so much negativity (Miami, Homestead, Pinecrest: real estate, how much, townhouse)

[mvingsoon]

My family is moving soon and I came upon this website to search for stats concerning potential towns/neighborhoods.
I am baffled reading all the negativity.
I've read don't move to Miami with children numerous times...that is difficult for me to believe..or everyone here is rude and selfish...all the generalizations and negativity on this site! Most neighborhoods are ghetto or filled with rude African-Americans or Hispanics.
If so many of these neighborhoods are undesirable than why is every new neighborhood we look at 500K and up?
I don't know you people, but some people are unhappy wherever they go and always find fault.

[amberamour]

That's a good point and everyone knows some people who love to complain and the subject doesn't matter but I was born and raised in SoFL and can speak from experience that the cities and towns here have changed drastically and on many levels economic, social, cultural, etc.

The Miami I grew up in no longer exists. It was a nice place to raise kids, before it was overdeveloped and lost its appeal to families. I watched as all my high school classmates left the area to work and have children elsewhere. I watched as the sea of zero lot line homes arrived and more native or longtime Floridians left.

There are definite negatives to report about the region today and these matters are very real and very relevant to anyone wanting to come here and raise a family. You can easily tell which posters are overall cranks from those who are just trying to genuinely inform people thinking of moving here, so use your better judgment.

The cost of living has skyrocketed. A small example of this is the home I grew up in, which is a modest rancher that recently sold for well over a million dollars. My father sold it for about $50k in 1971 and thought he did very well. Do other cities see this kind of insane inflation? Would a house in, say, Indiana be overvalued this way? Whatever phenomenon is at work here to explain the causes, I will let the experts explain. We're just a one-income couple trying to raise our kids the old fashioned way and finding it appalling that we can't do it here the way my parents were able to.

It's only one example but a very telling one that newcomers should be made aware of. Even though we have bear markets, SoFL will always bounce back and see more and more booms, as history and the experience of many in my family, proves. If you are middle class, expect to have a hard time living any kind of quality life here.

If you're rich, well, you'll like it fine.

[doggiebus]

Originally Posted by mvingsoon

If so many of these neighborhoods are undesirable than why is every new neighborhood we look at 500K and up?
I don't know you people, but some people are unhappy wherever they go and always find fault.

Because 500k in Miami isn't that much to spend on a house in a decent area. Miamis homes prices are not as high as California, but like Cali what you get for 500k compared to other parts of this country like the Carolinas is shocking. Many home prices have doubled if not tripled in value here in Miami since 2000 (some areas prices are falling but in some the prices are still holding if not still going up). A new townhouse out west or south in Homestead starts in the low 200's (200k taxes are $3,500), for a townhouse. A tiny house (3/2 1000 sq. ft.) in a soo soo (next to a rough area) starts in the upper 200's. And a regular size home (3/2 2000 sq. ft.) in a decent not to far west or south (not great like Pinecrest) area starts in the mid 400's.

[tallrick]

No matter how much natives warn newcommers, they refuse to look at things they consider "negative". The reason Florida is so expensive is that very, very few who are here know its history. They compare Florida to the northeast, Europe, Great Britain, California, Latin America or whatever hell-hole they came from. They bring bubble money or dirty money with them, and percieve Florida as a bargain. Actual working people just see the sunshine and wealth around them and imagine this as a land of opportunity. I have given up, I now say just let them come down and see for themself. Some will do well, most will not, the smart ones will leave. Florida is the barometer for the rest of the US. It was in 1926 and it is now. Our problems will be your problems eventually.

[LoveMiami]

optimist see in a circle a donought and pessimist see it as a hole.

[amberamour]

Originally Posted by LoveMiami

optimist see in a circle a donought and pessimist see it as a hole.

Optimism doesn't pay the bills.
We are both optimists and have stayed here far longer than was wise *because* of our optimism and the hope that things would improve and allow us to remain.
It ain't happenin'.
But it's not negativism that is sparking our move. It's realism. In our definition that means seeing things for what they truly are, not what you wish them to be. Florida hasn't been a mere stopover. It's been home for me since the day I was born. I don't leave it eagerly but bittersweetly, baffled how it became a playground for the rich and/or speculator. If we tried to move back here 20 years from now I doubt we'd be able to afford more than a Dumpster.
That is reality, not negativity.
If you own your home in SoFL and can do so, it would be smart to pay it off and never move again. Then at least you stand a chance of being able to stay.
In the meantime, please don't try to encapsulate the situation with bad cliches.

[20somethingandbrokeguide]

Originally Posted by LoveMiami

optimist see in a circle a donought and pessimist see it as a hole.

CarolinaDreamin is right, just because you choose to see Miami one way, it doesn't mean that it isn't a hole. A lot of people have negative things to say about living down here...and having lived in Miami for 4 years I can say that a lot of it is based on real experiences, not mere perceptions of people who would be unhappy anywhere. I believe there are some good things about living down here: it's exciting, there are good bars and clubs, and there's always something going on. The biggest problem with Miami is that there are people who blindly believe that it's 100% the best place on earth and they refuse to respect your right to disagree to the point that they become emotionally charged and physically violent.

[LM1]

I've found that there's a fine line between being a "positive thinker" and being delusionally optimistic. If you are hearing a lot of negativity about something, how about instead of lamenting over the existence of the "negativity" itself, use some critical thinking skills and figure out if there isn't any validity to what people are saying.

Pessimists usually see the truth.
Optimists tend to see what they want to see, whether it's fact or fiction.
Throw an optimist and a pessimist on a sinking ship; the pessimist gets in the lifeboat, the optimist puts on swimming trunks.

[Valea]

Originally Posted by carolinadreamin

Optimism doesn't pay the bills.
We are both optimists and have stayed here far longer than was wise *because* of our optimism and the hope that things would improve and allow us to remain.
It ain't happenin'.
But it's not negativism that is sparking our move. It's realism. In our definition that means seeing things for what they truly are, not what you wish them to be. Florida hasn't been a mere stopover. It's been home for me since the day I was born. I don't leave it eagerly but bittersweetly, baffled how it became a playground for the rich and/or speculator. If we tried to move back here 20 years from now I doubt we'd be able to afford more than a Dumpster.
That is reality, not negativity.
If you own your home in SoFL and can do so, it would be smart to pay it off and never move again. Then at least you stand a chance of being able to stay.
In the meantime, please don't try to encapsulate the situation with bad cliches.

your right about the real estate. I sold my 2 floor large yard house in NY for 1 million bought a smaller 1 floor house for half million which has 1/4 of the yard I once had.
I think square foot the real estate might be higher than NY suburb(not city itself) . I find Miami incredibly expensive compared to NY .
Put it this way Fruit grown in Miami is CHEAPER in NY than Miami supermarkets .
NY has very political active people and active politicians when it comes to some type price regulation from supermarkets,corporations Miami has WORTHLESS politicians

[PBCboy]

Originally Posted by tallrick

No matter how much natives warn newcommers, they refuse to look at things they consider "negative". The reason Florida is so expensive is that very, very few who are here know its history. They compare Florida to the northeast, Europe, Great Britain, California, Latin America or whatever hell-hole they came from.

I would not write off those areas as hell-holes... the Northeast is much nicer and a much better bargain than South Florida...