Retiring next summer. Thinking of Delray/Boca area. Opinions, please. (Miami: apartments, rental)

[LRG514]

With luck, I will be retiring next May. Looking for rental properties (year-round), max of $1600. One small dog and two 60+ Jews (I know that's redundant for the area). 2 bedrooms would be ideal. We'd probably prefer units without outside care (having lived in Central Florida and fought back the weeds for 5 years.) Health care is important for my husband; culture and activities are important for me. Could someone suggest a good area to look at. We're coming from floodable NJ, so right on the beach is not a critical thing. I already lost one car in Sandy. I really don't know the area, but have heard it is lovely.

[ladyalicemore]

LRG, You have to come and visit, preferably now when everything is at its worst, as far as the suffocating humidity in the late summer. Then you'll know if it's OK for you both.

Lots of people here favor Delray Beach and it's nice (I think overpriced). Think a bit about Boca Raton, a small house west of 4th avenue (our city's high point), a kind a barrier for storm surge. It's about 2 miles inland.

East Boca is not as lush and parklike as some of the western Palm Beach County developments, but I like it here. I have lived here since 1990. Frumpy but in touch with reality, near shopping. You'd be near where I work, Florida Atlantic University, and there are events there and a small "Living Room Theatres" that shows limited release films, some of which are wonderful. FAU gets terrible press, but google it anyway. I love it as a rainbow of different and wonderful kids, mostly from families who as yet have had no college grads--and they are far from being academically ungifted, just less entitled than many students at other colleges. We send a lot of our graduates to postgraduate study. FAU's a nice place to be around. Like most unis they have lecture series. Post 55 people can enroll as auditors of classes that still have places (most fill up) for free by state law. FAU is an asset. So is the laid back feel of East Boca. So that's what I like but may not be what you want. There is a synagogue on I think 2nd Ave. I don't recommend condos on the beach but after 'Sandy' you are wise enough not to want them. Full of 'condo commandos'.

For more affordable houses and apartments, out west 3 miles or so are Century Village (a steal and a great value, but I find the architecture depressing) and a lot of affordable houses and condos in Boca Barwood--not my style but it depends on what you want. Very affordable. They have problems with flooding. Look into the Everglades and why water may stand in such neighborhoods for months.

I will be moving away from Boca when I retire in a few years and am eyeing the western suburbs of Boca as a place for a cheap condo so I can come back if and when I chicken out from my plan of returning to New England (I miss my family, but I don't miss the winter). The summer in Boca? Practically suffocating to me. Come down here before you buy and be sure you can stand it. There is lots of good in Boca, including good people; the climate for me is mostly bad.

Just my thoughts. Lots of fans of Delray here and I am sure you'll hear their opinions, too.

[LRG514]

Thank you, so much, for writing. That's about the opposite of what I'd heard about Boca and Delray, but I'll definitely keep it in mind. Stuffy is not our style, at all.

[ladyalicemore]

LRG, To clarify: I am talking about where I live, an area of subdivisions built in the late 1950s-late 1970s. Dick Van Dyke Show-type homes. I still have the mustardy stove top that was here when I bought the house. Some of the homes on my block have been reno'd but many are mildly retro, very comfortable--and they are for rent occasionally. Boca Square, Palmetto Park Terrace (where I live) and various other small subdivisions. Some of the houses have pools; all are fairly easy to maintain as the lots are about 1/4 acre. "Fancy" Boca can be found along A1A and the Intracoastal Waterway, and also in the north-west parts of the city--the golf communities and such. Broken Sound and such. Boca's a well-managed city, moreso than Delray Beach. The city proper ends at Military Trail about 3 miles inland. Those western communities are in unincorporated Palm Beach County and do not have the Boca Raton Fire and Police Depts. They pay less for renting and land but more for water and trash collection. There are many newer Western decelopments. Boca Barwood is very inexpensive and humble, but if I can even afford a second place for the winter months, it would probably be there that I could find something in my modest price range. Year round I wouldn't live in that part of town; it's a little depressed/depressing.

The houses along Swinton in Delray Beach are my favorites in that town, but recently the prices seem a little unrealistic to me.

[FreeAptFinder]

I'd have to say from the very little you've shared, Boca would be the better of the two.

Boca Raton Regional Hospital has consistently ranked among the top 5% in the nation according to an annual study conducted by US News and is ranked 21st in FL and 9th in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region.

Properties in Whisper Walk, Glades of Boca Lago or Boca Chase might be communities worthy of checking out if you are looking for something different then garden style living (aka Century Village).

If you can tell us if you are only interested in 55+ living or if all age community would also be something you'd consider, myself and others might have other suggestions.

[LRG514]

Absolutely would consider all age. In fact, having lived in the Villages for awhile, I have reservations about being the youngest person in an old people's community. My husband is a transplant recipient, so needs the excellent healthcare. I'm more active and am planning on volunteerism and lifelong learning, once I retire. I like accessibility to culture and other activities. Does that help?