New adventure in Miami.... need advise!!!

[miamicunarder]

Originally Posted by valicky

No worries. Miami has changed a lot since the 80's and 90's. I was born here in 62. Lived here a majority of my life, from Hialeah to Westchester to now West Kendall. The main complaint I have is the same as Cubanchic, the rudeness or maybe it's just indifference some people have towards their neighbors. We're all piled on top of each other here in Miami, why can't there be more consideration for each other? The driving attitudes are also atrocious but I'm not sure if that's just a Miami thing or a city with too many people thing.
That being said, my father-in-law has the best neighbors in possibly the whole entire world. He lives very close to the area Miamicunarder recommended. He's 88 and recently widowed. These people bring him Cuban coffee every morning, constantly bring him home cooked meals. They check on him always and also keep watch on his house when he's gone. When my mother-in-law was alive she was also very well looked after by them when my father-in-law wasn't home. These people are angels on earth. I've never seen anything like it. I've had some really great neighbors, but none so genuinely caring as these folks.

I was born at Mercy in the Grove in '81. Lived in the West Flagler area until '88 when my folks moved the family to the current neighborhood. You know, for a while growing up, I felt like we had left West Flagler just in the nick of time, feeling like it had gone downhill.
Valicky, it's funny you mentioned your father-in-law's good neighbors. Since arriving back, I discovered (while pitching in and mowing the front lawn and then striking up a chat with) that my parent's next door neighbors have been keeping an eye on my dad, often bringing him home cooked meals. My father's pushing 80 pretty soon and being that he's been on his own for a few weeks while my mother's been away on a business trip abroad, I feel relieved knowing that he's in good hands. Though I've moved to Cape Coral I intend on driving over as often as possible to help out the parental units.
In re: to the rudeness and the indifference, I agree that the higher populations have been a leading factor in the horrible driving you see around the city, if not the whole county, today. Since I've been back, I've completely lost count of the number of times folks have cut in front of me without even signaling or acknowledging me. My best friend, who now runs his own ticket clinic firm, attributes the lack of etiquette to immigrants bringing their "wild" driving habits from back home. I think he's right although the congestion we face nowadays with more people around certainly makes for the perfect storm of irresponsible and angry drivers.

[susygen]

Originally Posted by valicky

Will you be signing a lease while you're in London? Is it possible to maybe stay at an extended stay hotel for a couple of weeks or a month? That way you could get a feel for the different areas.

The area Miamicunarder recommended is SW Miami. Miami is very easy to get around in since the streets are numbered. Miami is divided into NE, NW, SE and SW sections. Avenues go north/south and streets go east/west. If you remember CAP (court, avenue, place) those all run parallel to each other north/south. ST is street and terrace which also run parallel going east/west. Miami is a city you can get around in without a GPS. With a GPS it's a breeze.

I'll tell you that I think palmetto bugs are the absolute worst thing about Miami!!! If those things suddenly disappeared, Miami would go up a whole letter grade for me.

We thought we could sign the lease from LDN, but it certainly isn't the best option. Not having look at the condo is not ideal, although from the internet it looks very good.

We are keen to have a place sooner rather than later, 3 week is quite a long time with a toddler. We'll have to enroll her in school and we will have to go to work, so having our place already would facilitate things, like cooking meals and doing laundry...

We understand what you are saying, we value very much the opinion of the people in this forum. You all live in Miami for a while and you are here willing to give advise, I think we should listen. Besides the fact that we'd say the exact same thing about LDN, do not rent without having a good look at the property...