Thinking of moving to West Palm Beach area (Fort Lauderdale, Sunrise: apartment, HOA)

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

I know a lot of people that have similar thoughts on the area here...mainly the disgusted tone is based on the poor paying jobs and the high COL, even at the professional level...some people are finding it harder to get ahead here.

These people who are "finding it harder to get ahead here..." these are the same people who have ostensibly lived here since the mid-2000s? When salaries were the same or lower and the COL was even higher?

Those people?

[kmbjbb]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Oh YAWN.

I'm looking forward to everyone who is unhappy and finding it "harder to get by" to actually leave and make room for those who are happy, or who actually want to be here.

Sounds like your personal circumstances were that you came out of necessity, and not because you actually want to live here.

We did come out of necessity. I have lived in Central and South Florida for a long time. Central was much better. The WPB area is going farther and farther downhill. The crime is escalating big time, but I know it's doing that all over.

When we had to come back here in 2009, my husband could not find work. HE was making a great wage before we left. Then, he had to go back to a job he had before we left originally in 1996 making the same wage he earned in 1996. We could not afford a house, even to rent and had to live with his mother. I am on disability. We also have my mother and 2 teenagers, one with learning disabilities. Hubby now has a different job, but still make half of what he made before we came back. If it weren't for his mother and my mother, we would be homeless. It is too darned expensive here and the COL is just through the roof. Property taxes are ridiculously high. Safety in neighborhoods is ridiculously low. Politeness and care from the neighbors and public is at an all time low. It boggles the mind how rude people are around here.

[rb89509]

Hey, the great thing about West Palm Beach and the rest of South Florida for that matter is if you ever wanted to take a vacation to the Caribbean or Central or Latin America, you only have to go to your local Wal-Mart!

Gas prices are on a par with the Bay Area in California (some the highest in the nation), if the prices at Publix get any higher, I won't be able to afford the buy-one-get-ones!

The traffic is horrendous on most side streets. I-95 is almost navigable now that it's 5 lanes wide all the way from Boca to Jupiter. The side streets, Military, 45th, Okeechobee, Lake Worth Rd, 441, Forrest Hill, you name it are a nightmare in the summer, and cataclysmic when the Snowbirds are here for their never-ending migration from the frozen tundra.

As others have mentioned, property taxes and insurance, whether property or automobile are vey high. The non-insured motorist premium on your auto policy will more than double the price of the policy for the same coverage's compared to counties in North Florida.

In the words of the late great Neil Rogers 560 WQAM, "South Florida is truly a Banana Republic."

Neil Rogers Show - 127 Sound Clips in 5 Minutes - Facebook Videos : Firstpost Topic - Page 13

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by kmbjbb

We did come out of necessity. I have lived in Central and South Florida for a long time. Central was much better. The WPB area is going farther and farther downhill. The crime is escalating big time, but I know it's doing that all over.

Sorry, you're wrong.

In 2000, the crime in West Palm Beach area was MUCH higher, per capita. This is easily verifiable on this very website.

I actually see the area IMPROVING from what it was 10 years ago... even 5 years ago. Some areas are probably worse than in the past, to be sure, but in general, crime is down across the board, from Wellington to WPB, Boca to even Riviera Beach.

People seem to forget that we are inundated with a 24/7 news and internet sensation cycle. There isn't more crime. You're just hearing more about the crime.

Originally Posted by kmbjbb

When we had to come back here in 2009, my husband could not find work. HE was making a great wage before we left. Then, he had to go back to a job he had before we left originally in 1996 making the same wage he earned in 1996. We could not afford a house, even to rent and had to live with his mother. I am on disability. We also have my mother and 2 teenagers, one with learning disabilities. Hubby now has a different job, but still make half of what he made before we came back. If it weren't for his mother and my mother, we would be homeless. It is too darned expensive here and the COL is just through the roof. Property taxes are ridiculously high. Safety in neighborhoods is ridiculously low. Politeness and care from the neighbors and public is at an all time low. It boggles the mind how rude people are around here.

2009 was probably the worst year EVER to try and find a job.

Still perplexed, however, as to why you HAD to come back here? To take care of family? Easier to move one person who needs to be looked after, than to uproot an entire family. Sorry, but NOBODY should move here without a job in line FIRST.


BTW: My neighbors are perfectly friendly, and I never seem to run into the wave of rudeness everyone talks about.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by rb89509

Hey, the great thing about West Palm Beach and the rest of South Florida for that matter is if you ever wanted to take a vacation to the Caribbean or Central or Latin America, you only have to go to your local Wal-Mart!

Gas prices are on a par with the Bay Area in California (some the highest in the nation), if the prices at Publix get any higher, I won't be able to afford the buy-one-get-ones!

Stopped reading at "gas prices are on par with the Bay area in California."

Demonstrably false information:

USA National Gas Price Heat Map - GasBuddy.com

In San Fran it's average over $4.00 right now. in WPB it's $0.40+ cheaper.

[rb89509]

The Chevron at Lantana road and Congress has Premium, which my Bimmer insist that I use at $4.15 a gallon. I was in San Francisco for two weeks last February, the "76" station at the corner of Bay and Taylor St. in Fisherman's Wharf was selling premium gas for $4.07 a gallon. You should get out more.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by rb89509

The Chevron at Lantana road and Congress has Premium, which my Bimmer insist that I use at $4.15 a gallon. I was in San Francisco for two weeks last February, the "76" station at the corner of Bay and Taylor St. in Fisherman's Wharf was selling premium gas for $4.07 a gallon. You should get out more.

Oh, so what you're saying then, is, that the price of that premium unleaded gas (don't know why you felt the need to state you have a BMW, as if that's meant to impress or something) in San Franciso is STILL $4.15/gallon?

Do you think MAYBE, just MAYBE that gallon of gas in San Fran is now $4.50 in San Fran?... being that gas is consistently 40-50 cents higher there than here?

Critical thinking skills. Let's use 'em folks.


BTW: Maybe if you spent less money on a Bimmer that needs premium gas you could afford to shop at Publix, and not Wal-Mart.

[kmbjbb]

The move we had to come down for was my mother-in-law and there was no way in Hades that she would ever up-root and move out of her totally paid off house. She is legally blind and is not allowed to drive. I now do all her driving. We got here the day after father-in-law died.

We had no choice but to move unless my husband were to forfeit all his inheritance. He being an only child wanted to do this for his mother. At the time, I needed to get away from the snow.

Yes, the crime is dependent on the neighborhood and such. Still, on the whole, and this comes from PBSO, crime is high and getting higher throughout the county. It's gotten bad enough that we do not venture outside unless we have to. Even my husband who grew up here says it is worse than ever. My mother-in-law, who has been in the same neighborhood for 56 years, says it is the worst she's seen. Cars being broken into in church parking lots. People getting raped in the city parks. Things being stolen out of yards. It's never-ending.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by kmbjbb

The move we had to come down for was my mother-in-law and there was no way in Hades that she would ever up-root and move out of her totally paid off house. She is legally blind and is not allowed to drive. I now do all her driving. We got here the day after father-in-law died.

We had no choice but to move unless my husband were to forfeit all his inheritance. He being an only child wanted to do this for his mother. At the time, I needed to get away from the snow.

Yes, the crime is dependent on the neighborhood and such. Still, on the whole, and this comes from PBSO, crime is high and getting higher throughout the county. It's gotten bad enough that we do not venture outside unless we have to. Even my husband who grew up here says it is worse than ever. My mother-in-law, who has been in the same neighborhood for 56 years, says it is the worst she's seen. Cars being broken into in church parking lots. People getting raped in the city parks. Things being stolen out of yards. It's never-ending.

Really? Who at the PBSO is giving you information that crime PER CAPITA is getting higher and higher?

Because that does not jive with their official statistics, or the FDLE crime reports.

State's crime rate lowest in 42 years - Sun Sentinel

Crime rates now in South Florida are at rates that haven't been seen since the 1970s.

Again, this doesn't mean that there aren't more raw number crimes than there used to be, but that's because there are so many more people than there used to be. But that's not how we judge the relative safety of a place.

In Wellington, for example, in 1999 there were more arsons, rapes, burglaries, assaults and auto thefts per capita than in 2010. There were more murders in 2010 than in 1999, but that appears to be an outlier year.

[rb89509]

That's the best you got? San Francisco, California, (known for it's notoriously high COL) has gas prices a lousy 8% higher than the Banana Republic known as South Florida? Man Oh Man, I would have thought that San Francisco prices would be much higher. So either San Francisco's COL isn't that high or the Banana Republics is? Wonder which it could be?