Possible relo for job in downtown Miami (Pembroke Pines, Miami Beach: renting, condo)

[msh0146]

Hi everyone, looking at a possible job transfer to an office in downtown Miami - right down by Bayfront Park. I could use some help in looking at neighborhoods. Here are some particulars:

- Active family of four. Child #1 will start K this fall. Child #2 is 3 years old.
- Condo, Townhome, or single family home are all ok.
- Public schools are a must. Not too concerned with high school - unsure length of this assignment. Public schools do not have to be the best of the best of the best of the best, but of course must be solid.
- Likely renting at least for a while. 3 bedrooms needed. Budget up to max of about $3k, of course lower is better, within reason.
- Have a small (20lb), aging (13yr) family dog.
- Options for commuting would be a huge plus. If I could have the choice of commuting by metro or car that would be fantastic. I've done my penance driving 30+ miles one way in Atlanta traffic for the last ten years. I don't care to continue that.

Areas we are looking into:

- Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, and South Miami all look to have some good choices with short commute, especially South Miami.
- Pinecrest appears mostly out of budget.
- Palmetto Bay seems to also have options. Commute concerns here?
- Doral has a bewildering array of choices. Is this commute going to be a problem?
- Aventura and North Miami Beach could work but can anyone comment on the difficulty of getting to and from downtown?
- Open to the idea of taking express bus from Pembroke Pines, appears not to require a transfer and would let me catch up on reading, etc.

Any thoughts, input, or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks so much.

[cjs08]

There's another post from a couple weeks back that was similar to yours. I think that poster was asking for a lot more in terms of neighborhood, but the responses are worth reading.

//www.city-data.com/forum/miami...s-coconut.html

Another neighborhood I would suggest to you is The Roads. It's pretty much the only family-oriented area that is right outside of Downtown Miami. It's a small area, but might have what you're looking for, and commute would be nothing at all!

Doral is a safe area and can even be family-oriented, but traffic and density make it pretty rough at times. I also wouldn't relish a round-trip commute from Aventura to Downtown every day...or Palmetto Bay for that matter. That being said, different folks have different commute tolerances; I did 55 miles a day round trip for 5 years and I don't think I ever want to go back to it!

[JacobMAX]

Taking everything you want/need Palmetto Bay and South Miami sounds like the places which would be best for you; both are safe, well kept, good schools ( besides the HS in South Miami ) and not far from Downtown (Palmetto Bay is kinda though, commute would be probably something like approx. 40 mins depending on route and avg. speed). Coral Gables and Pinecrest are excellent choices, but both would be beginning in the upper end of your budget, so it would be difficult to find something.

The Roads would be another nice option, but it's going downhill (I lived there for 2 yrs. - it isn't well managed, not as nearly as safe as Pinecrest or South Miami nowadays - safe enough though and family-friendly as well, the aspect of the area is just slightly above average, and I believe the schools are not good (mainly Middle and HS), only the Privates one in the area).

East Kendall may be another option; schools are good (besides HS), it's well kept mostly and safe. But I would look for further information or talk to someone from that area (or who lived there), because the whole Kendall area is not as reasonable/good as it was.

[msh0146]

Thanks everyone. Keep the responses coming - very helpful.

Particularly interested in Aventura or North Miami Beach to downtown. Can anyone weigh in on how that drive would be? I understand that Miami has traffic like any other major metro area, but I've also heard that it does not rise to the level of Atlanta gridlock.

Overall it appears that South Miami should be front of mind, particularly since I would avoid having to drive to the office.