Moving overseas to Miami: commuting times Weston vs. Doral? (Kendall: condos, low crime)

[mroberts02]

Hi,

I will be moving shortly to the Miami area with my husband and two kids. I will most probably work in the Miami downtown area. Which would be the quickest commute, from Weston or Doral?

Overall, which city is better to raise a family, lower crime rate, education, etc.

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Thanks!!!

[TannerMan]

Weston is the more traditional residential city, Doral more of a buisness oriented city but also quite and safe. Both IMO will be great places for families, but the commute from Weston to Downtown Miami will be a little extreme while from Doral to Downtown it will be much quicker. Both cities are safe, low crime rates, and both have good schools.
I would go with Doral just because its already safe, and good for families but also because its better if you work Downtown.

[Momma_bear]

If you have to travel at traditional rush hour times the commute from Weston to Miami will be very long. Without any traffic it takes about 45 minutes to get from Weston to downtown Miami. If there is traffic that could easily double.

[kevinkagy]

Weston is a bit far from Downtown Miami and could easily be anywhere over an hour commute on really bad days. I'd suggest Doral, it's only about 20 minutes west from Downtown Miami, a lot closer and it still has a lot of the nice benefits of Weston. Good schools, very safe, suburban, low crime, etc. I'd definitely go with Doral.

[JacobMAX]

Weston is better than Doral in all aspects ( schools, safety, neighborhood,... ), but is more expensive than Doral. And Doral is much more close to Downtown Miami.

I would go with Weston, which is a very good neighborhood and I personally don't like very much Doral.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by JacobMAX

but is more expensive than Doral.

I'm not even sure about that anymore. Doral is pretty overpriced with those 400 thousand dollar condos backing up to the landfill. You can actually buy a nice house with a pool and a little bit of land for 400k out here now. The depreciation rate seems to be faster out here (probably because of it's distance).

It is accurate to say Weston is a much better place to live. Nowhere in the state of Florida (or the entire southeast actually, sans Flower Mound, TX) is safer for it's size, the schools are honestly no comparison just between the way the district is run comparatively (FCAT scores aren't everything). The schools really aren't that good in Doral. Compared to surrounding communities they are, but not in comparison to most standards. They really aren't even that great in Weston (depends on the individual school). I'm not saying you couldn't make anything good out of it, but generally speaking the system in general is not great, but Weston is leaps and bounds ahead of Doral in school quality.

Now the OP asked which city has the lower crie rate, the better schools, family friendliness, etc, and if someone answered that question with Doral, you would seriously be cheating them. However, if they have a commute into downtown, they shouldn't look at Doral or Weston. They should be looking at Miami Shores or Pinecrest. They are both much more attractive communities (with charm and tree shaded streets, imagine that!) with better schools than Doral and a tad safer than Doral, and on top of that a much less brutal commute into Downtown.

[MiamiVice1985]

Traffic is KILLER from those two locations, because everybody is either going or coming from the same area to work downtown. I would try somewhere close to downtown.

See...
Miami Shores (single family areas)
Coral Gables (single family homes/condos)
Brickell Ave. (condos)

These places wil give you a 20 minute commute during rush hour as opposed to Doral (45 min-1 hour), and Weston (1 - 1.5 hours).

[tallrick]

Weston has been overpriced since the start, but Doral was mostly a place where people dumped on the side of the road till it was developed. The quality of residences is extremely low, and being all built since the 90's, there are no nice homes with any open space. Doral in my opinon is worse that Weston, which I actually dislike as well. For the high price of Doral you would be better off in a suburban area like West Miami, which is also a dump but still better than Doral.

[JacobMAX]

More expensive:

- Pinecrest / Palmetto Bay: very good neighborhoods, good schools ( elementary and middle schools ), safe, and about 20-30 minutes ( WITH LIGHT TRAFFIC ) from Downtown Miami.

- Key Biscayne: very good neighborhood, OK to good schools, very safe and about 20 minutes from Downtown.

- South Miami / Coconut Grove ( East of SW 32nd Ave ) / Coral Gables: good neighborhoods, fair to good schools, safe and about 20 minutes from Downtown.

Not so expensive:

- Miami Lakes: good neighborhood, fair to OK schools, safe, about 35 minutes from Downtown.

- East Kendall: good neighborhood, good schools, relatively safe, about 25-30 minutes from Downtown.

[copacetic]

where are you moving from? are you already accustomed to traffic? traffic is insane here. even from doral the commute will be insane. live close to work if you can. miami traffic is not as bad as LA, but it is only one notch below. traffic is a huge hit on quality of life imho. it steals your soul.