Where is the best place for a family to move from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale? (Coral Springs: real estate, homes)

[mainefamily]

We are a Maine family with an 11 and 13 year olds. We are packing up soon and heading south. Without making a pretrip down, where would be a good place to look. Looking for not too expensive housing, but in good neighborhoods with good schools and of course lots of job opportunity. Interested in the area from Palm Beach and south of the there on the east coast.

[fauve]

For good schools, Weston & Parkland in Broward. What's your housing budget? What kind of jobs are you looking for?

[Vanilla_Ice]

Not too expensive housing in a good neighborhood/schools? You can't have both. SoFLA is "pay to play".

[AttilaLaczko]

The most important issues facing you are, education, employment and commuting. Each of these will impact your quality of life down here.
Education: Looking at your scenario from my point of view, you need to decide if you want your children in public or private school. If its private, there are many private schools down here with excellent reputations. Start looking up schools through a website: www.greatschools.net
The public schools are graded each year for performance, the students are tested each year to attain the performance of the school, and each school puts a large effort forward to insure their students do as well as they can on those tests. Its our slippery slope in public education.

Employment and commuting go hand in hand. Where is your place of employment and how can you find a place to live without a long commute? If employment is not an issue, then its a matter of where you want to live. South Florida can be broken down into these broad areas: beaches, proximity to the beaches, central core, central west and western reaches.

The beaches put you right on the Atlantic and the areas near it, accessible from the barrier islands we have which are seperated from the mainland by the Intracoastal Waterways (ICWW).
Directly west of the ICWW are neighborhoods that are very close to the beach action and the prices reflect that.
Central is a huge area that covers roughly I95 west to University Drive.
Central West is west of University Drive.
Western reaches are areas west of I75.

What kind of home are you looking for, lifestyle and budget will determine your location very quickly. AND, even though South Florida has been in the headlines for the difficulty we are facing in real estate, certain locations have a premium to the price because of what they offer.
- Homes on the water without a fixed bridge will only be available above $650,000 and quickly hit $1M-plus.
- Homes in the farthest western reaches are planned neighborhoods.
- Central west has alot of land sold at an acre plus
- The east side is older than the west side and each has different things to offer

You have lots to kick out around even still... but I hope I was able to help get the most important issues taken care of first.

[StilltheSame]

I wouldnt do it - and then if I did - Palm Beach Gardens would be my first choice.

[heydade]

I would definitely stay in Maine...this place is a real shocker for people coming from sparsely populated places all over the U.S. But anyhow, Vanilla Ice is correct when he says you need to have very good money to live in a good neighborhood. This holds true down here. If you can't afford anything over 260K.....then you are not going to be in a very good area as far as housing goes.

Take care.

[ruski]

If you make it down here, don't hog the left lane!!!

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by mainefamily

We are a Maine family with an 11 and 13 year olds. We are packing up soon and heading south. Without making a pretrip down, where would be a good place to look. Looking for not too expensive housing, but in good neighborhoods with good schools and of course lots of job opportunity. Interested in the area from Palm Beach and south of the there on the east coast.

There are several nice family oriented areas with good schools :

1) Palm Beach Gardens
2) Wellington
3) Parkland
4) North Coral Springs
5) Weston
6) Cooper City

Good luck

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by StilltheSame

I wouldnt do it - and then if I did - Palm Beach Gardens would be my first choice.

Palm Beach Gardens has mediocre schools.

Palm Beach Gardens Schools - Palm Beach Gardens Florida School Ratings - Public and Private

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

Palm Beach Gardens has mediocre schools.

Palm Beach Gardens Schools - Palm Beach Gardens Florida School Ratings - Public and Private

Surprising as it is a beautiful upscale area .... hmmm ?