Lake worth vs delray beach (Coral Springs, Boca Raton: apartments, rental, high crime)

[Gracietiger]

Hi all,
To follow up on a previous post, my partner and I are 35 year old females moving from San Francisco to palm beach county for a career opportunity. I will be based in Coral Springs twice a week, WPB once a week and Stuart once a week. We like water sports and the outdoors, we are laid back and enjoy the eclectic nature of San Francisco, we are vegetarian/mostly vegan, and we are not huge into night life. We have narrowed it down to lake worth and delray. Delray sounds a bit more like California, but we also hear it’s very developed and crowded whereas lake worth is still more quaint. We like an apartment on south 9th st in lake worth but have been warned about moving south of lake avenue. Just wondering what your thoughts are??? Unfortunately we are unable to visit before moving.

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by Gracietiger

we are unable to visit before moving.

Big mistake
There is no way you should consider this.
If not you, someone you trust should come here and see places themselves.

[blueherons]

Get a temporary rental while you look.

I much prefer Delray to Lake Worth.

[DaniellaG]

This is off season in FL so you should be able to find a short term rental cheap. It will allow you to look for a long term place.

[mjd2014]

I love Lake Worth beach area, but not to live there. East Delray Beach is nice, I lived in West Delray and hated it because of traffic and the elderly population. We live in Boca Raton now and like it but it is very expensive. I would definitely rent and see what you think.

[ByeByeLW]

Lake Worth is an angry little place.

[ByeByeLW]

Lake Worth is a desperate, angry little place.

[kanonka]

Originally Posted by Gracietiger

Hi all,
To follow up on a previous post, my partner and I are 35 year old females moving from San Francisco to palm beach county for a career opportunity. I will be based in Coral Springs twice a week, WPB once a week and Stuart once a week. We like water sports and the outdoors, we are laid back and enjoy the eclectic nature of San Francisco, we are vegetarian/mostly vegan, and we are not huge into night life. We have narrowed it down to lake worth and delray. Delray sounds a bit more like California, but we also hear it’s very developed and crowded whereas lake worth is still more quaint. We like an apartment on south 9th st in lake worth but have been warned about moving south of lake avenue. Just wondering what your thoughts are??? Unfortunately we are unable to visit before moving.

1) Seems like you'll be traveling a lot. So, you need to live in some proximity to a highway. As such, your choices pretty much are limited. If you have enough money, you can live on the islands strip. Very expensive, but pretty safe, and relatively close to I-95. Crowded, yes, basically no normal grocery shops, but - you gonna live almost on the beach If money are tight, then the other choice you have is to live somewhere closer to Turnpike, as any area near I-95 (other than islands) is a nightmare - high crime, poverty, pot smokers/crack users left and right and just totally weird people around. Turnpike area, on the other hand, is a good area in both Delray and Lake Worth.

2) In Delray, starting from Turnpike and to the west there are tons of old and super old people. If you are a slow person, it might be ok, but if you are "always in a hurry" person, this gets annoying, irritating and depressing.

3) Traffic is really slow on Lake Worth Ave. From HWY-441/HWY-7 to the beach is about 20 mins if you get lucky, but usually more like 35-40 mins. If I would be travelling this much AND want to go to the beach every day, I would consider area where Southern Blvd crosses Jog Rd. From there you have fast access to both Turnpike and I-95, pretty close to WPB, about 50 mins to Coral Springs, and 50 mins to Stuart. Unfortunately, there are no apartments there.

4) Another option is Boca Raton (almost any place there is good, but they have 9 mafia gangs ) , but you crossed it off the list. And, it's expensive there.

5) Things to consider - and I didn't know that until I moved to the area - there are lots of drug rehab places in Delray - about 50% more than in Lake Worth. All of them are to the east of Jog Rd, so you've been warned. Oh, and one more thing - there are always, always beggars on Military Trail and any major intersection with it. You can see some on Haverhill Rd, but not that much.