to live near the beach. Not as much of that "boring suburban feel" but it still meets the criteria you would need. Hey, you might even have fun living there!

Hey now...I have fun. I just like my neighborhood quiet so when I come home from partying I can go right to sleep.

Thanks to everyone for the primer. If and when this move becomes a reality, I'm sure I'll have numerous follow up questions. It's nice to have some towns to start researching.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by mczabe

Hey now...I have fun. I just like my neighborhood quiet so when I come home from partying I can go right to sleep.

I know exactly what you mean. That's personally why I live in Weston. Weston is a good area but it's too far south and west to be convenient to the executive airport, IMO. It would take 30 minutes. It's the ultimate in generic though , but it doesn't get safer, and our schools are a little better than most of Coral Springs.

[vvolin]

mczabe, are you willing to send your children to private school? If not, then your choice will be necessarily directed towards the few decent public schools (I am considering elementary schools for now). I would recommend a look into Cooper City, Pembroke Pines and Davie. Give PP a good thought: it has decent public schools as well as a good charter school K-12. All of these towns are "boring" enough, relatively safe for S FL standards, and are close to the airport, with a maximum commute of 20-25 minutes, possibly much less. If you are looking into public schools, stay away from the eastern corridor: the only good schools along the coast are in areas where houses are much more expensive than your figure.

There are decent public schools also in the north-western portion of the county, such as Coral Springs and Parkland, but the commute to the airport may be a little longer.

I am a little obsessed about commuting, you may view it differently. But if I were to come back to Broward County, I would avoid a commute on I-95 or 595 all together. If necessary, I would limit it to a very short portion of any of them. Broward County is destined to grow: I have seen a dramatic change in traffic in the 12 years I lived there.

If instead you are considering private schools, then feel free to let me know and I can discuss a few options. I have chosen private for my children and I have some insight on the issue.
Valeria