do you like the miami suburbs (Hialeah, Kendall: apartment complexes, crime rate, homes)

[dadeguy]

when we purchased our home in miami gardens wayyyyyyyy back when my aspiration was to purchase in west hialeah on a lake. the houses at that time were hovering at about $120k on fairly decent sized lots of about 7500 sq ft or so. we really liked one house on lake stewart it was about 1800 sq ft of living space plus a 400 sq ft garage.

our realtor then took us to the home we currently own. it's on about 20k sq ft of land and about 2800 sq ft of living space but about 5700 sq ft of roofed area. it has a very long and wide varandah which is excellent for parties and what have you. we have a western exposure with a long view of the lake and I constructed a sandy beach that is about 200 ft wide by about 20 ft deep. we paid $79k for the home.

while hialeah was considered the "better" neighborhood I never have regretted the purchase of this home and I really couldn't ask for better neighbors.

I suspect that the folks who post discouraging remarks about miami gardens, hialeah and other blue collar communities are really just closet xenophobes and racists.

hialeah has some very very well kept areas. all of the west side north of w 49 street compares nicely with any other communities of similkar value homes and in my opinion miami gardens is really cleaned up with more and more homes being remodded and lawns being manicured, folks taking pride in owership (not a typo) and so forth.

miami lakes is a great area as is the country club of miami in the golf course homes. that community is a real sleeper with some very posh homes without the gables BS for a fraction of the cost.

in my opinion northwest dade has some of the very best cost to value homes of anywhere in dade county and traffic is a fraction of that in deepest darkest kendall.

another area that is piquing my interest is north miami/north miami beach/ives just west of I-95 from countyline down to about miami gardens. those homes are solid with nice sized lots and the neighborhoods are starting to turn about from a period of gentrification and decline. there are some great deals to be had there for those who aren't so much concerned about what people's skin color or nationality of origin is as much as what kind of human beings they are.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by dadeguy

another area that is piquing my interest is north miami/north miami beach/ives just west of I-95 from countyline down to about miami gardens. those homes are solid with nice sized lots and the neighborhoods are starting to turn about from a period of gentrification and decline. there are some great deals to be had there for those who aren't so much concerned about what people's skin color or nationality of origin is as much as what kind of human beings they are.

Interesting that you bring this up. I have heard that "anglos" are beginning to "return" to the California Club/Andover/Norland/east Miramar area and after spending extensive time around the area over the past few months, I don't really care what color the people who move in are but many homes seem to be getting fixed up, the areas are quiet at night, people are removing their burglar bars, etc. On the Dade side I believe that area is zoned for Michael Krop HS (don't quote me on that) which means that the school district is half decent compared to other similar priced areas. Can't say the same for the Broward side of County Line Rd though (except for elementary). There are also some nice newer home communities along the south side of County Line Rd west of State Road 7, and the Miramar side is getting cleaner looking by the day and feels pretty safe day or night as long as you are a little west of State Road 7 (I would say west of 62nd Ave). As you said, the homes are very, very decent in quality and just need some fixing up. Still, I think Miami Gardens west of 27th Ave has a LOT of problems to overcome, lots of lower quality homes, and feels extremely sketchy, but the area does look to be improving.

[dadeguy]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

Interesting that you bring this up. I have heard that "anglos" are beginning to "return" to the California Club/Andover/Norland/east Miramar area and after spending extensive time around the area over the past few months, I don't really care what color the people who move in are but many homes seem to be getting fixed up, the areas are quiet at night, people are removing their burglar bars, etc. On the Dade side I believe that area is zoned for Michael Krop HS (don't quote me on that) which means that the school district is half decent compared to other similar priced areas. Can't say the same for the Broward side of County Line Rd though (except for elementary). There are also some nice newer home communities along the south side of County Line Rd west of State Road 7, and the Miramar side is getting cleaner looking by the day and feels pretty safe day or night as long as you are a little west of State Road 7 (I would say west of 62nd Ave). As you said, the homes are very, very decent in quality and just need some fixing up. Still, I think Miami Gardens west of 27th Ave has a LOT of problems to overcome, lots of lower quality homes, and feels extremely sketchy, but the area does look to be improving.

take a drive north of miami gardens and just east of nw 22 ave and the turnpike. some very promising homes in there.

west of 27 ave you need to go a little further west to about 47 ave, that whole carol city area is looking very very neat. I can't say if it's anglos or not I rather lean towards the not but irrespective of whom the area is rebounding. I suspect it might be folks who are tired of the nasty HOA communities with the tiny yards and the condo nazis.

we are picking up considerable gate and decorative fence work in these communities and most of the folks are buying as a their second home after negative experiences in west broward HOA communities. if you aren't in economic trouble now is rapidly becoming the time to buy. these are real beer budget paradises where you can plant some fruit trees and still have a backyard to play in, in short my kind of place.

[compelled to reply]

East of NW 22 ave and WEST of the turnpike? Or east of the Turnpike towards Norland? As far as 47th Ave, never acutally been, but I'll check it out sometime! As far as "beer budget paradise" goes, I'm pretty fond of some of those homes along 68th Ave in Miramar, south of Miramar Pkwy. There are some VERY well kept homes back there with at last fair sized plots of land. I acutally found a google street view of a block that I particularly like in person.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=miami+...,110.13,,0,9.3

Notice that there is a lot of construction going on. The main issue I have with that area is that there are still a few illegally converted apartments around there, which I have NOT seen as much in areas to the south. Also, if you go to the east of 62nd ave (very shady), it's scary to realize that this neighborhood could really go either way, but I see evidence of an incline.

[dadeguy]

yes correct, west of the turnpike east of 22 ave.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by dadeguy

yes correct, west of the turnpike east of 22 ave.

I was around there a couple days ago, but just passing through on Miami Gardens Dr. I'll have to check out the actual neighborhood a little bit more. I lose familiarity with what's west of the Turnpike, just never had much of a reason to be there. Are the homes pretty similar to Norland or Andover?

[dadeguy]

larger and on nice lots. some newer developements are skimpy with the lot sizes but it is worth the look.

[sunshinestater]

Miami's Suburbs are nice.

[tallrick]

Miami has few "suburbs". Many homes are on narrow urban style lots and the majority are simply adjoining others. In some other more northern cities the suburbs actually adjoin open space and/or have lots greater than 20,000 square feet. In Miami lot size is king and any suburbs with 1/2 acre or more lots are the most valuable. The new developments with 15 foot front yards and zero lot lines have no value and will be tomorrow's slums.

[ac11]

Most Houses in Miami Dade dont ajoin eachother. thats only in newer developments most common in Doral and Hialeah... Most dont even look that bad and you get quite a lot for your money in those cases.

Most houses in Miami do have open spaces and are pretty large lots in my opinion when compared to other county suburbs..

Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Westchester, North Miami, Palmetto Bay all have huge lots.