[counihan]

Hello,

My husband has a choice to work in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, or the Vero Beach area. We currently live in Cape Coral, and have a 3 year old and an 11 year old. We want an area that has low crime, and is family oriented. My oldest is in Catholic school, so the area should have at least one good Catholic school. I got lost once in a REALLY bad part of town in Jacksonville, on my way back from Savannah, so I'm a bit soured on it. Maybe someone can change my mind. Ideally I'd like to be in a smaller town, close to a large city, and no more than an hour from a beach. My husband is willing to commute 30-45 min to get to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[davidLi]

Vero seems to be a good area. I would look there

[PeteU]

Originally Posted by counihan

Hello,

My husband has a choice to work in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, or the Vero Beach area. We currently live in Cape Coral, and have a 3 year old and an 11 year old. We want an area that has low crime, and is family oriented. My oldest is in Catholic school, so the area should have at least one good Catholic school. I got lost once in a REALLY bad part of town in Jacksonville, on my way back from Savannah, so I'm a bit soured on it. Maybe someone can change my mind. Ideally I'd like to be in a smaller town, close to a large city, and no more than an hour from a beach. My husband is willing to commute 30-45 min to get to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

St. Augustine was founded as a Catholic city, and I'm pretty sure there is at least one Catholic school there. If you are practicing Catholics, the St. Sebastian parish on Route 16 is a very pleasant parish and they are about to move into a larger church building, so that church is worth a look. And St. Augustine is only a half hour from Jacksonville, so you aren't too far from the big city amenities.

Jacksonville has its bad neighborhoods, as you've seen, but also some good neighborhoods as well. A lot of the neighborhoods on the south side of town and towards the beach in Jax are very nice. I wouldn't let that one experience in that one neighborhood sour you from the entire city (which is the largest city landwise in the country, so you're bound to have your good and bad.) Plus, it has the benefits of being a larger city (more shopping choices, close to airport, sports, big events, etc.) than you would get in Vero or St. Aug., and it is right by the beach.

While Vero Beach is an attractive town, it is smaller and a lot more isolated. You are at least 1 1/2 hours-2 hours from either West Palm Beach or Orlando, respectively. If that's close enough for you, then it's a possibility. But otherwise I would suggest St. Augustine or Jacksonville first.

[counihan]

thanks, I think we're leaning towards the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. My husband wants a change of season again. How expensive is the St. Augustine area?

[backtofla]

you wont get a change of seasons anywhere in fla really. it gets a little cooler up there than it does in central fla and s fla. but the leaves dont change color and fall of the trees or anything like that.

anyhow, i'd probably choose st augustine, and vero would be a close 2nd. jax would be 3rd. the reason why i say this is b/c i live in orlando, and we have big city problems (crime, rude ppl, traffic) and i am tired of it. living in a smaller city has its advantages for sure!

[PeteU]

Originally Posted by counihan

thanks, I think we're leaning towards the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. My husband wants a change of season again. How expensive is the St. Augustine area?

St. Augustine isn't too bad--I'd say mid to upper 200s for most 3 bedrooms, and in the 300s for a 4 bedroom. That's good, at least compared to down here in South Florida, where prices are generally $100k higher.

The thing about St. Augustine is that some on the city and county governments either were or still are notoriously corrupt and allowed homebuilders free reign on building most everything just about anywhere. On the downside, that means some unfortunate suburban sprawl, especially in the outlying areas (the center of the city, however, is quite beautiful). On the upside, it probably means the housing market is glutted and you can probably get something cheaper than usual.

But the city of St. Augustine itself is beautiful, the beaches are just downright terrific, and you are close enough to Jax that you can get all the ameneties and convieniences of the larger city close by.

[BrytEydBelle]

I'm going to go with the unpopular opinion and say to avoid St. Augustine. I lived there for four years while going to college, and while it is a beautiful place to visit, I would not go back there to live because I want to eventually start a family and I would not want to raise children there.

Much of St. Augustine construction/business is dominated by the older, richer members of the city who want to increase tourism and their profits, but don't really care about residents living there. They shoot down any ideas that would give kids something to do in the area (i.e. a skate park) and as a result, there is not much for kids/teens to do unless they are very into sports. I was studying to be a teacher there, so I had a lot of interaction with the children of the area, and it just seemed that boredom led to a lot of problems with the kids. It is something to think about, depending on the interests of your children.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by BrytEydBelle

I'm going to go with the unpopular opinion and say to avoid St. Augustine. I lived there for four years while going to college, and while it is a beautiful place to visit, I would not go back there to live because I want to eventually start a family and I would not want to raise children there.

Much of St. Augustine construction/business is dominated by the older, richer members of the city who want to increase tourism and their profits, but don't really care about residents living there. They shoot down any ideas that would give kids something to do in the area (i.e. a skate park) and as a result, there is not much for kids/teens to do unless they are very into sports. I was studying to be a teacher there, so I had a lot of interaction with the children of the area, and it just seemed that boredom led to a lot of problems with the kids. It is something to think about, depending on the interests of your children.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

I have to kind of agree with this. While I LOVE St. Augustine, and enjoy visiting the town, I think it would be a difficult place to live, unless you are retired and aren't concerned with raising a family. Even just visiting I can see the town is VERY "touristy." Also, the last time we were there, we went in one of the antique shops, and the owner was very depressed and said it was an extremely expensive place to try to make a living and that her "dream" was "turning into a nightmare." Also, St. Augustine is a lot longer commute from Jax than a half hour as someone earlier posted, probably closer to an hour with the traffic.

I would go with Jax, I am sure there are nice areas there to raise a family, it's a pretty big city. I've heard Vero is nice, but as has been posted, kind of small and isolated.

Good luck!

[Jareb]

I"m going to say Vero Beach. Jacksonville is a big city with all the negatives that go with that: crime, traffic etc. St Augustine is very nice but also a big tourist destination with poor zoning and much commercial development. Vero Beach is still a small town with the small town feel. Excellent place to raise a family. Strict zoning[nothing over 3 stories] has kept much of that strip mall feel away from Vero. The beaches are beautiful and crime is low. Vero is also a very wealthy town-the 7th wealthiest county in the U.S.
You really should visit all these areas and make an informed decision for yourself.

[5FLgirls]

Originally Posted by backtofla

you wont get a change of seasons anywhere in fla really. it gets a little cooler up there than it does in central fla and s fla. but the leaves dont change color and fall of the trees or anything like that.

anyhow, i'd probably choose st augustine, and vero would be a close 2nd. jax would be 3rd. the reason why i say this is b/c i live in orlando, and we have big city problems (crime, rude ppl, traffic) and i am tired of it. living in a smaller city has its advantages for sure!

If you live anywhere south of Jacksonville/St. Aug areas, there are no seasons. But if you've lived south for awhile, moving to Jax is a nice surprise with change of seasons. I don't know where you live backtofla, but I lived in Ponte Vedra Beach and it definitely got really cold in the winter, the leaves fell off the trees in autumn and there was a gradual change from winter to spring and then summer was a killer (relatively speaking versus other parts of the state).

Every large city has seedy areas and it's very easy to get lost and not know the good areas when you exit I-95 so I can totally see your point. But take a trip up and spend a good day or two driving around. Look at San Marco, Avondale, World Golf Village, 210 area and the beaches. They are all beautiful places and there is something for everyone there, affordability wise. I loved living in PVB. It had that small town insular beach community feeling but it was close to everything (within 15 minutes of course).