Moving to Ft. Lauderdale area from NYC suburbs (Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs: homeowners insurance, gated)

[Walkabout55]

Hi all - this is my first post to this forum. My wife and I and our baby are planning a move from the greater NYC area to the Ft. Lauderdale area. We are going to visit and do some investigation, but we were hoping to get some feedback from knowledgeable folks about the "best" Lauderdale suburbs. Our top priorities are (i) schools; (ii) friendly, outgoing community; (iii) community with young families/activities for kids/parents, in roughly that order. Parkland seems nice, but are there other good candidates? What about Boca Raton - which gated communities? Finally, we might be interested in living right on the coast , but have no idea whether any areas around Ft. Lauderdale fit our needs and are on the coast. (We like the beach). Our max price is probably around 500,000 or so. Thank you very much for any help you can give!

[artdealer]

Try Coral Springs. Near the beach try Deerfield beach most of the areas near the beach(off A1A) are nice. Boca is cool but boring! Fort Lauderdale east of highway 1 is also very nice. Good luck!

[Momma_bear]

If you are concerned about having better schools (FL schools are really bad compared with NY) and young families Parkland, Coral Springs, Weston and Cooper City are good candidates, but none are near the beach. Boca Raton is full of old people.

I grew up on LI and lived in Fairfield County, CT and Westchester County for 12 years.

[Sharkey514]

Hi, WalkAbout. Welcome (in advance). When you look at different areas, also check on homeowners insurance rates. These rates can vary by the community. You posted a price range for a house. Taxes and insurance can be high (relative to other places). So, if you buy near the beach it will cost more and should be considered in your budget!