Need information about Fort Lauderdale ,Florida area (Pembroke Pines, Pompano Beach: real estate, renting)

[DIAMANT]

We are moving to Ft.Lauderdale and I was hoping someone here can tell me about the best public school district to move in to and buy a house. we have 2 in middle school this year 7th and 8th grade ?
Also what to look for when buying there ?
This is happening very fast like the end off this month !!
thanks

[CC5]

Diamant, saw your post on mine -- thank you! We are not moving til November but I've been through this before (very overwhelming at the least!), there's so much to do!! I look forward to your input! Lots if luck next week!
CC5

[greg1b]

Be careful!!! Check out these real-time crime mapping websites for the City of Fort Lauderdale Police and Broward County Sheriff’s office. Be sure to change the dates to get a better feel for all of the crime occurring over the entire year. There are a lot of residential break-ins here. I am not buying anywhere down here if I cannot have a peace of mind when I go to sleep at night. The only thing that seems safe to me is buying in a high rise condo. Fort Lauderdale has a ton of crime. Even the high-end coral ridge neighborhood has break-ins. Until the city addresses its homeless druggies walking around everywhere on the streets and the thug life mentality from the hood the crime will continue. Every person that gets arrested here has a crime sheet a mile long. They let them back out on the streets the next day. If you are a chronic criminal you should be in prison for at least 15 years. Home invasions should be an automatic 30 years. Read the newspapers here and you will see that all of the criminals have extensive criminal backgrounds. Look at these websites and you will see the proof is in the numbers.
Here is the crime mapping for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department: RAIDS Online: Regional Analysis and Information Sharing (just type Fort Lauderdale in the address field and change the dates)
Here is the crime mapping for the Sheriff’s Office of Broward County: CrimeMapping.com - National Map (covers Oakland Park, Pompano Beach areas)

[ruski]

Weston is very safe and has very good schools.

[ralanprod]

Broward schools are set up in feeder patterns - in other words certain elementary schools flow into certain middle schools, and then into certain high schools. The Broward schools website has maps you can use.

The best public schools in Broward are typically on the western side of the county - except for the magnet high in Pompano.

I can't really speak to the schools on the northern end of the county. Off the top of my head, Douglas would be a good one.

On the southern end, depending on your budget and what location works best for you (work commute, etc.) I would stick to the areas that feed the following high schools:

Cypress Bay (Weston)
Western (West Davie)
Cooper City (Cooper City)
West Broward (Mostly Western Pembroke Pines)

The schools are generally reflective of the neighborhoods. You aren't going to really need to worry about your kids going to any of these schools, just like you wouldn't have to worry about living in the neighborhoods.

As a stretch you can also look into the areas for Flanagan High and Everglades High. I'm not a huge fan of either, but it's not like either one is some sort of inner city battle ground.

[ruski]

We have been in Weston for 14+ years and I don't want to be anywhere else. Many other areas of South Florida are fun to visit, but none have the hometown feel like Weston.

I like it here so much that I even got my real estate license to help others find their place under the sun in Weston.

[dh6236]

Ft Lauderdale..well nothing good. North Broward county area Parkland, Coconut Creek and South Broward area of Weston. If you want anything nice its going to be more expensive pretty much east of the intercoastal or west out by the Everglades but most in between I would AVOID. The better school districts (lol when talking about good education down here) will be in western Broward County or if you can afford it private school.

[JohnD_fla]

Originally Posted by DIAMANT

This is happening very fast like the end off this month !!

Are you saying that you expect to close on a house by the end of the month? I suggest renting for a while first if you're not familiar with the area. There are very few parts of Broward county where I would recommend buying a house these days. Some of them were already mentioned in this thread.