home buying help (Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs: to rent, HOA fees, crime)

[acesup_11]

I am relocating with my fiance to South Florida from Connecticut we are looking to buy a home in a safe neighborhood the most we would like to spend is 290k coming from Connecticut I was expecting it to be cheaper but it looks like we would need to be way over 300,000 in order to get something decent not even a very nice house for that matter. can someone tell me where to look besides Coral Springs or Weston ? or perhaps somewhere I can rent if this truly is a bubble. we looked in Pembroke Pines but it seems kind of shady thank you so much

[ruski]

Hey, my wife is from Connecticut!

$290 is not a Bubble price for a nice house in a good area. We bought ours in Weston for that much in 2000.

You could buy a pretty nice townhouse in a very nice gated development in Weston for about $260.

[acesup_11]

thanks for the reply.... but I said not a nice house for that...especially not in Weston that's is the most expensive area and would love to live there.... what areas are still nice but affordable

[ruski]

Cooper City then. A bit older but still very nice for the most part.

Some parts of Davie and Plantation are nice too.

Do you have kids? If so, then again Weston is the ticket.

[ruski]

And also where in Pembroke Pines did you look? Have you seen the Pembroke Falls development?

[acesup_11]

Not sure where but pretty horrible lol

[jhlcomp]

Do yourselves a ginormous favor - rent for one year and give yourselves time to check out the area. It's less stressful for you to do this. I did this when I first moved down here as have so many others. We bought a house in an area that was spot on and so will you. Welcome to south Florida!!!

[HarryWho?]

Do you have to live in a certain area for work or are you retired?

[Kelly O- HomeBuyerJourney]

Hi, I know that feeling, everything seems to be a little bit pricer than you’d expect. Boca Raton is a nice area to look in, it is still considered “South Florida” although it is the southern most part of Palm Beach County. The houses in this area seem reasonable, and you won’t have to worry about safety in a majority of the neighborhoods throughout. But buyer beware some of the houses in Boca may seem like a pretty good deals but some have astronomically high HOA fees and “mandatory golf club membership fees” that can be anywhere from a reasonable $325 a quarter to 22,000 retainer for golf membership.

South Florida also has many variations of owners in the same vicinity so don’t overlook cities all together. For instance like in Hollywood. Getting off of 95 exit 20 for Hollywood, Florida you are met with homes in the 100k range in a so so area , but if you drive east towards the beach, in less than five minutes you are looking at luxury homes with manicured lawns in the between the 200- 500k range. This same scenario applies to Deerfield Beach exit 39 heading east and is most common along the cost east of federal highway/US1.

Other south Floridians swear by the “west is right” rule. Many of the nicer area homes will be out west, get a map find the turnpike or state road 7/441 and keep driving west. The houses get bigger the neighborhoods get nicer overall. This is a huge generalization because natives all know some not so hot neighborhoods out west but 8 out of 10 people would say that west is the way to go in terms of safety and square footage. Try: Coconut Creek, Tamarac, Margate, Plantation(west), Pembroke Pines (west).

I don’t necessarily feel renting for a while and then buying would be the best option, think about how much you will be losing in a year to rent. Just do your research and be thorough. Better school zones usually lend way to nicer areas. You can look up crime stats online, you can walk the streets of neighborhoods on google map. Also, when you come down to do house hunting ask the locals. This may seem weird but it works, go online and get a list of realtors that live ( realtor.com) in South Florida area and go down the page and just start calling them up. Each time introduce yourself as a home buyer from out of the area looking for a realtor. Explain to them your price point, everything your looking for, safety, square footage, demographic etc. and ask there opinions for areas to look in, write it down and thank them. Do this again down the page and see the ones that repeat and look in those areas first. If you want ask them to start looking for homes for you, these days most realtors will setup something on there end to email you automatic emails once a new home that meets your criteria comes on the market. They can narrow the ones emailed to you by square footage, city, number of rooms and bathrooms etc. When you get sent a home you like search it on google maps and take a virtual stroll around the neighborhood to get a feel for the area. I hope this helped, good luck on the house hunt, don’t get discouraged your house is out there waiting on you!

Happy Home Buyer Journey!

Kelly O

Homebuyerjourney.com

[ruski]

Originally Posted by Kelly O- HomeBuyerJourney

Hi, I know that feeling, everything seems to be a little bit pricer than you’d expect. Boca Raton is a nice area to look in, it is still considered “South Florida” although it is the southern most part of Palm Beach County. The houses in this area seem reasonable, and you won’t have to worry about safety in a majority of the neighborhoods throughout. But buyer beware some of the houses in Boca may seem like a pretty good deals but some have astronomically high HOA fees and “mandatory golf club membership fees” that can be anywhere from a reasonable $325 a quarter to 22,000 retainer for golf membership.

South Florida also has many variations of owners in the same vicinity so don’t overlook cities all together. For instance like in Hollywood. Getting off of 95 exit 20 for Hollywood, Florida you are met with homes in the 100k range in a so so area , but if you drive east towards the beach, in less than five minutes you are looking at luxury homes with manicured lawns in the between the 200- 500k range. This same scenario applies to Deerfield Beach exit 39 heading east and is most common along the cost east of federal highway/US1.

Other south Floridians swear by the “west is right” rule. Many of the nicer area homes will be out west, get a map find the turnpike or state road 7/441 and keep driving west. The houses get bigger the neighborhoods get nicer overall. This is a huge generalization because natives all know some not so hot neighborhoods out west but 8 out of 10 people would say that west is the way to go in terms of safety and square footage. Try: Coconut Creek, Tamarac, Margate, Plantation(west), Pembroke Pines (west).

I don’t necessarily feel renting for a while and then buying would be the best option, think about how much you will be losing in a year to rent. Just do your research and be thorough. Better school zones usually lend way to nicer areas. You can look up crime stats online, you can walk the streets of neighborhoods on google map. Also, when you come down to do house hunting ask the locals. This may seem weird but it works, go online and get a list of realtors that live ( realtor.com) in South Florida area and go down the page and just start calling them up. Each time introduce yourself as a home buyer from out of the area looking for a realtor. Explain to them your price point, everything your looking for, safety, square footage, demographic etc. and ask there opinions for areas to look in, write it down and thank them. Do this again down the page and see the ones that repeat and look in those areas first. If you want ask them to start looking for homes for you, these days most realtors will setup something on there end to email you automatic emails once a new home that meets your criteria comes on the market. They can narrow the ones emailed to you by square footage, city, number of rooms and bathrooms etc. When you get sent a home you like search it on google maps and take a virtual stroll around the neighborhood to get a feel for the area. I hope this helped, good luck on the house hunt, don’t get discouraged your house is out there waiting on you!

Happy Home Buyer Journey!

Kelly O

Homebuyerjourney.com

Don't forget Weston. Best schools and very safe.