City's close to Tamarac that are family friendly, safe, affordable and have good schools. (Coral Springs: foreclosures)

[mjrafferty]

My husband is thinking about taking a job in Tamarac so I'm trying to find a family friendly area close by to commute. We have 3 young children and want them to be able to get into a good school and have friends close by to play with. We are currently living in phx. az. where we walk to school and have a lot of young families close by. I've heard that there are a lot of areas that are really materialistic and I'm really not into that either. We currently own 3 homes and are thinking about possibly renting a house for a yr or so before we would buy a house. I look forward to hearing your suggestions. Thanks!!

[compelled to reply]

Coral Springs, one town up.

[Momma_bear]

I would agree that Coral Springs is a nice city, family friendly and there are SOME good schools in Coral Springs. You need to be careful in CS because not ALL the schools are good. Students from Coral Springs may attend Douglas, Coral Glades, Taravella or Coral Springs HS.

Take a look at those schools and you will see that these schools are very different.

[compelled to reply]

Douglas is the highest rated, Taravella and Coral Glades are both "above average", while Coral Springs is average. The middle schools are slightly above average with some complaints about safety. Elementary schools are generally best north of Wiles Rd or west of University Dr.

[Momma_bear]

My point is that they are NOT all created equal and the OP needs to go the Broward Schools page and look at the schools at the particular address. They can't just buy a house in Coral Springs and assume the schools will be good.

Edited to add: IMO average for a HS in Broward County means that the school is probably not that good.

[mjrafferty]

Thanks for the input on the schools! I'll be sure to look into them and see their ratings and such.
My kids are prek, k & 1st so I'm really looking for the elementary schools for right now.

My husband keeps asking about Sunrise. Does anyone know anything about that area?

[compelled to reply]

Sunrise is OK. Some of the elementary schools are OK, the rest aren't good at all. Much of Tamarac shares the same high school (Piper). The further west, the better. Welleby, 84 South (which is practically in Weston), and the Sawgrass Mills area are the best parts to consider. You could probably consider Weston and west Davie into your search as well, but those could be up to 25 minutes in commute time depending on where in Tamarac.

Do you know where approximately in Tamarac you will be working? It's city limits expand from the Sawgrass Expressway all the way almost to I-95.

[mjrafferty]

What about the cost of living in these areas? Are they pretty much the same?? We are currently living in a 5 bed 3 bath 4000 sqft. home. From what I've seen the we aren't going to come close to that around there. We really need at least 3000 sqft and 4 beds though. Any thoughts?

[justsir22]

There shouldn't be a substantial cost of living difference between the Sawgrass area of Sunrise, Coral Springs and west Tamarac. They are in a close proximity of each other. With the significant drop in house prices in these areas recently and many foreclosures, you can probably make a good deal right now on a decent home, especially if you have 20% down and good credit.