Tampa vs Sunrise (Miami, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs: real estate, foreclosure, rental)

[Tampaite]

Am evaluating a potential job offer with a firm located in Sunrise, FL.

How is Tampa compared to Sunrise housing-wise and future economic growth(job prospects) ?

We would have to sell the house(probably take a slight loss) in Tampa and may look into purchasing one down the road depending on future employment.

Do most people live in surrounding Weston or Miami/Ft. Lauderdale areas and commute or do we have big subdivisions in Sunrise?(I prefer a shorter commute)

[StilltheSame]

There should be a ton of housing available. Depending on whether you are east Sunrise or west -would determine housing for a short commute. I dont know your budget but off I-75 if west (ie Weston, Sawgrass area, plantation acres) would be my first choice.

[compelled to reply]

Housing wise, both areas are about equal. Rents are higher down here though, and lots are also smaller. I also think job prospects are about equal.

Don't compare Sunrise to Tampa though, compare east Sunrise to Town n Country except a little cleaner and west Sunrise to Oldsmar except with more business in Sunrise. Compare Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa. If you work in west Sunrise, there are nice subdivisions right across the street from the business area. Residences of Sawgrass Mills has all sorts of housing options with various price ranges. You can also look 5 minutes away in Weston or Davie if schools are important. Shenandoah is a good bet if you work in the Sawgrass area, as it's right down the block. You also have cities like Plantation, Coral Springs, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City, and west Miramar, all within 20 minutes and mostly an easy highway ride compared to straggling along the side streets in Tampa. Look into areas west of University Dr in all of these cities except for Pines and Miramar where it's better to look west of Palm Ave and west of Red Rd, respectively, for both better commute and neighborhoods.

If you are going to work in eastern Sunrise, finding an ideal area with a quick commute could be a little more challenging due to more difficult highway access. Welleby isn't too bad and is central to most points in Sunrise, and you could also look further east in Davie (around Pine Island Rd, like Forest Ridge on the higher end and Pine Island Ridge on the lower end) and be within 20 minutes. Just check out Broward County on google maps as a point of reference for the streets.

[Tampaite]

Thanks. I was looking up cost of living, population etc online and have been researching rental prices etc.

Sunrise and Broward county in general does seem to have more dense population than Tampa and that may explain smaller lots and lot more businesses.

I will definitely be visiting and checking out Weston, Davie and other cities within 10-20 miles of Sunrise.

[ruski]

The easiest commute from Weston to Sunrise would be I-75/Sawgrass Expressway north, but the traffic jam is horrible at the Sunrise Blvd exit during rush hour. Of course, there are other routes into Sunrise from Weston.

There is a huge new condo/rental development being built right now in Sunrise at I-595 and NW136th Avenue, across the street from IKEA. I think when it is done, there will be a lot more traffic in this corner.

So probably if you work in Sunrise, the best idea is to find a place to live in Sunrise. There are lots of developments there.

But if you need better schools, still look at Weston.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by ruski

The easiest commute from Weston to Sunrise would be I-75/Sawgrass Expressway north, but the traffic jam is horrible at the Sunrise Blvd exit during rush hour. Of course, there are other routes into Sunrise from Weston.

That "jam" is not really much more than that stupid light at the corporate park right by the ramp. Regardless, the better way to do this IMO, is to just take Weston Rd/Bonaventure Blvd/Glades Pkwy (or Royal Palm or Arvida or whatever it is) to 84, then left at 136th. The worst "traffic jam" is the asynchronous traffic lights on Weston Rd.

As far as their being more traffic at the corner, I don't think it will be too noticeable, because Ikea really didn't make that much of a difference, and there USED to be residential (mobile homes) on that corner anyway, plus 84 has a LOT of capacity coming out of the west side ever since they built the new Weston Rd ramps.

[StilltheSame]

Originally Posted by Tampaite

Thanks. I was looking up cost of living, population etc online and have been researching rental prices etc.

Sunrise and Broward county in general does seem to have more dense population than Tampa and that may explain smaller lots and lot more businesses.

I will definitely be visiting and checking out Weston, Davie and other cities within 10-20 miles of Sunrise.

I would caution to wait until you visit to determine rental rates and the market is so dynamic (on a downward trend) because of the housing market. There are alot of good opportunities right now- just be cautious to ensure you arent renting from someone in foreclosure - thats a real problem in SFL. People dont like to hear it - but its the reality and it is not fair to the tenant.

[Tampaite]

We visited Sunrise this weekend.

Drive: Took us about 4 hrs from Tampa..not bad..on the way back we took US-27 instead of I-75 upto Ft. Myers and that was a refreshing drive.

Housing: Visited several subdivisions within 10 miles of the prospective employer's zip code and hardly found any new construction.(maybe Weston has newer homes ?)
Most of the single-family-homes looked older(probably built in the 90s)...I did not see any open lots where builders can build new homes..so newer SFH construction in Sunrise is out of question?(other than condos)

Shopping: Visited IKEA and the Sawgrass Mill mall. there are are tons of shopping choices within a short distance..

Schools: am not sure since we don't have kids yet.

Has anyone relocated from Tampa to Sunrise here?

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Tampaite

We visited Sunrise this weekend.

Drive: Took us about 4 hrs from Tampa..not bad..on the way back we took US-27 instead of I-75 upto Ft. Myers and that was a refreshing drive.

Housing: Visited several subdivisions within 10 miles of the prospective employer's zip code and hardly found any new construction.(maybe Weston has newer homes ?) If you consider 90s old, the only area that is going to seem new to you is west Miramar and parts of Weston. The former is also the only area that's seeing any new SFH construction, with the exception of some frozen housing developments in Cooper City (Monterra), which in my opinion is a more desirable area. Both are unnecessarily far from work. Weston has some homes built in the 2000s, but is mostly 90s ,which is desirable anyway. Look for homes built after 1993 in particular, to about 2002. Look up Chinese drywall on google (if you don't already know) to see what I mean.
Most of the single-family-homes looked older(probably built in the 90s)...I did not see any open lots where builders can build new homes..so newer SFH construction in Sunrise is out of question?(other than condos) For the most part, yes. West Sunrise had it's growth days mostly in the 80s, and to a lesser extent the 90s, eastern areas grew in the 60s and 70s. The reason almost anything after 2000 is condo is because Sunrise is now almost entirely built out of residential land. This is true for most of Broward County.

Shopping: Visited IKEA and the Sawgrass Mill mall. there are are tons of shopping choices within a short distance..

Schools: am not sure since we don't have kids yet.

Has anyone relocated from Tampa to Sunrise here?

Hope this helps a little. Depending on your price range, they are also building quite a few luxury homes in the Davie area.

[fauve]

Not much building is going on right now due to the slow down in construction due to the real estate crisis. Many local builders, including the builder building the development next door to me in Davie, have had their credit lines frozen. I would almost be afraid of buying into a new home development where even the builders have access to cash now because of the difficulty many people are having getting credit. Then there are the existing homeowners who bought in 2007 that are in danger of foreclosing, especially as you would be buying in at lower price than they did and cementing their loss in value. In the earlier instance, you do not want to be one of 15 homeowners in a community built for 1500. There's a development near us in Davie where the streetlights are on every night for empty streets covering 100 acres and only about 50 houses have been built over 2 years after the project was started.