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I suggest you post in the Miami area of CD. I think you might need boots on the ground recon for this move.
I lived in South Miami. Perrine is not an area I would live. You may like Hammocks area.
Thanks all! I've gotten some advice from the Miami forum. This was originally more about logistics of when to go looking for a place. If anyone had any "scouting" methods of new places, etc. I've talked to a few people in my new team but 1 is in Palm Beach, the other Ft. Lauderdale, and the ones in Puerto Rico I didn't bother with LOL. I am fortunate that military try to help each other out. I've never met these people before and they are willing to scout out addresses for me. On the other hand, I've never met these people before so I have to take that into account on their assessments. I think we have a nice yard, or did till we sold our house, It was a 1 acre lot. I've looked at houses online that had "yards" that could almost be measured with a "yard stick" its a perception thing. I talked to the other Soldier at the Perrine location, but she's in a different financial bracket than me. 1 child (in private school so slightly different location concerns) and her husband is Active military as well so their income is double mine with only 1 child. After consideration, I decided to keep the other 2 kids and just find a cheaper neighborhood. Again thanks for all the advice. Leave is scheduled for November, I'm buying plane tickets after I get it back and I think we are going the realtor route. Actually I know we are, I just haven't told my husband yet. LOL
Oh and to the poster who thought that it was probally a nice area where the Reserve unit is....Wrong (at least most of the time). Sorry but the government likes cheap property. I've been at places where the locals would drive by and shoot the windows on the military vehicles. We have double fenced areas to park our personal cars because the thefts and vandalism are soo bad during normal work hours. Also, homeless like to hang around becuase they think with a government building they are likely to get assistance. Some buildings are in nice areas and the community treats it as a place of pride and the community is wonderful with support. But more often cheap land overrides everything else.
Yes. You pretty well have no choice but to do that.
Pick the best rental house you can afford based on schools and work commute.
Work everything else in around those basics.
Plan/expect to live with it for 2+ years before buying (and moving again).
Go to the city section here on CD and ask or do your own best school research.
Disagree x 10000
Why pay rent at 2 places for 2 months? Sounds like a colossal waste of money and, well, stupid. Wait till you get there. The scouting trip plus your move will give you a better feel for the city. Your view or opinion of an area can change and is not always accurate on the first view.
I just moved to Salt Lake. I spent the first week scouting the areas that I thought i'd want to live in. 4 weeks later, I'm wishing I had concentrated my search 15 minutes southeast from where I'm at. Because that is where I spend most of my time. But I based it on my first visit and the conclusions I drew at that time. Having been here a few weeks, I have a clearer picture of where I want to live in this city now.
Due to my job we will be moving our family over 20hrs away to a city we've never been to before. I've done some searches to narrow down possible towns but we won't know for sure till we get there. I have to be there on Jan 13 and can take some time off before and after that. The kids will start school in the new district on 20 Jan. This is important because I want them to transfer in between semesters to make it at least a little easier. My question is.... How do you organize a move like this?
We are considering having my husband and I fly down there in mid-November to scout things out. Would you go ahead and find a place to rent and pay deposits, etc. and pay rent in 2 places for about 2 months? Do you find the area and then find the exact place once you arrive and keep your family in a hotel until you find a place, get accepted, and in most cases the area requires several weeks of waiting to get permission by an HOA to move in. I have 3 kids and 2 dogs so the thought of staying in a hotel for weeks is awful but finances come into play. We get some money to help offset costs but our "scouting trip" and deposits are all coming out of pocket (1st month, last month, and 1-2 months for security). We've moved before, but never this distance and never to a place we've never been to before. Any advise would be appreciated. Also, we can move ourselves or pay movers to do it, either way covered by work. Our plan was to do it ourselves if we had a place ready but have them do it if we were still looking on arrival. I'm open to suggestions on this as well.
Sorry this is long but I feel we're running out of time to get plane tickets, schedule time off, etc. and my husband thinks we have plenty of time. I need advise without continuing to drive hubby nuts. LOL
I think it depends a whole lot on what you're used to and what you need. If you are church going, don't forget that too -- but you can find a whole lot out about neighborhoods from google street view and zillow. Are you the kind that needs to be near wide open spaces, parks, swimming pools?
Do you prefer sidewalks, convenient locations to grocery stores? Do you like to take walks out into the country or to the city? Do you like miles and miles of surburban space, or do they make you stir-crazy? Do you feel more comfortable in a neighborhood with average cars or swimming pools? You can tell quite a bit by looking around google and zillow.
You can drive around the streets on google, and get some idea of how the neighborhood looks, how many cars are parked along the sides, how many trees there are, how the front yards look. Zillow will show you how the insides of houses for sale look, but also how many houses are being rented and for sale, and how your potential neighbors might live.
Also zillow and google can show you how many people have fences, iron bars on windows, if nearby stores are boarded up or look thriving, if they have iron bars and grates over windows and doors, that's a sign that property crime is a problem.
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