Moving England to Boca Raton - Please Help (Coral Springs, Boynton Beach: for sale, real estate)

[RedcartoBoca]

My husband and I are in our mid fifties and we will be moving from England to Boca Raton with our son, later this year. My husband is being transferred with his job. We have taken holidays in Florida and fallen in love with the state but realise having holidays and living somewhere permanently will be completely different, but we can't wait. We will be renting for the first six months then hope to buy a place. I have looked on lots of realtor's sites and some give the property tax, monthly insurance and HOA fees. Is the property tax similar to our council tax? In the UK we have insurance to cover the cost of the building and the contents and we just insure with the company of our choice, is that similar to the monthly insurance quoted on the realtor sites? We do not pay HOA fees, I understand they vary widely and cover various things. What do/can they cover?
I would appreciate any information as things will be so different to what we are used to.
I've been looking at many houses for sale, are there any areas we should keep clear of? I've been looking at Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Coconut Creek, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
Thank you for any help given

[Swimmom32]

If your looking for schools I would stay with Boca...But that is just my opinion...

[skylinet]

I"m not sure what sites show what you will pay for home insurance as that will vary from carrier to carrier and yes you get that on your own.
HOA dues will also vary depending on the amenities the community has. Some communities do not have an HOA and therefore have no dues. Some particularly in the Boca/Delray area are country club/golf communities and will have a membership equity and monthly dues in addition to the HOA dues.
I"m not familiar with a council tax, but your property taxes are roughly 2% of your purchase price.
Depending on your budget the cities you are looking at all have very nice areas and it should be fairly easy to get a sense of what areas are better than others.
Also keep in mind there are lots of 55+ (active adult) communities. This may or may not be something of interest for you.

[wr!ter]

I have spent much of my life in England and I suspect that moving to Florida you will feel like you are on vacation all the time in comparison :-)

Property tax is the same concept as council tax but will be higher than you would pay in the UK. Insurance is the same as you describe, but again will be higher because of the risk of hurricanes. I don't know the exact area you are looking at (I am in Jupiter, about an hour north) but if your son will be going to school then start with looking for a really good school. Even wealthy people don't tend to use private schools in the US so the better public schools can be as good as a private school. Taxes in nicer areas tend to be higher for that reason, but you will get your money's worth if you have a kid in the schools. It's definitely a good idea to rent and get a feel for the place/area before you buy. Definitely don't buy anything from overseas without seeing it even if it seems like an amazing deal, as there may be surprises about the property/area that you couldn't even imagine ;-)

[garyhitchcock]

Since all of your questions are real estate related, you may find that you will get more information on Trulia.com where Realtors can talk to you.