[mcastillo04]

Hello everyone, my familly and I are looking to relocate from Brooklyn NY to Florida. I have no idea on what neighborhoods and what areas to start looking into. There will be about 5-6 of us moving. I have a 6 year old child and plan on having more children...my husband does handy work and carpentry here in Brooklyn. He works for cash off the books and I am a college student. My mother in law speaks mostly Spanish and has worked as a nanny and housekeeper for a Kosher family for many years. Both my husband and my mother in law are hoping to find a place where they can find the same type of work. We definitely need to be in a nice area where there are alot of hispanics for my mother in law to feel comfortable. She needs to be able to walk places and close by public transportation. An area close to everything; schools, shopping, everything we would need. We are looking to rent/lease a beautiful home or maybe even buy something. I hope someone can help me and give me some good advice on areas! thank u!!!

[jambo101]

You will have to make some big compromises if you are determined to move to Fla.
Handymen are a dime a dozen and usually get a low wages for the few jobs that are available and arent full time, nanny's and housekeepers are also more numerous than there are jobs for them,also minimum wage. not sure how you plan on supporting a family of 6 on such meager finances,
Largest Hispanic (Cuban) neighborhoods will be in the Miami area but Florida is basically designed around car ownership and although public transit may be just adequate in the inner parts of Miami it gets more undependable outside office hours or once out in the suburbs. Not sure what you are envisioning about Florida but its absolutely nothing like Brooklyn.
You or the hubby need to make an exploratory trip to Florida to get a better idea of what its all about because from information given you could find yourself homeless in a real hurry.
I'd think long and hard about why you feel the need to make such a major change in your life.

[willow wind]

I think you're going to be in for a rude awakening. There is no real estate agent or property manager that is going to rent to your family without past verifiable income or current jobs. Working off the books is not verifiable income.

Verifiable income is determined from tax returns or at least a series of pay stubs. You can forget about buying. From a lender's point of view, your family has had no income. The days of no -income verification loans are long over.

What is the point of working off the books ? Your family is paying nothing into Social Security or Medicare and thus will get nothing out of it when the time comes. These are not good financial decisions. This is poor, short term planning which is going to have long term consequences.

Your only hope for renting is to find a private landlord and try to talk your way into a rental. Even then arriving in a state with no jobs, no way of proving you've ever had an income, and expecting even a private land lord to take chance on you may be a bit of a stretch. The economy is not good , land lords worry about being scammed so are super cautious right now.

But good luck to you- you're going to need it.

[mcastillo04]

verifiable income would be in my bank statements and tax returns, yes they work off the books and still pay their taxes EVERY year, just like many subcontractors do.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by mcastillo04

Hello everyone, my familly and I are looking to relocate from Brooklyn NY to Florida. I have no idea on what neighborhoods and what areas to start looking into. There will be about 5-6 of us moving. I have a 6 year old child and plan on having more children...my husband does handy work and carpentry here in Brooklyn. He works for cash off the books and I am a college student. My mother in law speaks mostly Spanish and has worked as a nanny and housekeeper for a Kosher family for many years. Both my husband and my mother in law are hoping to find a place where they can find the same type of work. We definitely need to be in a nice area where there are alot of hispanics for my mother in law to feel comfortable. She needs to be able to walk places and close by public transportation. An area close to everything; schools, shopping, everything we would need. We are looking to rent/lease a beautiful home or maybe even buy something. I hope someone can help me and give me some good advice on areas! thank u!!!

I'd point you toward South Florida...specifically the cities of Coconut Creek or Coral Springs where the schools are very good, it's relatively safe, centrally located between Miami and West Palm Beach and just west of Fort Lauderdale, and both towns have around 25% of the population Hispanic. The public transit will be decent enough to get around by and you can find housing walking distance from grocery stores/shopping plazas.

[Spring Hillian]

I have to agree with Kyle on his post above. What you probably mean about the employment is that your husband
is an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. Florida Statute 440.02 explain that.

He, of course, doesn't have the boss taking out the taxes, that's the IC's total responsibility. Of course with that so is Workers' Compensation coverage which is required for ALL construction companies, even if it is a 1 man outfit. You've got to be licensed and insured to work in the state of Florida or it will be next to impossible to earn a living.
While it is true that trades people are currently a dime a dozen here due to the collapse of the housing industry here a few years ago. The recovery from it is showing, somewhat, but nothing like it was.

At any rate, based on what your looking for Kyle's suggestion is probably best. South East Florida.

[hiknapster]

Bank accounts and tax returns are all well and good but without jobs you are not going to find a place to rent. And school...If you are a student, where do you intend on going to school? Or are you about to get your degree?

I apologize in advance but the statement "We are looking to rent/lease a beautiful home or maybe even buy something" seemed naive and fanciful. Not for a handyman - the folks that said these are a dime a dozen are correct - a nanny and a student, you are not. Florida can be lovely for the well-off or even simply the well-established, perhaps for someone with a fabulous business plan and financial backing or someone that has transferred or recruited to a wonderful job. It is not for folks without jobs and on a career path where others just like them are tripping over each other.

Finally, the services that are available to you in Brooklyn will never be found in Florida. Period. The two places are like night and day.

We had a gal on this forum a few years ago. Her husband actually had a great work history, as did she. She was far ahead of you on the career path. She hated, hated, hated NYC and wanted her kids to go to school in Florida. We could not talk her out of it. AND she had a job before she moved to Florida although her husband did not. She didn't even last 3 months in Southeast Florida and she said that she didn't realize what she was missing until it was gone, referring to NYC.

[RMD3819]

What is your housing budget?

[totsuka]

You are not bringing anything to the table that is not already here. You might look at other states where there is a better job base which would allow your family to settle into service economy.

[mcastillo04]

thank you kyle and spring hillian....RMD my housing budget is up to 1800/month.....as for everyone else....its amazing how ppl are speaking like as if theyre speaking to their children.....yes i am a student and i have a hospital job lined up in miami if i accept it, my mother in law is an older woman and thats the work shes been doing since she came to this country and being that i have plenty of family in tampa and west palm beach who do the same type of work as her, im sure she would be fine. i was asking for peoples opinions on other neighborhoods because she doesnt drive, thats why i originally asked for a place with public transportation....my husband builds houses here from the ground up, runs the electric, plumbing, boilers, etc....he is extremely talented and would never move our family to a place if we didnt have many years of savings....so as for everyone who had nothing but negative to say....keep it to yourselves thank you very much.