from nj to miami (Miami Beach: fit in, real estate, rentals)

[ilsimsli]

hi im 23 living in central new jersey have been to miami last year on vacation and loved it the beaches, clubs everything im thinking of buying a 1 to 2 bedroom condo down there i now own a home in nj. but am tired of nj not enough to do tired of shoveling snow and i do heating and air conditioning with the union so i dont believe it would be to hard to find a job. my question is what are some nice areas and some nice condo complexes where i can find a place for 200,000 or less. i like the beach areas but love the city to just dont wanna end up in the ghetto. ive looked around on some sites but anything can be made to look nice in pictures. also with these complexes how many parking spots do you usually get because in my field i will need to park a work van as well as my personal car.
thanks

[alikair]

Originally Posted by ilsimsli

hi im 23 living in central new jersey have been to miami last year on vacation and loved it the beaches, clubs everything im thinking of buying a 1 to 2 bedroom condo down there i now own a home in nj. but am tired of nj not enough to do tired of shoveling snow and i do heating and air conditioning with the union so i dont believe it would be to hard to find a job. my question is what are some nice areas and some nice condo complexes where i can find a place for 200,000 or less. i like the beach areas but love the city to just dont wanna end up in the ghetto. ive looked around on some sites but anything can be made to look nice in pictures. also with these complexes how many parking spots do you usually get because in my field i will need to park a work van as well as my personal car.
thanks

I cant answer your question, but I am also a HVAC guy and was thinking how bad it would be to live in NJ or FLA for us.

BTW, at least I'm Cuban, so I could fit in in West New York or Miami.

[ilsimsli]

anyone have any advice?

[somebodymiami]

having lived in jersey city. i would say i would rather live there than in Miami. mostly because of public transportation, things to do that appeal to me. and what not. well for a while brand new condos in downtown were going for like 170k-220k but i think they went back up, look around. you wont find anything lower than 300k on the beach

[gymbuff]

Originally Posted by ilsimsli

anyone have any advice?

condos and homes are cheap now but taxes are still quite high as well as insurance. The close you are to water, the more expensive the insurance.
If you go too far west, you will be far form the beaches. try Coconut Grove or part of southwest Miami, like s.w. 27 avenue, the Coral Way area, etc.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by ilsimsli

hi im 23 living in central new jersey have been to miami last year on vacation and loved it the beaches, clubs everything im thinking of buying a 1 to 2 bedroom condo down there i now own a home in nj. but am tired of nj not enough to do tired of shoveling snow and i do heating and air conditioning with the union so i dont believe it would be to hard to find a job. my question is what are some nice areas and some nice condo complexes where i can find a place for 200,000 or less. i like the beach areas but love the city to just dont wanna end up in the ghetto. ive looked around on some sites but anything can be made to look nice in pictures. also with these complexes how many parking spots do you usually get because in my field i will need to park a work van as well as my personal car.
thanks

Real Estate here is a mess. I wouldn't buy a condo and I would probably would not move here in the first place for the reasons you stated. If you are tired of shoveling snow Have you considered Texas and coming here on vacation? But if Clubs are really that important to you and you still want to move here, the only thing I can suggest is to rent, you might end up with a Home Owners Association nightmare.

[krustpie]

I moved to Miami Beach from Milwaukee. I'm guessing the weather is similar to NJ. I agree with the rental/housing situation here: it's a mess. I wouldn't buy anything until you've been down here at least 6 months. The reason being is the realtors are snakes and you also have to get a feel for each neighborhood. The way condos work down here is, there are no rules. In WI if I wanted a condo, I'd find one in a building, they were more or less priced the same, and work with the condo association. Here, every condo (not just the building) has a realtor attached to it, and he/she makes a commission on it--even for rentals. In my former building, a place could cost $1000/mo or $1500/mo, same layout. They usually ask for one month down, first month, and last month--for renting.

A lot of times the realtor doesn't answer calls or show up (we've dealt with many of them) so ethics are very low. Condo associations can be absolutely ruthless. Sometimes it feels like living in a foreign country. If you absolutely want to buy, there are some places for around 200,000--1 bedroom, and not likely a 2 bedroom. We live further north of the strip and there is a two bedroom for like $150,000 but not in great shape at all and there is that whole ruthless condo association to deal with. So it depends what you're willing to deal with. Oh, and parking? Usually you can get one spot in certain buildings. Two is miraculous, and a lot of people park on the streets with permits.

I'd start with renting a studio (the city is FULL of them). They're small but you are usually busy outside somewhere so it's a good trade off. My friend doesn't own hers, but rents for around $800 on the beach, two blocks from the ocean. And you just eat outside in a courtyard instead of having a dining room. One bedrooms are generally $1000 and up/month--$1200 usually. 2 bedrooms, speaking of rentals, are $1500 and up/mo.

Pretty much if you want to stay in a good area, south of fifth street (sofi) is the best area. The worst area is going to be anything on Washington Street, north of 5th Street. The beach is an awesome place to live if you can be very street smart. Finding a job can be tricky though, if you don't speak Spanish. Common courtesy is much lower here than other parts of the country, but the weather can't be beat (okay, I could do with less than 90 degrees for four months straight) and there is so much to do. Best of all, NO SNOW!

[ilsimsli]

thanks for the info im coming down in march and am gonna spend some time seeing life in miami instead of just beaches and partying how is the brickell area or the cite condos on bayshore drive

[doggiebus]

Brickell is another good place to check out. The best thing is to rent for 6 months to a year, to get to know the area better before you decide to put all your money in something.