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Old 01-07-2011, 08:00 AM
 
25 posts, read 168,196 times
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My fiance and I are heading to Florida on the 21st to check out a few potential places to call our new home in June.

Scheduled stops on the weekend trip include Fernandina, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Palm Coast, Ormond Beach, and New Smyrna Beach.

We're visiting to get an overall general feel for each area, but we would also like to ask if anyone from any of these places have suggestions of things (places, parks, restaurants, etc.) we should check out while we're in each town.

So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let us know!

Thanks!
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Old 01-07-2011, 08:51 AM
 
Location: San Francisco
2,079 posts, read 6,115,292 times
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See below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jsimms3 View Post
Atlantic Beach/Neptune Beach near Jacksonville. They will remind you of a denser Cape Hatteras or of Provincetown/Fire Island/Cape Cod. We are talking full on shingle style houses built new or literally straight from the early 1900s. Bargain right now for oceanfront (relatively speaking) for about $3 million and up (ok that's cheap for oceanfront Florida), and pricey but less blocks off the beach.

See a swath of photos from 2007 here Atlantic Beach Photo Thread.

See a swath of neighboring Jacksonville Beach from 2009 here Jacksonville Beach Photo Thread.

Here are some restaurant reviews with pictures and information on just a very small selection of local restaurants. Vicarious Breezy Dining at the Beaches. Cari Sanchez Potter is a food critic that moved to Jacksonville from either Cleveland or Boston last year.

NE FL beaches are known for good East Coast surfing (some of the best, literally, for East Coast), casual "beach bum" atmosphere and feel, and artsy fartsy people. Between Atlantic and Neptune Beach, there are 24/7 diners, pizza places and New Orleans style taverns, book stores, boutiques, art galleries and art shows, beachy places where you can get your oysters on the half shell, skateboarders, surfers, and bikers. There are also a few "dive" motels where locals go to drink on the beach and a 4 star resort with a really good James Baird Association constributor chef.

Atlantic Beach/Neptune Beach are unique for Florida. Other places, including Ponte Vedra just south of there and Sarasota/Palm Beach already mentioned, are very very nice, but expect to pay $5 million and up for oceanfront in these places (and still pricey inland) and there are a lot of "Mediterranean" and contemporary homes. The schools for the Jax beaches are very good (for FL standards - A and B rated). If you can afford an oceanfront or nice "blocks off" home, then you can most likely afford private school. Most kids I knew at the beaches went to private schools, and you can find Jewish, Catholic, Montessori, Episcopalian, and secular schools at the beaches. Most residents of the beach prefer to stay there because they don't like to "cross the ditch" into the city that often. It's very familiar to coastal NC and coastal New England, but with better access to a larger airport and access to city amenities.
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Old 01-07-2011, 11:04 AM
 
Location: SARASOTA, FLORIDA
11,486 posts, read 15,306,908 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingToFlorida84 View Post
My fiance and I are heading to Florida on the 21st to check out a few potential places to call our new home in June.

Scheduled stops on the weekend trip include Fernandina, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Palm Coast, Ormond Beach, and New Smyrna Beach.

We're visiting to get an overall general feel for each area, but we would also like to ask if anyone from any of these places have suggestions of things (places, parks, restaurants, etc.) we should check out while we're in each town.

So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let us know!

Thanks!

Good luck in your search. Check out Flagler Beach on your way to Ormond Beach.
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Old 01-07-2011, 12:02 PM
 
25 posts, read 168,196 times
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Jsimms: Thanks for the info, especially on the restaurants. Atlantic Beach is one of the places we're really excited about checking out.

Sunny: Flagler Beach, huh? Thanks for the advice! Just out of curiosity, what's the reason you recommended Flagler?
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Old 01-07-2011, 02:10 PM
 
Location: SARASOTA, FLORIDA
11,486 posts, read 15,306,908 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingToFlorida84 View Post
Jsimms: Thanks for the info, especially on the restaurants. Atlantic Beach is one of the places we're really excited about checking out.

Sunny: Flagler Beach, huh? Thanks for the advice! Just out of curiosity, what's the reason you recommended Flagler?
You mentioned several beach towns and Flagler is right in the middle of them.
Since you have to go by it you might as well check it out if you have time.
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Old 01-07-2011, 07:51 PM
 
25 posts, read 168,196 times
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Lol! You know what? That makes perfectly good sense. We'll have to check Flagler Beach out.
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Old 01-07-2011, 08:22 PM
 
Location: SARASOTA, FLORIDA
11,486 posts, read 15,306,908 times
Reputation: 4894
Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingToFlorida84 View Post
Lol! You know what? That makes perfectly good sense. We'll have to check Flagler Beach out.
When you are talking about finding a place to call home no stone should be left untouched right?

Only a few miles out of your way south anyways.
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Old 01-08-2011, 06:41 AM
 
3,977 posts, read 8,174,381 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingToFlorida84 View Post
My fiance and I are heading to Florida on the 21st to check out a few potential places to call our new home in June.

Scheduled stops on the weekend trip include Fernandina, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Palm Coast, Ormond Beach, and New Smyrna Beach.

We're visiting to get an overall general feel for each area, but we would also like to ask if anyone from any of these places have suggestions of things (places, parks, restaurants, etc.) we should check out while we're in each town.

So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to let us know!

Thanks!
1 thing I would think about before deciding.......are you looking for a place to live that will avoid snowy winters or a place to live that will avoid colder weather? To me choosing Fernandina, jacksonville areas on the East Coast would be like living up North.....to many days of 32 degree or lower temps in the winter, the need for winter coats more etc. That said the area is pretty nice mosty of the ear. I would also check into areas in St. Augustine.

Palm Coast seems more like a retirement area to me so if you are a young couple not sure that would be the place for you. Jacksonville Beach would be closer to nightlife, professional sports, concerts, etc.

Do you have jobs lined up yet? Find a job and then a place to live is the best way to move to Florida now. Years ago you could move down safely and pretty much get hired by almost any company/school/city you applied at but today the jobs are scarce everywhere.
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Old 01-08-2011, 05:22 PM
 
25 posts, read 168,196 times
Reputation: 22
Sunny: You're exactly right!

Rabflmom: We currently live in Albany, GA. The seasons are about the same as the Fernandina/Jacksonville area. The 2-3 months of colder weather doesn't bother us. We're more focused on the general atmosphere/feeling of the place we plan on living.

Like Danny posted on another thread, we're looking for that "Boho" vibe. Outdoor activities, laid back vibe type of place.

We are younger (me-25 her-22) but we're far from nightclub enthusiasts. Maybe the occasional bar or two, if that. However, the concerts, performances, and other things found in a larger city are very appealing to us. But we're willing to sacrifice that if we find a place with the vibe we're looking for.

As far as jobs go, I'm looking to transfer with my employer (shouldn't be a problem) and she has 6 years experience in retail (4 of those an Assistant Manager). So I pray she'll find one before the move, but we'll have a good amount of money saved up before the move and I can sustain us with my own job for a while.

I'm just ready to get down there and start looking!

I've been to Fernandina numerous times and I love it, but we're really excited about the Atlantic/Neptune/Jacksonville Beach area and a few others. We're taking a week long vacation in March to go even farther south (as far as Vero Beach).

Needless to say, we're SUPER EXCITED about everything that's happening in our lives right now!
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Old 02-19-2011, 02:46 PM
 
40 posts, read 171,021 times
Reputation: 35
MY advice, read on how pleasant it is living in Palm Coast especially if you want a nice family lifestyle and atmosphere conducive to it.
Palm Coast is not a retirement area, we have more young families in here than retired people; although conceived by ITT in the 70's as one, it has since evolved into a very progressive place, with strong accent on family life, education, community activities and involvement, and all kinds of sport, from sea to tee, and everything in between that is of interest, from school age to seniorhood.
As to jobs, not too many management positions available unless you can get a company transfer, but definitely a lot of start up, and middle management positions in hospitality/food service and health related industries if qualified, here and 30 highway miles north or south.
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