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View Poll Results: Where would you rather live?
Santa Monica 35 63.64%
Miami Beach 20 36.36%
Voters: 55. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-26-2010, 12:52 AM
R66
 
Location: Miami, Florida / Marina del Rey, California
145 posts, read 418,065 times
Reputation: 96

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Excellent topic.....

My experience both locales:
Born/reared central Florida east coast, small town.
Lived Los Angeles area SF Valley 1989-1995.
Miami off and on most of my life.
Lived in Brazil, Spain (costo del sol), Colombia, short time in Costa Rica.

Santa Monica Pros
- big city w/lots to do
- cultural stuff galore
- high end people w/passion
- wealthy people
- semi-close to LAX, with traffic 2 hours?
- great views from cliffs
- nice bike path and view of beach
- dry, energetic climate (never rains)
- good place for over 40 singles
- attractive people/healthy vibe
- movie people
- mountains, desert short drive away
- big alternative sports: BMX / skateboarding invented in SM
- 5 hours mexico
- 6 hours vegas
- 7 hours yosemite
- 8 hours NorCal
- PCH and all the mountains, scenery, great landscapes of california within hours drive away

Santa Monica Cons
- wealthy people means spoiled people w/attitudes
- Lots of homeless people
- heavy traffic all hours
- high maintenence women, spolied women, she-man type power women driving SUVs
- everbody in a hurry on the cell, running like someone died
- stupid expensive ($1M+ for small 2/BR crib)
- very cold ocean water
- 5 days per week huge fog blanket rolls in AM. Burns off 1PM. Feels like Seattle!
- people can be rude/hurry/pushy
- after 6pm gets COLD, you need a coat, not sweater!
- earthquakes
- average guys must compete with wealthy/famous actors/athletes/models
- high taxes

-----

Miami Beach Pros
- no fog. wake up clear blue skies at 7am!
- nice people for most part (maybe b/c southern US)
- miami vice every show shot on location in miami
- movie people
- easy to get around. yamaha zuma all u need
- located in big city with huge options to latin america
- great real estate home prices. $150k buys 1/BR, re-stored old style building. $600k buys you really nice 2/BR luxury crib in Consortium @ tip of SoBe
- blue/torquise ocean water, same color in bahamas and cuba
- warm, relaxing water
- attractive people/healthy vibe
- awesome climate nov-april
- PERFECT at night/nice breeze (flip flops/baggies/t-shirt no problem)
- huge sports venue superbowl 2010 landshark stadium 25 minutes north, up collins to sunny isles, cross over bridge
- beautiful bal harbour world class shopping and super rich area (mostly jewish)
- immigrant ground zero, pretty latinas/brazilian babes (big butts)
- pro sports: marlins, dolphins, heat
- MIA 30 minutes straight shot over causeway to 8th w/traffic!
- large alterntive sports scene BMX / skateboarding
- excellent fishing / scuba diving
- language diversity. great area to learn new languages/meet new friends from abroad
- over 30 single destination
- 1 hour to bahamas (over 45 more/less)
- 45 minutes cuba
- 1 1/2 hours key west
- everglades national park
- SoFL only sub-tropical climate all north america
- 4 hours to bogota direct aviance
- 7 hours to rio de janeiro direct avianca/tam
- 8 hours buenos aires direct
- laid back people for the most part. (people chill, no typical american power women bulldozing (in SUV) down the road glued to her cell yelling at her hubby to shut up... Latin women let men wear the pants
- low taxes

Miami Beach Cons
- humidity: climate sucks may-october, you really sweat in july/august
- hurricanes, although most move past/around miami and head up north
- latin immigrants: bad drivers, some dont speak english/dont wanna learn/dont respect american culture
- heavy traffic (but not as bad as LA)
- a lot of posers/wanna bes/trust fund kids/punks
- bugs/mosquitos (mostly in summer months)
- high end buildings are very expensive
- large diversity of people/lots of jewish people w/I am the best attitude
- anglo resentment from back when SoBe was all white/jewish/retired folks
- high maintenence women. average latin women from colombia/brazil stepping off the plane go from avarage to top notch
- average guys must compete with pro ballers/models/actors/trust fund kids
- loud hip hop gangster punks, mostly young black men from NY/NJ bored/vulgar/pants done his knees/needs a mentor to kick his shaggy ass
- low energy/passion summer months - humidity brings you down/feel lazy/cold showers
- thrunderstorms in summer. rains every day at 2pm for 45 minutes. feels hot/sticky

Last edited by R66; 02-26-2010 at 01:29 AM..
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Old 02-26-2010, 12:57 AM
 
Location: In the heights
36,881 posts, read 38,781,820 times
Reputation: 20894
I'll add that Santa Monica has probably one of the best public libraries I've ever seen.
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:10 AM
 
Location: Jacksonville,Florida
3,770 posts, read 10,540,600 times
Reputation: 1998

YouTube - Crazy flight over Miami Beach
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:31 AM
 
14,256 posts, read 26,789,930 times
Reputation: 4560
Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858 View Post
Malibu, South Orange County coast such as Laguna Beach, and most of San Diego has much clearer and cleaner water than Santa Monica and much of LA County. Venice Beach is downright disgusting.

Some of the clearest water I've seen in Southern CA has been at some of the smaller beaches in La Jolla with whiter sand than most other ones.

This pic was taken at Windansea Beach and the water here can be VERY clear many times, reminds me of Hawaii a lot.
I like this photo. It reminds me of the Pensacola beaches.
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:32 AM
R66
 
Location: Miami, Florida / Marina del Rey, California
145 posts, read 418,065 times
Reputation: 96
Coral Gables, Coconut Grove and Brickell Key all highly underrated. Brickell Key, an island off downtown Miami - high security, top notch people, great views, great RE deals.
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:36 AM
 
14,256 posts, read 26,789,930 times
Reputation: 4560
Quote:
Originally Posted by R66 View Post
Coral Gables, Coconut Grove and Brickell Key all highly underrated. Brickell Key, an island off downtown Miami - high security, top notch people, great views, great RE deals.
EXTREMELY underrated.
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Old 02-26-2010, 01:47 AM
R66
 
Location: Miami, Florida / Marina del Rey, California
145 posts, read 418,065 times
Reputation: 96
$140k buys you this in North Miami Beach: SURFSIDE BEAUTY ON THE BEACH-JUST LISTED-FORECLOSURE-INVESTOR'S DREAM- (http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/reb/1618361730.html - broken link)

From Santa Monica down to Redondo, that same crib might be $300k or more plus higher taxes, In Florida, homesteading means your taxes cut in half.

If I recall not many residence condo buildings from Santa Monica to South Bay have 24 hour valet/concierge/24 hour armed guard(s). In Miami, almost all high end buildings have this. I might be way off here.... But Santa Monica is still a wonderful place.

It's a toss up. Flip a coin!
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Old 02-26-2010, 02:05 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles......So. Calif. an Island on the Land
736 posts, read 2,285,253 times
Reputation: 484
Quote:
Originally Posted by R66 View Post
$140k buys you this in North Miami Beach: SURFSIDE BEAUTY ON THE BEACH-JUST LISTED-FORECLOSURE-INVESTOR'S DREAM- (http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/reb/1618361730.html - broken link)

From Santa Monica down to Redondo, that same crib might be $300k or more plus higher taxes, In Florida, homesteading means your taxes cut in half.

If I recall not many residence condo buildings from Santa Monica to South Bay have 24 hour valet/concierge/24 hour armed guard(s). In Miami, almost all high end buildings have this. I might be way off here.... But Santa Monica is still a wonderful place.

It's a toss up. Flip a coin!

I'd estimate that the equivalent unit in Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey on the ocean would be at least $400k and perhaps $500k.

Just aren't that many high-rise buildings on the ocean in SoCal. zoning is VERY TOUGH....that surfside unit would be a premium 1bd/1ba unit in SoCalif.

Property taxes in Calif are actually pretty reasonable...approx. 1.2% of the purhcase price and then LIMITED to an increase of only 2% per year, for as LONG as you own it. State INCOME taxes and SALES tax are HIGH.
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Old 02-26-2010, 02:07 AM
 
14,256 posts, read 26,789,930 times
Reputation: 4560
Quote:
Originally Posted by R66 View Post
$140k buys you this in North Miami Beach: SURFSIDE BEAUTY ON THE BEACH-JUST LISTED-FORECLOSURE-INVESTOR'S DREAM- (http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/reb/1618361730.html - broken link)

From Santa Monica down to Redondo, that same crib might be $300k or more plus higher taxes, In Florida, homesteading means your taxes cut in half.

If I recall not many residence condo buildings from Santa Monica to South Bay have 24 hour valet/concierge/24 hour armed guard(s). In Miami, almost all high end buildings have this. I might be way off here.... But Santa Monica is still a wonderful place.

It's a toss up. Flip a coin!
The only problem is, North Miami Beach is kinda ghetto. Haitian gang violence, and whatnot. I mean, I'm Haitian myself, but my aunt used to own a salon in North Miami Beach, so I observed that it KINDA ranges to semi-affluent, to low income.
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Old 02-26-2010, 02:07 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles......So. Calif. an Island on the Land
736 posts, read 2,285,253 times
Reputation: 484
Quote:
Originally Posted by R66 View Post
Excellent topic.....

My experience both locales:
Born/reared central Florida east coast, small town.
Lived Los Angeles area SF Valley 1989-1995.
Miami off and on most of my life.
Lived in Brazil, Spain (costo del sol), Colombia, short time in Costa Rica.


Miami Beach Cons
- high maintenence women. average latin women from colombia/brazil stepping off the plane go from avarage to top notch
-
- thrunderstorms in summer. rains every day at 2pm for 45 minutes. feels hot/sticky

R66: Great post. Read the whole thing.

Enjoyed your thoughts/perspective. I am curious to know exactly what you meant by the BOLDED section above??? Do I understand you to mean that the "American/Miami" attitude rubs off on these otherwise "average" gals and they THINK they are now top notch.....????
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