CT to FL. Safe place to live? (Coral Springs, West Palm Beach: real estate, crime)

[jason1010]

So my wife and I will be moving down south in 2 short months.

We originally were looking to move to the Charleston, SC area. However upon finding this site, and seeing the crime indexes, we got scared. Where we live now, the crime index is about 100 Its a richly little town where there really isn't much crime. Call us sheltered or what have you, but we rather not move where there is crime.

With that being said, whats a nice place in FL where the crime is low, the rent/house prices are still decent, and is a nice neighborhood. Also somewhere where I.T. jobs are plenty would be good.

As for why we are moving, we are sick of the cold, had enough of it and much more prefer the heat.

Thank you!
-Jason

[ct1010]

I don't have advice for you, but my husband and I are considering (and have been for about a year now) the same move.

Where in CT are you? We're in Fairfield. On a day like today, South Florida does seem quite nice...

[jason1010]

ct1010...nice name, lol. We are actually from Fairfield as well! What a beautiful town it is. And yes, its days like today, or even like last night that makes us want to move NOW!

[ct1010]

That's so funny! Fyi, my 1010 comes from my daughter's birthday -- 10/10/07.

My husband and I both grew up in South Florida (me in Coral Springs, my husband in West Palm), and we love everything about Fairfield (except the cold). The only reason we're considering moving though is because we'd like our daughter to grow up near family. For all other reasons, I think CT, and Fairfield in particular, is a better place to live.

If we do decide to move, we will be looking at Palm Beach Gardens and (select areas of) West Palm Beach. My husband just turned a Boca Raton job offer down, and I'm glad. I'm not a big fan of that area. I think it will be hard to find a place that is similar to our little Fairfield...

Edited to ask you what things are important to you and your wife (aside from weather & IT, the latter of which I know nothing about!). Do you want to be near shopping, beaches, quiet, rural?

[jason1010]

IT stands for Information Technology, which is just a fancy name for working with computers. We want to be somewhat close to shopping, about 5 to 10 minutes away, same as the beach. We just want somewhere safe and quiet to start a family. ct1010, what part of fairfield do you live in? blackrock? downtown? riverside?

[ct1010]

lol - I know what IT stands for, I just meant that I know nothing about it as a field! My husband is a physician, and I work (p/t now) as a writer for an NGO.

We live in Stratfield. How about you?

There are certainly safe places in South Florida. None will be as quiet as Fairfield. It seems as if most, if not all, new homes are in gated communities. Thing is, if you want to live that close to the beach it's going to be older homes because all the growth is west (vs. east where the ocean is). Not sure if age of home matters to you.

I don't know your budget, but my favorite area of West Palm Beach is called El Cid. It's right off of the Intracoastal (across the bridge from Palm Beach). My husband lived there for a time when he was growing up. It's one of the areas where I would considering living if we moved to FL. Houses are unique, with character and charm. Not cheap but I would think that some of the prices are coming down what with the economy and housing market implosion, esp down there. Friends of my husband live in an area called SoSo (south of Southern -- Southern Boulevard), which is a bit less expensive but is also more of a non-cookie cutter area. They are both professionals (lawyer, real estate) and do not yet have kids.

One nice thing about all those gated communities with the cookie cutter homes, though, is that I think they tend to have more young families. Chances are you'd probably meet more people that way. The downside is many of those places are zero-lot lines, all homes look identical, and overall it's just kind of fascist (you can't paint your house any old color you want, all the mailboxes are the same, etc.) This may not bother you, but it drives me a little nuts.

Long post...in short, proximity to beaches = more expensive but more unique homes (Homes that architecturally look like they belong in FL. Organic communities. Not Italianate mini-mansion models with names like "The Bellagio" and 6,000 sf).

I can't speak to shopping that much, but there are Publixes (Publix is like Stop and Shop) everywhere in FL, as well as tons of big box stores and malls. You're just not going to find as remote of places like you find in CT.

Further west, away from the beach = newer homes in gated communities, potentially more young families, which would certainly be nice to a couple who might have a newborn soon!

[bbsstuff]

I have lived in Palm Beach County for 20 years after living in the NYC area for 28 years. I too moved down here for the weather and low cost of living at the time. Well the cost of living has skyrocketed over the past few years. This area is not now a good place to raise kids. School budgets are being cut due to the shrinking tax base cause but he turmoil in the housing market. I too am in the IT field. The job market in IT is not great right now. If you have very specific skills in one area you can probably get a job but if your IT skills are general in nature, management related, or are infrastructure related such as Network Admin or Desktop support it may be difficult and the pay is low. Crime can be pretty bad here depending on the area (mostly on the east side of Palm Beach County). If you have kids or will have kids do not go anywhere near the West Palm Beach area.
Really though, do not let the weather dicatate your move. If you like where you live and the weather is the only deterrent think twice about it. I guarantee you after a few blistering summers you will begin to miss the cold weather and the 4 seasons. What some people fail to realize is that when the weather is nice down here it's in the winter and it gets dark early. The weekends will be the only time you will get to enjoy the weather. During the summer you will not want to go outside.

[Jonotastic]

Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens are my favorite cities to actually live in Florida. If you visit you can check them both out, they are only about 45 minutes away from each other.