South Beach vs. North Beach?

[FlyMIA]

Miami Beach and all the barrier island cities are very safe. Miami Beach has some very nice and expensive neighborhoods with homes, many condos and apartments from cheap to very expensive.
If your looking for a cheaper place to live by the water North Beach (northern part of Miami beach) is cheaper, but from there you would probably have to go up to Broward.

[catt6]

South Beach is the main tourist area, and therefore the most nightclubs and partying, transient residents, and of course then also the most crime. I'ts like Atlantic City or Vegas - 2-3 glitzy streets, and grungy two blocks off the strip.

North beach is mostly residential, some tourists stay here but it's more low-rise apt. bldgs. & vacation rentals, less hotels. it's more quiet & relaxed, cleaner, less expensive. there's not a lot to do, but there's a couple blocks with good restaurants, bakeries, & coffee shops nearby. the beach is really nice up here too, cause the state recreation park runs for a good 8 blocks, so no big buildings; very relaxing natural beach area with trees and walking paths.

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by catt6

North beach is mostly residential, some tourists stay here but it's more low-rise apt. bldgs. & vacation rentals, less hotels. it's more quiet & relaxed, cleaner, less expensive. there's not a lot to do, but there's a couple blocks with good restaurants, bakeries, & coffee shops nearby. the beach is really nice up here too, cause the state recreation park runs for a good 8 blocks, so no big buildings; very relaxing natural beach area with trees and walking paths.

Next time I am in Miami i will have to spend more time around North Beach and Surfside. The North Beach State Rec. Area looks very nice (at least on Bing Maps). I remember passing through Surfside once on a trip and really liking the walkabiity. Next time i will linger in North Beach too.

I am wondering a few things.

1) Correct me if I am wrong. Looks like the residential stock in North Beach is more multifamily/condo oriented where as Surfside has more uniterrupeted blocks of single-family homes??

2) I am shocked at how cheap (relatively speaking) a home just a few blocks from the beach is in Surfside. From looking at recently sold homes on Zillow the dominant price range appears to be from $250,000 to $500,000. Is that right?

That is really cheap for walking distance to the beach. To buy a similar property (size, age, etc.) in a desirable beach community in So.Calif. you would need AT LEAST $1.0 million. Why so cheap (outside the obvious reasons like the housing crash)? Insurance rates are so high due to potential Hurricane threats?

[catt6]

1 - yeh that's fairly accurate - the apt/condo bldgs turn to homes around 89th or so.

2 - sorry i have no idea about home sales & trends.... although i would imagine you're on the right track re: insurance rates & hurricanes.

And yeh the state rec area IS really nice, not just on bing!

[SalParadise]

Cool...thanks.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Normandy Island neighborhood also has a cute area with detached homes well under $1M.

Sunny Isles Beach has a mix of families and younger people. Condos are relatively affordable and good quality, newer construction, not run-down compared to the rest of "the beach," including most of Broward's beaches.

[SalParadise]

Thanks hurricaneman, i checked those areas out on Bing Maps. They do look nice. Next time I am in town i'll have to take a look.

[rnc2mbfl]

North Beach is much quieter (or boring) depending on how one sees it. When I moved to Miami, I also found it much more Latin culturally. I looked at two sets of condos where all of the marketing material was in Spanish only. South Beach, especially its south and west sides are much more culturally diverse inclusive in my opinion. it's full of both North and South Americans and lots of Europeans.
It's important to remember that South Beach continuously goes through change in its scene and that the Eastern side is hyper geared toward tourists and partiers while the west and south sides are much more residentially focused.

[exmbdude]

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

North Beach is much quieter (or boring) depending on how one sees it. When I moved to Miami, I also found it much more Latin culturally. I looked at two sets of condos where all of the marketing material was in Spanish only. South Beach, especially its south and west sides are much more culturally diverse inclusive in my opinion. it's full of both North and South Americans and lots of Europeans.
It's important to remember that South Beach continuously goes through change in its scene and that the Eastern side is hyper geared toward tourists and partiers while the west and south sides are much more residentially focused.

North Beach has always been sleepier than its southern counterpart. In the 50s and 60s when tourism was in full swing it was far busier but then again that was a seasonal influx. Most of the residences were seasonal motels catering to the snowbirds. Somewhere in the late 60s to early 70s the large scale influx of retirees from the NE started and it remained quite sleepy until the 90s. There has always been a Latin influence on the beach but sometime in the 90s it switched from being retirees to a younger demographic.

[NATEBEAR]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Next time I am in Miami i will have to spend more time around North Beach and Surfside. The North Beach State Rec. Area looks very nice (at least on Bing Maps). I remember passing through Surfside once on a trip and really liking the walkabiity. Next time i will linger in North Beach too.

I am wondering a few things.

1) Correct me if I am wrong. Looks like the residential stock in North Beach is more multifamily/condo oriented where as Surfside has more uniterrupeted blocks of single-family homes??

2) I am shocked at how cheap (relatively speaking) a home just a few blocks from the beach is in Surfside. From looking at recently sold homes on Zillow the dominant price range appears to be from $250,000 to $500,000. Is that right?

That is really cheap for walking distance to the beach. To buy a similar property (size, age, etc.) in a desirable beach community in So.Calif. you would need AT LEAST $1.0 million. Why so cheap (outside the obvious reasons like the housing crash)? Insurance rates are so high due to potential Hurricane threats?

Surfside IS a family neighborhood with a gorgeous location. However, I think it is less desirable to modern families as the homes are small, single story on tiny lots (5,600 sq ft is sufficient IMO for two stories) leaving little to no room for storage. If I didn't have such a large family, it would definitely be my neighborhood of choice in the Miami area.