This week it's South Florida... :)

[DMickey28]

Where to live in South Florida, commutable to an office in Fort Lauderdale???

DH and I move a lot, so I come here often for advise on different towns in certain areas! We love to talk about moving to new places too. This week it is South Florida. We would need to be close enough for him to commute to Fort Lauderdale for work. We are in our late 20/early 30's and TTC our first child. School's aren't necessarily a concern at this stage b/c we will probably move by the time our first gets into school.

How is the home vaules? Over priced like most of the country? Would it be better to rent a bit while pricing levels out? Safe and clean areas?

Florida is so different from everywhere else we have lived, it's tough to judge what areas would be nice just by searching online!

Would be looking for a house in no more than that $200K to $300K range.

 

[wilderness01]

I thought you were looking for homes in Sugar Grove or Elgin, no?

 

[Aurora63]

South Florida's homes are very overpriced in my opinion, 200-300K would possibly get you a 2 br townhouse or condo, anything with 3brs. will be more than 300K, unless it's a fixer-upper or in a bad neighborhood.

To commute to Ft. Lauderdale, you can live anywhere in Broward County and be able to commute, however, if I were you I'd try to find out exactly where his office is and find a place in the same suburb or at least not too far. If he'll be working in the city proper, look into Plantation, Sunrise, maybe Davie too, be advise that there are good and bad areas of all of these towns/suburbs. The city itself does have some nice family neighborhoods, but the prices will be high.

If you actually do move here, be prepared for traffic and congestion. But it's not all bad, the beach is beautiful, there's lots of night life, colleges and universities nearby...it really isn't a bad place to live, just come with realistic expectations.

 

[DMickey28]

Currently DH and I live in Aurora and we were looking for places in the area to buy. DH works in technology software and the job stability is very "forgivin" if that is the right word. He is always keeping is options open and his resume out there. Right now he has an offer on the table that he has begun to seriously think about. It would be a better family life job but not as much money. It is based in Fort Lauderdale.

We are from MA and we have moved out here, first to Indy, then to Barrington and now down to Aurora to be closer to my job. We like the Chicago area and go back and forth between staying and leaving.

Basically we think that if we have to live in the cold of Chicago we might as well live back home in Boston but if we could move to the warmer weather..heck yeah!!!

Dh is our breadwinning. Our goal is that when we have kids (hopefully within 2006) I will stay home. Therefor I move for his job. I have a job right now that I really like and I make decent money in but it is not something I want for a career so while leaving would be hard, I'll do it for his job. I guess we are pretty flexible... and I come to these great boards to ask for advice on different area's because there are so many different towns represented here.

Make sense?

 

[Mom21]

We live in Southwest Ranches, used to be unincorporated Ft Lauderdale. Sorry to say 200-300 won't get you much here. There are lots of things to do. Our elementary school is an A rated school. With that said, I homeschooled until this year , 3rd grade, and will homeschool again beginning next year. Lots of reasons, but for a public school it is a great one. A 3/2 beginning home will start around $400. I would be glad to give you any info if you PM me. I could even send you Sunday's home guide if you want.

 

[Longsx3]

Remember while making less in Florida you also won't be paying state income tax

 

[Aurora63]

Also keep in mid that HOI will be expensive here, especially if you buy east of I-95. There was just an article in our paper about it this morning, about how one company was raising it's rates, and how some areas of Broward may see 61% increases! Thank the past two hurricane seasons!

 

[RitaZ.]

A 3/2 beginning home will start around $400.

This is accurate and so are the prices for condos and townhomes. There is a house in my neighborhood right now listed for $420K, it's being sold as is and needs a new roof. Then, there are increasing property taxes and homeowners insurance, it's ridiculous.

Within the $200K to $300K price range, you aren't going to find houses in good neighborhoods. You'll probably be able to find a condo or townhome though.

Areas to definitely stay away from: Lauderhill & North Lauderdale.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Zandy595]

In my (new) neighborhood there are 3/2/2's with a den (possible 4th bedroom) going for the low 300's. The oldest house here is about 5 years old. As soon as one goes up for sale it's sold FAST. The only problem is it's 2 counties north of Broward. It would be almost a 2 hour commute probably.