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Most people love it here, that includes me. Just keep in mind it's like anyplace else, problems exist and it's far from perfect. In a perfect world if I had a bottomless bank account and did not have to work or just worked for myself as a hobby, did not make not profit this year...no problem...it would be an even better place to live.
The thing about having kids here and the school system is a two fold problem, if you stay here till your kids get out of school, graduate and go to college. Odds are they will not be able to stay here and live the same life or even be able to afford the same quality of life on average. I know of several people who have lived here for a long time and raised families, there kids struggled after college to find work here and had to relocate to other parts of the US.
I know how this is because I had to leave my native state and move too due to lack of work in my field there. Not every kid that grows up in South Florida will be able to stay in South Florida, there is just not enough new work or companies coming here. Of course there are lines of work that are built for the future here if that is what he or she desires, not all will.
The 2nd wave of foreclosures is coming hard, lack of tax revenue like this has not been experienced before here at this magnitude. PBC Govt. grew too fast, the area grew too fast now things are being cut and the population of the county (over 1.2 million) is going to feel the effects of it. To a degree, what exists now is still riding on the coat tails of the Boom years. A lot of people who created the Boom are upside down on their houses big time. The ones that bought pre-boom are fairing better if they stayed in a realistic affordable home and had good job stability.
When you visit here, it will look like everything is okay, you will see some empty stores and closed retails stores but not much, it won't look like a ghost town or image of Flint, MI. The mall will be packed and the restaurants will the same, you will see plenty of nice cars on the road both average joe run of the mill stuff to high end exotics costing more then your average house. You will see McMansions and nicely appointed homes with beautiful landscaping and more average older homes, condos. Remind you of anyplace familiar ;-)
Of course..if you have money none of this will apply to you, that's how it is here....many of the type see things through rose-tinted glasses.....money equals not having to worry about the usual things in life that plague our daily routine. You will see plenty of that here so prepare yourself.
Location: Small town Texas, from Southern California
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As far as kids staying in S. Florida, that reminds me of home (California) our kids would most likely have had to move to another state, because California is so costly, they would not b able to live the life we did there, or even here for that matter. i stay home, and that seems to be a dwindling profession, and it is definatley underpaid...lol....
I know everywhere has it's issues, even here in small town usa...just different than home, but not perfect.
I forsee Florida being alot more like home..
More diversity
busier
more rude people or bad drivers
sunny
bigger schools
some friendly neighbors, some not.
It will just be on the east side of the US and not the West.
As I said I do like Texas, I just do not like doing it alone 10 or so days out of the month..I feel my husband misses out on alot with our kids. We have a lot of freedom, meaning because we are self employed he has a flexible schedule and can be around for kids stuff at school or sprots, and yes make it home for dinner...something he can not do if we stay in Texas, and he continues to travel...so it really can't be all that bad, i am guessing....
CravenClan - where are you in Texas? My husband has a job opportunity in South Florida ( Davie ) and my thought was to stay here in Texas and have him commute home a couple times a month. It sounds like that isn't working for you??
As far as kids staying in S. Florida, that reminds me of home (California) our kids would most likely have had to move to another state, because California is so costly, they would not b able to live the life we did there, or even here for that matter. i stay home, and that seems to be a dwindling profession, and it is definatley underpaid...lol....
I know everywhere has it's issues, even here in small town usa...just different than home, but not perfect.
I forsee Florida being alot more like home..
More diversity
busier
more rude people or bad drivers
sunny
bigger schools
some friendly neighbors, some not.
It will just be on the east side of the US and not the West.
As I said I do like Texas, I just do not like doing it alone 10 or so days out of the month..I feel my husband misses out on alot with our kids. We have a lot of freedom, meaning because we are self employed he has a flexible schedule and can be around for kids stuff at school or sprots, and yes make it home for dinner...something he can not do if we stay in Texas, and he continues to travel...so it really can't be all that bad, i am guessing....
Private school would be as a last resort, ya know if things got really bad..
I remember when we were still in CA, it must have been about 2-3 years ago, and they did a hiring freeze, and gave out pink slips. MOST of the teachers were asked back, and then the same the following year. However they do not do Art, Tech, or Music there, and PE was only 2x per week...
If I am looking at High rated Public schools, in Wellington, I guess I am asking myself, "how could I go wrong?", maybe it could be an issue down the road, I am not sure....and what is a top rated school NOW, may not be in 5 years, things are always changing.
I think my trip this spring break will give me a good idea of who is living there, what the people are like and i can go from there...It is always best to sit outsdie the school, and see who id dropping off or picking up, visit local parks, go to the grocery store, Target, and eat out...then You will know...
If you have the money, definitely send your kids to private school. Public school IMHO, just not up to standard. As a product of public school, I got first hand experience on it. The education nowadays is worst than what was offered 20 years ago.
They no longer teach what is important in school. Arts and Musics are very important IMHO. Making a living from it is a different story. But for those who make a living from it seem to be a lot happier than us who sit in office all day.
Arts and Musics help stimulate creativity and build confidence. In Arts and Musics classes, you are force to share your work, interact and even presenting. While other classes such as English, math and history, you basically sit in class all day listen. No wonder children fall asleep in class or even skip classes.
But what do you expect from DOE who's mission is to build robot to take order.
Its sad because Most Schools in the country no longer have Art and Music as I know we lived in 3 states that did away with it because of cut backs...although my daughter has Art in her school as she is very very creative so we are pleased...I know Broward county had cuts to their programs not sure if they are still offering it either...With that being said I have plenty of friends up north who have lost the music and art as well....and I strongly believe that it really depends on which public schools you attend..The funny thing is there was an article in the paper which we cut out for our son about How Popular Florida Colleges have become for in state and out of state and FAU alone has received over 2000 applications and UF 1000 more than they usally do...The sad thing is with a 3.79 average kids are being turned away and not getting in...So I will continue to disagree with so many people about the florida schools I just cant believe the Majority of these kids are STUPID or Not as Smart as other kids in other states that just isnt true...The Article did State that the State of Florida now has an over 80% Graduation Rate than the 60% before so I wonder how that can be if so many people think our schools are horrible...OH and they are using the info from Public Schools and not Private Schools..
So the bottom line is Our Children are learning and if you think that other states are teaching to what they have to for these awful Tests then one is very wrong...The bottom line is the Education System in General is what isnt working well not JUST THE STATE OF FLORIDA....
Last edited by Swimmom32; 03-22-2011 at 07:38 AM..
Yeah anyone saying there's a lot of crime in Wellington is a moron. There's maybe a few places with Section 8 but you'd see that anywhere. There's one section I know of near the old Winn-Dixie by Greenview Shores that has some townhouses which have always had some kind of rough people by Wellington standards--think white trash types and black kids hanging around looking aimless--but it's literally like two blocks and that is the only part of Wellington I can think of that isn't on its face very white and upper middle class compared to most of the rest of PBC.
Honestly though if you don't feel comfortable in Texas then I don't know if you'd like South Florida, I would imagine it's pretty similar to suburban Texas. Much less Southern people and much more people from the NYC area though. The weather would be a lot warmer in winter but it stays hotter for more of the year. At least you have the beach in FL, though Wellington is a bit removed from it. Everything is suburban and very sprawly, though there's little traffic compared to really big urban areas. There's not as much ethnic food as somewhere like California but the restaurant scene in South FL has really improved in about the last 10 years as it has anywhere in the US, plus you can get great fish dishes and stuff like Cuban food that you don't find easily in other parts of the US.
Honestly I would be bored to tears in Wellington but I am only 31 and have no kids and at this point in my life I like cities, I moved to Orlando after college, it wasn't urban enough, then moved to Chicago, loved it, then moved to San Francisco when a girlfriend dragged me out to the Bay Area when she went to grad school (then we broke up), but I do like the Bay Area because the weather is pretty good and it is a neat area. But FL is definitely better than the Bay Area if you want to raise kids well, it's too expensive to buy real estate anywhere in CA in a place that is fun to live in, and the schools in middle class areas are horrible compared to what you can get in a comparable place in Florida. Also Florida would be pretty good to retire in, the weather is easy to deal with, it's pretty cheap (compared to CA) and it's pretty laid back but developed enough so that it's convenient to get out and do stuff...but hey, retirement is a long way off for me.
I would say go check out South FL for a while, maybe a couple weeks, and take it easy and try to meet some locals and try to see how people live there. I'd check out a few places, maybe Jupiter and Boca, you might like them better then Welly-World plus they're closer to the beach. And rent for a short while before you buy so you can see if you like South FL or not and also you'd get a sense from your surroundings of where you'd like to buy.
I loved you honest observations and point of view. So now that the Bay Area has spoiled you for anything else on the planet, I loved Russian Hill myself - let's say you got a terrific job offer from Donald Trump to start a business anywhere in Florida...of the places you know, where would you go as a first choice ? ..Cheers!
Most people love it here, that includes me. Just keep in mind it's like anyplace else, problems exist and it's far from perfect. In a perfect world if I had a bottomless bank account and did not have to work or just worked for myself as a hobby, did not make not profit this year...no problem...it would be an even better place to live.
The thing about having kids here and the school system is a two fold problem, if you stay here till your kids get out of school, graduate and go to college. Odds are they will not be able to stay here and live the same life or even be able to afford the same quality of life on average. I know of several people who have lived here for a long time and raised families, there kids struggled after college to find work here and had to relocate to other parts of the US.
I know how this is because I had to leave my native state and move too due to lack of work in my field there. Not every kid that grows up in South Florida will be able to stay in South Florida, there is just not enough new work or companies coming here. Of course there are lines of work that are built for the future here if that is what he or she desires, not all will.
The 2nd wave of foreclosures is coming hard, lack of tax revenue like this has not been experienced before here at this magnitude. PBC Govt. grew too fast, the area grew too fast now things are being cut and the population of the county (over 1.2 million) is going to feel the effects of it. To a degree, what exists now is still riding on the coat tails of the Boom years. A lot of people who created the Boom are upside down on their houses big time. The ones that bought pre-boom are fairing better if they stayed in a realistic affordable home and had good job stability.
When you visit here, it will look like everything is okay, you will see some empty stores and closed retails stores but not much, it won't look like a ghost town or image of Flint, MI. The mall will be packed and the restaurants will the same, you will see plenty of nice cars on the road both average joe run of the mill stuff to high end exotics costing more then your average house. You will see McMansions and nicely appointed homes with beautiful landscaping and more average older homes, condos. Remind you of anyplace familiar ;-)
Of course..if you have money none of this will apply to you, that's how it is here....many of the type see things through rose-tinted glasses.....money equals not having to worry about the usual things in life that plague our daily routine. You will see plenty of that here so prepare yourself.
To your comment about the economy and the loss of tax revenue for the county, are you seeing any increase in your property taxes or homeowner's insurance?
I plan on moving there and am trying to figure what my taxes might be like.I have heard some horror stories and that's not including the HOA's which seem to be very high in Florida. I pay 24 dollars a month but that's because I live in TN and my property tax on a 3300 sq ft new house on an acre in an upscale subdiv was $1800 last year. My insurance was about $900. What sort of numbers would I be looking at in your county?I assume the closer to the coast the higher the tax? Thanks....sounds like the real estate there is not in recovery yet. Perhaps I will find a deal
You cannot compare TN with FL, TN has the nation lowest property tax.
I am currently living in Jersey and moving down to FL is a no-brainer.
NJ and FL both have high property tax, but not as high as NJ. At least in Florida, tax actually gone down because of the real estate dive. In NJ, it goes up year after year.
TN has no income tax either I believe and the sales tax is about the same as FL's. You are correct, one can't compare FL with TN. But we all have our preferances and personally, I would pick those beautiful hills of TN. I can visit the beach several times a year!
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, and it is definatley underpaid...lol....
Thanks....sounds like the real estate there is not in recovery yet. Perhaps I will find a deal
