Pretty certain I'm moving to Ft Lauderdale. Have questions (Jacksonville: home owners insurance, crime)

[username243]

Well I currently live in the Detroit area and got a nice promotion offer in what they are saying is the "Ft Lauderdale-Plantation" office. At this time I'm uncertain if it is Ft Lauderdale or Plantation. I'm in my late 20's, married, and have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I'm looking for some family oriented communities in south Florida. I did live in Orlando before for a month shortly after high school, but other than that, I have limited Florida experience. My wife on the other hand, has family in the south, mostly in Georgia. She does have some aunts and uncles in Jacksonville, but her parents live in Valdosta and her brothers live in Atlanta. She likes the fact of being closer to family. I guess I'll start with the noob northerner questions. Where exactly do gators live? Are they just in swamps or in lakes as well? How bad is the roach problem in Florida?

My wife and I really enjoy water sports. Mostly wave running and wakeboarding. Michigan has a lot of nice lakes that allow this but really only from Memorial day to Labor day. If there are gators in the lakes I'll refuse to go in one, so I guess that would limit me to the ocean?

I've been putting together a list of possible suburbs I will check out and came up with Coral Springs, Weston, Cooper City, and Davie. It seems like the east side of Davie is a good fit for me. It seems pretty centrally located. I don't mind a commute to the beach area. I'm sure there will be Florida residents here from the Detroit area, so maybe they can offer some insight. I live in Grosse Pointe and I'm wondering what the differences are between Grosse Pointe and the communities I listed. I'm also trying to figure out cost of living differences. Where do I find property tax info? How much does home owners insurance run? It seems most Florida communities have HOA's?

[Nolefan34]

username>

I'll try to address your questions.

1. Plantation is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale located directly to the west, only about 5 miles (10-15 minutes commuting). It really makes no difference what part of Broward County you live in in terms of commuting. Except it will be easier to commute from lets say Weston or Coral Springs to Plantation than to Fort Lauderdale.

2. Gators- they live in any fresh-water bodies. Don't let your kids or pets play near canals, retention ponds, lakes, creeks, etc. They are all connected by a series of underwater pipes for drainage purposes. The canals are infested with gators, and sometimes they get sucked through the pipes into lakes. Also, there are other nasty creatures in lakes such as snakes, particularly the Water Moccasin a.k.a. the Cottonmouth, which is one of 4 poisonous snakes in FL. These creatures are non-existent in salt-water bodies such as the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. Any salt-water body is safe to swim and do water sports in.

3. I will defer the "where to live" question to other posters. But I will say that it would be a good idea to make a trip here and visit before committing to one area.

[ruski]

About 30 minutes north of Plantation you have this for water skiing on a lake without alligators

Ski Rixen

[compelled to reply]

Most commercial/office in Plantation is around Pine Island Rd from 595 up to about Cleary Blvd. Keeping this in mind, I wold go with something in Davie off of Pine Island Rd (specifically the west side of the street for the school zone) or something in Cooper City, then take Stirling or Griffin Rd to Pine Island Rd. Both of these streets have fairly light traffic flow, and well synchronized traffic lights (the latter in particular a rarity in Broward County). This commute would range from almost none in Davie to about 15 minutes from the furthest points in Cooper City. A community I would recommend is Forest Ridge in Davie. It DEFINITELY matters where you are coming from in terms of commuting, as they are about to start construction on Interstate 595 and avoiding it will be key. I do NOT recommend the east side of Davie due to the school district. Coming from Weston, for example, will already be a half an hour of bumper-to-bumper in the morning BEFORE the construction even started. Coral Springs has less congested access, but you are still talking about a solid 20-30 minutes of driving.

[Bob2653]

I was stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard base during my time in the military years ago. Welcome to Florida, if you come. Probably the bigest difference from where you're coming from and where you're going to, besides the weather (duh!), is you can actually go out on halloween down here. Fortunately Devil's Night hasn't made it here. My wife and I enjoy the water sports too (scuba diving) and Fort Lauderdale boasts the beginning of the reef system right off-shore.

[username243]

I've been reading this forum all day and south Florida seems so hard to figure out. It seems crime is an issue down there? I know what you are thinking, dude you're from Detroit, but the crime is pretty much contained. I read here about one city can't go past such and such a road. It just seems so patchy.

Some other concerns I have is homeowners insurance. With the threat of hurricanes, what is the cost of homeowners insurance? I feel even though I'll be making more money, I will still be the same financially. I guess it boils down to do I want to live in South Florida or Michigan?

Grosse Pointe is an extremely safe city and has superb schools. The cold doesn't bother me too much. I enjoy water sports and golfing but I do also snowmobile and ski occasionally.

My wife really wants to move down there. She does not like the cold or winter activities.

[username243]

Originally Posted by Bob2653

I was stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard base during my time in the military years ago. Welcome to Florida, if you come. Probably the bigest difference from where you're coming from and where you're going to, besides the weather (duh!), is you can actually go out on halloween down here. Fortunately Devil's Night hasn't made it here. My wife and I enjoy the water sports too (scuba diving) and Fort Lauderdale boasts the beginning of the reef system right off-shore.

I can go out on halloween?

I've never been scuba diving before but I also wanted to.

[jhlcomp]

We live in Weston and our office is in Plantation. It is as the other poster stated a good 30 min and sometimes more depending on traffic. We enjoy living in Weston.

Cost of living down here can be sobering. Think very carefully about this. South Florida is a far cry from Valdosta and the northern part of the state. Our homeowners insurance is $3200 a year and that is a good deal. Property taxes go to Broward County Property Appraiser's Network and use their calculator. Mind you, my husband and I enjoy living here mostly because we came here at the right time. Cost of living is expensive.

[username243]

I pay about $1000 a year for home owners insurance and I thought that was expensive.

Actually property taxes are less.

[username243]

I pay about $5000 a year in taxes and $1000 in home owners insurance. It seems it would only be a marginal increase in living expenses which would be made up by having no state or city income tax.