Help Please on which city to pick...Miami, Hollywood, or Fort Lauderdale (Miami Beach: cheap apartment, rentals)

[boxus]

$15k will go quick, especially if you go and try to live in areas like Brickell. But at least you do have savings and are smart enough to know you will need to get any job when you get here, so that will give you some leeway.

Hollywood is about a 45 minute commute from walking out one door and to another in Brickell, give or take.

Broward is a county, north of Miami-Dade county. Brickell is an area of Miami.

I will say, communications is not the most desirable major going around, if you were engineering or something it would be different. Miami has the most educated service sector around, everyone seems to have some sort of degree, waiting for that great job they went to college for.

You mention Brickell a lot, but it is expensive to rent here, if I were you I would not waste my money right now and would go get a cheap place up in Broward or PBC. Put it this way, say you are lucky enough to find a place in Brickell for $1300 (average low is $1500), you would need first month, last month, and security deposit; that is $3900 right away just to move in. Much smarter to go north, get settled in, find a real job, then locate with the piece of mind of having some financial security.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by Mike10693

Is Broward just north of Brickell but still part of Miami?

Dade County = Miami
Broward County = Ft Lauderdale
Palm Beach County = Palm Beach

[Mike10693]

Thanks a lot guys. Sounds like Broward County may be the best option for me. I loved Fort Lauderdale when I was there. Sounds like from what you are saying...I could find a nice place for a more reasonable price in Fort Lauderdale than in Miami (specifically the Brickell area) Is this correct?

[roadtrip75]

You can spend a few minutes at a real estate website like Zillow to get an idea about prices in different neighborhoods. The only problem with that is that condominium fees and HOA fees are usually not given there and those fees can range from small to massive. I saw a condo tower which charged $1500 a month in fees! If you're renting, none of that really matters.

[Mike10693]

Yeah I get that, I was just asking if you think that I would find similar fairly nice apartments and it would likely be a better deal in terms of rent price in Fort Lauderdale than Miami?

[Mike10693]

Pretty much I am just trying to decide where I have the better chance of finding a fairly nice apartment for around $700-900 a month and also have a better chance of eventually finding a job in marketing, advertising, or sales. Fort Lauderdale or Miami?

[Mike10693]

The main thing first though is the apartment...that obviously comes first. Whichever city I could get a better deal on within that price range I would take.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by Mike10693

The main thing first though is the apartment...that obviously comes first. Whichever city I could get a better deal on within that price range I would take.

See, that's not a good decision in this market.

Say for instance you get an apartment in FTL because it is cheaper than Miami. You then finally find a job in Miami (Miami's job market is larger and many people that live in FTL work in Miami, even still, the unemployment rate in SoFla is high so this is assuming you even get a job) You're going to have to commute, with traffic both ways, from FTL to Miami every day. That's an additional 3+ hours out of your day, added to your job, is 11 hours each day you spend working and commuting. Add in 8 hours of sleep time and that leaves you a whopping 5 hours of free time a day. That's not enough time to enjoy what SoFla has to offer.

Add in the fact that you'd most likely have to go through it for a year (a year being your lease) and you have a very high chance of becoming miserable in FL like so many before you, and thus blame the area for your self induced problems.

South Florida is a great place, just not when you have to scrape by, work and fight traffic all day and live away from the things that draw people to the area.

My advice is to save some more, study the area for a while, visit like a local, get a job and then make the move.

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by Mike10693

I am a 25 year old recent college graduate and I am looking to move to South Florida in the fall. I have been in contact with agents from rent1sale1 and they are looking for places for me according to my preferences so I won't list all of those. I have been in touch with agents in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Miami. The two main reasons I am moving from Maine to South Florida are because my bachelors degree in Communications (concentration in marketing and/or advertising) has a lot more of a chance of being useful in the area than here in Maine. And the other reason is that I have simply always wanted to live in South Florida. My main question is which of the 3 places (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami) would you recommend to me in terms of jobs, being nice, nightlife, beaches, and just simply life in general. Thanks so much everyone. ****If you don't mind give me reasons as to why you believe this.

I would look in Ft.Lauderdale ... look near the Las Olas or Victoria Isles areas ... very nice near the beach and nightlife ... it is more laid back and less prententious than Brickell .. you are also near the nice parts of Hollywood ... you can always get down to Brickell or South Beach in under 40 minutes to party ... but trust me you will be happier in Ft.Lauderdale ... Miami can wear on you especially if you do not speak Spanish and are not blessed with a high level of patience .. leave Miami for having fun on the weekends .. live in Ft.Lauderdale and in the areas that I mentioned .

[Rock Newman]

Originally Posted by Mike10693

Say I found a job in Hollywood...would that be a long commute from Brickell or downtown Miami?

Yes !!!!