Opinions on rental properties please (Hialeah, Pembroke Pines: jobs, house, university)

[Dixie10]

We are looking at some properties to rent and would appreciate any opinions. We want a nice safe family friendly area with a good middle school. Here are the ones we will be viewing:

1. Embassy Lakes
2. Rock Creek
3. Weston Hills
4. Madison Lakes - Davie
5. Scarborough - Davie


Although I have read that Weston Hills is beautiful, we do not wish to live in a development that speaks predominately spanish not sure if this applies to this community.

Madison Lakes in Davie we are not sure if it is considered a safe community as it is west of South University Drive but not by much.

All opinions are appreciated, if you have any other suggestions we would welcome them as well. Thanks so much!

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Dixie10

Although I have read that Weston Hills is beautiful, we do not wish to live in a development that speaks predominately spanish not sure if this applies to this community.

Don't move here. If you have to come out and make a statement like that, I'm just suggesting that you avoid this area. I don't mean that rudely at all, but you will find that even if a majority of the people in your neighborhood are of a Spanish speaking background, most will speak English to you if you don't give them any kind of attitude or odd stares despite the fact that they are comfortable with speaking Spanish to their children and family publicly. They don't really like that and a lot of them think it's funny when people think they don't speak English. A lot of my friends who are from South America well play the "no speak English" game when people think they really don't speak it. They think it's funny and mildly insulting. Look, all I am saying is the Hispanic demographic down here is very different from what you are used to no matter where you are moving from. This is the only place I have ever been to where most Hispanics are upper middle class and the nicer, safer, newer neighborhoods actually tend to have more Spanish speaking people. The only areas I can think of in Broward that aren't like that are Broadview Park, Oakland Park and downtown Davie, not a large area for a place with 1.8 million people.

And if you can afford Weston Hills, I'm not sure why you would have places like Scarborough (which is the only neighborhood I would knock off due to road noise from I-595) in your list. Even though that neighborhood is perfectly fine, it's just in a totally different league.

Otherwise it's all equivalent really, just some of the neighborhoods aren't as fancy as the others. I think Indian Ridge Middle (Davie) of the best out of all of the middle schools. Falcon Cove (Weston) is overcrowded and Pionner (Cooper City) is aging. Usually Falcon Cove will have the highest "ratings" however and all three are decent. However if you want to protect your precious little snowflakes from students from foreign backgrounds , I suggest Pioneer where less than 1% of the student population is learning English and also suggest that you stick with Rock Creek (Embassy Creek might not be homogeneous enough even though it's a little nicer).

[fauve]

Never heard of Madison Lakes...hmm... Scarborough, I'm not so sure about either, but I think I know of it, but it's all starter homes which doesn't fit with the Weston Hills house you're going to see. West of University is fine, though. Rock Creek is nice enough. Are you sure the house is in Weston Hills, as opposed to the city of Weston somewhere? If it is Weston Hills, most people, by far, speak English. Anywhere really in Weston, everyone speaks English, they just may be from South American descent.

[fauve]

Compelled, you beat me to it!

[Dixie10]

Thank you, I greatly appreciate your feedback and explanation and I apologize if I came across disrespectfully. That was truly not my intention. From reading some Weston posts on these boards I assumed that we might feel out of place if we did not speak spanish. That is an awful way to live and I am glad to hear it is not true.

Yes, the property is in Weston Hills and we will keep it on the list and scratch Scarborough. Thanks again.

[compelled to reply]

Oh yeah, there are a couple of "overly dramatic" posters that make these kind of claims. I was mainly just warning you because we don't need more of the same thing in 6 months. However, Weston is the most heavily Hispanic city in Broward County although it is still predominately non-Hispanic. There are also more foreign languages spoken here than Spanish...it's actually a pretty diverse area for the kind of area it is.

[heydade]

my vote would be for rock creek in cooper city.....awesome little place.

[fauve]

Dixie, it's okay - I knew you meant no disrespect. If you were bringing up neighborhoods in Miramar or Pembroke Pines, you'd be absolutely right to be leery depending on the community. Generally speaking, the closer you get to Hialeah, the more spanish that is spoken. Used to drive my husband nuts to have people constantly addressing him in spanish because of his black hair and eyes when we lived in the Pines.

And, Compelled, downtown Davie has a huge Hispanic population. The low rent district to the east of downtown has become a haven to the illegal spanish-speaking only hourly workers that work as maids, landscapers, and the million other odd jobs to the middle class that live to the west, not to mention the biking distance from jobs in various plant nurseries to the south. They choose not to live in various other low cost (relatively speaking) communities due to black/hispanic racial tensions. The image of downtown Davie as a haven for lower middle class white racists is dated. They really have all moved to Tennesee - it's a lot cheaper and there's a lot more of their own kind.

[fauve]

Just one more thing that I wanted to add about downtown Davie. Davie Councilmember Bryan Caletka, who is openly gay, owns and lives in a house just one block east of Davie Road in this same neighborhood. Talk about changing demographics! Additionally he is an awesome councilmember, but unfortunately, often stands alone on issues that would benefit east Davie, ironic because this isn't even his district anymore, and our own district councilmember often votes against East Davie resident interests, or simply isn't present to vote if he fears he'll be criticized.