Are you relocating to Miami? Do you know where do you want to live?

Map of Central Miami Neighborhoods

If you are thinking that you want to live in a prestigious, established residential area of Miami, relatively close to downtown, your choices are Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, the Roads, South Miami, and Brickell.

As a Miami architect with offices in Coral Gables, I can tell you that these are great communities. They only have one downside. Their building departments take forever to approve plans. Coconut Grove, the Roads, and Brickell are all part of the City of Miami and you will have to deal with their building department. Miami Beach and Coral Gables each have their own building department.

And, why is this important to you? As a whole, Miami has a lot of old housing stock, meaning that as soon as you buy a property, you will want to remodel it and possibly even add to it. These building departments are very slow in processing building permits. And, in the case of an addition, if the house is not on sewer (most of Miami relies on septic tanks), then you will also have to deal with the Dept. of Environmental Resource Management (DERM). This makes the process even slower.

So as a Miami architect, can I tell you where it is easier to get a residential building permit after you relocate to Miami?

Of all the permitting departments I have dealt with, I found unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Palmetto Bay, South Miami, and Miami Springs the easiest. You may still have to deal with DERM, if you are doing an addition, but at least their building departments are friendlier and more accessible.

The case for South Miami

Let me add that although South Miami is easy, it is very unlikely that you will be able to add to your house. They toughened up their zoning code a few years ago and restricted the lot coverage so it makes adding to an existing house often impossible. But doing an interior remodeling is easy compared to other building departments.

Other Building Departments

Now, let me say that I have not dealt with all 34 municipalities in Miami-Dade. I have only dealt with 10 or so.

Conclusions

Let’s discuss the possibilities of buying outside of the most prestigious inner neighborhoods after relocating to Miami. Miami-Dade County has many very, very nice neighborhoods with plenty of mansions, probably further out from downtown. Miami Springs is a beautiful neighborhood with great planning. Palmetto Bay is very lovely as well, some areas nicer than others. It does have a lot of areas that are in flood zones.

I know that many people like Pinecrest and Cutler Bay. There are beautiful areas there. I found that both took forever to issue a permit, even on small projects.

Buying in a flood zone

Lastly, before buying in a flood zone, read my article on this. (https://www.unitedarchitectsinc.com/post/miami-architect-says-know-if-you-are-in-a-flood-zone)

This is important because building an addition in a flood zone has its own obstacles.

Contact Information

If you would like help in buying a house here in Miami, or help in remodeling it after buying it, contact me, Maria Luisa Castellanos, the principal of United Architects, on my cell phone, 305-439-7898.