Safe affordable housing in Miami (Miami Beach, Kendall: real estate, foreclosures, to rent) - Florida (FL) -Miami-Dade County - City-Data Forum

jess_rene · 08-18-2009, 04:46 PM

Hi all!

From reading this forum, I have gotten a pretty bad picture of Miami

but here is my situation. I am getting ready to finish up my PhD and my husband is getting ready to get out of medical school and is looking for places to do his residency. We can only consider cities whose medical communities offer his specialty for his training, and also have a decent number of universities close where I could teach. One of the cities on our list is Miami. I know that people always say to not consider moving to Florida until you have jobs lined up, but our situation is a bit different as he has to apply to 20 or so places and we will only know where he has "matched" about 3 months before we have to pick up and go, and I will have to search for a job after we know where he is going to be. After saying all of that, here is what I am looking for.

There are 2 criteria that ABSOLUTELY must be met. My first priority is a safe neighborhood, since he will be working all hours of the day and night. I need to feel safe in my home by myself. Period. I would love to be in an area where I can take my dogs for a walk when I get home from work without having to worry about my safety. The other necessity is that we be within a 30 minute drive to Jackson Memorial Hospital. This is required for his job.

Now for the other stuff. Our max budget will be $375k, and we need either 2 bedrooms with a den/office/2nd living area or 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. We would like over 1000 sq ft. We would really prefer a single family home or a townhouse (something with a backyard for our dogs), but a condo/loft that had an outdoor living space like a spacious balcony could work.

So, now I ask you, is it possible for any neighborhood in Miami to meet my criteria? To recap:
safe
30 mins or less from Jackson memorial
3 bedrooms
outdoor living space
$375k max

Does anyone have an area you could recommend? Also, our income will be right around 100k. Does that afford a comfortable life in Miami?

I so appreciate everyone's help! While Miami isn't our top choice by far, it is a possibility and we are trying to remain positive and imagine living close to the beach and enjoying warm sunny afternoons more days than not after living somewhere that's gray and wet and cold 9 months out of the year.

Thanks again!

jess_rene · 08-18-2009, 05:30 PM

P.S., we don't have kids, so the school system doesn't matter. And I'm okay with a fixer upper.

♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥ · 08-18-2009, 05:53 PM

SW sounds like an option(some parts of Kendall) but the commute with traffic will be probably longer than 30 minutes. The homes here are still a little inflated and I'm not sure about the prices, but the closest neighborhoods that are not extremely expensive are Miami Shores, Miami Lakes, Miami Springs, Kendall, Country Walk. I would think the last 2 are longer commutes but cheaper prices and those two are safe.

vpcats · 08-18-2009, 06:00 PM

I would say Miami Shores/Miami Springs. Miami Lakes would be a hike, regardless of schedule if your husband matches at JMH. Brickell would be a nice and safe area for you and the dogs but they are mostly condos, although many are pet friendly with no size limitations. If you teach, you'd probably go to the UM Gables campus so your commute might not be too bad because you'd be going against traffic usually.

Coconut Grove has very nice areas where you might be able to get a SFH or TH and it's close to JMH. So would The Roads area.

Check with UM's housing office. Maybe JMH has it's own separate housing/real estate office also.

If your husband is doing a 3 yr residency, you may not want to buy right now if you think he may do a fellowship or go into practice outside of Miami.

somebodymiami · 08-18-2009, 10:52 PM

miami springs, but it can get expensive, in housing cost and bills.( ie water, electric)

Urbanize32 · 08-19-2009, 07:51 AM

Miami Beach all the way. Not south beach, miami beach. Check out the condo's on millionaire's row. You will feel safe, you can walk your dogs up and down collins or go to a park and Jackson is about 20 minutes away max and the drive up and down 195 crossing the bridge is just spectacular for you husband. I wouldn't bother looking west. Look at places around 40th-60th street and collins avenue. You can probably get a 2br, I think 3 would be pushing it.

vpcats · 08-19-2009, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urbanize32

Miami Beach all the way. Not south beach, miami beach. Check out the condo's on millionaire's row. You will feel safe, you can walk your dogs up and down collins or go to a park and Jackson is about 20 minutes away max and the drive up and down 195 crossing the bridge is just spectacular for you husband. I wouldn't bother looking west. Look at places around 40th-60th street and collins avenue. You can probably get a 2br, I think 3 would be pushing it.

I have a close friend who lives in that area. She owns in one of the established buildings there. We got together this past weekend and she says the foreclosures are pretty bad. Lots of condos with very high association fees and they have cut back on many of the amenities and perks.

Her building didn't allow pets and now they are beginning to consider them if you can justify the need to have them, with a doctor's note. (i.e. companionship is good for the blood pressure, etc.)

But it is a nice area.

♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥ · 08-19-2009, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpcats

I have a close friend who lives in that area. She owns in one of the established buildings there. We got together this past weekend and she says the foreclosures are pretty bad. Lots of condos with very high association fees and they have cut back on many of the amenities and perks.

Her building didn't allow pets and now they are beginning to consider them if you can justify the need to have them, with a doctor's note. (i.e. companionship is good for the blood pressure, etc.)

But it is a nice area.

Yeah, I know someone that was being charged a lot of fees too. One time they even asked for an extra $800 to fix the elevator. They didn't allow them to rent the condo(she didn't live there, just had it for the weekends) and then when things got bad, theytold her it was OK to rent it. She had taking an equity loan and let the property go to foreclosure. The story of Miami.