palm beach county for married couple late 30's + 2 young kids? (Fort Lauderdale: for sale, real estate)

[bermuda123]

Please advise. Relocating from downtown NYC. Looking to spend 1 to 2 M for a home in Palm Beach County. Prefer an upscale area with unique, historic (restored) single family homes versus condos or brand new construction Mc Mansions. Looking for good schools, restaurants, shopping, beach club. Love Palm Beach but worry it is too old for young families? Any ideas? PB, Delray, WPB, PBG?

[Reedsmit]

Originally Posted by bermuda123

Please advise. Relocating from downtown NYC. Looking to spend 1 to 2 M for a home in Palm Beach County. Prefer an upscale area with unique, historic (restored) single family homes versus condos or brand new construction Mc Mansions. Looking for good schools, restaurants, shopping, beach club. Love Palm Beach but worry it is too old for young families? Any ideas? PB, Delray, WPB, PBG?

There are many nice areas of the county.

Personally I like Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. The schools are good - even some private schools, such as The Benjamin School, if that is what you are looking for. There are a lot of activities for childrens, the parents are involved in the public schools. The beaches in Jupiter are gorgious, there are plenty of areas for boating, golf courses. Very nice high end gated communities such as Frenchmen's Preserve, Frenchmen's Creek, Bear's Club in PBG. A bit further north is Johnathan's Landing. If you are looking for individual homes, Jupiter Inlet Colony or Jupiter Island.

Jupiter Island has a lot of old estates. Jupiter Island has it's own Police Department and are known for their security cameras and quick response time. This is why people who money is no object like the area. Many celebrities own homes there, even Mrs. Bush (mother of the 1st President Bush) had a home on the island.

[TriMT7]

1 - 2 M won't get you much of anything on Jupiter Island, and it's snoozeville city. Certainly not a place I'd call child friendly.


If you're looking for Historic in that price range, look to El Cid in West Palm Beach, which is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in PBC, about a mile south of downtown, a mile from Palm Beach Island, and about a mile and a half from the ocean. Also, look into the "Southland Park" neighborhood, or Monceaux/Prospect Park neighborhoods, or the Southend (South of Southern) area near Flagler Drive. Tons of families, kids, etc.

Some links that you can search by neighborhood for home listings:

El Cid: http://floridahome.palmbeachpost.com...otos_only=True

Prospect Park: http://floridahome.palmbeachpost.com...unicipality=39

Southland Park: http://floridahome.palmbeachpost.com...unicipality=39

Southend: http://floridahome.palmbeachpost.com...unicipality=39





Also, Boca Raton has some nice historic areas in its eastern part, such as Old Floresta.


In Jupiter, you can buy new homes that LOOK old, but are not historic, such as the Valencia neighborhood in Abacoa.

[bermuda123]

Thanks to you both. Also extending our search to boca raton and ft lauderdale area given proximity to weston and aventura, potential work sites for myself and hub. any other ideas in terms of nice areas that offer unique/historic-like homes (1-2M), good private schools, upscale shopping & restaurants, beach/pool clubs.

[coloradomeddie]

You sound like a Boca-type. Heavy NY influence, great shopping and a huge selection of homes. If you want historic homes, look within the city limits - east of I95. Schools are good, lots of private schools too.

[DogLoverInBoca]

Old Floresta in Boca has beautiful old homes from the twenties when Addison Mizner built them for his friends to come visit. It's a lovely area in Boca and there are great schools, both private and public, nearby. We have beach clubs, shopping, restaurants and you can join the resort.

I'm a realtor from the NYC area as well. I've been in the Boca/Delray area for the past 15 years. I'd be happy to help you find a home in this area. There are lots of young families here. Since I've been in Boca, they've added two new high schools along with middle schools and elementary.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Something between Palm Beach & Weston huh? Thanx for narrowing that down for us.

There's not a lot of historical areas here which have not been minimansioned to death. I'm assuming with $1-2mil house, yer kids can go to private school so I won't suggest based upon good public schools.

The aforementioned Old Floresta is one of my favorite areas. Flagler area of WPB also very nice. I'd also suggest up that way old Delray between US 1 & the ocean where you will find some lovely homes, though I don't know how much is for sale there.

As there is little of historic significance west of I-95 and as you mentioned both Palm Beach & Weston I'm going to add two more areas south of one & east of the other. Those would be the Isles off Las Olas where there's still a few wonderful older homes in your price range which have not yet been leveled. Also just south & east of downtown Fort Lauderdale you might explore the Rio Vista area which will give you good access to I-95 north & I-595 west.

[ct1010]

I grew up in South Florida and lived 11 years in Manhattan (most recently, W. Village). Currently live in Fairfield, CT, but about a year ago, husband and I considered moving to So FL to be near family. If we had done so (decided to stay in CT), we would've chosen El Cid or Old Floresta.

[THX 1138]

If your coming from NYC or Fairfield County CT and make Six Figures, don't count on finding the same quality of work and/or pay scale here. On average it won't happen. Of course Six Figures is not a lot of $ nowadays even here.

[DJMorrisInc]

I would not discount looking in Jupiter and especially Abacoa of Jupiter....great place and your kids can have all the friends they want without leaving the neighborhoods of Abacoa:

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