Family of Four Relocating from Midwest

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by pep23

I don't understand all the negativity on this board about South Florida!

Miami-Dade county and slowly Broward county are nothing like any other place in the country. With that said, many people that move to Miami find it hard to understand the way things are done here, the way people drive here, service, the work ethic, etc. It's a unique city in that 65% of the county is Hispanic and has year round summer temps for the most part.

Typically people from the Midwest don't like Miami or south florida for that matter. Midwesterners typically find the west coast of florida, Tampa more to their liking. South Florida is much more liked by South Americas, people from the Caribbean or the northeast. You can look at stats which reflect those findings. I would highly suggest looking at the Tampa area in your research.

Everyone is different and will have different experiences. The only way to know if South Florida is right for you is to visit a few times. Stay in the areas you are looking at. Go to the restaurants, malls, grocery stores in the areas your looking at, get a little taste of what it might be like to live in those areas.

I personally wouldn't raise a family in South Florida, that's my opinion, many people do. I feel kids miss out on so much living in a place with only one season, summer. I grew up in South Florida, never went to a real pumpkin patch till I was 30. Christmas in South Florida, isn't the same as up north. And Fall, my favorite season, that crisp air, and the smell of someone's fireplace on, while your kids tricker-treat doesn't happen here. So many things I feel I missed out on growing up in Miami. Just some thoughts.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by pep23

Thank you Ruski. Yes after I looked at the map some more yesterday I realized that Coral Springs will not work because of the commute. We know someone at the company my husband is talking to who chose Pembroke Pines over Weston because they felt the commute from Weston would be really bad. Any thoughts on that? From everything I have read it sounds like Weston has the best schools. That is obviously my number one priority but if Pembroke Pines is a much easier commute and schools are just nearly as good I would be ok with that. Right now my daughter is at a small private Catholic school. I haven't even begun to look at those options or been able to figure out if the Catholic school system in Miami is decent. In Indianapolis where we are from it's wonderful but I know that is not always the case.

We aren't quite ready to look but if you have anything you want to send me so I can get an idea of neighborhoods etc. that would be great. My husband is in round 2 of interviews and his former boss from a previous job who now works there has told him if he wants the job it's his. But we still need to go through all the red tape. Which is good for me because I am still trying to process that we may be doing this!!!

There is only 5 min highway time difference between Weston and Pembroke Pines.

Now, getting TO the highway - piece of cake in Weston, especially if you find a strategically located house in Weston (which is easy).


Pembroke Pines could be quite congested approaching the highway ramps. And you have to fight a bunch of lights before you get there.

[popcorn247]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

Miami-Dade county and slowly Broward county are nothing like any other place in the country. With that said, many people that move to Miami find it hard to understand the way things are done here, the way people drive here, service, the work ethic, etc. It's a unique city in that 65% of the county is Hispanic and has year round summer temps for the most part.

Typically people from the Midwest don't like Miami or south florida for that matter. Midwesterners typically find the west coast of florida, Tampa more to their liking. South Florida is much more liked by South Americas, people from the Caribbean or the northeast. You can look at stats which reflect those findings. I would highly suggest looking at the Tampa area in your research.

Everyone is different and will have different experiences. The only way to know if South Florida is right for you is to visit a few times. Stay in the areas you are looking at. Go to the restaurants, malls, grocery stores in the areas your looking at, get a little taste of what it might be like to live in those areas.

I personally wouldn't raise a family in South Florida, that's my opinion, many people do. I feel kids miss out on so much living in a place with only one season, summer. I grew up in South Florida, never went to a real pumpkin patch till I was 30. Christmas in South Florida, isn't the same as up north. And Fall, my favorite season, that crisp air, and the smell of someone's fireplace on, while your kids tricker-treat doesn't happen here. So many things I feel I missed out on growing up in Miami. Just some thoughts.

I agree with every statement above. I am so glad to have grown up in the Midwest. After 40+ years here, I hope to move back to the Midwest. I miss so much...the seasons, the holidays, the less hectic pace, less traffic, hearing English being spoken.....

Think long and hard about moving down here, especially with children.

[pep23]

Thanks everyone for your responses. My parents live in Ft Myers so part of moving down there would also be so we could be closer to them. I agree having been to Miami several times that it is VERY different than the Tampa area or west Florida. BUT the job opportunity we have is in Doral. Can't live in Tampa and work in Doral. I will not be working so I plan to take my kids back up north in the summer while they are out of school and also for holidays. I'm not particularly worried about them not trick or treating or having year round summer. I just want them to be safe and go to good schools. I'm focusing on Broward for sure. My husband will fly down in the next two weeks for a third interview and is going to visit a friend who lives in Pembroke Pines to check out the area.

[crock99]

To the OP,

I grew up in Pembroke Pines so I'm very familiar with that area. As a PP stated, there will not be much of a difference in commute time between Weston and Pembroke Pines. Both are right off the highway, and Weston is about a 10 minute drive north of Pemb. Pines...so that should not be a deciding factor.

If you're looking at Pembroke Pines, the further west you are, the better it gets. Everything west of I75 is very desirable and family oriented. But even the east side of 75 would be fine. I just know if I was looking, I'd be searching west of 75. All of that area has been more recently developed--when I was growing up down there, everything west of 75 was cow fields and swamp land--so you know you'll be getting into a newer place. You will have no problem finding a nice place at your price point. Pembroke Pines has become VERY populated since I've lived there (I moved to NY in 2002 when I was 18 years old, so it's been a while since I've lived in PPines, but my family still lives there so I go back multiple times a year), so traffic can become frustrating. Pines Blvd is one of the main streets that runs through PPines, and it can get very congested. Especially around 75 and Pembroke Lakes Mall. I very much enjoyed growing up in PPines, and I think your kids would be happy there too since there is a lot of stuff geared towards them. Plus you're only a 20 minute ride to Hollywood Beach which is the beach that I basically grew up on and still visit every time I go back down to visit the family.

Weston is a VERY nice area. Definitely caters to the upper-middle class/upper class families, where as PPines I would say is more inhabited by middle-class families, with some upper-middle class mixed in. Other than that, I don't know much about Weston as I've only been in that city a few times. It's very beautiful though. A lot of very wealthy Florida residents live there (pro athletes and people like that). At $3500 a month, again, I would think you'd have no problem finding a place in Weston.

Someone also mentioned Cooper City, which I would agree, you should look there as well. It's the neighboring city to the north of Pembroke Pines, and I actually went to high school at Cooper City High School--which was just completely rebuilt and turned out very beautiful. A lot of my friends growing up lived in Cooper City (still do) and they all loved growing up there just as much as I loved growing up in PPines.

Davie is also another city to consider. Davie is just north of PPines, but Davie is a little bit sleepier and has a "western" feel to it. East Davie is not great and a little bit lower class, but the west part of Davie is very beautiful. These houses are going to be mostly ranch style (one story) but they're usually on bigger plots of land--like you'd be hard pressed to find a property that is less than half an acre. So Davie is a nice place to consider if you like to have a little space between you and your neighbors. I remember that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had a house there--not sure if he still does or not.

All of the cities I mentioned are just a hop, skip and a jump to get to the highways for your husband's commute.

Let me know if you have any specific questions for me, I would love to help.