Areas around Coral Gables

[roadtrip75]

^^^ this

[Foxboro]

Thank you for all of the helpful comments, I really appreciate it! I did wind up getting a great job offer in Coral Gables. My wife and I are going to spend this weekend there looking at apartments and trying to get a feel for the local vibe before making our final decision.

[perry335654]

You might want to live in Coconut Grove/ Coral Way area as Coral Gables sets high standards for living there. You have to have your house painted a certain color for one thing. There are no street signs in the city but stones with names, laid upon the ground. It is one city that is easy to get lost in, especially at night, thank goodness for GPS.

[perry335654]

Miami is hot right now, two building booms within a decade, the growth is happening all over Miami-Dade. Here are some views of Coral Gables;


SkyscraperCity - View Single Post - Coral Gables - Development News

[AnnRyan]

House7, anyone on this forum for a while will see me emphasizing the NEED to live close to your job to have quality of life in Miami. Barring some special need for schooling of kids up in Broward, MOVE!

There's probably a neighborhood in the county that works for just about everyone (although not at every price range).

[City Guy997S]

Coral Gables is one of the nation's first master planned community and is almost 100 yrs old. They are very picky on what they allow (for example NO PICKUP TRUCKS can be parked outside overnight). That being said, you can buy a house in CG that has bars on the windows and they are asking 1mm+!

CG is a beautiful area but you share your shopping/entertainment with people from surrounding areas that may be a bit rougher. I had a coworker involved in a car jacking attempt at Bird Rd and US1 in the middle of the day. This is within walking distance of CG! Car jacking didn't go to good, criminal was shot and killed before my coworker got out of the car. Interior needed a little cleaning though......

[pslhomie]

Here are a couple of fun facts. You can't ban pick up trucks but you can ban commercial vehicles. Bars on windows are illegal now but the county is not going to make you take them down if you had a prior permit. Coral Gables is a very nice place to live however if you are buying a house there these days, do your research. Find out about insurance costs first because there are new rules that could make you spend 10's of thousands of dollars to upgrade your house just to get coverage. A lot of these houses are very old and even though they have gone through several storms and are basically bunkers they still may fall into the newer illegal building codes that are being pushed on older homes and condos.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by pslhomie

Bars on windows are illegal now but the county is not going to make you take them down if you had a prior permit. Coral Gables is a very nice place to live however if you are buying a house there these days, do your research.

Are you stating that the bars are illegal in Coral Gables or throughout the county? You're paragraph is unclear because although you discuss the rules in Coral Gables, you then reference the county.

I have no idea what the rules are in CG, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that window bars are not illegal throughout the county. The only thing the county mandates is that if you have or install bars on windows, you also must install an escape latch in bedrooms so that occupants can get out through the window in case of a fire.

In fact, not only is it still legal to install security bars on windows, but the county even publishes a brochure informing residents of how they should be installed.

http://www.miamidade.gov/permits/lib...stallation.pdf

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by pslhomie

Here are a couple of fun facts. You can't ban pick up trucks but you can ban commercial vehicles. Bars on windows are illegal now but the county is not going to make you take them down if you had a prior permit. Coral Gables is a very nice place to live however if you are buying a house there these days, do your research. Find out about insurance costs first because there are new rules that could make you spend 10's of thousands of dollars to upgrade your house just to get coverage. A lot of these houses are very old and even though they have gone through several storms and are basically bunkers they still may fall into the newer illegal building codes that are being pushed on older homes and condos.

For 50 years Coral Gables did ban pickups. Today (2013+) they allow them but no commercial vehicles, no duallies etc.
How Coral Gables Has Been Doing Since It Lifted The Pickup Truck Ban | WLRN