Moving to Florida. Location help please =)

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by lady8506

Hmm, my ideal place would be close to everything (like a 5 to 10 minute drive to the beach and shopping areas: grocery store, video rental store, etc.) and in a safe area. It would also be where a lot of young folks live. I am 30 yrs old and single white female. I want to meet people like me.

My budget in the beginning is going to be low, like $850 a month w/o utilities. I don't mind being a roommate when I first come there either. Also, I have a dog that weighs 37 pounds (Karelian Bear Dog), so some place that's dog friendly.

I don't speak Spanish and I'm truly against accomodating immigrants that are illegally living and holding american jobs in my country; especially when others of us seek to accomodate them. However, I know that Ft. Lauderdale and surrounding areas has a lot of people like this, and no place is perfect. I'll deal with it for the love of the beach and warm weather, and some scuba diving for pete's sake!

Although I don't speak Spanish (I speak German instead), I don't think this will be a problem for me. Here in Richmond, VA i'm an entrepreneur who owns her own cleaning business. When I get down there, I'll start it up again, since i've learned how profitable and easy it is to make and get business in this field of work. So i'm the boss of my own company, and no spanish is needed, wooohooo!

So in the beginning, my budget is limited. I need at least 2-5 months to start rolling in the kind of cash that allows me to afford a more expensive place. So any apartment community that doesn't bother checking your job status, or cares about you being employed as a qualification is even better, since I am an entrepreneur and will technically be starting from nothing again when I come down. (Don't worry about me here, I'm flexible, adaptable, and have so much experience uprooting myself and moving around that I know what to expect and am much more acustomed to it than the average person. This experience comes from joining the military and moving to Japan, and leaving to live in Thailand so I could scuba dive for a while, and being independently minded and pretty fearless (I take trips to other countries by myself and am the type of person who instantly makes friends whereever I go. That's why I like foreigners so much )

The apartments I live in down here are crummy, but they didn't check anything but my credit history which is about average, and they allow dogs.

I look forward to being in a place where I can be close to everything, especially the beach, and meeting young people like me. I like cultural diversity, and it never bothers me to be a minority so long as that doesn't mean that I have to live amongst foreign born dangerous thugs and gang members. Like I said, I've lived plenty of times as a minority in other countries, but those people were always safe to be around, lol. So I don't mind if my neighbors are mostly argentenian, or cuban, or el salvadorian, or whatever, just so long as they are SAFE.

As someone said you are going to need to look at the older apartment complexes. Many of them are decent just older. Anyway look in Colee Bend which is South East of the corner of Broward and Federal. Next look into Victoria Park which also has a lot of older apartment buildings. Rio Vista also has some older apartment complexes. I think those will suit what you are looking for and be in or near your price range. You could also look in flagler village but that place is highly suspect with lots of homeless and a pinch of prostitution thrown in for good measure.

[Nolefan34]

lady>

Las Olas/downtown Fort Lauderdale is the most desirable place because of all of the new highrise condos and you can walk to lots of entertainment and nightlife. Las Olas is only 2 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach. The only thing is that Las Olas is more expensive compared to other areas. If you can afford it, check out a building called Camden. You can rent directly from the condo association instead of from a private landlord. Stay away from private landlords for the reasons others mentioned.

Another place to consider if you are on a budget is Port Royale Apartments. That place is really nice for the money. You can get a 1BR for $850/month. Its on US1 just north of Commercial Blvd.

Hollywood is very mixed. Some areas are nice, some aren't. You can find condos on Hollywood beach for good deals.

Dania and Deerfield are a little quieter, so I'm not sure you'd want that. If you are single and want to meet new people, you're better off living in downtown/Las Olas, Fort Lauderdale Beach, or Hollywood.