[moma1031]

Thanks for the great recommendations. North Port, Palm City, Wellington all seem worth checking into. This scouting trip is going to be one long car ride!!

Old FL meaning less congested roads, older homes, and less palm trees??

[Arcenal813]

Pasadena and Gulfport if you can find rentals there.

Otherwise I'll also suggest Palm Harbor.

[sak9210]

Lakewood Ranch (East Bradenton)

[flyboytampabay]

Stay away from Palm Beach, Broward or Dade... Around Jax, Tampa or Orlando for the better airports.

[projectmaximus]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

(Jacksonville doesn't have the palms growing naturally being too far north and can get quite chilly in the winter)

There are plenty of palm trees all over Jacksonville. It is a point of contention, actually, since they aren't natural as you say, and some people think the city wastes too much money in planting and maintaining trees that aren't native to the area and don't provide much shade. But whatever...as a citizen we get to look at them plenty. Downtown, urban core neighborhoods, beaches, and pretty much anywhere the city has done streetscape work. Also lots of nurseries and tree farms that sell them to homeowners.

Originally Posted by flyboytampabay

Stay away from Palm Beach, Broward or Dade... Around Jax, Tampa or Orlando for the better airports.

Jax has a great airport but it's not really International like the OP wants (Only a single flight to the Bahamas)
Parts of St Johns County might put you an hour away to Orlando's MCO if that helps.

[angelorlena]

Originally Posted by HarryWho?

Stuart, Palm City, Jupiter

You might get into Stuart with that kind of money but not Palm City or Jupiter. Especially Jupiter!

[angelorlena]

Originally Posted by moma1031

if job not an issue (hubby works from home) and you had your choice of location in FL given the following criteria, where would you look to move:

- schools are very important (12 and 9 yr old) I know St Johns is #1 but would consider other top districts
- close drive to international airport (within 40 mins)
- palm trees and warm weather
- good restaurants and higher end shopping centers
- close to a city and water (within 20 mins)
- price range 250-300K or $1700/rent

We are looking into St Johns but friends also recommended Boca Raton, Delray Beach, & Venice Beach. Any feedback would help as we are about to make a road trip to scout out areas to rent/buy.

If you want to move to a safe(if there is such a thing today) place to live with good schools, great restaurants and entertainment, close to the water and warm weather, you really should consider the following places:
Coral Gables, Delray Beach, Cocoa Beach, or Boynton Beach.

Whatever you do, do not consider living in Ft. Pierce(any area where the streets numbers meet the Letters(e.g. Avenue D, Avenue F, etc.), West Palm, Riviera Beach, and some areas of Port St. Lucie. Crime is rampant in these areas especially gang violence.

[sanchez8]

These threads are pointless. People are only going to recommend where they live, someone in Jacksonville doesnt know anything about any city in South FL even if it would be the better option.

[sidewinder103]

Originally Posted by sanchez8

These threads are pointless. People are only going to recommend where they live, someone in Jacksonville doesnt know anything about any city in South FL even if it would be the better option.

That's not entirely true as some move from one city to another within Florida. I moved from Tampa to Jacksonville years ago but still go down to Tampa to visit my relatives quite often.

[tothehilt]

I've posted my reasons multiple times in other threads, but to make this post quicker, I'll copy and paste them because I still stand by these reasons.

After college I moved to Naples because my family was here, but why do I stay?

- Amazing weather (year round)
- Beautiful beaches (year round)
- Just a beautiful extremely well kept area. (roads, buildings, parks)
- Proximity to Tampa and Miami for concerts, sports and other special events.
- Proximity to Key West. (I'm in KW at least 3-4 times a year)
- Awesome boating & fishing. (year round, are you seeing a trend here?)
- Quantity and quality of great unique dining. (hardly any chains or fast food)
- Quantity and quality of high end retail. (Everything from Target to Gucci)
- Proximity to three great airports means you can fly anywhere! (RSW, TPA, MIA)