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Old 02-10-2008, 09:11 AM
 
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Hello,
I am a African American single parent with 3 teenagers looking to relocate from Michigan, the northwest suburban Detroit area (birmingham, bloomfield,beverly Hills). Looking to escape the cold winters ,I have narrowed it down to Houston TX (sugarland, Missouri) or Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, Miami) area, looking for preferably a suburban racially diverse area, with low crime, an excellent public school district, that is geared towards families. Is it possible to find a good area with houses between 250k and 350K, in the above mentioned area of FL. I am a Network Engineer and I also teach (CISCO) how is the IT industry in this area?
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Old 02-10-2008, 10:06 AM
 
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Believe it or not, it really is possible. Check out the west Pembroke Pines and west Miramar area. The key is to stay west of I-75. School districts are decent (not as good as the areas you are looking at in TX though, especially in the high school department), the crime rate is low (about the same as the areas you are looking at in TX), and although your going to take it closer to 350, you can definitely find a house on your price range. Weston has better schools and lower crime, and I have seen homes in your price range here as well, but maybe not as diverse. The Cooper City area also meets your family friendly criteria, however it's definitely not as diverse as some of the other areas, although by most suburban standards it is. HOWEVER, the real estate market here is shriveling, and prices are falling by the minute seemingly. Your home WILL drop in value. RENT AND SIT, and you can afford something better in a year or so.

South Florida has a couple advantages over Houston and a couple of disadvantages. The advantages are WAY LESS traffic (assuming Ft. Lauderdale area), less crime as a metro area, very clean air, and less sweltering summers (but still sweltering). The disadvantages are weaker job market but higher cost of living, and that's a big one that weighs just as heavy as those three positives.

Everybody complains about it on this website, but the IT industry is actually fairly strong. It's not Raleigh or DC, but theres definitely an IT presence here. Citrix Systems is headquarter in Fort Lauderdale and most of the IT companies have a presence here, but pay is a little below average.

I would not recommend the Miami-Dade County area in your price range as a real estate search left me stunned at how mediocre a 360 thousand dollar home is there. It's also more segregated and less diverse.
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Old 02-10-2008, 11:04 AM
 
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Thank you for your response. Definitely helpful. Not being familiar at all with the area, I've only been on vacation in Orlando, I need names of communities, and surrounding cities. I wil look at the ones you've mentioned. It doesn't get too hot for me. I love Las Vegas in July . mainly concerned with school systems, cost of living in relation to salary, and ethic diversity and harmony, and low crime. My teenagers are high school age but the oldest will be needing to attend a community college by the time we make the move in fall.
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Old 02-10-2008, 11:34 AM
 
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I forgot to add i would be wanting to rent or lease a 4 bdrm home or condo initially, until becoming more familiar with the areas. Is 1500-1600 a month realistic wanting no less than 2000 sq ft. Do the homes there have basements? In MI for 1600 rent you can easily get 4 bdrm 2 1/2- 3 bthrm at least 2000 sq ft. easily. whats the going rate in Ft. Lauderdale area. Also how does this area compare to say Tampa for same things? I know nothing about FL but the weather which is what i am trying to escape in MI.
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Old 02-10-2008, 11:51 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lesgru View Post
I forgot to add i would be wanting to rent or lease a 4 bdrm home or condo initially, until becoming more familiar with the areas. Is 1500-1600 a month realistic wanting no less than 2000 sq ft. Do the homes there have basements? In MI for 1600 rent you can easily get 4 bdrm 2 1/2- 3 bthrm at least 2000 sq ft. easily. whats the going rate in Ft. Lauderdale area. Also how does this area compare to say Tampa for same things? I know nothing about FL but the weather which is what i am trying to escape in MI.
Your price range should be no problem. A year ago, I would of said you were nuts, but price correction is really starting to take place.

Tampa won't give you the same diversity in an equivalent family friendly area, and it has more crime, but it also feels more relaxed and definitely less crowded. Cheaper too, but the IT market there from what I understand is almost nothing.

Orlando has the best IT market in the state, but that place is a hole, to say the least. And I very rarely use terminology like that to describe a place.

PLEASE visit some of these places before taking the plunge. I know what you mean about the weather, but look at Wild Style's advice in your other thread. I wouldn't move somewhere starting out with no job rounded up, no friends, no family, just for better weather, it's really tough. That being said, your are going to find it easier to make friends in Tampa or Houston than you will in Fort Lauderdale, but theres no reason any reasonably open minded person shouldn't do ok in all three in this regard.

All and all, if you are going to just start out on nothing, I would pick Houston, but if you can get a nice job rounded up here, I think the overall lifestyle can be a little better here.

For communities, there are way too many to list. In Cooper City's case, some of the communities are closer to the traditional suburban layout and don't have names. In Pembroke Pines, you have good older homes in Pembroke Lakes, and further west Pembroke Falls, Pembroke Shores, Grand Palms, and a few other smaller communities are nice. In Weston, Savanna is huge and has tons of homes in your price range. In Cooper City, you have essentially the entire city except for Embassy Lakes (expensive), and some of the neighborhoods there tend to flow into each other more like a traditional suburb versus the subdivision style of living, which I like. Rock Creek is a nice larger community to look into. Honestly, the best bit of advice I could give you is to find addresses, put them in mapquest or Google maps, and in Pembroke Pines see if they are west of Palm Ave, and in Miramar see if they are west of 75. In Cooper City or Weston there is really nowhere to avoid, as long as you have a Cooper City or Weston address. This part of the state is more consistent than other parts.

Last edited by compelled to reply; 02-10-2008 at 12:02 PM..
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Old 02-10-2008, 12:10 PM
 
57 posts, read 158,055 times
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Thank you so much for the response. Houston area seems to have most everything that i am looking for and at a more affordable rate. I really just prefer the temp not to dip below the 70's ever! . Houston sees the 60's which compared to single digits in MI is not bad. I guess I can't have everything . Maybe I can come to FL when the children are all off on their own in college, probably more affordable for me then. I will not have to have as large a house and school district will not be an issue. I can not afford to send the children to private school that is my purpose for being so selective about the neighborhood. I will visit both FL and TX over the summer, But it looks like TX for now. thank you for your input.
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Old 02-10-2008, 12:13 PM
 
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I wouldn't totally throw out Florida, some of these areas have comparable school districts, but I think at the end of the day it's going to depend on where the money is. More likely than not though, the money is in Houston. I'm going have to say that the best position to be in the Fort Lauderdale area though is either 25, single, and a good income or the situation that you cited for when you would come down.
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Old 02-10-2008, 01:35 PM
 
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Going to take a long hard look at Cooper City and Weston sounds more like the area I live in now in MI which borders no bad areas. Being a single female with 3 daughters i like to feel safe in my environment. Don't want to be looking over my shoulder when i have to pump gas. A lot of carjacking in Detroit area. My daughter was carjacked at gunpoint in Detroit at a gas station by 2 carloads of hoodlums on a carjacking and armed robbery spree. She jumped out of the car barefoot while her boyfriend was being robbed she was chased by the second carload who were trying to kidnap her she was only 15 yrs old. Thank God she was able to jump fences with large dogs and guy chasing did not want to jump fence. Homeowner came out and helped her. Right now we live far enough from Detroit that we don't have to worry about things of that nature even though crime is everywhere someplaces it is more prevelant. Area that I am in now is a little more racially diverse than the areas mentioned by you from what i can tell by this website. There are both very wealthy and upper/middle to middle class in area I live in now. Top rated school distict and virtually no violent crimes. Mostly petty property crimes due to people being too relaxed. I feel comfortable leaving door unlocked if I cant find key while walking dog and not afraid someone will jump in my car and take off if i have to warm it up b4 leaving 4 work on those very cold mornings with my purse and belongings in car. I would not dream of doing those things when I lived in Detroit. Detroit has some very good areas also but just across the street or around the block from half a million dollar houses is the ghetto. No gated communities in Detroit. I do not want to live anywhere like Detroit where people feel COMFORTABLE committing crimes. I would like not only area that i live in, but surrounding area to feel safe. wondering if I can afford that in FL.??????? Also concerned about being African American and having to deal with prejudice. Hoping people are friendly area we live in now very diverse and accepting of all people for the most part.
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Old 02-10-2008, 05:56 PM
 
11,642 posts, read 23,803,648 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lesgru View Post
Going to take a long hard look at Cooper City and Weston sounds more like the area I live in now in MI which borders no bad areas. Being a single female with 3 daughters i like to feel safe in my environment. Don't want to be looking over my shoulder when i have to pump gas. A lot of carjacking in Detroit area. My daughter was carjacked at gunpoint in Detroit at a gas station by 2 carloads of hoodlums on a carjacking and armed robbery spree. She jumped out of the car barefoot while her boyfriend was being robbed she was chased by the second carload who were trying to kidnap her she was only 15 yrs old. Thank God she was able to jump fences with large dogs and guy chasing did not want to jump fence. Homeowner came out and helped her. Right now we live far enough from Detroit that we don't have to worry about things of that nature even though crime is everywhere someplaces it is more prevelant. Area that I am in now is a little more racially diverse than the areas mentioned by you from what i can tell by this website. There are both very wealthy and upper/middle to middle class in area I live in now. Top rated school distict and virtually no violent crimes. Mostly petty property crimes due to people being too relaxed. I feel comfortable leaving door unlocked if I cant find key while walking dog and not afraid someone will jump in my car and take off if i have to warm it up b4 leaving 4 work on those very cold mornings with my purse and belongings in car. I would not dream of doing those things when I lived in Detroit. Detroit has some very good areas also but just across the street or around the block from half a million dollar houses is the ghetto. No gated communities in Detroit. I do not want to live anywhere like Detroit where people feel COMFORTABLE committing crimes. I would like not only area that i live in, but surrounding area to feel safe. wondering if I can afford that in FL.??????? Also concerned about being African American and having to deal with prejudice. Hoping people are friendly area we live in now very diverse and accepting of all people for the most part.
You can find housing in a nice area between $250 and $350K easily in Weston or Cooper City. I think you can find something in Embassy Lakes in that price range also, it will just be smaller than other stuff in Cooper City in that price range. South Florida is pretty diverse you should not have a problem being African American. Weston is a mostly white and hispanic, but there are black here also. Cooper City is probably more white than Weston, but I don't think you would have any problem there either.

There are alot of rude people here but there are nice friendly people also.
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Old 02-10-2008, 07:14 PM
 
8,377 posts, read 30,786,946 times
Reputation: 2423
Quote:
Originally Posted by lesgru View Post
Going to take a long hard look at Cooper City and Weston sounds more like the area I live in now in MI which borders no bad areas. Being a single female with 3 daughters i like to feel safe in my environment. Don't want to be looking over my shoulder when i have to pump gas. A lot of carjacking in Detroit area. My daughter was carjacked at gunpoint in Detroit at a gas station by 2 carloads of hoodlums on a carjacking and armed robbery spree. She jumped out of the car barefoot while her boyfriend was being robbed she was chased by the second carload who were trying to kidnap her she was only 15 yrs old. Thank God she was able to jump fences with large dogs and guy chasing did not want to jump fence. Homeowner came out and helped her. Right now we live far enough from Detroit that we don't have to worry about things of that nature even though crime is everywhere someplaces it is more prevelant. Area that I am in now is a little more racially diverse than the areas mentioned by you from what i can tell by this website. There are both very wealthy and upper/middle to middle class in area I live in now. Top rated school distict and virtually no violent crimes. Mostly petty property crimes due to people being too relaxed. I feel comfortable leaving door unlocked if I cant find key while walking dog and not afraid someone will jump in my car and take off if i have to warm it up b4 leaving 4 work on those very cold mornings with my purse and belongings in car. I would not dream of doing those things when I lived in Detroit. Detroit has some very good areas also but just across the street or around the block from half a million dollar houses is the ghetto. No gated communities in Detroit. I do not want to live anywhere like Detroit where people feel COMFORTABLE committing crimes. I would like not only area that i live in, but surrounding area to feel safe. wondering if I can afford that in FL.??????? Also concerned about being African American and having to deal with prejudice. Hoping people are friendly area we live in now very diverse and accepting of all people for the most part.
Yes, you can afford that, and no, people here don't have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to people other than the white race entering the "good" neighborhoods. Most crimes in these areas are unlocked car burglaries, with occasional home burglary and auto theft. Robbery is kind of rare west of University Drive in Broward County as a whole, let alone in Weston or Cooper City.

As above poster said, Cooper City has a whiter population than most surrounding cities, but the only city I would be hesitant to recommend to an accomplished black family would be Davie, but even there the racism won't even come close to Detroit and there are still plenty of well off black families, just not as many.

The website is a little outdated. Check out the school demographics to get a good idea of what it's like right now. The elementary and middle schools are also plenty decent in Pembroke Pines/Miramar and it does happen to be more diverse. Most of them are "9" or "10" rated and "A" rated, and a new high school in Pembroke Pines opening up looks very promising and is projected to have no clear majority group, with plenty of blacks, whites, "Hispanics" and even a fair amount of Asian students represented.
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