Help! Is Anyone Familiar With This Neighborhood SW Boca?

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Swimmom32

that is funny because my friend has lived in east boca for 20 years and Boca Middle was never considered a good school so she tells me..that is very interesting when I was researching OMNI has been an excellent school for a very long time def in the past 10 years because of all the Influx of People that moved here...We have more Northern's who just moved here where we live because of the schools...again its all relative, and the OP doesn't have any children and if one plans on Staying in their home for a long time than at this point it shouldn't matter because who knows the next person to buy the house might not have children or they might send to private school anyhow...But if someone is looking to buy short term than the schools are important..

google Omni Middle School gangs...... I lived in Boca when Omni and Olympic Heights were two of the worst schools in the area, nobody wanted to go there because they were both Gladiator Academies!

I attended/graduated from Boca Middle in the 80's and was in the gifted program so I guess I was there!

Just to be fair, Boca High was the sight of race riots in the early 70's....so schools can be cyclical, all it takes is a boundary change and school quality can change dramatically in a matter of a year or two.

[Swimmom32]

That was along time ago City..One of my friends attended Boca high with the Bars on the windows and the Gangs...she said it was pretty scary....Alot has changed since then all over and in the last 10 years Omni has become the school of choice that is all I was saying...well Olympic is still the worst HS in Boca and that is just from the County's information on the accountability and report card as well as the graduation rate....My son's friends attend olympic and hate it but they do not have very many choices because they couldn't get into the academy at River or the Stem Program at Boca High since Boca High now has 3000 Students...So Im just saying that I can't see Omni turning back into a Gang School or a Bad School for the matter but who knows...

[MrTudo]

I'm not getting any younger, is it an area any of you all would consider for retirement?

[Swimmom32]

its Family Oriented...Sorry I know that doesn't help...lol

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

I'm not getting any younger, is it an area any of you all would consider for retirement?

Yes.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

I'm not getting any younger, is it an area any of you all would consider for retirement?

Camino Gardens was primarily a retirement community until about 15 years ago (built new in the 60's). The homes are 2/2 or 3/2 though there are a few 4/5 bedrooms (most never were 4/5's but through additions they have had over the years they got bigger). Only until recently have families really taken a strong foothold in the area. The houses are solid built (all one builder) and most have had some level of remodeling. The dry lots tend to have the smaller 2/2 single car garage homes but most are 3/2 two car garage. Royal Oak Hills is another community to consider just to the south of Camino Gardens (similar vintage, lower price due to smaller homes/less waterfront).

You can still find original owners living in some of these homes and the homes always look like the showcase models from the 1960's from the turquiose bathrooms to the funky colored (and sun faded) shag carpet with matching fuzzy couches!

[MrTudo]

Thank you! And the one we were going to look at does not have vaulted ceilings. So we consulted with a contractor about taking the roof off and adding vaulted ceilings. It would be a lot but not enough to turn us away if it were the right house. This one really looked promising but turns out to be on 18th ( ? ) which is a busy street . But if that one were a block away.

The hunt continues....

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Thank you! And the one we were going to look at does not have vaulted ceilings. So we consulted with a contractor about taking the roof off and adding vaulted ceilings. It would be a lot but not enough to turn us away if it were the right house. This one really looked promising but turns out to be on 18th ( ? ) which is a busy street . But if that one were a block away.

The hunt continues....

SW 18th is a very busy street even though they have tried to limit traffic east of I95 by keeping it single lane in each direction but it is still a major throughfare that runs from US1 to 441 and is the first E/W corridor in Palm Beach county. Pass on 18th street homes, the savings aren't worth the lack of resale.

Also note there is a small power station a few blocks back on the 800-900 block of 20-21st street, not great for resale either.

Very few of the homes in that area will have vaulted ceilings and most of them are going to be California contemporary (rock fronts, exposed beams, etc). Camino Lakes is full of them (SW corner of 18th and 8th ave). Downside is you get the vaulted ceilings but you need to remodel the Brady Bunch 1978 exteriors. Removing a roof to get vaulted ceilings is insanity in those neighborhoods, you will never get one dollar of that idea back upon resale.

[MrTudo]

Great information thank you. Far as not recovering the major renovation costs like that this one's eventually the final resting place so it's not a deal breaker. Heh.

It has not been fun trying to locate a house to purchase, 2100-2800 sq ft under a/c within the price parameters ( below 350K net meaning could be a 400K asking price and after negotionations we're at 350 or less. The lower the better which is why I was especially looking in Loggers Run as we need the square ftage of a 4 bedroom so we can combine 2 bedrooms to have a larger home office. We currently work in the fla room of our home , it's 180 sq ft and is too small. Having owned one before I'm familiar with a certain 4 bedroom style that was built there and we will absolutely pounce on one if it comes with a .25 or larger lot and is priced fairly. The plan is to rent a dumpster and sig the contractors on it prior to moving in. Paint, tile, master bath, kitchen maybe. My health has not been the greatest with a failed open heart surgery in 2005 and a few other things that are no fun. The goal is to get planted in a decent established area that has nice landscaping ( the west coast where we live is almost devoid of nice landscaping which is one of the reasons why we hate it here ), make the older house close to new and start preparing for the potential/probable in some cases medical onslaught to begin and hopefully weather it all for a long long time.

By all accounts it appears the hospitals in Boca are top notch which is a major reason for the desire to move back. At my age switching doctors is a pain in the rear and I'd like to get it over with asap as getting settled with a caring medical person and dental person is really important. There seems to be an abundance of restarants and specialty food stores especially towards broward, that we would both like to shop at, a fair amount of the arts, no not the enlightened ( sarcasm ) nj/ny area but better than many parts of Fla.

The biggest one medically for me is a chelation doc. I found one on federal highway just north of commercial who moved there from boca and he sounded great. There's another in palm beach gardens too but I'd like to stick within a 30 minute drive to ft lauderdale if possible otherwise we'd be looking in Wellington as it seems the same house in wellington is at least 50k less $$. I owned a home in paddoc park 1 back in the late 90's ( squire dr ) and it was too big and not much by way of specialty markets etc. Looks like some of that's changed with ample generic gourmet markets like whole foods and fresh market, josephs but I'm not sure if there are any real ethnic places without going into west palm and I'm not interested in west palm at all.

I'm sorry for typing so much, this is almost like a "my real estate confession" LOL. I'm debating whether or not to delete it but , nah, let it ride haha and no I don't drink! ( double LOL )

But now you all who are boca people REALLY know what we're looking for now! Feel free to ask any questions to help you help us find that place to move to.

Oh, we drove a little thru Delray when we were there. We're so not knowledgable about Delray but it seemed to have a positive vibe where and older married couple can go and have a meal and enjoy an atmosphere that's not Boca, not Las Olas , not Lake Worth but....?

Found a neat 3 bedroom house in one of the neighborhoods. Nice place with 2180 sq ft on .28 or .29 and a nice development. If only it was a 4 or even have the space to build an extra 200 sq ft on it. MLS# r3229980 Alas, it's a 3 and not a 4 bedroom.