Another moving to Miami post (Miami Lakes, Doral: rental, best, property)

[seanford]

Mars,

I am a South Florida Native, born and raised in Miami, now living in Pembroke Pines. You had several good recommendations on here. The Coast Guard base and FIU main campus are on opposite sides of Miami, although connected by the major East/West highway in 836. One of the questions I would have as a Realtor is if you have any idea as to what times your commutes will be. This will have a big impact on commute times in both directions. I'd also ask if you plan on putting your daughter in pre-school, or having her stay at home.

There are a number of places in Miami that could work...Miami Springs, Coral Gables, Westchester, and if the Pines campus is an option for your wife, then you can look at Miramar and Pembroke Pines (West side) as well.

Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like someone to walk you through all of the pluses and minuses of each area.

Regards,

Sean

[lwmarsEC]

Originally Posted by seanford

Mars,

I am a South Florida Native, born and raised in Miami, now living in Pembroke Pines. You had several good recommendations on here. The Coast Guard base and FIU main campus are on opposite sides of Miami, although connected by the major East/West highway in 836. One of the questions I would have as a Realtor is if you have any idea as to what times your commutes will be. This will have a big impact on commute times in both directions. I'd also ask if you plan on putting your daughter in pre-school, or having her stay at home.

There are a number of places in Miami that could work...Miami Springs, Coral Gables, Westchester, and if the Pines campus is an option for your wife, then you can look at Miramar and Pembroke Pines (West side) as well.

Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like someone to walk you through all of the pluses and minuses of each area.

Regards,

Sean

Hi Sean, thanks for the info. My hours are flexible, but generally they will be 7-3ish. I can come in early and leave early if need be. My wife can take classes at the main campus, or the Pines campus. She will only have to attend classes once a week and everything else will be done online. Our daughter will probably NOT be attending preschool in the area. We are hoping to only be there two years. If we end up there longer, we will cross that bridge when it comes. She is only 1 right now.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by lwmarsEC

We looked at the Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Coral Way area and also Biscayne Park and Miami Shores.

I love Coral Gables, but I don't think you're going to want to be that far west. (And certainly forget about Westchester as someone else suggested.) I'm curious as to where you looked in the "Coral Way area" and why you were discouraged with the results. I actually think that somewhere in that area (The Roads/Silver Bluff/Shenandoah) would be ideal for you. There are plenty of single-family houses to rent in your price range, there are parks in the neighborhoods, and it's not too far from the causeway. And as long as you're going to be at work by 7am and back by 3:30pm or so, traffic wouldn't ordinarily be a big hassle. And for the once a week that your wife needs to go to FIU, she could just hop on I-95N at 25th Rd., and take 836W all the way there.

[AnnRyan]

Miami Springs will definitely work. And I rarely run into anyone there who doesn't speak English.

The only limit is that there aren't that many homes for rent in that area. People who live there like it and tend to stay put. Also, the homes can be pretty old, so expect properties that aren't fully up to date.

There are quite a few parks, and a great walking/biking trail along most of the border of the city. Good public schools as well, if that's a consideration.

The southern areas of town will have quite a bit of airplane noise so plan accordingly. (Although El Chevre can tell you, airplane noise is pretty common around here).

I work with military relocations all the time, the ones who are open to living in a multicultural area do fine, those who are less open are the ones who get very frustrated and angry.

[lwmarsEC]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

I love Coral Gables, but I don't think you're going to want to be that far west. (And certainly forget about Westchester as someone else suggested.) I'm curious as to where you looked in the "Coral Way area" and why you were discouraged with the results. I actually think that somewhere in that area (The Roads/Silver Bluff/Shenandoah) would be ideal for you. There are plenty of single-family houses to rent in your price range, there are parks in the neighborhoods, and it's not too far from the causeway. And as long as you're going to be at work by 7am and back by 3:30pm or so, traffic wouldn't ordinarily be a big hassle. And for the once a week that your wife needs to go to FIU, she could just hop on I-95N at 25th Rd., and take 836W all the way there.

We were not discouraged with Coral Way in particular, just the entire search in general. It's hard to learn a city in just a couple days of driving around. And we seemed to find more areas that we wouldn't want to live vs areas where we would want to live. We drove through Brickell on MLKj day at 3 and the traffic was terrible. I knew traffic in Miami was bad, but to be that bad on a holiday when half the people aren't working. Wow! So, basically we were discouraged because we not able to pin point a location to put down some roots. And in addition to all that, we have friends telling us we should live in Davie, and the commute won't be so bad. In my head, I think they're nuts.

Thank you for that info about Coral Way. There seem to be the most rentals in that area vs anywhere else we are looking.

One more question, is the traffic worse in the morning or the afternoon?

[lwmarsEC]

Originally Posted by AnnRyan

Miami Springs will definitely work. And I rarely run into anyone there who doesn't speak English.

The only limit is that there aren't that many homes for rent in that area. People who live there like it and tend to stay put. Also, the homes can be pretty old, so expect properties that aren't fully up to date.

There are quite a few parks, and a great walking/biking trail along most of the border of the city. Good public schools as well, if that's a consideration.

The southern areas of town will have quite a bit of airplane noise so plan accordingly. (Although El Chevre can tell you, airplane noise is pretty common around here).

I work with military relocations all the time, the ones who are open to living in a multicultural area do fine, those who are less open are the ones who get very frustrated and angry.

Yeah, I haven't found one rental in Miami Springs in the past three weeks. Seems folks stay out there. We are pretty open as far as moving goes when it comes to where to live. We would even live in our 5th wheel if we could find a RV resort. We currently live in rural Mississippi, so this move is going to be a culture shock no matter what. Before that we were in Chicago and San Francisco, so we're familiar with multicultural and city life. We don't get frustrated about much, especially someone else's ethnicity or language, so that's really a non issue for us. We've gotten a lot of good info from here and I thank you all for your input. The search continues...

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by lwmarsEC

One more question, is the traffic worse in the morning or the afternoon?

I would say that it is worse in the afternoon, most likely due to the fact that people go to work at various times in the morning, but they all seem to want to leave at the same time in the afternoon.

My wife and I have a house in the Coral Way area and an oceanfront condo on Collins in North Beach. She volunteers at Mt. Sinai Hospital from 7:00am - noon on certain weekdays and never has traffic problems going to Miami Beach across the Julia Tuttle Causeway when she is leaving our house at ~6:30am, which would be about the same time as you would be heading across the MacArthur.

[lwmarsEC]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

I would say that it is worse in the afternoon, most likely due to the fact that people go to work at various times in the morning, but they all seem to want to leave at the same time in the afternoon.

My wife and I have a house in the Coral Way area and an oceanfront condo on Collins in North Beach. She volunteers at Mt. Sinai Hospital from 7:00am - noon on certain weekdays and never has traffic problems going to Miami Beach across the Julia Tuttle Causeway when she is leaving our house at ~6:30am, which would be about the same time as you would be heading across the MacArthur.

Cool. Thanks. I have the ability to leave work between 1-3 just about everyday. So, if I could avoid the afternoon traffic on most days, that would be great!

[lwmarsEC]

How would the commute from Miramar, specifically where the turnpike and 75 meet, to the MacArthur Causeway be? I can put it into Google maps and get a general idea, but I'd rather here from someone who does the drive on the regular.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by lwmarsEC

How would the commute from Miramar, specifically where the turnpike and 75 meet, to the MacArthur Causeway be? I can put it into Google maps and get a general idea, but I'd rather here from someone who does the drive on the regular.

It will be doable. Not ideal, but doable.

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