Is Palm Beach County the right place???

[boynton561]

Palm Beach County let alone Florida is not a good place for a family. You have to either know how to speak Spanish or Haitian Creole most places and the crime is out of this world. I moved down here in 2000 and it was ok but in the past couple years it was gotten so terrible. Gangs everywhere stealing everything even holding people up for the jeans no lie. And if you're looking to start a family Florida is not a good place. My kids have gotten made fun of and beaten up just because they are white and not black or hispanic. Also school system is a joke. They claim to be all A schools but they only grade it on the FCAT which is a stupid test they must all take and they ram in down the kids throat all throughout the school year.

[5FLgirls]

Originally Posted by Dallas19

I am reading so many negative comments about West Palm here. Can someone please advise me on where to move that is w/in 5 minutes from the beach and SAFE. Someone posted-move north. I'm from San Diego so I'm used to driving but was hoping with this move to work closer (30 minutes tops) from home. I'llbe traveling throughout S. Fla with my job but WPB is my central local.

Thanks

Hey Dallas19--I've just moved from FL to OC, CA and I can't help remarking on the negativity in both threads about where they live (OC and the West PBC threads). if you like living somewhere, that's all that matters. 30 minutes tops to work could mean Palm Beach Gardens, Juno Beach and Jupiter. Farther north of Jupiter (even Tequesta), you'd be in trouble with your commute. Although you might not get 5 minutes from the beach, you would never be more than 10 in either of these areas (depending on traffic, of course). Gardens is much busier than Jupiter and doesn't have as many user-friendly beaches. The beaches in Jupiter are very accessible while the Juno Beach beaches can be quite busy on the weekends. Parking for the beach in Jupiter is a little easier than Juno, too. I don't know if you're single or married or married w/kids but I've found that Gardens seemed to be convenient for single people (there's the mall, restaurants and many apartments being built).

[karenledesma]

I don't know what all the bad p.r. is about, we love Florida and although we are moving we are only moving across the state. My husbands job is relocating him, I would never leave the sunshine state! We WILL retire and die here, I never ever want to live in a climate again where I have to see my breath or blow hot air into my hands to warm them up. There are many great neighborhoods to live in Palm Beach County. As a matter of fact I have a home for sale in Royal Palm Beach, it's a beauty and anyone interested in seeing it should go to:

iggyshouse.com and type iggy #178454 into the search box to see it.

The village of Royal Palm Beach is a great town to live in and raise a family in and only 10 miles to the beach!

[skitch]

Heres my perspective ... I have lived in Palm Beach County since 1980 ... first in Boca , now in Boynton ... here is the thing ... lotsa growth ... malls restaurants , condos ... it has lost its once "naturistic" feel & in my opinion has become a concrete jungle. Nice people have been replaced by materialistic people ... sort of a keep up with the joneses attitude applies here no matter how deep in debt you have to go to keep your appearance up.
Cost of living has skyrocketed ... property taxes , homeowners insurance is way out of hand & although the tax thing is being addressed (by sleazy poiticians) I feel 1 more hurricane & homeowners insurance will be as scarse as a snowy day here.
On a positve note ... because of the growth , there is always something to do. However my advice would be to go elsewhere.
It kills me when people refer to this place as paradise. As for the gangs ... im not sure but just turn on the news , the murder rate here is like being in New York again in the 70's ... & the crimes seem more haneous.
Beaches are eroding.
New construction in Wellington , PB gardens ... plenty ... with 0 lot lines.
Hopefully we will be out soon enough. Try Southern Georgia ... coastal towns.

[edugator]

I am very familiar with both Lee and Palm Beach County.
Other that both having beaches and outlet malls, they are very different.
East coast is "trendier" and offers much more entertainment. The west coast rolls up the sidewalks around 10PM

RPB and Wellington are kind of like sister towns. I prefer Wellington, having raised four children there. Any of the towns you mentioned would be lovely to raise a family.
If you are interested in a 5BD on a great kid street in the Grand Isles subdivision (Wellington) let me know

[ideascubed]

In reply to T27taylor and Dallas 19: T27taylor, there are 2 hospitals in the North Area. Palm Beach Gardens has a hospital off of PGA and Alt. A1A. Jupiter has a hospital off of Indiantown Road and Alt. A1A.

Dallas, there are lots of places that are 5 minutes to the beach. We live in one such neighborhood. What I see are the advantages of our neighborhood, close to the beach, close to the Gardens mall, close to 95 and the turnpike. I don't care about the schools because we homeschool. But all the schools have a good reputation. With that a caveat, if you will, Florida schools are a very, very long way from the caliber of say, New England schools.

We live in what's called a county pocket. Which means we only pay county taxes, not an additional charge for city taxes. But, we are allowed to use Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter's city services (receational) if we'd like. Abacoa which is a development modeled after Disney's city Celebration is in Jupiter, and again 5 minutes from the beach.

It all depends on what you want, I guess. I don't like condo commandos that spy and gossip. So, I don't live in a condo or townhouse community. There are always that one bad egg, or flaming weekend warriors that disrupt the peace in a homeowner's association. Then again, HOA's downside is that the homeowner gets socked with special assesments for different events.

Personally, I've lived in a condo, a townhome, and a neighborhood that had an HOA. I'll take my neighborhood over those any day. Plus my little neighborhood has a secret agenda. They aren't making anymore land. When the roads were widened, the powers that be enabled our neighborhood to be developed into million dollar homes in the future. When that future will be, I don't know, but a local developer certainly has his eye on this little section of heaven. As well as other developers. A little island nestled between million dollar homes can't stay an island forever.

With that said, I know several homeowners that are desperate to sell, because they have already relocated to other states where there jobs took them. I personally believe that this is the lowest price for real estate an out of towner is going to get.

I've noticed when it snows up north really bad, the prices down here go up on real estate.

Back to the SAFE neighborhood, Dallas. We've never had a robbery, burglary or whatever. The most dangerous place I've ever been in was a public school. I was assaulted there. Another reason for homeschool.

Read the book, the Gift of Fear, by Gavin De Becker. That really helped me to hone in on what's dangerous, how to tell when I'm in danger, etc. Especially if you are going to working all over South Florida.

As far as living in Wellington. There are only a few roads in and out of Wellington. Forest Hill Blvd., Southern, Lake Worth and sort of Okeechobee Blvd. Think major traffic, and a car accident will shut the area you are driving in down. Wellington itself is a condo commando area. Your grass WILL be mowed or you will get a ticket. So make sure if you go on vacation that you have a back up plan. If you conserve on water and your yard turns brown, you will get a ticket. I have never seen a do it yourselfer change his or her car oil on weekends out there in Wellington. I don't recall seeing RV's in the yards either. My experience with Wellington is living there and visiting there frequently. I don't like that it is so far away from the beach. Nor do I like the traffic. But it has stores, movies, malls, schools tend to be crowded, and since it's only a few miles from Belle Glade, I have no doubt that the Wellington kids will be bussed to the Glades and the Glades kids will be bussed to Wellington at some point in the future for some political statement.

The more specific you are in what you want, the easier to describe the neighborhood you are looking for!

There's a place called North Palm Beach Heights, in Jupiter, off of Donald Ross. That's a great little neighborhood, 5 minutes from the beaches. Some of the streets are like the best neighbors in the world! Dads are out playing horseshoes with each other while watching the little ones play. The whole streets decorate for the holidays. Block parties, and all that. Homes are between 30 years old and 6 months old. Close to 95, FAU at Abacoa, stores, baseball.

Then there's Palm Beach Country Estates, converting to city water, has an acre per homesite, and maybe 10 minutes to the beach depending on where you live.

Then there's another neighborhood close to the beach, homes are in the 300's. Off of US1. In the North area, Palm Beach Gardens and North, almost everything is within 10 to 15 minutes of the beach depending on where you live. Stores are everywhere, parks are great, 3 libraries, eateries abound, including Cheesesteak Factory, unusual stores like Whole Foods, stores I'll never go into such as Tiffany's.

Do you want ocean access? There are several homes, including one that was inherited and the owner lives out of town, (he's reduced the price 5 times with no bites) that are right on the Intracoastal off of Prosperity. Several places have canals that go to the intracoastal.

Google Earth the area and see for yourself. PM me if there is something that you are interested in. Look up neighborhoods in Palm Beach Post archives and see what's happened there.

Good luck to everybody in there search for a great place to live. BTW, I've lived in Virginia in the summer, and I'll take Palm Beach county's 90 plus degree weather over 104 degrees with a heat index of 115 any day!!!! Plus I love going to the beach on Christmas and New Years! I always call my Massachusetts cousins to tell them about it too!

[jonigee]

I would choose Palm Beach Gardens. The schools are better. You might even consider Jupiter. I lived in PB County for 32 years. Just moved to Treasure Coast in February. Best of luck. BTW, best to choose a southeast exposure!

Joni

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by ideascubed

As far as living in Wellington. There are only a few roads in and out of Wellington. Forest Hill Blvd., Southern, Lake Worth and sort of Okeechobee Blvd. Think major traffic, and a car accident will shut the area you are driving in down.

You totally missed SR7/441, which was once a 2 lane road now it's a mega 3 to 4 lane (both ways) highway. Okeechobee is north of Wellington's limits which is Southern Blvd. You can thank the mall and shops for the traffic, though it's not that terrible.

[onegreatnurse]

Originally Posted by ideascubed

Hi, I've lived here in Palm Beach County (From Tequesta to Boca and parts west) most of my life. I've taught school and had kids in school here. From my perspective the best place to live in PBC is the North County. There are county pockets (not in cities) that are literally minutes from the ocean. I love the Palm Beach Gardens area especially the county pockets where crime is low, taxes reasonable, close to the mall, close to the interstate.

I think South Florida is a great place to live. Especially if you don't like the cold. As far as education goes, Martin County schools beat out the surrounding areas, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Dade, Broward. The best school that I've seen is the Elementary school in Indiantown. My bottom line for education and I tell everyone, these are Florida schools, rated in the lower 10 of the USA consistently, high dropout rates, high teacher disatisfaction, and if your kid doesn't get straight A's in a Florida school, what is the problem? Homeschool your kids, dual enroll them in the local community college or local university (it isn't any harder believe me, and a lot easier on great students because there is no disruptive elements.)

And if you are going to buy, buy soon, prices are going back up. It snowed too much last year, and especially if there are no hurricanes this year, it will become a seller's market again. There is a lot of inventory, and in particular, one neighborhood has a lot of desperate sellers because many homeowners have already purchased homes in other states and need to unload yesterday.

Anyway, I love Florida, homeschool my kids, dual enrolled my high schoolers and saved a ton on college tuition and books doing so. I love being minutes from the beach, seconds from the theatre, and I can find plenty to amuse myself, Season passes to Disney, road trip to North Carolina.

As far as crime goes, I stay out of areas that are known to have problems, stay hypervigilant, read the book by Gavin DeBecker, Gift of Fear, and stay in the North end of the county. I also don't make myself a target, I don't wear my jewelry out, I don't drive expensive cars that would invite car jackings. And get this, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in P.B. Gardens, called Lost Tree Village, home of Jack Nicklaus, many billionaires, and second home to the wealthy don't drive beamers, jags, mercedes, porsches, ferraris, etc. As a matter of fact the only Corvette I saw there belonged to the guy who developed it. If the wealthy people have figured out how to avoid being a target, I think I'll learn from their experiences.

Best of luck to all who are searching to locate to South Florida. If you have a specific question, I can help with feel free to ask. And don't move to Lake Worth. The utility company is locally owned and not by FPL. Their electric bills for families of 2 and 3 were astronomical, in the 500's and 600 dollars per month.

Hi from NJ!! First of all, I read the Gift of Fear, my friend from California sent it to me, great book! I am definitely a fan of Gavin DeBecker. I am looking to move. Although I am from NJ and we are supposed to have such great schools, I found my entire high school experience was a total waste of time (actually, so were the last few years of middle school back in the early 80's-I was terrorized by kids who probably would be labeled a "gang" today, they smoked, drank and had sex in 6th, 7th and 8th grade, had maybe one parent or no parents or drunk/drug addict parents, and bullied everyone. I had to do one girl's homework or I would be beat up every day at school. I was an "A" student, but was bored and unchallenged. The gifted and talented program they started was a joke. I also think I have ADHD, which didn't help. My son has it and I went through my old report cards and when I read the comments, they were classic ADHD. I wish I had skipped the whole experience and been enrolled in community college from Day 1, and I could have easily done home schooling and college level coursework. I learned nothing and instead was stalked by my neighbor and a gang of kids trying to beat me up during high school.

I would like to know what "dual enrolled" means...does that mean they can attend community college or the local university for free while being home schooled? Is that how you are saving money? How do you deal with the home schooling? Do you have a Home School network like my neighbor here in NJ?

I hate the cold and really want to get out of here and would like to live in the Jupiter area. What did you mean by "North County" area? I heard the taxes are high in Jupiter although I had looked there on the internet initially. Do you think we would be better off in Palm Beach Gardens? Or Juno Beach, or even Jensen Beach?

Please let me know!! It is just me and my son and I am an RN, and would really like to move by this summer, but a lot of the info on here is confusing and conflicting.

Thanks!!!