Help! (Broward, Palm beach County) (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: condos, crime, townhouse)

[know2walk]

Hello everyone,

My husband and I really need helping figuring out if we should move to Florida or not. We had found the perfect place we wanted to move to---San Diego—until we found out about the awful air quality .
We have a toddler and would like to live in a place where we can enjoy the outdoors year around(I know it gets really hot, but considering we live in a place where its either 40F in the winter and 90F + in the summer, we can’t be outdoors at all, so Florida is a major improvement).
We started looking into Florida, but have come across a lot of negative posts regarding raising kids there (crime, etc). We are really only interested in Broward county, Palm beach county or specifically, but to a lesser extent, Key Biscayne in Miami.
We would be very appreciative if you could help us with a decision… Visiting is really not the same as living there and we are scared to make the wrong decision.
Please let us know if the criteria we are looking for is possible in So. Florida? If so, which area or neighborhood would you recommend for us?


1-GATED community (I’m sure there are many of these, just putting it out there)

2-Excellent private school close by

3- VERY pedestrian friendly (able to walk in safety to shops, café, bike to beach)

4- SAFE. I worry a lot about this one because I am getting the idea that in So.Florida, there are good neighborhoods surrounded by bad ones—in other others, if one leaves the bubble, one might see gang activity, etc.

5- Health conscious surroundings---people jogging, organic, healthy or even vegan eats close by

6- An area that is not often evacuated during hurricanes

7- You are going to laugh at me but any areas where there are less alligators and snakes? LOL. I’m terrified of them! Will I see them more if I live in one of those intracoastal waterway homes?

8- Price range is around $1M

9- We work from home so commute is not a problem.

10- We have also briefly looked at Sarasota and Ft. Myers. What do you think of them? Do they cater more to senior citizens? We are also a multi ethnic family---so we would like a place where we would feel comfortable.


THANK YOU!!

[thebigW]

Boca Raton may be an option for you. It has several of the items you want.

Are you looking for a house or condo?

1-GATED community (I’m sure there are many of these, just putting it out there)

There are gated communities everywhere in south Florida. In Key Biscayne there are a few gated condo complexes. I can't think of any gated single family homes. But, 1M won't buy a house in that area, a 2,000 sf fixer upper will be more than that.

2-Excellent private school close by

There are private schools all over


3- VERY pedestrian friendly (able to walk in safety to shops, café, bike to beach)

There are several areas that have pedestrian friendly areas. Usually in the beach or downtown areas. It is easy to walk to these areas if you live in a condo or townhouse. If you want single family, that narrows the choices. There are some options still available. It depends on what you consider close.

4- SAFE. I worry a lot about this one because I am getting the idea that in So.Florida, there are good neighborhoods surrounded by bad ones—in other others, if one leaves the bubble, one might see gang activity, etc.

There are good and bad areas everywhere. It's not like you'll have to drive through a war zone whenever you leave your home.

5- Health conscious surroundings---people jogging, organic, healthy or even vegan eats close by

You see this everywhere and gaining in popularity.

6- An area that is not often evacuated during hurricanes

Pick you natural disaster. Depending on where you live, you'll have them, tornados, hurricanes, tsumanis, mud slides, fires, earthquakes, whatever. Every area has them. At least with hurricanes you have a 3 to 10 day notice to prepare. I've lived here 30 years and there has been one major hurricane in 1992 (before that in the 1960"s). There were some smaller ones, but not to the same extent.

7- You are going to laugh at me but any areas where there are less alligators and snakes? LOL. I’m terrified of them! Will I see them more if I live in one of those intracoastal waterway homes?

Stay out of the Everglades and you'll be fine.

8- Price range is around $1M

That will be sufficient in most areas, except Key Biscayne.

9- We work from home so commute is not a problem.

That's great.

10- We have also briefly looked at Sarasota and Ft. Myers. What do you think of them? Do they cater more to senior citizens? We are also a multi ethnic family---so we would like a place where we would feel comfortable.

Multi-ethnic families are not uncommon here. Generally not a problem.


I would recommend Boca Raton as meeting most of your needs.

Other areas in Broward would be east Hollywood/Hallandale, downtown Ft. Lauderdale, or Lauderdale by the Sea.

There are other areas further north that you might want to consider, such as Brevard County, or St. Augustine area, in addition to the west coast, Ft. Myers area. You might want to post in those areas to get an idea.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Good luck with you plans to move.

[ruski]

Weston fits a lot of the OP's wishes. But it is not on the beach. But on the other hand you don't have to worry about hurricane evacuations - it is well outside of the mandatory evacuation zone. Weston is very safe. Unlike many towns that have safe areas, all of Weston is safe. Also you see lots of people jogging, rollerblading, biking around Weston all the time.

If you want to be on the beach, I would suggest Sunny Isles. Although you won't find single family homes there for $1M. It is all highrise condos. But very luxurious condos. And the whole area is very nice and trendy.

You also may want to look into Fort Lauderdale, around Las Olas/New River...

[ruski]

P.S. I do realize that Sunny Isles is just outside of the Broward county, but it is very nice, therefore I mention it.

There are single family homes in the Sunny Isles/Golden Beach area. But here are their prices:

Email View


Or condos:

Email View

[ruski]

Compare to what you can get in Weston

Email View


.

[ruski]

Compare to nice areas in Fort Lauderdale (I didn't ask to only show gated, because some really nice options in Fort Lauderdale proper are not gated)

Email View




.

[know2walk]

Thank you guys! What do you think of lighthouse point, plantation, Jupiter and east ft. Lauderdale? Would they meet my criteria? Thanks again so very much!

[ruski]

Lighthouse point is very good.

Take a look at these properties in Lighthouse Point - Email View

Plantation can be very good (it has very nice areas and so-so areas). American Heritage is a very good private school in the western Plantation. Here are some nice Plantation choices - Email View

East Fort Lauderdale has gorgeous areas around Las Olas, Coral Ridge, New River, Victoria Park.

I hear Jupiter is very nice, but it is kind of far from everything.

[vigo]

Originally Posted by know2walk

Hello everyone,

My husband and I really need helping figuring out if we should move to Florida or not. We had found the perfect place we wanted to move to---San Diego—until we found out about the awful air quality .
We have a toddler and would like to live in a place where we can enjoy the outdoors year around(I know it gets really hot, but considering we live in a place where its either 40F in the winter and 90F + in the summer, we can’t be outdoors at all, so Florida is a major improvement).
We started looking into Florida, but have come across a lot of negative posts regarding raising kids there (crime, etc). We are really only interested in Broward county, Palm beach county or specifically, but to a lesser extent, Key Biscayne in Miami.
We would be very appreciative if you could help us with a decision… Visiting is really not the same as living there and we are scared to make the wrong decision.
Please let us know if the criteria we are looking for is possible in So. Florida? If so, which area or neighborhood would you recommend for us?


1-GATED community (I’m sure there are many of these, just putting it out there)

2-Excellent private school close by

3- VERY pedestrian friendly (able to walk in safety to shops, café, bike to beach)

4- SAFE. I worry a lot about this one because I am getting the idea that in So.Florida, there are good neighborhoods surrounded by bad ones—in other others, if one leaves the bubble, one might see gang activity, etc.

5- Health conscious surroundings---people jogging, organic, healthy or even vegan eats close by

6- An area that is not often evacuated during hurricanes

7- You are going to laugh at me but any areas where there are less alligators and snakes? LOL. I’m terrified of them! Will I see them more if I live in one of those intracoastal waterway homes?

8- Price range is around $1M

9- We work from home so commute is not a problem.

10- We have also briefly looked at Sarasota and Ft. Myers. What do you think of them? Do they cater more to senior citizens? We are also a multi ethnic family---so we would like a place where we would feel comfortable.


THANK YOU!!

Anyplace east of US1 is going to be evacuated in a hurricane but you'd want to be east of US 1 to be within biking distance to the beach.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by know2walk

1-GATED community (I’m sure there are many of these, just putting it out there)-You can find gated communities everywhere. I don't think you need to limit yourself to gated communities as the nice neighborhoods are pretty nice and generally have lower crime whether gated or not.

2-Excellent private school close by-I am not sure what you mean by close by. Pincrest is in Fort Lauderdale. University School is in Davie. American Heritage is in Plantation. North Broward Prep is in Coconut Creek. How close do you want to be? The schools I mentioned are non religious private schools. There are also private religious schools all over the place. Some are great, others aren't.

3- VERY pedestrian friendly (able to walk in safety to shops, café, bike to beach)-If you want to be able to bike to beach and be close to a non religious private school then you will be limited to Fort Lauderdale. The other areas near private schools are not near the beach. The thing is that there aren't that many gated communities in Fort Lauderdale so you will have to decide which is more important to you. Broward County is not very pedestrian friendly.

4- SAFE. I worry a lot about this one because I am getting the idea that in So.Florida, there are good neighborhoods surrounded by bad ones—in other others, if one leaves the bubble, one might see gang activity, etc.-I have lived in Weston and Plantation and neither city has really bad neighborhoods close to really nice neighborhoods. You can find gated communities in both cities but neither is pedestrian friendly. Most of the really nice areas are really nice. This is like any other urban area in that there are bad neighborhoods.

5- Health conscious surroundings---people jogging, organic, healthy or even vegan eats close by-Organic food is easy to find in any grocery store. There is a vegan cafe in Plantation and a vegetarian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

6- An area that is not often evacuated during hurricanes-If you want to live near the beach you will be in an evacuation zone. Areas that are inland are not usually evacuated although they are affected by storms. You will have to make a choice. Near the beach or non evacuation. You can't have both.

7- You are going to laugh at me but any areas where there are less alligators and snakes? LOL. I’m terrified of them! Will I see them more if I live in one of those intracoastal waterway homes?-You will see alligators around but they rarely bother people.

8- Price range is around $1M-What you get for $1 million will vary but as long as you don't require ocean frontage in that price range you should be able to find housing wherever you choose. We are in Plantation Acres (not gated) and out here you can buy a very nice, large house on a large piece of property in that price range. If you want to be in Lauderdale by the Sea in a home on the intercoastal you will get an older, smaller house in that price range.

9- We work from home so commute is not a problem.

10- We have also briefly looked at Sarasota and Ft. Myers. What do you think of them? Do they cater more to senior citizens? We are also a multi ethnic family---so we would like a place where we would feel comfortable.-I don't know much about those areas but here in Broward multi ethnic families are common.


THANK YOU!!

Good luck with your search.