Advice About Moving to West Palm Beach/Singer Island (Miami: crime, houses)

[flb1011]

My husband and I are retiring and want to relocate to Florida. We have looked at the Naples area as well as the Delray Beach area. However recently we discovered West Palm Beach and have found two beautiful homes on the Intracoastal. One in West Palm Beach and one on Singer Island. Our impression was that the area was great, but I decided to Google it, and I'm reading articles about how unsafe the area is, and all the crime. In addition, I'm also reading that Singer Island has a Riviera Beach address, which for some reason is a big no no. Can anyone give me some feedback on the area?

[skylinet]

The big problem buyers have expressed to me when looking at homes on the intra-coastal in West Palm and Singer Island is that some of the surrounding homes are in a much lower price point.
If you can get past that, I was in the house on Singer a couple weeks ago and it is beautiful. It's also walking distance to the beach which is nice. (I'm assuming it's 981)

If you are looking for a wide water view you may also want to look at Hypoluxo Island. It's a small island just South of Manalapan with homes in a fairly similar price point (700k-6mil+) and it's also walking distance to the beach. There are a couple nice newer construction homes there that might fit what you are looking for.

[midnightfapper]

West Palm Beach is a HUUUUGE city by Florida Standards, the overwhelming majority of it isn't crime ridden or dangerous. If you're looking at nice homes on the intacoastal, you'll never be remotely close to "bad" elements (which is a tiny, tiny sliver of the population).

City Place / Downtown is quite nice and the Palm Beach Outlets are opening this Friday (huge outdoor retail with 100+ shops). There's the Trump International Golf Club right up the street. The antique row along Dixie that has seen explosive growth, they just wrapped up some new mixed-use developments there. Plus the area just south of Southern is really starting to pickup steam. The overwhelming majority of the city is very clean, safe, people are friendly, etc.

The only area that's still somewhat spotty is up towards 45th, and even that's being cleaned up. The demographics are definitely shifting. There's nothing of interest there aside from housing, so no real reason to be in the area. Immediately south of there is Northwood Village, which is being gentrified, a ton of restaurants/galleries/activities/etc. in the area. WPB police have done an outstanding job of turning the area around.

Up north in Riviera Beach, there is a massive publics works project well underway to completely revitalize the main commercial district. Riviera Beach is definitely not as desireable as WPB though, it's lower-income and doesn't have as many things to do.

Overall, WPB is a fantastic place to retire, it's a quality city with respectful people and a quiet atmosphere. It's also tremendous value for money at the moment, homes in the area are a bargain. The area is experiencing quite a bit of population growth, over the mid/long term home values will definitely appreciate strongly. Location wise it's very convenient, just minutes away from Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Jupiter, etc. and a reasonable drive to Ft. Lauderdale / Miami.

It's definitely worth spending a couple days/weeks visiting to get a feel for things.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by flb1011

My husband and I are retiring and want to relocate to Florida. We have looked at the Naples area as well as the Delray Beach area. However recently we discovered West Palm Beach and have found two beautiful homes on the Intracoastal. One in West Palm Beach and one on Singer Island. Our impression was that the area was great, but I decided to Google it, and I'm reading articles about how unsafe the area is, and all the crime. In addition, I'm also reading that Singer Island has a Riviera Beach address, which for some reason is a big no no. Can anyone give me some feedback on the area?

I'm assuming you're looking at a house on the intracoastal in West Palm Beach in the northend? In Northwood?


If not, and it's a house in the southend, you shouldn't worry in the least. In the northend outside of the immediate northwood neighborhood does have a bad rap. But you get a less expensive direct intracoastal home in northwood than you would on the south part of town for that reason.

[flb1011]

Thank you all so much for the information. Not having spent much time in Florida, and only looking on short visits, its really hard to figure this all out. And special thanks for the information about Hypoluxo Island. I had never known much about the area, and have added it to our list. I did a little research, and there were a few houses that would be perfect.

[skylinet]

There are some great homes there. I have a client in the process of tearing down a smaller home and building there.
They did just drop the price of that house on Singer Island as well.