Moving to Miami (Weston, Coral Gables, University: wood floors, rentals, condos)

[Jewel881]

Hi ,
We are moving to the South Miami area possibly around Coral Gables or not far from Sunset Place (or Miami University). Any general information about the area~ crime, safety, housing prices, rent costs, transportation(public), traffic, would be helpful. Thankyou all.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Jewel881

Hi ,
We are moving to the South Miami area possibly around Coral Gables or not far from Sunset Place (or Miami University). Any general information about the area~ crime, safety, housing prices, rent costs, transportation(public), traffic, would be helpful. Thankyou all.

This is one of the few good neighborhoods in Miami. Crime is about low-to-average for Miami standards. Housing will be expensive, to buy a 3/2 probably $450,000 and up in South Miami, higher in Coral Gables, you could probably rent a 2/2 from $1200 on up. If you are lucky, you may live near one of the Metrorail stops for transportation to Brickell/downtown, otherwise traffic will be hell. That's it in a nutshell.

Good luck!

[Weston_in_the_Pines]

Don't forget, Miami University is in Ohio

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by Weston_in_the_Pines

Don't forget, Miami University is in Ohio

I hope she meant University of Miami .

[Weston_in_the_Pines]

Well if she didn't, that would be one HELLUVA drive from the Gables, you know with South Florida traffic and all

[Jewel881]

DefinitleyMeant Univ. of MIAMI. any thoughts or comments for the area would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

[doggiebus]

Great area, it too though has a crime issue. The place my sister was staying at for 2 months before leaving Miami. Was a block from UM and got broken into, they were looking for jewlery and cash for the most part. This area is one of the better areas of miami, but Miami has crime just like any large city. Try this link you can see the crime that has happened in the area you are looking at for the last 2.5 months.Miami-Dade County - My Neighborhood

As for safety, it is one of the safer areas, but its Miami not Kansas. So just be aware of your surrounds any place in the county. A woman last year was abducted from The Falls shopping center one of the nicer malls in the county and was then raped in front of her toddler and then dropped off at the home depot next to the mall. And this was in the middle of the day. So just be aware.

South Miami or Coral Gables are one of the higher priced areas of Miami. 600k+ Not sure about rent.

Public transportation, well, Miami doesn't have a great transportation system. But close to UM is the metrorail, but it doesn't run many places unfortunatly. As for busses, I don't know in South Florida waiting for the bus in the summer with the heat and humidty and the rain, I wouldn't do it, but people that need to have too, I guess.

[miamiblue]

Originally Posted by Jewel881

Hi ,
We are moving to the South Miami area possibly around Coral Gables or not far from Sunset Place (or Miami University). Any general information about the area~ crime, safety, housing prices, rent costs, transportation(public), traffic, would be helpful. Thankyou all.

I actually used to live in this area, and if I didn't have to go drive anywhere, I could almost forget about all the awful traffic and crazy things going on in Miami! I rented a 2/1 condo within walking distance to Sunset Place and loved the area (Red Rd and SW 76 Ave). It's safe, but I still wouldn't walk around by myself at night. At the time I moved out, the rent was $950, but it seems that the same places are now going for $1100+ rental-wise for a smallish 2br in an older quad condo complex (mine had wood floors and a community pool). Homes in the area are probably in the $400k-800k range (a condo complex down the street from mine was demo'd while I lived there and they threw up some $800k "luxury townhomes" in their place). The condos that I lived in were going for about $250k about two years ago.

There's not a whole lot of efficient public transit in the Miami area, but from where I lived, I had a roommate that walked to the metro station at Sunset and US-1 to ride up to work in Merrick Park. There are also bus stops around as well. There are a lot of good restaurants in that area. Definitely a good place to be if you have to live in Miami. Check out UM's off campus housing site to find some other rentals in the area if you are looking to rent Off-Campus Housing | University of Miami (http://www.sa.miami.edu/off-campus-services/off-campus-housing/ - broken link).

[stat3man]

That is generally a great and very popular area to live. There's a lot to do, and it's safe. I won't even qualify that with "It's relatively safe." No, it's plain-old safe. Since it's one of the Miami area's preferred neighborhoods, it's very pricey, especially if you're going to buy. I think rentals are generally reasonable, though, especially in older buildings. Good luck, and welcome to Miami.

[Roark]

Originally Posted by Jewel881

Hi ,
We are moving to the South Miami area possibly around Coral Gables or not far from Sunset Place (or Miami University). Any general information about the area~ crime, safety, housing prices, rent costs, transportation(public), traffic, would be helpful. Thankyou all.

You'll be fine! Miami is great, life is great, but people whine like cry-babies. Just come along and enjoy all of the great culture that this booming city has to offer.