Moving to Florida ~ Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington or Weston (Jacksonville: real estate, insurance)

[Kimi4]

My husband, I and our 9 year old son are planning on moving out of cold CT to Florida this summer.
We are considering Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington or Weston. Schools are of great importance to us.
We'd like a family friendly community ~ lots of kid friendly activites ~ great sports.
Any input on any of these towns and communities within these towns would be greatly appreciated as well as any other towns you may feel would be a good fit!

Thanks

[kyle19125]

Check out Palm Harbor and East Lake/SE Tarpon Springs in Northern Pinellas County (NW of Tampa). There are excellent public schools (check out the Palm Harbor University HS and East Lake HS districts, both high schools perform in the top 1% in the state), it's extremely family-friendly with many recreational opportunities for kids with youth leagues, etc, some of the world's best beaches thirty minutes or less away (look up Clearwater Beach, Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Beach) and unlike the areas you're focused currently they're not pockets of safety within a much less safe area. Traffic and congestion in Northern Pinellas are also a fraction of what you would experience in South Florida. In addition comparable housing is 3/4 the price generally of what you'll find in South Florida.

[kyle19125]

LOL, I see in your profile you're from Tampa...was my suggestion too close to home???

Another option for you could be Ponte Vedra Beach/Ponte Vedra just south of Jacksonville. It's the number one school district in the state (St John's County), has some beautiful neighborhoods and planned communities, and of course the kid-friendly you're looking for. Once again housing will be considerably less expensive when comparing apple to apple with South Florida and again with a fraction of the traffic/congestion. It's an easy 30 minute or less drive in to Jacksonville.

[skylinet]

Originally Posted by Kimi4

My husband, I and our 9 year old son are planning on moving out of cold CT to Florida this summer.
We are considering Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington or Weston. Schools are of great importance to us.
We'd like a family friendly community ~ lots of kid friendly activites ~ great sports.
Any input on any of these towns and communities within these towns would be greatly appreciated as well as any other towns you may feel would be a good fit!

Thanks

All three of those are great communities. If you would like to be closer to the beach you may want to rule Weston out, but it is a very nice area. I live in the Wellington area and enjoy it, and have lived in PBG as well.
Jupiter, which is just North of Palm Beach Gardens is a great area as well.
I see you are a realtor as well, and all three areas are good areas for real estate as they are very high demand places to live.

[skylinet]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

LOL, I see in your profile you're from Tampa...was my suggestion too close to home???

Another option for you could be Ponte Vedra Beach/Ponte Vedra just south of Jacksonville. It's the number one school district in the state (St John's County), has some beautiful neighborhoods and planned communities, and of course the kid-friendly you're looking for. Once again housing will be considerably less expensive when comparing apple to apple with South Florida and again with a fraction of the traffic/congestion. It's an easy 30 minute or less drive in to Jacksonville.

I never understood why people post stuff like this. Hey I want to move to city x, well I know of a great city 200 miles a way you should check out! If the OP wanted to move to Jacksonville or Tampa I'm sure they would be posting in those sections instead.

Ponte Vedra still gets cold in the winter, sure it's not cold compared to the rest of the country, but for FL standards it's still cold. Op mentioned wanting to get a way from the cold.
Just taking a quick glance at the 500-550k price point homes seem to be going for around 165-200+ a sqft in Ponte Vedra which is the same or higher than an average home in the areas the OP mentioned. They are also looking in areas that really aren't congested or have a lot of traffic.

I have nothing against any of the areas you mentioned by why even waste time posting something like this?

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by Kimi4

My husband, I and our 9 year old son are planning on moving out of cold CT to Florida this summer.
We are considering Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington or Weston. Schools are of great importance to us.
We'd like a family friendly community ~ lots of kid friendly activites ~ great sports.
Any input on any of these towns and communities within these towns would be greatly appreciated as well as any other towns you may feel would be a good fit!

Thanks

Wellington hands down for what you want...

Wellington | Parks & Recreation

[WhatUpFLA]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Check out Palm Harbor and East Lake/SE Tarpon Springs in Northern Pinellas County (NW of Tampa). There are excellent public schools (check out the Palm Harbor University HS and East Lake HS districts, both high schools perform in the top 1% in the state), it's extremely family-friendly with many recreational opportunities for kids with youth leagues, etc, some of the world's best beaches thirty minutes or less away (look up Clearwater Beach, Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Beach) and unlike the areas you're focused currently they're not pockets of safety within a much less safe area. Traffic and congestion in Northern Pinellas are also a fraction of what you would experience in South Florida. In addition comparable housing is 3/4 the price generally of what you'll find in South Florida.

This is a phenomenally accurate post, and I agree with almost all of what you stated.

However, there is one major pitfall of that particular area that recently made global headlines which you failed to mention: sinkholes.

Unlike Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida, northern Pinellas County is far more susceptible to sinkholes like the rest of the Tampa Bay area. I learned through the news surrounding the recent tragedy on the death of the Tampa man who died when a sinkhole swallowed his bedroom while he was sleeping that Citizens no longer provides coverage to those afflicted by sinkholes in Pasco and Hernando Counties. Apparently, the number of sinkhole-related insurance claims filed in Hillsborough County are similar in number and/or percentage to those filed in Pasco and Hernando Counties. Regardless, sinkholes pose as serious a threat to Hillsborough County as they do to its northern neighbors. I would assume that Pinellas County, especially the northern part of the county, is as dangerously susceptible to sinkholes as Hillsborough, Pasco, and Hernando Counties because of its proximity to these aforementioned counties.

If the OP becomes interested in this area, I would highly recommend that a geological survey is conducted on ANY property they wish to purchase.

[Frogfish]

You can kiss your Connecticut education standards goodbye when you move here. The schools in Florida are atrocious and disgraceful. I worked in one for years before I quit. We are relocating out of Florida because we want to get away from those looking for the easy life which is what brought this state down. Crime is everywhere. Ps the school I worked in was "A"rated the entire time I worked there. It means nothing!

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by WhatUpFLA

Unlike Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida, northern Pinellas County is far more susceptible to sinkholes like the rest of the Tampa Bay area. I learned through the news surrounding the recent tragedy on the death of the Tampa man who died when a sinkhole swallowed his bedroom while he was sleeping that Citizens no longer provides coverage to those afflicted by sinkholes in Pasco and Hernando Counties.

Please stop spreading the misinformation. Parts of Palm Harbor have had sinkholes and there has been a grand total of 6 within it's 17 square miles, all of it south and west of Lake Tarpon. East Lake and the area east of Lake Tarpon has zero incidents and is not an area of risk, much like the rest of northern Pinellas outside of a couple of pockets. The OP would do far better in the natural disaster department in terms of odds there than in the high-risk hurricane landfall zone in Palm Beach County/South Florida.

Sinkholes of Pinellas County, FL | SFSI in Ocala & Spring Hill FL
http://www.city-data.com/forum/hurri...50-2005-a.html

[071402]

Originally Posted by Frogfish

You can kiss your Connecticut education standards goodbye when you move here. The schools in Florida are atrocious and disgraceful. I worked in one for years before I quit. We are relocating out of Florida because we want to get away from those looking for the easy life which is what brought this state down. Crime is everywhere. Ps the school I worked in was "A"rated the entire time I worked there. It means nothing!

BF attended Hartford public schools for 9 years before they had to move due to daily physical fights. Some of the worst schools in the country. You can check that.