Potential relo from Atlanta, young family, commute to Miami (Hollywood: best neighborhoods, rental)

[msh0146]

Greetings.

Exploring the possibility of a job transfer from Atlanta to South Florida. Nothing's set in stone yet, but looking to get grounded on what I might expect, as it will be most useful in making the decision.

- Job is located in downtown Miami at the southern end of Biscayne.

- Active family of four with a 5yr old (to start kindergarten this fall) and a 3yr old.

- Public schools a must, but I am not of the mindset that I must have the best of the best of the best of the best for my precious little darlings. We want a solid elementary school of course, but don't believe in analysis paralysis on searching for Nirvana in a school, and would prefer to avoid a socially competitive elementary school -- yes, we've seen this before...

- Prefer to rent for a year, perhaps two. Not sure if the assignment would be long enough to justify buying. Rent budget up to about $2,500 / mo, could do more if absolutely necessary, but prefer not to.

- If buying, looking to gauge the landscape. Where might we live for ~$300K? Where might we live for $400K? Higher? Need 3 bedrooms, but no desire for palatial square footage. Condo, townhome, or SFH just fine. Have a small, (~20lb) aging family dog.

- Is it possible to commute to downtown Miami by Tri Rail or the 95 express bus? Atlanta traffic is awful as well, open to any possibilities to reducing time stuck behind the wheel in traffic so that I can see my kids at night.

- I will also post this in the Palm Beach Co. and the Miami forums. I don't know that we'll find what we want in Miami/Dade, and Palm Beach County may be too far to commute.

Any insight, thoughts, suggestions would be most helpful. Let me know if I've missed anything. Many thanks...

[Nolefan34]

You can commute on Tri-Rail from Palm Beach and Broward County all the way into downtown Miami. This may actually be a good option for you. Driving from Palm Beach County would be too far in my opinion. Especially with traffic. The only problem with Tri-Rail is that it only has 1 line running up and down the east coast. The line generally runs parallel to I-95. So in order to use Tri-Rail if you don't live within walking distance, you would have to park your car at the station every morning or get a ride. Tri-Rail is a good option though if you live further east. If you live further west, it can be pointless to use Tri-Rail. For instance, if you live in a western suburb of Broward County, it would take too long to drive east to Tri-Rail with all of the morning traffic. You would be better off just commuting in your own car to downtown Miami.

The "good areas" of Broward County are generally considered Weston, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City, Davie, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Parkland, Southwest Ranches, and Coconut Creek. There are other good areas further east, but they tend to be mixed in close to sketchier areas. Boca Raton located in Southern PBC (Palm Beach County) is also a good area as is parts of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.

Miami-Dade is a whole different animal. You will find traffic and crime to be much higher there and the good areas to live down there will be very expensive. I'm not saying you should rule out Miami-Dade altogether, but I generally advise against it. The exception would be if you want to live close to your work, you could rent a nice downtown condo in Brickell or along Biscayne Bay and you would be within walking distance or a short train ride to your work.

[msh0146]

Thank you NoleFan. The "good areas" list is especially helpful. If this comes together, I'd love to find a place to rent very close to the office, but I don't know what to expect in terms of elementary schools in that area, and the 3BR rental in Brickell seems to be a very limited inventory.

I would expect a short drive to and from the tri rail station, but what I'm not familiar with is the commute traffic going east and west inside Broward and PB Counties.

Anyone else with thoughts? Feel free to jump in.

[compelled to reply]

They have wifi-equipped express buses from Weston area, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Sawgrass Mills area and Hollywood straight into downtown Miami. This is a very viable commute option and you have an abundance of decent areas to choose from within a 10 minute drive of any of these stations. There are decent neighborhoods with good elementary schools close to all of these stops, but the best schools will be in the former three.

Here is a list of the stops and neighborhoods to choose nearby.

http://www.broward.org/BCT/MapsAndSc...s/595WGweb.pdf

Great neighborhood all around. Go anywhere south of 595 and west of University Dr and you will have nice neighborhoods and good schools all the way through high school. 300k will get you a decent small house or a large townhouse in Weston, and will get you a little more in Davie. Probably the best choice.

http://www.broward.org/BCT/MapsAndSc.../595MIAweb.pdf

Nice neighborhood but hit and miss schools. Check out areas zoned for Central Park Elementary, Nob Hill Elementary or Sawgrass Elementary. Middle/high schools wouldn't be as good. Not bad but I would probably favor areas closer to the other stops.

http://www.broward.org/BCT/MapsAndSc...ramar95web.pdf

The whole area north of the Turnpike and west of the bus stop is solid with highly rated elementary schools and OK middle/high schools. 300k will stretch pretty far. A decent 3rd choice.

http://www.broward.org/BCT/MapsAndSc...broke95web.pdf

Best neighborhoods/schools are west of Flamingo Road, but any section of Pembroke Pines will be fine for elementary aged children. Cooper City is another good area close to this bus stop with some of the best schools in the county. 300k will go far. 2nd choice.

[msh0146]

Thank you very much. Helpful, and good to know there is another option besides driving myself.

[compelled to reply]

Something to note about the Weston stop; it only takes you to the Civic Center area and will require a transfer to get downtown. No big deal, but still a 2 hour ordeal in both directions. You could also drive to the Pines or Sawgrass stops which go direct to downtown, and local traffic to the bus stops would not be bad at all with only school zones to contend with. The drive from Weston or Davie area would be about an hour and a half, and might get down to an hour or less if you can afford the new tolled express lanes when they open a year from now. Even without using the toll lanes, traffic here is definitely not as bad as Atlanta, but 35 miles is 35 miles.

[msh0146]

2hr in both directions? Is that pessimistic, or is it reality? If it really is a full 2hr, might be worth just driving.

The logistics aren't the best. It looks like express bus to rail to metromover to get to the office. But it's doable, and I've a strong aversion to a lengthy / unpredictable car commute. I've done my time, and I just want options.

It appears that Weston is express bus -> metrorail -> metromover. West Palm and similar would be tri rail -> metrorail -> metromover. None are compelling choices, but I think workable.

[compelled to reply]

2 hours is pessimistic but it can happen. Probably the best choice from Weston would be, 10-15 minute low traffic drive to BB&T -> express bus -> bam your downtown in an hour and 30 or less. Also, the express buses have wifi and if you can find a seat you can catch up on some work.

[Nolefan34]

Originally Posted by msh0146

Thank you NoleFan. The "good areas" list is especially helpful. If this comes together, I'd love to find a place to rent very close to the office, but I don't know what to expect in terms of elementary schools in that area, and the 3BR rental in Brickell seems to be a very limited inventory.

I would expect a short drive to and from the tri rail station, but what I'm not familiar with is the commute traffic going east and west inside Broward and PB Counties.

Anyone else with thoughts? Feel free to jump in.

The east-west commutes in Broward County are much longer than Palm Beach County. This is because there is 2X as much traffic in Broward County and the development goes 2X as far west in Broward County. It also depends greatly on which part of Broward and Palm Beach Counties you'll be commuting through. From some areas like Coral Springs or Weston, its a good 30 minutes or longer to the nearest Tri-Rail stop during peak times.