Moving to PBC - Brokers and people living there - have some question :) (Boca Raton: rental)

[diekleinenic]

Hello
me (20 years) and my fiancé (23 years) will move to Palm Beach County in May of 2011. I have done quite a lot of research about the different areas of PBC and I favor Boca Raton.

But I would appreciate some insight from people living in PBC or having lived there about favorable areas that you would recommend for us.

We are now college students and will be graduating in May of 2011. We are not the typical kind of college students, which means we do not care for any nightlife to be near us (would prefer even not to have much around). It is not important to us to have young people around us or anything.

We are not looking for jobs, so this will not be a factor. We are mortgage protection insurance agents and retirement account protection agents who would often visit many homeowners. Since we will not concentrate on just one city, but the whole county as well as Brevard County, so travelling routes are not a factor either.

I would like to know though how traffic is in PBC and also during which hours of the day traffic is the worst (slowest)?

We would like to rent a little house, condo or townhome anywhere from $500 - $800 a month. A private pool would definitely be great for $800, but a public or community pool nearby is sufficient. =) It would be great if the rental property would be within 10 minutes of driving time to the beach.
We have been living for the past three years in a 450 sq feet studio, so I think anything bigger than that will be great )

In which are would this be possible in Palm Beach County?

In addition, I have some general questions about Palm Beach County:
- Does it rain often?
- Which beaches are not full of tourists?
- I read that bugs are very common because of the humid weather – do you have significant problems with that?
- Will I HAVE to purchase homeowner’s insurance on the property I will rent?
- Is there any other insurance, etc. I will need regarding the rental property?

I read about HOA fees and was wondering if people only need to pay these if they own a home or if I will also have to pay monthly HOA fees (separately from my rent) when I rent a condo, for example?
We will be in Daytona Beach in July and will rent a car to go down to PBC. It would be great if you suggested some cities I should consider – it will be a good opportunity to check them out.
If you need more specific information to make a good recommendation, just ask me =)

[Reedsmit]

You will never rent in Boca for $500 - $800 a month. A few days ago there were posting for Boca rent of $2000 - $2300 a month.

[TriMT7]

You can find some student grade housing in Boca for your price range (around FAU), but it's gonna be typical of a college type atmosphere.

There are also primarily older complexes that you can find a 1 bedroom place, but you'll definitely have to do your homework.

Most of Boca is good. Others may be able to tell you specific neighborhoods to avoid.

PBC is very very large, though, so you will find something somewhere that suits your needs.