Boston to Miami (Miami Beach, Coral Gables, South Miami: apartments, rent, mover)

[rsb1]

I currently have the chance to relocate from Boston to Miami with my employer. I am a 30-year old, non-hispanic white male who is single with no kids. Office would be in Brickell.
Have a few questions about cost of living, best places to live and anything else helpful you can provide. Gross base salary would be around $120k...maybe a few hundred in debt payments a month, no car currently.

1) What are some of the better places to live for a young single guy? I want to be close to the beach and work but also an area that has somethings to do around it...not dead after 5pm.
2) I don't know anyone in the area...how easy is it to meet people down there who are genuine, not just there for the party?
3) In terms of the salary...could I afford a pretty decent lifestyle down there?
4) I've visited Miami several times and have always stayed on South Beach (Ocean Dr, Collins)...nice area if you live in a high rise but other than South Beach, are there other areas where people go out?

Any other useful information would be really great. Anyone on here move from the Northeast to Miami and can share their experiences?

Thanks in advance!

RB

[monibee]

1. It depends on how much you are willing to spend a month on rent. But if you are able and cool with shelling out $1400-$1900 give or take a few hundred a month then you can find a nice place in or around Brickell. There you are not too far from some beaches like Key Biscayne and South Beach is not that far. There are bars and resturants there and you are not far from work. Outside of Brickell you are Coconut Grove, the area around Cocowalk, this a little further South and MidTown, which is a little further North. However, you will need a car in both of these places. The best thing about Miami is thar as long as you are located east of US1 you are relatively close to a number of beaches.

2. I hestitate to lump all of Miami into one bag and of course this is not always the case, but generally the people here are not all that genuine. Especially in the type of areas you are looking to live, Miami is a party city and can be very superficial and fake. There are areas where you get more of a family oriented, down to earth vibe, but these are not what you are looking for. You can meet people easily enough, but genuine people may not be easy to find.

3. People in Miami fake it all the time with salaries of a lot less, with that salary and being single you will be more than okay.

4. Midtown, Cocowalk, Brickell and Coral Gables the places with bars and hangouts, if you want something different from Clubs, otherwise its SoBe.

Also, do you speak Spanish? If not then its going to be something that takes getting used to. Miami has a huge Hispanic population and spanish is used often and everywhere. After that its Creole.

Miami is not designed for carless living, they are trying to make it more public transportation friendly but you may really need to consider getting a car when moving here. If you live and work in Brickell you may find it easier to get around without a car, but if you wanted to go somewhere else it will be hard to deal with.

To me, Miami has beautiful weather, but it does get hot! And compared to Boston our winters are a joke, it's heat and rain. The rainy seaseon is the coming up now.

Born and raised here. Let me know if you have any other questions, happy to help!

[FlyMIA]

120k and single of course that's a great salary. Only city in the country where I would say its not great is NYC but even there its good.

Anyway you are working in Brickell that means you should live in Brickell. There are some great buildings there and Brickell has a good nightlife bars. Bars, restaurants and clubs all within walking distance. Also in Brickell you have good transit. You have the free people move that takes you all around downtown. And the people mover can connect you to the metro over which can take you to other spots like South Miami, dadeland mall and the airport. I highly suggest Brickell that is where many young professionals live, it's Walkable and urban and has plenty of places to eat and drink near by for the weekends and happy hours.

Other area that would fit you would be Miami Beach as you have seen, you wold probably want a car to commute or you could take the bus. There is also coconut grove which has some decent apartments and a good nightlife area. But I'm telling you Brickell is where you want to be.

As for how easy it is to meet people I really don't know as I grew up here. But I think there will be people n you similar situation in Brickell so that helps. People you work with and people who live in our building seem to be the best ways I would assume.

Nightlife areas in Dade:
South Beach
Brickell
Downtown Wahrehouse District
Downtown South Miami
Coconut Grove
The design district/midtown is starting to have its own nightlife area now.

And then there are bars and even random clubs all over the area.

[rsb1]

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like Brickell would be the spot to look for a place. I'm thinking I can afford somewhere between 1800-2200 a month in rent (utilities extra)....would I be able to get a decent place in a high-rise for that much?
I do speak very little Spanish but would be up for taking lessons. I'm originally from Russia and do speak relatively fluent Russian plus a little bit of Hebrew...figure that may help a little.

I guess my main concern is finding a good, intelligent group of people to be friends with. Also, being 30-years old....finding a nice (preferably Jewish) girl to settle down with is also on the agenda. I do have a few friends up here in Boston who made the opposite move (MIA to BOS) and they do tell me that finding genuine people around Miami isn't as easy as in Boston.

Again, thanks for the great responses.

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by rsb1

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like Brickell would be the spot to look for a place. I'm thinking I can afford somewhere between 1800-2200 a month in rent (utilities extra)....would I be able to get a decent place in a high-rise for that much?
I do speak very little Spanish but would be up for taking lessons. I'm originally from Russia and do speak relatively fluent Russian plus a little bit of Hebrew...figure that may help a little.

I guess my main concern is finding a good, intelligent group of people to be friends with. Also, being 30-years old....finding a nice (preferably Jewish) girl to settle down with is also on the agenda. I do have a few friends up here in Boston who made the opposite move (MIA to BOS) and they do tell me that finding genuine people around Miami isn't as easy as in Boston.

Again, thanks for the great responses.

Jewish population in Miami is huge. There is also a fairly large Russian population. 1800-2200 will get you a very nice apartment in Brickell. A nice one bedroom with great views.

[Coralsex]

I would not worry too much about not knowing the Spanish language in Brickell. It is not like other areas of Miami-Dade where you have a really hard time.

[NYC809]

i lived in boston and currently live in miami (although this saturday i'm moving to san francisco). i'm in finance and live in brickell (icon - which is the nicest on the street). you should remain in boston. you're young in your career and you will really hurt it, in the long run, if you move down here. i work for a very prestigious firm and the work ethic, attitude and culture here is horrible.

you will really regret this move. there's no public transportation, it's dominantly latino and severely lacking any culture, the bars in the area are basically strip malls.

stay in boston and come down here for a holiday and make your way back up north.

sincerely,
a former boston/nyc resident

[monibee]

Originally Posted by NYC809

i lived in boston and currently live in miami (although this saturday i'm moving to san francisco). i'm in finance and live in brickell (icon - which is the nicest on the street). you should remain in boston. you're young in your career and you will really hurt it, in the long run, if you move down here. i work for a very prestigious firm and the work ethic, attitude and culture here is horrible.

you will really regret this move. there's no public transportation, it's dominantly latino and severely lacking any culture, the bars in the area are basically strip malls.

stay in boston and come down here for a holiday and make your way back up north.

sincerely,
a former boston/nyc resident

AGREED!!! And I lived here my entire life! Looking to move to Atlanta soon. Could not agree more.

[FlyMIA]

I will say Miami is certainly not for everyone and certainly not for people who do not have an open mind. But taken criticism with a grain of salt. There are a ton of people on these forums with an agenda to just hate Miami. Naturally more people come online to complain than praise. But it is a big decision to make. Miami is not a typical city, that can be seen both as a bad thing and good thing.

As to some of the comments.

No culture? Really? Sure LA NYC and DC, San Fran have more culture but compared to most of the US come on plenty of culture to go around in Miami. OP talked about Jewish and Russian heritage. Miami is a great city for that.

Bars are strip malls?? Yes South Beach and Coconut Grove is just one huge strip mall. That is why Miami has one of the most well known nightlifes in the world.

Can't comment on the work ethic is finance but in the places I have worked it has been good. And yes Miami is about 65% Hispanic. But hey most cities are dominated by some ethnic group.

[xFM]

Originally Posted by NYC809

i lived in boston and currently live in miami (although this saturday i'm moving to san francisco). i'm in finance and live in brickell (icon - which is the nicest on the street). you should remain in boston. you're young in your career and you will really hurt it, in the long run, if you move down here. i work for a very prestigious firm and the work ethic, attitude and culture here is horrible.

you will really regret this move. there's no public transportation, it's dominantly latino and severely lacking any culture, the bars in the area are basically strip malls.

stay in boston and come down here for a holiday and make your way back up north.

sincerely,
a former boston/nyc resident

I agree with NYC. I'm a Boston native and moved down to South Florida for my job, stayed a few years and couldn't get back soon enough. The grass isn't always greener! South Florida is awesome to vacation, but as a young professional in finance Boston is one of the best places to work and live. Just use some vacation days to sunny south florida to get your fix!

Oh also, Sunny Isles (Just north of north miami beach) has a pretty sizable Russian population.