Hello all,

Seeking advice and opinions...We decided to leave Key West after many years, selling our house (tired of maintaining a wooden home in a tropical climate) and moving up to the mainland, maybe/probably to West Palm Beach.

Us: now in our early 70s, still spend summer and fall in Vermont but most of the year in FL. We have been looking closely at West Palm Beach. We've never been there, we are about to make our first visit to the city in the near future. What attracts us: lots of improvements made in the last couple of decades: the City Place complex, Clematis Street café-shop-restaurant area, the Kravis Center, the expanded Norton Museum of Art, not to mention the City Paws dog park for our two dogs. There are several condo buildings within walking distance of many of those things and condo prices appear reasonable compared to the unreal real estate market of Old Town Key West.

We welcome any advice or opinions or information from fodorites who live in the area or who have visited WPB often. Is this place in fact as good as it seems?

I'm very much looking forward to the responses!

This is probably not a very helpful response, but I was in West Palm Beach yesterday and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Just the general area and nothing specific - just the overall feel. I'm in Florida a lot on business and overall I'm not a fan. But if I had to move (to someplace other than the panhandle), I'd seriously consider it. Enjoyed flying in and out of PBI too.

We live about 20 minutes to the south (location chosen due to nearness of relatives) and find ourselves driving up frequently to WPB for shopping, and to PB itself because our favorite Florida restaurant is located there. I would love to live in WPB. The Greenmarket on Saturdays is a big draw, even if you do not cook. Shopping is good, and restaurants (ours are Buccan in PB and Regional and Grato in WPB, as well as Oceano Kitchen in nearby Lantana) are the best north of Miami.

If you love golf, its perfect. I would try to be as close to the water as possible, not stuck in the western areas near the Everglades. And the museums in PB are close. We saw Audra McDonald last year at Kravis Center, which has top notch entertainment.

The airport is so clean and orderly!

I don't know your budget, but be aware that you can also find something on Palm Beach island for not a terriblylhigh price ifi you look at the condos there....

I would assume that condo maintenance prices are as high as they are in Broward county but if you can live with those then why not? As to whether or not the shopping and the restaurant quality is "better" than anything south, well, that's obviously subjective.

We have stayed in West Palm Beach for the month of February for the past seven years.
We really like the Palm Beach Gardens area. Less "city like" than WPB. Lots of great restaurants and shopping.

Friends built a house in Palm Beach Gardens a couple of years ago and love it and the location. One has lived in the county for years. I've not visited yet. They were off on a birthday trip this time. But I can ask for more information if you have specific questions.

Thanks to all for the information and ideas. We have looked at the condo fees and taxes in the core area of WPB that we're interested in ( = Clematis Street south to City Place, Kravis Center, down to Norton Museum and over to the west a mile or so). Those fees and taxes are about what we already pay in Key West; we don't pay fees in KW but we pay insurance, especially wind of course. For the 2 or 3 BR condo that we seeking in WPB, it looks like there are many on the market for 300k more or less. In KW Old Town there is literally nothing, not even a dog house, available for that price.

We like the idea of walking out of "our" condo in WPB on May 31, locking the door, and driving away, then coming back Nov. 1, and walking in. Right now, in KW we have our annual search for friends either to live in our house or to keep an eye on it, put on the storm shutters if there's a warning, etc., plus the acceleration of repairs which are inevitable, I guess ("Oh right, you need a new $1000 gizmo on your AC system, sorry, the warranty expired last year"). And of course there's the H word. If it hits in WPB, we won't be there, we'll let the association deal with it and then just swallow the hike in the HOA when it happens.

That's a bit more of our thinking. All sceptical comments welcome, as well as encouraging ones

This is neither, but if you need a house-sitter... <waving>

Kidding. I don't have the vacation time but that would be a sweet gig!

Back to you - I do think the "lock the door and return much later without worrying" is a very big plus!

@starrs: But remember, you have to put up the storm shutters if H is coming....

What websites are you using to search? Within the area you're looking at (essentially downtown WPB), I find almost nothing at that price.

I'm using zillow and trulia. Here are a few examples:

The Tower Condominiums at City Place, apt 309 - $243k
651 Okeechobee Blvd
2/2, 1132 sq ft

The Tower Condominiums at City Place, apt 604 - $254k
651 Okeechobee Blvd
2/2, 1132 sq ft

780 S. Sapodilla - $275,000
2 br 2 ba – 1,120 sq ft
Pets okay
Next to City Place

403 S. Sapodilla, unit 507 – suggested by Patrick
$309,000 + 12,000 HOA + 6,000 tax
2 br 2 ba, 1328 sq ft.

@sf7307: remember, this is West Palm Beach...big price difference compared to Palm Beach, which is just over the bridges from WPB

I'm game!

If you don't move and are still there in a couple of years, give me a shout! I haven't been to the Keys since Irma's visit. I was supposed to be in Miami that week, but thank goodness that work trip was cancelled.

Good luck with the condo hunting! I hope you find the perfect place!

Those prices sound great for a 2- or 3-bed condo.

The only thing you might want to keep in mind is that, if you move just slightly further west, you will be able to find a condo with lots of amenities for, I imagine, the same price. I'm talking about pools. classes, clubs, etc etc.

n any case, I think your target location is a good one; you can even walk over the bridge to the beaches from there!

Our friends just bought on the Bay in Palm Beach..gorgeous apartment near the Norton Museum, with pool, for a lot less than I would have imagined.

Just remember what a busy area City Place is. It can get loud there as well. Spend some time in those condos before committing to one.

@schmerl: Yes, good point, I've thought about that. I've zillowed and google-street-viewed the condo buildings right in City Place, want to avoid that. The strategy is to find some place within 25 minute walking distance of: (1) dog park (you can see our priorities), (2) Kravis, (3) Norton, (4) cafes and (5) restaurants. Certainly some tradeoffs will have to happen. We have been spoiled by living in Old Town Key West, walking distance of most things we wanted to see and do.

An aside - the Downton Abbey exhibit has opened in WPB -
https://www.downtonexhibition.com/west-palm-beach/

Update, a few days later...

We left Vermont just as the big storm was approaching the northeast and ran smack dab into it as we travelled I-81 down the Shenandoahs after our visit to Charlottesville and Monticello (I'm posting soon a mini TR on that very interesting and moving visit). Hours of sleet, wind, and toppled trees. Finally, after a night in Greater Metropolitan Orangeburg SC and another night in Fort Pierce we arrived this morning in West Palm Beach, tah dah, sun shining, palm trees palming, big blue sky.

WPB: our first visit, what a different world from little old Key West. This is an actual, real, existing, multidimensional city, and a beautiful one at that. And clean. And the center is very new although there are several protected historic neighborhoods such as Grandview (location of our B&B, more on that in a minute). We parked the car in a car park building on Evernia St., hooked up the dogs to their leashes, and walked a couple of blocks to the farmers market at the east end of Clematis St. Wow, 90 different vendors, all types of fresh veg, fruit, food, breads, juices. I had a Peruvian roast pork sandwich enhanced by a squirt of Peruvian sauce, a friend sweet potato chip and marinated red onions. Delicious. Partner had a semifrozen yogurt plus fruit plus crunchy nut stuff topping, with a fresh croissant for dessert. Then a quick pop into the portable loos lining the park (in which there is piped music; for me, it was Elvis singing "Silver Bells". I am not making this up.)

We (all four of us) then walked a few blocks to meet our realtor and we spent the next two hours visiting four different condo buildings grouped around the Kravis Center and City Place. One in particular appealed to us. But we will have to see about the sale of our Key West house before getting down to specifics. And we are still not sure about renting vs. buying.

At this point all our feet and paws were really tired so we drove to our B&B, Grandview Gardens on Lake Avenue in the Grandview neighborhood. This is a beautiful area, single family homes looking like they were built 1910-1930, lots of mature oak trees, a very big park with a ball field and a dog park. The B&B consists of several 1920-ish Florida Spanish style buildings around a pool, lots of palms and bougainvillea. I took a swim, we napped, took the dogs to the dog park where they raced around getting rid of all that doggy energy accumulated during days of driving, and now we are going to a highly rated Italian restaurant, Grato. More to come....

Sounds wonderful!