leavin nj for south florida (Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs: sales, apartments, foreclosures)

[gettingoutofNJ]

im looking to find some areas in the fort lauderdale/coral springs area where me and my wife (late twenties) can move and start a life. We want an area with good schools and close as we can be to the beach. I am an electrician/general contractor and my wife is in business valuation/marriage dissolution. For me nj is a joke highest property tax, probably the worst small business climate and winter. i know florida isnt doing so well... but who is... at least i can struggle in the hot tropical weather near the beach instead of the cold, taxed.. soprano state. We are coming down in jan. to look at different areas so any ideas/areas would be helpful.. i know you get alot of this crap but we are serious and would love the advice... we can spend realistically from 250 to 350.. id love a fixup where i could make some equity in a up and coming area.

[doncorleyone]

i envy you at the moment.. i just left South FL and came back to NJ.. ( temporary trust me..!! then back to FL!) but to help you out... the good neigborhoods and schools are WEST of I-75... the more East that you go towards FL turnpike,441 and i-95 the more trashy it gets (except the beaches of course!)... one Up and Coming area would be Weston.. but anywhere in this area is good.. With the cash that you are willing to spend, you will beable to catch a good deal, because the housing crunch is full blown in FL. not sure if you can find a fix up like we can up here in NJ because everything in FL is new... good luck man.. i hope this helps a little bit....and im determined to get out of Soprano land also..

[JBez]

[quote=gettingoutofNJ;11160508] i know florida isnt doing so well... but who is... at least i can struggle in the hot tropical weather near the beach instead of the cold, taxed.. soprano state




Yours was exactly the mind set I had almost three months ago. I moved from Newark, and then Bloomfield, NJ...to Fort Lauderdale. The economy is struggling anywhere, it just depends on your own ambition. While its now 40 degrees in NJ, its a really nice 85 and sunny here. I couldn't be happier with letting go of the cold really. I might miss the snow later, but thats what a quick visit home is for.

I personally think the economy is in the very beginning of an upswing and people who acknowledge this and start to make moves early will be the ones way ahead of the game in about a year. I've noticed here that there is lots of conctruction going on... there's more space for it of course cause its nowhere near as congested per mile as it is up north. I also noticed that some projects are on hold, probably waiting for funding and for financial systems to recover. Either way, you say you do contracting..sorry I don't have your full post in front of me..but this would be prime season for you to get down here and make a network so you can get in on all these condos going up and finishing the projects that have been halted. Even if you offer a discounted price to get your name out there...there's plenty of business here for you.

The thing I notice about here, also... there's not so much competition!!! My girlfriend and I came down for deep reasons but found many many quick observations that made it worth it. Namely... my girl is a college educated woman with severel years of customer service and sales under her belt- up north she wasn't getting call backs after applying to jobs. And if she did- they wanted to pay her crap. We got here...and within 4 weeks she had 3 offers..all paying way better than in NJ. She started her job within 6 weeks. Me, too. I just got a job in a dream field of mine where I wasn't even being seen up north. Again..less people=less competition=better chances to accelerate at your own pace.

We live a little over a mile from the beautiful, clean, free beach..something Jersey just can't compare to. I think there are so many great neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale that its hard to really pick one. Please do what we did and look around for yourself. I asked what seemed like a million people before I came, and no one even mentioned this beautiful neighborhood we live in now! Plan a few days of viewing apartments in a few different areas and you'll really get a feel of what you can afford and where you want to be. It was easy for us. We went to Rent1Sale1 realty and they showed us a bunch of places...one of which we fell in love with. We told them what we were looking for and they nailed it. They have a really really comprehensive list just in case you need help in your search.

So I think thats about all I can say. I made the move and I will always always have a place in my heart for my homestate but I couldn't be happier with the move. Absolutely do it. The opportunity is here.

[heydade]

I'm glad you like it down here. You are aware though what property taxes and homeowners insurance is going to cost you though, right ? And many of the homes here are in HOA's. Between all three, you are looking at about 700 dollars a month extra on top of your mortgage. Many people don't realize this until their mortgage broker pees in the parade for them.

We have no seasons here...its almost always hot. Are you prepared for near 100% humidity weather for most of the year....the kind where you start sweating 10 mins after you walk out the front door ?

Not trying to discourage you....just stating some observations, the things that many of us hate down here. Good luck though....its going to be a BIG change of pace. Hopefully for the better. With that being said, stick to Coral Springs..very nice city. North Coral springs is highly desirable

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by heydade

B]North [/b]Coral springs is highly desirable

Why north? Isn't the bad part of Riverside in the north part?

[heydade]

Always heard North Coral Springs is most desirable. Probably because it's close to Parkland ? Riverside is more east though. SO NorthWest coral Springs then.

[johnnypockets]

Riverside is just a small pocket of Crap from Wiles rd south to Royal palm blvd. Riverside gets much nicer south between Royal palm and atlantic Blvd in the Ramblewood area. Small pocket of Crap surrounded by Nice subdivisions.

[Indy2Mia2Atl]

[quote=JBez;11218587]

Originally Posted by gettingoutofNJ

The thing I notice about here, also... there's not so much competition!!! My girlfriend and I came down for deep reasons but found many many quick observations that made it worth it. Namely... my girl is a college educated woman with severel years of customer service and sales under her belt- up north she wasn't getting call backs after applying to jobs. And if she did- they wanted to pay her crap. We got here...and within 4 weeks she had 3 offers..all paying way better than in NJ. She started her job within 6 weeks. Me, too. I just got a job in a dream field of mine where I wasn't even being seen up north. Again..less people=less competition=better chances to accelerate at your own pace.

Very true. For the most part, South Florida is very blue collar. If you're educated and can speak/write correct English (not trying to be funny, but was told this when I lived there and went on interviews and hired immediately), you'll be fine. It's the "lesser" (hotels, restaurants, retail, etc.) jobs that you'll have more competition as well as wanting more bilingual ppl. I'm sure there is a little more competition these days tho...

[granitelady]

As na electrician you should have no problem getting work, get your license right away and I'll give you some jobs myself (I'm in the remodeling business) and electricians here make at least $500 a day, beleive it or not good ones are hard to find and if the guy shows up to do the job on time he's a keeper!
I live in Coral Springs myself and love it, great schools, I'm in the Ramblewood area.
We moved here from NC almost 2 years ago and rented, after my house sold in NC I started to look for a "deal" that I could fix - just like what you want to do - in Coral Springs.
To my surprise (and 5 months later) it's hard to find a deal in this area, because it is such a desirable neighborhood, foreclosures sell immediately to investors that have cash to buy them.
So buying a house is not as easy, but not impossible, I still think the right house for the right price is out there waiting for me.
To finalize...I lived in FL for 18 years, moved to NC for 5 years and couldn't wait to come back to FL!
The bad things you will hear about FL will be usually from people that never had to live anywhere else and shovel snow for 3 months...or that would have their business affected by the cold weather.
There's good and bad everywhere you go, but I can honestly tell you that I've lived in many places (for 1-2 years at the time due to work) and FL still has my heart. If I want to see snow I'll go to CO for a week.
Well...I hope I was able to answer some of your questions
Good luck and WELCOME to FL!

[doncorleyone]

Originally Posted by granitelady

As na electrician you should have no problem getting work, get your license right away and I'll give you some jobs myself (I'm in the remodeling business) and electricians here make at least $500 a day, beleive it or not good ones are hard to find and if the guy shows up to do the job on time he's a keeper!
I live in Coral Springs myself and love it, great schools, I'm in the Ramblewood area.
We moved here from NC almost 2 years ago and rented, after my house sold in NC I started to look for a "deal" that I could fix - just like what you want to do - in Coral Springs.
To my surprise (and 5 months later) it's hard to find a deal in this area, because it is such a desirable neighborhood, foreclosures sell immediately to investors that have cash to buy them.
So buying a house is not as easy, but not impossible, I still think the right house for the right price is out there waiting for me.
To finalize...I lived in FL for 18 years, moved to NC for 5 years and couldn't wait to come back to FL!
The bad things you will hear about FL will be usually from people that never had to live anywhere else and shovel snow for 3 months...or that would have their business affected by the cold weather.
There's good and bad everywhere you go, but I can honestly tell you that I've lived in many places (for 1-2 years at the time due to work) and FL still has my heart. If I want to see snow I'll go to CO for a week.
Well...I hope I was able to answer some of your questions
Good luck and WELCOME to FL!

thats one of my biggest pet peeves.. people that never lived in this beautiful state have the most ridiculous opinions. Florida is the east coast's California... it doesnt get any greater than that!