Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Short answer for a change. We don't know, there is some chatter at my son's job about a promotion and it might mean another location. I do like Broward better from what I know of it which is not very much. Pompano/FTL/Hllywd appear on the surface to be a more pleasant area.
JM, come on up to Fort Lauderdale. You'll like it better here in Broward. The day-to-day life is less hectic and much smoother. I know Fort Lauderdale doesn't have the name recognition that Miami has, but who cares?
Coral Gables. It's ok here, but I'm just not a good fit (kind of like a square trying to fit into a triangle). I love our apartment, I like the climate here during winter and in all honesty, of course there are worse places to live. Pinecrest is a decent area, but I'm an apartment person and prefer the convenience of Coral Gables, having most of what I need on my doorstep and being more central. We could have opted for Kendall and rented a house, but I had no desire for the long commute.
It does depend on where you live in Miami, but it's tough to escape a lot of the elements of Miami that many would find frustrating. I do agree that the rest of Florida isn't like Miami, although Orlando isn't too far off. That's why I recommended that our friend JM should give some thought to moving just an hour and a half or so north.
Anyway, happy new year to you, enjoy!
I guess it is different strokes for different folks .. I think both Coral Gables and Pine Crest are both beautiful and unique places .. Kendall not so much !!
I can understand what you mean about the Miami elements though ... yes most of Florida is another world and good or bad very different from Miami ... honestly though you do not have to drive 90 minutes north to see the difference .... I currently live in Parkland which is maybe 60 minutes north and love it up here and it has a completely different feel , look and vibe to Miami ... I used to feel that way about Weston when we lived there and it is even closer to Miami than Parkland .. it just bothers me when all of South Florida or even all of Florida is slammed because of Miami .... I once saw a post from a guy in NC complaining about all of the Spanish he heard while in Jacksonville ... can you imagine that .. that is like complaining about too many black people in Vermont !! ..
JM, come on up to Fort Lauderdale. You'll like it better here in Broward. The day-to-day life is less hectic and much smoother. I know Fort Lauderdale doesn't have the name recognition that Miami has, but who cares?
I would avoid Pompano ... but Ft.lauderdale and even Hollywood have some nice cool places to live in ... also he / she should check out western broward county as well
So why would you continue to post on the Florida forum ... I love Florida ... Miami not so much .... but I love the west coast , and the gulf beaches as well .. I love Ponte Vedra and the St . Johns County area as well .. agree with your assessment of the OP though .
Maybe because I am in Florida. I said I have lived in 5 states, and FL is my least favorite. Compared to other states I do find people here to be rude and the driving is insane. And I lived in LA for 20 yrs.
One thing I notice about the FL forums as opposed to other states, it is loaded with realtors(desperate realtors) who don't want any comments that aren't 100% positive.
But I do feel the OP was given good advice, ignored it, and therefore created a lot of his own problems.
People like that run into trouble regardless of where they go. There is a woman on the LA boards who rented a house for $3500 a month( outrageous even for LA) and is not close to her husband's job, so that is LA's fault. She hates CA for her poor choices.
It is amazes me with the Internet how people can move into bad areas, or get overcharged, with all the information at their fingertips.
Why did the OP buy a used car in Miami and not even test the A/C? Not have a mechanic check it out?
This is the same guy who is running into thieves around every corner, from dry cleaners to counterfeit money.
Yet he buys a used car and doesn't even test the AC?????? Then complains about the car and how he got ripped off, once AGAIN.
If you read his posts he just isn't too bright. I honestly thought he was in his early 20s at first, come to find out he has an adult son.
As we get older we should have some life experiences and gain some common sense that prevent these kinds of mistakes from happening again and again.
Not saying bad things aren't more prone to happen in places like Miami.
But he would have problems if he moved to East Bent Fork, TN.
I've come to the same conclusion about the OP as well. Who buys a used car and doesn't check the A/C? You will die in the south Florida humidity.
His first rental choice would have included the addition of a pet in the lease with a pet deposit to boot which is common in most of Florida. If it was a realtor showing him the property her MLS sheet would have indicated the "no pets clause" right on the listing sheet.
Then comes his choice to live in a very shady area of Miami. Why did he proceed to rent this place without scoping out the neighborhood? He could asked any of us on this board about his choice and we would have not advised him to proceed. Do homeless people & prostitutes disappear during the day?
Is he the only person in Miami who gets ripped off at the convience store, the gas station or the bank? I'm really question the counterfeit story too because if if you pass of phony bills at a business you can expect a visit from the Feds.
I think the OP has made a lot of poor decisions on his part as well and now has buyer's remorse.
JM, come on up to Fort Lauderdale. You'll like it better here in Broward. The day-to-day life is less hectic and much smoother. I know Fort Lauderdale doesn't have the name recognition that Miami has, but who cares?
the name recognition, the amenities, things to do, mass transit, semi competent govt. etc. etc.
Since you don't know much about Broward currently and it's on the radar, why don't you drive up there and check it out first hand? Start scouting out some areas you like that you see in person. See what's available apartment wise that would work for you. Start researching the different cities on CD. In other words, avoid making the same mistakes you did when moving to Miami while actually seeing the places first hand.
In general I think it is misguided when people tell you the rest of Florida is "better" than the rest of Miami. I know what they mean, but for your purpose I don't know if that comment is accurate. A lot of Florida is like Miami, just not to this extreme. There is very poor customer service statewide and due to the transient and tourist nature of the state, there is never a real sense of a community if you are middle class or below.
There are a lot of Florida newbies who are running away from problems back home or who have decided to come here for a change. They bring their baggage and have unrealistic expectations. This is not unique to you. Then throw in many crusty Floridians and it isn't a pretty mix. Florida seems to attract a disproportionate amount of wierdos compared to other places...I suppose even the wackos like the warm weather and fall for the Miami marketing schemes.
The rest of the state is more Anglo centric than Dade and Broward (Latin and Caribbean) so keep that in mind. You might do better in Ft. Myers, Tampa or Jacksonville imo. Anywhere in SE Florida is hectic but no where in the state has southern charm or hospitality...unless you are a stone's throw from the Georgia or Alabama border.
Having realistic expectations for your next move will help you make a better decision as well.
I do agree that the rest of Florida isn't like Miami,
The rest of the US is not like Miami. When we came here the first time we were very limited on time and that time we did have was wasted because we were looking at areas and places that didn't meet our criteria. As someone who had never been here before we had a lot of ground to cover.
We basically looked from Hollywood to the Grove and only had 48 hours to look at everything. Obviously, that's not enough time to base a decision to move your family and we didn't make the perfect decision obviously but it wasn't deliberate.
The other issue and a large one was we didn't have much help. We were just in the area, calling on craigslist ads, realtor.com, driving areas and calling off signs and trying to find something suitable. At the time I didn't know South beach from Doral and only had 2 days to decide where was where, and what was what.
The goal was always east of us1 and no more than 20 minutes to downtown. Those days that we were here we still had 3 dogs at home, so we were looking at single family houses at first, then looked at duplexes and finally a few apts. We wasted a lot of time that we didn't have.
Another consideration was cost. We didn't know how well my son's job would work out or mine. We wanted to be careful not to over extend. We also wanted to have enough money left over to be able to enjoy the activities that soflorida offered. There was no sense in coming here if we couldn't take time off and go play.
We also didn't know what housing costs here and what you could get and where. Is it $100.00 per square foot or $1000.00 to get in a nice area? We didn't know that and why we looked at so many areas.
We knew we needed a 2 bedroom that would take dogs and the least expensive we could find and we felt "livable" for NOW. That now was the key as we knew wherever we landed here would not be our permanent area. The livable was the unknown.
Imagine yourself going someplace you have never been that's 1200 miles away from where you call home and find a place to move and only have 2 days to find it. There is a lot of room for error and not much time to shop around.
The other issue is we needed a place in 10 days so we could only look at properties with immediate availability. My son had to be here full time in 8 days and it's a 4 day drive. Time was short to say the least and we had much to learn.
We met some landlords that seemed shady. We met some Realtors who were not helpful and we didn't have time for either.
I was immediately drawn to the Grove. Cocowalk looked very much like an area we lived and frequented often in Dallas. We "fit" there fine but when we looked at houses there they were more than we could afford if we kept to our budget. We did find a place there in our proposed budget but we didn't feel it was livable based on where we lived in Dallas. We were willing to give some things up but not everything.
We looked at what we could find in MB and it was the same story, tiny, costly by what we deemed acceptable standards. We could find 1 bedrooms easily, but 2 bedrooms were much harder to find and having dogs over 25lbs made matters worse.
Housing in Miami is much more expensive than Dallas and it didn't take long to realize that but we had to be here to see for ourselves. In Dallas you can get a 3 bedroom SF house in a decent area for $1200.00 per month and a pretty nice 1 bed apt $750 in the city and $600 if you're willing to drive some. Obviously, there's nothing like that here but it was our frame of reference when we first came here.
A huge problem was renting with dogs. Landlords here don't like dogs in their rentals and somehow size matters. I'm a part time dog trainer and my dogs are very well trained. House cats make more noise than my dogs but because they were not lap dogs, landlords wouldn't except them even if they would accept them at all.
The other issue was driving to work. In Dallas it was 20 minutes to my son's work and we wanted no longer than that. It was 16 miles from home to work during rush hour. We didn't know where 20 minutes was in miles here. Was that Aventura, Hallandale, Hollywood or do we need to be in the city to accomplish that time frame? We didn't know because we didn't know the traffic here.
So, we had much to learn in a very short amount of time, we had to make some decisions about the dogs, we had to make some adjustments in budget and we had to make some adjustments in neighbordhoods, not to mention pack up a 26' uhaul, and tow a car 1200 miles and do it all in 10 days and during all that my son and I are working full time up until the time we rolled out. It's pretty remarkable we made it here at all and my son made it to work his first day and right on time.
So yes, I made some mistakes but given the circumstances we really didn't do that bad. We got here in spite of the frustrations and hurdles and next move we'll know much more and have time to shop.
We don't live in a hovel at all. Our place is very nice. We have new cherry wood floors in the living room, it has drapes throughout, new blond euro cabinets and new black appliances in the kitchen. Every faucet in here is Kohler and custom two toned paint, paneled doors, updated brushed steel hardware, Berber carpet in the bedrooms and modern lighting and $1000 ceiling fans. It was completely remodeled by an architect out of California. We have a yard for the dog, a dishwasher and washer and dryer in the house. The bathroom was completely gutted and tastefully redone, pedestal sinks and a new Kohler toilet and everyplace has new tile. It's a quiet street, we have hurricane shutters, palm trees in the backyard. I eat wild avocados that grow in my yard and it's a 1/2 block walk to the bay and the outside is really cool. I live in the upstairs of a 2 unit duplex, not down the hall in an apartment building.
Life could be worse here for us and I know it after looking at the places we did. Yes, the area is seedy but the house is not, and it's cheap by Miami standards and 12 minutes to my son's work and we have plenty of parking and very nice neighbors and most of the time the whole house to ourselves.
I ***** about where I live, but I have near zero complaints about the house itself, if I could pick this place up and move it we'd be totally set here for a while. The only reason we would move is the area, our place is fine.
I haven't spent much time north. I like Hollywood beach the best by far. I like beaches where no shoes and no shirts are no problem and you can get a $6.00 hamburger. I like the vibe and the views there and the fact you can rent bikes, ride the boardwalk or just sit on the wall and do nothing. A morning walk there is a very friendly experience as people say good morning to you as you walk by. It reminds me of what a beach atmosphere should be like. Low key, non-assuming and less pretentious than SB with a good amount of crazy to keep things interesting.
FTL seems like a a nice place too. More 7-11's, more anglo, less homeless and dodgy and driving FTL beach you have some nice restaurants and you can also see the beach while you eat. It's likely a better fit for what I envisioned our life here rather than the experience we have now. It's only 24 miles away from Miami but a world away in terms of attitude and demographics I think at first glance. I won't be so quick to judge this time until I spend more time up there but it appears likely to be better value there too.
We're here now and in Miami so we'll deal with it the best we can. What we do next and when depends on my son's job or if we decided we just can't deal with it anymore.
I can't suggest anyone just move to Miami without considering everything here. It's not like any place in the US, much less Florida, and only until you're here do you realize how much different this place really is when you live here day to day.
Since you don't know much about Broward currently and it's on the radar, why don't you drive up there and check it out first hand? Start scouting out some areas you like that you see in person. See what's available apartment wise that would work for you. Start researching the different cities on CD. In other words, avoid making the same mistakes you did when moving to Miami while actually seeing the places first hand.
In general I think it is misguided when people tell you the rest of Florida is "better" than the rest of Miami. I know what they mean, but for your purpose I don't know if that comment is accurate. A lot of Florida is like Miami, just not to this extreme. There is very poor customer service statewide and due to the transient and tourist nature of the state, there is never a real sense of a community if you are middle class or below.
There are a lot of Florida newbies who are running away from problems back home or who have decided to come here for a change. They bring their baggage and have unrealistic expectations. This is not unique to you. Then throw in many crusty Floridians and it isn't a pretty mix. Florida seems to attract a disproportionate amount of wierdos compared to other places...I suppose even the wackos like the warm weather and fall for the Miami marketing schemes.
The rest of the state is more Anglo centric than Dade and Broward (Latin and Caribbean) so keep that in mind. You might do better in Ft. Myers, Tampa or Jacksonville imo. Anywhere in SE Florida is hectic but no where in the state has southern charm or hospitality...unless you are a stone's throw from the Georgia or Alabama border.
Having realistic expectations for your next move will help you make a better decision as well.
I agree with about 50% of your post here ... in fact many of your posts are right on but not this one ... Florida is a transient state no doubt similar to California and Nevada and it certainly does attract its share of weirdos .... but I am adamant about the fact that much of the rest of Florida is very , very different from Miami . No southern charm or hospitality in Jacksonville , Tallahassee , Gainesville , St. Augustine , Ponte Vedra , Panama City , Fernandina Beach , Dunedin are you serious ? ... I can go on and on ... all nice places to live with very nice people and good service that so many people complain lacks in Miami . You do not even have to go that far north ... I was in Palm Beach Gardens and in Abacoa ( Jupiter ) with my family recently and we were very happy with the service at all establishments and how nice everything was ... go farther north to Stuart or even Vero Beach and tell me service is bad or people are rude ( untrue ) .... where do some posters here go or what businesses do they frequent that they receive so much shoddy service ... is it me ... I guess I have a halo around my head ... I meet nice , friendly people all the time down here and in Florida in general .. yes there are a holes ... but I encounter just as many when I am up in Connecticut or Massachusetts every other month .... I was in So Cal less than three weeks ago ... mind you I love So Cal but I did not not feel that people were any nicer than in So Fla ( sans Dade ) ... I travel the US , Latin America and The Caribbean extensively on business and the only place that I go to that really stands out on the "niceness " factor to me is Houston .. the rest to me is not that much better than SoFla .. again where does every one go that they encounter a holes every day ... why is that I do not encounter that as much as others here claim ?
I don't know Rock, they must be going to the same places you go in Miami because I really can't say service in Miami is that different from Broward's. Service workers for the most part, just do their job, they are low paid, and you cant Really have huge expectations in my opinion. The other places I'm somewhow familiar are on Floridas West Coast, pretty much the same thing.
I must have done hundreads of Transactions in Broward so I'm not basing my post on a random transaction. It's really not any different from Miami Dade, except maybe that the worker will always speak fluent English in Broward
where I notice the difference is in Northern Florida, but more with regular people that hold doors and say hi to everybody, but the service to me it's pretty much the same.
Jclacy complaints are so random and unsual, I can't really recommend anything to him. He will probably end up in the bad areas of pompano, pembroke rd and come back here and complain about his neighbors. In my opinion they should go back to Texas where homes are bigger and more affordable.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
..
