Please help - Taking job in Boca - Where to live? (Miami: real estate, apartment)

[whitfdb]

Please help! I am from out of town & am taking a job in the downtown Boca Raton area, and need some help finding a place to live. My wife and I will be moving down with our 1 & 3 yr old boys. We can only afford about 250k for a home. With our boys, schools are very important to us. On the internet we have found homes in the Lake Charleston and Terra Cina(West Palm) neighborhoods in the price range and to our liking, are the schools for these areas okay? What areas have the best public schools? I don't have much time to research before coming, so all help is much appreciated!!! Thanks!!!

[TriMT7]

Why not stay in Boca Raton? Rent a year and take your time to search out your perfect home. Homes aren't going anywhere, and you may very well have a better selection in one year to choose from.

Boca has good schools and you'll have a much more pleasant commute if you stay local.

[Jonotastic]

Boca Raton has better public schools than West Palm. Use greatschools.net

[bale002]

I'll join the chorus: work in Boca, then live in Boca, rent at least the first year, you have many education choices in Boca, from public schools, to every creed and color of private school, to home school groups.

Repeat, rent at least the first year. First, it is the prudent thing to do in any situation if you do not know the neighborhood, so to speak. Second, as mentioned, prices are not going anywhere. Besides, you may well find a house in Boca for around $250k even now.

Finally, if you look at Florida's tax structure, home ownership is actually a huge burden and it is taxed, basically, as a luxury.

I realize the psychological pressures and social stigma of "home ownership", but, from a purely economic standpoint, during the year that you rent, do diligent research on property taxes, insurance rates, other expenses associated with home "ownership" in Florida, and do your rent vs. buy calculations very carefully.

[whitfdb]

Please keep them coming, as the more influence and opinions I get the better!
As for renting, that certainly is a possibility. Looking around, I have found one problem, though. With the equity in my home I was hoping to get a 250k listed home for 200-225k and then mortgage 150k for a payment around 1.2-1.4k total. I looked around briefly, and noticed for a decent 4bdr rental home in boca is well north of 2k/mo. That extra 650-1k/mo would probably be out of my budget, and would thus drain my reserves making it harder to purchase a home 1-2 yrs from now. Does this make sense?

So, 2 further questions: Where is a good place for rental listings in Boca? And, if my hurt is set on buying a home, where would be a few good neighborhoods with good schools in the range I'm looking?

Again, thanks so much for the info!!!

[Capo]

Originally Posted by whitfdb

Please keep them coming, as the more influence and opinions I get the better!
As for renting, that certainly is a possibility. Looking around, I have found one problem, though. With the equity in my home I was hoping to get a 250k listed home for 200-225k and then mortgage 150k for a payment around 1.2-1.4k total. I looked around briefly, and noticed for a decent 4bdr rental home in boca is well north of 2k/mo. That extra 650-1k/mo would probably be out of my budget, and would thus drain my reserves making it harder to purchase a home 1-2 yrs from now. Does this make sense?

So, 2 further questions: Where is a good place for rental listings in Boca? And, if my hurt is set on buying a home, where would be a few good neighborhoods with good schools in the range I'm looking?

Again, thanks so much for the info!!!

Is that 1.2k a month including mortgage, taxes, and homeowners insurance? If so, I don't think that is enough. Have you had homeowners insuranced priced yet? I know my parents live in Miami and pay nearly 500 dollars a MONTH in homeowners insurance for a similarly priced home as yours.

Property taxes will also be a lot higher than you may be use to - that could be a few more hundred a month.

Also, if you want to save money, are you able to downsize for a year? Maybe get a 3 bedroom apartment, put your extra stuff in storage, and then just save that extra cash flow?

Just a thought. Either way, good luck.

[Capo]

To add to my post above, Home Owner Associations are very popular in South Florida, often costing owners another 200 to 500 dollars a month in HOA fees. So make sure you're aware if you're buying into a HOA area.

[Belsmama]

If you're going to work in Boca, live close by. WPB is way too far!
I live in east Boca, which tends to be older neighborhoods built in the 50's and 60's. There are several good school areas here. Check out Addison Mizner Elementary school, for instance. Some neighborhoods (with no HOA) that feed into this school are Royal Oak Hills, Boca Square, Palm Beach Farms. I know a 3 bedroom, pool home on my street sold for $319K last summer.
Central and west Boca also tend to have a lot of great schools. The neighborhoods can be larger, more gated-community type, many of which have high HOA dues. I love the neighborhood Millpond in Central Boca, but I'm unsure of housing prices there. Verde Elementary School is supposed to be very good, as is Calusa.
I know that many realtor websites allow you to search by school district/area. Why not call a realtor and let him/her give you some home prices based on certain schools?
My property taxes run around $5500/yearly and my insurance runs about $2400/year, if that helps you to estimate at all.
Good luck.

[Bobstar]

I rent a beautiful 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath + den home in a gated community in Wellington for under $2K a month. I pay cheap renter's insurance and no HOA or property taxes. I commute to Boca for work. No hassel at all. Buying a home down here right now is a HUGE mistake. Rent for at least a year even if you think it will cost you more. The extra money is an investment - you will learn a lot in that year and if you find you don't like your house or community, you won't be trapped there b/c you can't sell.

You say that you don't have much time to research everything - all the more reason to RENT.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by whitfdb

then mortgage 150k for a payment around 1.2-1.4k total. I looked around briefly, and noticed for a decent 4bdr rental home in boca is well north of 2k/mo. That extra 650-1k/mo would probably be out of my budget, and would thus drain my reserves making it harder to purchase a home 1-2 yrs from now. Does this make sense?

So, 2 further questions: Where is a good place for rental listings in Boca? And, if my hurt is set on buying a home, where would be a few good neighborhoods with good schools in the range I'm looking?

Again, and as mentioned elsewhere, do careful research and calculations on all the costs of home "ownership". Your monthly mortgage payment me only be the half of it, or even less, when you consider taxes, insurance, HOA fees (which often include very little service outside of cable TV at an inflated price), water bill, ordinary maintenance, and extraordinary maintenance.

The second best place to start for rental listing is craigslist. The best place to start is driving around neighborhoods and speaking with people, though unfortunately you do not have that opportunity. Down the list is newspapers and then real estate agents and the MLS.

In the range you are looking for, your best bet may be south/southcentral Boca, portions of zip codes 33432, 33486 and 33433, but also parts of west Boca (west of SR7/441) zip code 33248.

Do not let emotions get the best of you and rent first. The chances of making a mistake when buying are 99%.