south miami (Kendall, Coral Gables, Miami Lakes: crime rate, townhome, neighborhoods)

[lonelychicagoan]

well, i surfed the crime rate website again and apparently, it says that south miami is pretty quiet, crimewise. does anyone agree with this? if so, will i be able to be happy if i lived in south miami? what about west miami? (i allready know that the north and northwest sides of miami are not safe.)

[bale002]

Are you talking about South Miami, which is a city proper, or the south side of Miami?

In any case, it is true, the south side of Miami (basically Brickell, Coconut Grove), as well as South Miami, are some of the better sections in the Miami area, but that doesn't mean they are immune to crime, and you really have to know them neighborhood by neighborhood.

Again, west Miami, what do you mean? There is an entire precinct (or is it a city proper) called West Miami, or west Miami could be taken to mean as far west as Kendall (well south) up to Doral. In that case, there are some good neighborhoods - Kendall can be less pricey, Doral more so - but you have to pick your spots.
If you mean the west side of Miami proper, it is probably better to avoid it unless you really know what you are doing.

In short, while it is possible to make generalizations about entire sections - and the internet helps with this -, even in the sections with the better reputations, one has to know them neighborhood by neighborhood, and to do this, while conversations help, one really has to do one's own research on the ground to decide what is suitable.

[lulu]

Yes...the City of South Miami has some beautiful areas like the City of Coral Gables where I live. It's diverse in cultures/languages and some areas are really nice & upper class. Some sections on the south side of the city are nice like in Coconut Grove or Brickell but do your homework in these areas - some are nicer than others.
The City of West Miami is a middle class spanish speaking area.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by lonelychicagoan

well, i surfed the crime rate website again and apparently, it says that south miami is pretty quiet, crimewise. does anyone agree with this? if so, will i be able to be happy if i lived in south miami? what about west miami? (i allready know that the north and northwest sides of miami are not safe.)

I used to live in Miami Lakes, which is North West. Royal Oaks area has million $ + homes. Townhome in Miami Lakes is anywhere from $300 - $400K.
It's a very nice area, for the most part.
I now live in West Miami because my commute to work is reduced by about 2.5 hrs a day from here. These are mostly older homes and mostly updated with much bigger lots than you'll get in Kendall or Doral usually. Has own police and taxes of course (like Coral Gables). But you'll need to speak Spanish, unless you don't have to go out of your house.
There's also Horse Country and Belen areas with McMansions.