Moving to Florida. Location help please =) (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood: apartment complex, rentals, condos)

[lady8506]

Hello all!

I'm moving to lovely Ft. Lauderdale area soon and am wondering where is a good place to live there?

I would like to be in a safe area where I am surrounded by young singles such as myself, lol! (30 yr old. white female). And in an area that is close to the beach (like 15 minute drive or less, something like that).

I was looking at places like Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Dania, or Hollywood. Are those good places?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think I will enjoy florida. I am a beach lover through and through, and a certified scuba dive master. I love hot weather year round, and I love diversity, especially people from Europe!

[fauve]

I think you picked some good places. I would only take Dania off the list because it is a little quiet and you'd end up in Hollywood for the beach anyway. Otherwise, with the others, stay close to the beach and you'll be okay. The areas get rough as you go west of US1.

[lady8506]

Thanks alot. Glad to know I did enough research that I am lookin in the right places.

You know, it really bugs me how negative people are on this board about living in Ft. Lauderdale. Seems like nobody likes it there, and all I hear is whining.

Well, this makes me feel like I'm making a bad decision. I mean I know that there is no perfect place, but I am moving to Florida for the openmindedness of it's people, and people hopefully not being anywhere near as cliquish as the people here in Richmond, VA. I am also moving there for the warm weather and the beach.

I don't mind sweating, I hate being cold. I have lived in Thailand and Okinawa, and loved it, even the sweating part. Because as long as there is a beach, the hot weather doesn't bother me. Here in Richmond, VA, there's no beach. So i'm sitting here not wanting to go outside because it's so damn hot and there is no beach anywhere, and all I wanna do is get in the damn ocean and bounce around in the waves or scuba dive, or go collect sea shells, or something like that.

I just hope florida isn't as bad as all these people in the forums are making it sound. I've been there on vacation, and I loved it. I loved seeing people out working out and taking care of themselves, and I loved all the healthy restaurants ya'll have every where. Over here in Richmond, VA we don't have diversity at all. We've got american food, and some ethnic restaurants that people won't try because they like what they know, and that means fried pickles and fried icecream, and really crappy tasting food. None of my friends would dare try a Schwarma, or Rambutan, or Litchee, or chicken b'stilla, or spanakopita, etc.

I'm not an artsy person either. Could care less about anything more than I care about the beach and meeting cool people from other countries. If florida is like that, then that's all I need baby!

[fauve]

I think you'll be fine! It's a difficult place to be unemployed and/or underwater financially. To be young and single and love warm weather, you'll have a blast. Stay east!

[lady8506]

Thanks Fauve!

[runswithscissors]

Look at Port Royale Apartments up by 65th and Federal in Northern FLL. On a small slice of the Intracoastal. They're ok for someone new to the city and in a decent location, 2.5 miles to the beach via Commercial. It's a bit out of the nightlife scene further down, but it's hard to find an apt from out of town. Beware of private rentals it's a mess. A homeowner scammed me of 2400.00 when I did that. His place was right on Hollywood beach 3 doors down. Broke landlord tenant statute and I later found out he's a serial scammer, in court 140 times. Hence the recommendation for an apartment complex. That being said it's more fun down by Las Olas.

Heed the "negativity". If it is inapplicable when you get here, fine. But when someone says it can take 20 minutes to go a few blocks at lunchtime on Fed, believe it. Even in hyperbole there are grains of "truth" usually. Being cautious about the negative topics initially will save you alot of aggravation in the future. IMO.

Example: I wanted to move to FLL the Mainlands Tamarac at University from my visit in 2004. In 2006 my son warned me it's not like it used to be or as I thought. Yeah, well he was 100% right and my entire "plan" got turned upside down, job and all. It dramatically changed within 2 years because of the housing problems and other factors.

Port Royale staff are sorta wacky in that they will keep you standing at the desk for 15 minutes while they finish a personal call, or disappear in the middle of a conversation when you're there to tour the place...but that's Florida. Ignore it. Just see if the roofing project is finished. You don't wanna live through 3 months of pounding outside imo.

[HowGoesIt]

I would recommend downtown Fort Lauderdale. There are a lot of highrise apartments and condos scattered throughout the downtown. If you are feeling adventerous, I'd also check out Flagler Village. It's slightly north of downtown and a bit more edgy.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by lady8506

Thanks alot. Glad to know I did enough research that I am lookin in the right places.

You know, it really bugs me how negative people are on this board about living in Ft. Lauderdale. Seems like nobody likes it there, and all I hear is whining.

Well, this makes me feel like I'm making a bad decision. I mean I know that there is no perfect place, but I am moving to Florida for the openmindedness of it's people, and people hopefully not being anywhere near as cliquish as the people here in Richmond, VA. I am also moving there for the warm weather and the beach.

I don't mind sweating, I hate being cold. I have lived in Thailand and Okinawa, and loved it, even the sweating part. Because as long as there is a beach, the hot weather doesn't bother me. Here in Richmond, VA, there's no beach. So i'm sitting here not wanting to go outside because it's so damn hot and there is no beach anywhere, and all I wanna do is get in the damn ocean and bounce around in the waves or scuba dive, or go collect sea shells, or something like that.

I just hope florida isn't as bad as all these people in the forums are making it sound. I've been there on vacation, and I loved it. I loved seeing people out working out and taking care of themselves, and I loved all the healthy restaurants ya'll have every where. Over here in Richmond, VA we don't have diversity at all. We've got american food, and some ethnic restaurants that people won't try because they like what they know, and that means fried pickles and fried icecream, and really crappy tasting food. None of my friends would dare try a Schwarma, or Rambutan, or Litchee, or chicken b'stilla, or spanakopita, etc.

I'm not an artsy person either. Could care less about anything more than I care about the beach and meeting cool people from other countries. If florida is like that, then that's all I need baby!

People have there reasons for "whining" as you put it. Don't be so dismissive as you don't live here yet. With that said, don't let someone's opinion of a place put you off. You may come down here and find it paradise. Everyone is different, right? Just do all the research you can and make the best decision you possibly can and the rest will take care of itself. If you move here and love it, GREAT, if not thats ok too. You are still young and can always make other plans. As to what places to move, whats your rent budget, tell us that and we can maybe advise you better. Also you looking for sleepy town, mildly exciting or urban living with beach appeal?

[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.

[HowGoesIt]

I'd also recommend looking at smaller apartment complexes. Smaller places are generally more accepting of bigger dogs. My apartment complex doesn't allow dogs, period.

There are some nice, small apartment complexes in Wilton Manors and Oakland Park, just stay as far east as possible.