Areas with least rude people for a family? (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: fit in, transplants)

[NYCnativeIcantdrive]

Spun off into its own thread so I don’t further hijack the “Why are South Floridians so unfriendly?” Thread.

Hi! We are a family of five (ages 2-6) looking to relocate from New York City, perhaps permanently. We are leasing a house in NW corner of Coral Gables for a year to test-drive the area, but would like to find which area of Miami (or elsewhere in Florida) we might fit in best.

Looking for an area with polite, friendly, educated, non-racist residents. We are very low-key, well-off but not flashy people. I really don’t want to deal with impolite, rude, or crass people on a daily basis - that’s part of what is so exhausting about NYC. We are mixed race (Asian/white), not religious. A place with other transplants would be nice.

Geographically, I’m only looking at no-/low-flood zones (if those exist ) and proximity to good schools and potential office locations (Brickell or South Beach, maybe).

Based on my research, it sounds like either gifted programs at public school or private school might be our best bet - I know of Ransom Everglades and the other privates in the area, all in Coconut Grove and Pinecrest, if I’m not mistaken. Pinecrest sounds lovely but too far south.

After ridiculous research, the front runners are North Coconut Grove, Coral Gables (which has very strange borders??), and South Miami/High Pines. Does that sound accurate? But reports of regular daily rudeness has me second-guessing the Miami area entirely. Maybe something like Palm Beach County (as suggested by logymogy) would be better? Assume looking at houses in $2-3M range.

Thanks for any help! Hard to write this without sounding like the idiots I’m hoping to avoid

[NYCnativeIcantdrive]

There are some really great responses from Marc Middleton, elcheverre, and logymogy on the previous sub-thread that I’m happy to copy here, if it would help other people in the same situation!

[Chelito23]

I think the areas you pointed out are your best options. Remember that even if you live in a nice area, you will have to shop, commute, work etc in areas where the testy people are more common.

Honestly it's a South Florida thing only slightly less in Broward and Palm Beach. But in general it's more likely a Florida thing throughout most of the state. This just isn't a friendly or kind state and it has earned it's reputation.

With that said and you coming from NY I think you can be fine living in the areas you outlined and just accepting this area for what it is. If your main goal is to get away from rudeness in NY, FL certainly should not be your destination for kindness. I assume there are other factors in your decision so I would just say to adapt and ignore and find a nice place to live and work and don't focus on the rudeness.

[logybogy]

As far as flood/surge zones, keep in mind, almost every area that is nice you will actually want to live will be in Zone A/B and evacuated for most hurricanes. See the map at this link. If this is something you really want to avoid, you need to be looking at West Broward and Weston or Parkland. Those are the nicest areas outside of the surge zones for a family.

https://mdc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/web...7b3c81c3f44b58

Now, don't let this scare you away from an awesome area near the water. The way to easily mitigate this is to purchase a newer home/condo built in the last 20 years under the newest hurricane building codes and flood elevations with hurricane impact glass. I wouldn't get too concerned unless you are buying a very old single family home built way under the current flood elevation guidelines. In those cases, I'd stick to a newer home or high rise condo. In any bad hurricane situation, a good portion of Zone A/B could be under 10 feet of storm surge so you want to carefully look at elevations and avoid below grade old properties.

[luis.espinal]

It's not just a South Florida thing. It's a Florida thing. We aren't called Flori-duh for nothing.

For whatever reason, we do have a lot of rude people (but then again, I've been in other areas, California or Massachusset, and people are also rude there, in their own way.)

The one place that really surprised me in a nice way was Scottsdale, AZ (but I'm sure there are locals over there who complain about rude people.) I digress.

Take anything you hear with a grain of salt, even from me:

We are a mixed-raced couple (me=Nicaraguan husband, she=Japanese), college educated, two kids, living in Weston.

We have good relations with pretty much anyone. Our friends are of all backgrounds: New Yorkers, local Floridians, Cubans, Venezuelans, Jewish, POCs, other Japanese and Nicaraguan people, Koreans, Indians. Be them Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or what have you, we get along very well with our friends and neighbors.

I suggest you look into Weston, Plantation or Coral Springs/Parkland (which are the areas we have lived and been happy with.) If you can afford it, look to buy/rent closer to the best school districts.

I've found people in West Broward being more polite (or rather, less rude) than other areas in Broward, and Broward being less rude than Miami, with WPB being rather unpleasant, rude and tacky.

We have had some distatesful encounters in WPB in the last couple of years. Something changed, I dunno. I just don't like going there anymore.

As far as living in Miami, my wife and I lived there. We'll never go back. Not because of the people or culture mind you.

It's just the COL is ridiculous compared to the base salaries, and the traffic. God, the traffic.

Broward simply pays better (specially for people that works on IT/software like myself.) Housing is cheaper, commutes are better, there are more white/pink collar jobs in Broward per capita than Miami, etc.

School districts are also better. As I mentioned, look into Broward: Weston, Plantation or Coral Springs/Parkland. Cooper City and Southwest Ranches are also nice. Some areas of Davie are also good.

Avoid anything near 441. The further west you can move close to Sawgrass Expressway, the better, in general. There will be exceptions of course.

All the best.

[blueherons]

Honestly, don't pick Miami.

If I were you, I'd take a good hard look at Charleston, South Carolina.

South Florida is trashy for Fort Lauderdale is a lot better than Miami. The nice parts of Broward aren't any cheaper than Miami.

If you must stay in Miami, I would not overlook Key Biscayne but houses on the island start at around 1.7 Million.

[NYCnativeIcantdrive]

Thanks, everyone. Really good advice. Thanks for such insightful answers.

Hope everyone fared Hurricane Isaias well. It’s pouring here in the NE.

[WrongStreet]

The areas you mentioned are all pretty solid for what you're looking for. I wouldn't worry so much about the flood zones, unless you're right on the water it's unlikely you will be affected by any storm surge or major flooding. Most of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables that is not directly on the water is quite elevated.

[logybogy]

If you are going to lease for a year, then you have a lot of time to explore all of South Florida and experience what you like and what you don't like. I think a lot of the rudeness comes from service sector workers paid crap wages and trying to survive. It's a tough life. But these people are unlikely to form the nucleus of your social group. You are going to meet friends through your job, professional organizations, volunteering, school functions for your kids, etc. etc. etc. You aren't going to best friends with the rude waiter or bartender that gave you the stink eye. 5 minutes after interacting with them they will go down the memory hole. Not worth your time or aggravation. Accept the fact that the majority of people are not educated and unpleasant and just find the minority of people who share common interests.

If there aren't enough in Miami, you have Broward and Palm Beach that give you a more sanitized version. Miami Lite or Diet Miami.

[elchevere]

there is no shortage of highly educated professionals in Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, Brickell, Design District, most of Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour and other places I have not mentioned--many Hispanic, some European, some Middle Eastern, some Canadian, and even some from the ole USA.

Originally Posted by logybogy

If you are going to lease for a year, then you have a lot of time to explore all of South Florida and experience what you like and what you don't like. I think a lot of the rudeness comes from service sector workers paid crap wages and trying to survive. It's a tough life. But these people are unlikely to form the nucleus of your social group. You are going to meet friends through your job, professional organizations, volunteering, school functions for your kids, etc. etc. etc. You aren't going to best friends with the rude waiter or bartender that gave you the stink eye. 5 minutes after interacting with them they will go down the memory hole. Not worth your time or aggravation. Accept the fact that the majority of people are not educated and unpleasant and just find the minority of people who share common interests.

If there aren't enough in Miami, you have Broward and Palm Beach that give you a more sanitized version. Miami Lite or Diet Miami.