It's safe to say Miami, Florida is having problems. Previously, Miami was voted the rudest and worst drivers in America on two separate lists. Miami was also voted "the Worst Place To Live." The year is still young and Miami has already been voted the "Worst Place To Rent." Forbes magazine gave Miami the dubious distinction, due to the fact the average rent in Miami is high, while wages are low. Though New York rentals are far more expensive, the wages in New York City are significantly higher than Miami.

Many apartment buildings in the main part of Miami are old with non-modern accommodations. Newer apartment buildings have been built in the south part of Miami, but it is still not that many to lift the standard of living in the city. A handful of newer buildings were built in the main part of Miami, but they were created as condominiums for sale and are expensive.

When the housing market in America began to hit a steep monetary decline in 2008 under the unprecedented financial crisis in the George W. Bush era, many condominiums when into foreclosure, while others sat empty. Some developers have chosen to rent said condominiums, but the rental prices are expensive. As a result, there are a significant number of people under the poverty line in Miami, as wages are low and the cost of living is high.

For many people to buy an affordable home with decent amenities in Miami, they have to move far south, which is geographically far away from just about everything (jobs, stadiums, arenas, government offices, courts ect). The imbalances are astonishing and detrimental to the people who live in Miami.  

The local government has not done enough for the city and for all the tourist dollars that has come in over the years, I don't see where the money is truly going (outside of standard government expenses such as policing, school teacher's salaries ect). In fact, there was a scandal years ago in Miami, regarding the mayor's office stealing millions of dollars in taxpayer money for personal use. There is a serious corruption problem in the City of Miami on a government and court level. Government officials have been arrested, but there are still others in office breaking the law.

Many buildings and roads in Miami are old and need to be redone. There are is a terribly insufficient number of parks in most areas in Miami for children to play. The schools are old and in need refurbishing with better facilities. After school activities for children in Miami are expensive, which leads to many children in the city sitting in front of the TV after school, in states of prolonged in activity gaining weight or going out and getting into mischief on the streets. 

Public transport in Miami, via Metro Dade, has some issues. It doesn't cover the entire city. Transportation is routinely late and sometimes bearing the wrong signs. While some of Miami Dade transportation workers are nice, there are quite a few of them who are as rude as heck. They are known for this by people who live in Miami. Over the years I saw some Miami Metro Dade transportation workers berate and tell off elderly people and even tourists for asking for directions. I thought to myself, what impression will these foreign tourists take away from Miami after something like that.

Miami Metro Dade transportation bus drivers have closed doors on passengers legs as they disembarked or tried to enter the buses and began driving off, nearly dragging people under the bus on different occasions. People have had to be yelling at them to stop, as the driver(s) closed the door on them, in too much of a hurry to check for public safety. The people who have been managing Miami Metro Dade transportation over the years have done a horrific job.

Due to the low wages and the high cost of living in Miami, a city of millions of people, more scams and acts of fraud emanate from the region than anywhere else in America. Miami ranks highest with Medicare and Medicaid fraud. America loses billions of dollars each year due to the medical fraud coming out of Miami. There are many scams in the housing, construction and banking industries as well.

People see postcards of Miami Beach and think that's how everyone lives in Miami. However, it's not true. The reality is many people in Miami live below the national poverty line and one has to be rich to live on Miami Beach in the houses and condos seen on televisions and postcards and to afford proper transportation and basic recreational activities.

STORY SOURCE

Miami Is The Worst City For Renters In 2017, Beating Out Manhattan And San Francisco

During the summer of 2015 Katrina Perez considered 40 rental apartments in Miami’s up-and-coming Edgewater neighborhood before finding a place in her price range. Perez, a 27-year-old account supervisor with public relations firm Quinn, and a roommate currently share a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with water views. They pay a combined $1,800 a month.

Halfway through her second lease, Perez knows her days in Edgewater are numbered. An ultra-tall luxury condominium is coming up next door. Soon it will block her view and likely lead to a hefty rent increase. ("I'll be neighbors with millionaires," she says with a laugh.) Her roommate is already planning to move in with her parents because she can’t afford to both pay rent and save for a down payment on a home. Meanwhile, Perez is committed to spending less than 30% of her income on housing.

“I’m financially blessed enough to be able to afford to live where I want to in Miami,” says Perez. "I don’t think most of my peers have that same opportunity just because our income has not caught up with the cost of living in Miami.”

She’s right. Miami tops our 2017 list of the worst cities for renters, due to extremely low vacancy rates--2.2%--and some of the worst rental affordability stats in the country. The average Miami rent isn't so high at $1,386, 14th most out the 46 major markets we evaluated, but relatively low pay in the city means that rent eats up 36% of the median Miami income, the third highest share among major U.S. cities. Meanwhile, the low vacancy rate pushed rents up 6.6% last year, the eighth most rapid increase in the nation.

Local experts anticipate price relief at the high end as a number of luxury towers currently under construction come online. Though they expect that relief to be temporary as jobs and wages have been growing, especially in the popular downtown of the city, meaning the new units will ultimately be absorbed.

Builders have focused construction at the high end of the market, since luxury buildings tend to be more profitable. Between 2014 and 2016, only 10.7% of multi-family construction in Miami was targeted at the lower third of the market. That’s compared to 69.4% at the high end, according to an analysis by Zillow last year.

“The main core of what developers do in Miami is what Miami is known for: waterfront, paradise, the best weather in the country,” says Eddy Martines, co-founder and CEO of Worldwide Properties, a South Beach based brokerage. “As a result they are very high end.” Laura Neroulias moved to Miami from New York in 2015 to work with Perez at Quinn, she notes that Miami apartments are much more amenity rich than comparable New York City units.

https://www.forbes.com

Florida Drivers Are the Worst in America, Study Confirms

Friday, July 29, 2016 at 3:09 p.m. - Four days after moving to Florida, I got into my first-ever car accident. In response, my co-workers simply shrugged. One of them grabbed my shoulder in solidarity. "Welcome to Miami," he said, and then tottered off cackling. A study released yesterday has confirmed what anyone who's driven on I-95, plowed through Wynwood's stop-sign-free streets, tried to turn left onto Biscayne Boulevard, been cut off by a 100-year-old woman without a turn signal, or screamed at the sky in statue-still Miami traffic already knows: Florida is the worst place to drive in America...

The study, released by the website SmartAsset, studied every state's propensity for driving tickets, traffic deaths, DUI arrests, and uninsured drivers, and ranked them all from worst to best. Those polite, sweater-wearing a**holes in Massachusetts came in 48th. Florida, meanwhile, was ranked the worst place to drive in the nation.
Florida Drivers Are the Worst in America, Study Confirms...

http://www.miaminewtimes.com

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