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Seems like our search for a great Florida town is on again. Will be heading your way in 2 months to get a bit of a feel for certain areas. Originally Palm Springs was on the radar because of relatives living there. As a Realtor I know it's best to rent at least for the first year. Proximity to jobs at this point is not priority. Basically this is our new criteria:
1:Rental for under 1K. When ready to buy will need to search for under $150k, hopefully with no HOA
2:Good public/charter school for a 9 year old that likes the Arts
3o not need to be by the beach, maybe West of 95(heading North)
4:Close proximity to Hospitals, Fire Stations(daughter is allergic to bees)
5:Family friendly, things to do, activities etc.
From reading threads on this forum some of the towns that come to mind are:
1:Vero Beach
2:Port St Lucie
3:Jupiter(really like this one but may be priced out)
4:Royal Palm Beach
5:Palm Springs
I understand that these are mixed in PBC, PLC and IRC.
I live in the Vero Beach area and its nice area to live but doesn't offer as much to do as Royal Palm Beach offers in amenities as well as things to do.
There are many many places to live that cannot be quantified. I suggest renting and living anywhere for a year and travel around. You will know it when you see it.
In your demographic I would avoid WPB/Royal Palm Beach/Palm Springs altogether. Yes you should still go there. As was stated you need the VIBE of a place and places to CONTRAST with.
Go South on I95 and you will immediately see and feel the difference at PGA. Maybe even further North by now than the last time I went down there.
I've lived in Ft Lauderdale,. Tamarac, Tequesta (Jupiter), WPB, Jacksonville and now Vero Beach. Originally from Philly so crime and idiots are not a foreign scary concept to me.
That being said, the VERY VERY "worst" area of Vero will never come close to the issues in the more Southern areas mentioned. (not including Jupiter/Tequesta)
You can freely move around our so called "bad" areas and never ever experience anything. I do it every single day as a dog walker always in my car. Always stopping at stores/mini marts gas stations whatever. Working mere blocks from the "bad area". You wouldn't even KNOW it was a "bad area" LOL. I could drive you through and you wouldn't blink.
All the nonsense moves out and NORTH eventually. And more people are speaking Spanish here than before. It's quite annoying to speak to someone who gives you a dead pan look not understanding you but that's Florida. Not as bad as Orlando where even the rental car people barely can communicate in English at the AIRPORT.
Jupiter/Tequesta is ok. Low crime, lower than Vero even (which is the county seat for Indian River County)
Under 1000 and under 150K? Probably not. I had trouble finding a rental there in 2008 for 1200 because of availability.
Vero Beach has a new Ballet company with highly respected dancers - affiliated with Ballet Nebraska - they even got permission to do a Balanchine which is difficult and rigorous to obtain. They made sure to make the tickets available to ALL people not just perceived "wealthy" people.
We have a professional regional theater with a Children's program. It's not a local production of just Vero Beach people but the artists are hired from NY with actual Broadway experience.
No it's not Broadway Across America - but that's not even in WPB, you have to go to Lauderdale, Jax or Orlando for that.
Riverside Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre affiliated with Actor's Equity Association, The League of Resident Theatres,Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and United Scenic Artists.
Riverside Children's Theatre, the educational arm of Riverside, offers classes, camps, and training opportunities in the areas of theatre, dance, music, and video for all ages on a year round basis.
You can review my posting history for an extensive description of the area and several lists of "things to do". We are a calm, gentle coastal community not an urban center. But we are contiguous to Ft Pierce, a mess.
PSL? That's it's own thing, too. Massive suburb. You don't see stories like this in Vero (even though we do have occasional stuff happening) and their crime rate overall is not that bad statistically.
Thank You all for your reply. 'runswithscissors' I've read many of your posts, you give so much thorough information, honestly more than most of us Realtors, LOL! Thank You for all your contributions....
We definitely want to stay further North as opposed to going further South, however, that being said, we are both Hispanic and my husband doesn't want to be totally isolated from the Latino population. He really misses the Caribbean contact and culture that we don't have here in NC thus one of the reasons (and the weather) that we are going to be relocating. I think I read on one of your posts that there is a neighborhood in VB with Latinos.
I saw a video on You Tube regarding gangs in the PB/Lake Worth area, pretty scary. Of course I understand no place is immune, there are small gangs here but you wouldn't know it.
My daughter currently attends a bilingual charter school, we were lucky enough to get in when they had the yearly lottery as she was about to enter kindergarten. I would think all charter schools work the same any where you go. I'd hate to have to move her from one school to another once we are settled that's why I'd like to try to pin point areas so that we don't have to make a move to a different school system. She's having a hard enough time knowing we will be leaving NC.
Thank You all for your reply. 'runswithscissors' I've read many of your posts, you give so much thorough information, honestly more than most of us Realtors, LOL! Thank You for all your contributions....
We definitely want to stay further North as opposed to going further South, however, that being said, we are both Hispanic and my husband doesn't want to be totally isolated from the Latino population. He really misses the Caribbean contact and culture that we don't have here in NC thus one of the reasons (and the weather) that we are going to be relocating. I think I read on one of your posts that there is a neighborhood in VB with Latinos.
I saw a video on You Tube regarding gangs in the PB/Lake Worth area, pretty scary. Of course I understand no place is immune, there are small gangs here but you wouldn't know it.
My daughter currently attends a bilingual charter school, we were lucky enough to get in when they had the yearly lottery as she was about to enter kindergarten. I would think all charter schools work the same any where you go. I'd hate to have to move her from one school to another once we are settled that's why I'd like to try to pin point areas so that we don't have to make a move to a different school system. She's having a hard enough time knowing we will be leaving NC.
Thanks!
We have around 11% Latino/Hispanic people here on the census - I have no idea if the farm workers do a census though. My client's ALF (Assisted Living) is 50% Hispanic caregivers and they are the sweetest and favorite of my client (with dementia). The chef is Colombian. The whole kitchen is speaking Spanish half the time.
My former Vero Beach rental house was owned by a guy from Peru who lives in Weston, a great community majority-ish Hispanic/Latino West of Ft Lauderdale. He bought it for retirement LOL.
Nobody cares who's Hispanic and who's not. But not speaking English doesn't work for me, having been married to a Greek who was totally excited to become American and refused to speak Greek in public. Even with crappy English LOL.
If you go to Miami they call you a TOURIST if you're not Hispanic and I'm not kidding. They're a little radical about it. La Raza-ish. They wanted a license plate that said "Hispanics Discovered Florida". FACEPALM, really.
You SHOULD go see Weston, it's really nice. Not cheap. It's about 50-50 Hispanic to White Only Not Hispanic. The median household income is almost double that of the state of Florida. Cleveland Clinic is out there. 39% foreign born. 53% speak something other than English at home. 58% Bachelors degree or higher age >25. HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE 73%. Only 24% housing is multi unit.
When I lived in Jacksonville, I had a Hispanic client a Psychiatrist with the Navy who decided to move "home" to Miami because he missed his family and friends/culture. Another guy the high rise Maintenance manager transferred to Orlando for the same reason. So there isn't always a defined "enough" Hispanic culture everywhere here to suit everyone.
You'll have to decide that on your own. I don't recall any "neighborhood" that's particularly ethnic here. Everyone is mixed together. Except for one mobile home park I know of. And a small Black enclave in Gifford.
There's nothing "wrong" with the South. I intended to move there myself in 2008 but during the housing crash it was a MESS trying to do so. Everyone was mad (realtors) and so much deferred maintenance was a big problem. My mother had a condo in Tequesta for decades, my kid attended school in Boca, and we lived in all those places I mentioned (forgot to mention Boca on that list LOL). I ended up here because I found a realtor that worked for me.
Anyway, good luck in your search and have fun!
I can't really relate to this "missing contact with [enter ethnicity here] all that much but if that's how he feels, that's how he feels. My husband and I went to the Greek church and events in Philly but our every day lives were just plain old American. I lived in Greece for awhile full time and never gave it a thought about finding Americans. Or I wouldn't have moved there. But FL IS 20% Hispanic. Good luck if you were Greek, or Middle Eastern, or Russian etc. Doesn't exist.
PHILLY has a TON OF DIVERSITY compared to FL. Florida is White, Black, Hispanic and that's about it. Although all the Latinos like to argue about the different "levels of ethnicity". IE Mexicans are at the bottom of the social status, blah blah blah.
Which is REALLY STUPID since I find the Mexican people to be the NICEST down here.
Also you're going to find a more Caribbean vibe in SoFl but more like the Haitians and Jamaicans.
You will NOT Find that in Jupiter. So he'll have to go to WPB/Lauderdale etc for his Caribbean fix haha.
Lauderdale is demographically like Vero with 13% Hispanic but fewer White Alone Not Hispanic
Royal Palm Beach almost the same but it's practically WPB so....
Jupiter is 13% Hispanic but 83% White Alone Not Hispanic. Similar to Vero/Indian River County.
Has your husband been here? It's not JUST about food and restaurants LOL. There IS some tension IMO between the Black community and the Hispanic community. The hard core elements.
Palm Beach County is the closest to the entire state of FL, demographically. With 20% Hispanic, 58% White Only and 18% Black. Compare that to Orlando with majority minority figures.
I'm curious about your daughter attending a bilingual school. What language? Spanish? Is her first language English or vice versa?
If you want to find that in FLorida, I have no idea if it exists but you should post on the Miami and WPB forums. There's a very knowledgeable REALTOR on WPB too, who knows all that stuff.
Here we have ESOL but I have no clue about a true "bilingual" school program just for "fun".
P.S. Remember there's a City of Vero Beach, then the whole Indian River County which 3/4 of it people "call" Vero Beach but it's a separate entity from the city. So the census information isn't really accurate in that way.
Scroll down to the bottom to "Communities" to see all the different places that people usually just call "Vero Beach".
I agree that everyone should learn the language of the country they live in, it makes it easier for them and everyone else, lol...My husband really hangs onto his roots...He would love to be able to go to the local grocery store and just hang out a bit chatting in Spanish even if they don't know each other. It's custom in the Dominican Republic to do that. If it would've been up to him we would've moved to Jackson Heights in NY, he would get a lot of culture there, but then again, the cold would've made us move to Florida sooner or later any way, I myself grew up in Jersey.
My daughters main language is English, a bilingual school is not necessary, we signed her up because it's an awesome school and would help with her Spanish, kids in the states do not want to speak anything but English even though we try speaking to her in Spanish at home.
We have family in Coral Springs and Miami, we really don't want to go so far South, the traffic etc. is not what we want to deal with everyday. We were considering Wellington but again out of our price range. I'm a bit shocked at how prices in Florida have been skyrocketing. In NC you can still purchase homes under $200k in really great areas, and most schools are good. Someone mentioned that Royal Palm Beach may be the closest we'd get to finding more of a Latin vibe, lower cost housing and closer access to Ft. Lauderdale & Miami airports for those impromptu trips to the DR. However, we don't want to give up better quality of life & less traffic stress, that's why I haven't discarded PLC, IRC & MC.
"There IS some tension IMO between the Black community and the Hispanic community. The hard core elements"--This is true, even though when you speak one on one, Blacks claim Hispanics are more like them than the Whites...I for one don't like all the racial issues that are happening and wish we could all just get along....
I understand your husb missing the vibe, in Greece they have coffee shops where all the guys go.
You'll miss the Jersey tomatoes!
Well it won't hurt to check out Royal Palm. That's one place I never really went. Sounds nice though from reading about it.
Even if Weston is out of your range, I think it's worth spending a day or a half day to see how you three feel there. Maybe it'd be worth condo living for the community. Who knows.
Like someone else said, you'll click somewhere. I think the school thing is the big challenge when moving here with kids so that may have to be your first priority.
I agree that you should check out Weston, FL. It is a very diverse community.
When we first moved to FL, we lived in PSL, then we moved to Broward County, and finally to the Jacksonville area. When we moved here, someone in my office commented that I had to move North to find the real South. If you are looking for a diverse area, I would avoid anything North of Orlando.
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o not need to be by the beach, maybe West of 95(heading North) 
They're a little radical about it. La Raza-ish. They wanted a license plate that said "Hispanics Discovered Florida". FACEPALM, really. 
