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Old 07-08-2013, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL
3,528 posts, read 8,237,490 times
Reputation: 914

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy_Nam View Post
Loved your info.... could u offer ur feedback.. We narrowed down our retirement areas to Peachtree City GA and JAX (although don't know much about JAX we have family).. We are a young kinda' but looking to retire couple in the next couple of yrs. We're looking for a SMALL house in a SAFE, walkable neighborhood, with lots of shops farmer markets, breweries, PET FRIENDLY... We were looking at Nocatee and such but since we don't have kids all their amenities and fees seem useless to us.... any ideas?
All the one's I listed above last year are still applicable today.

The most important thing: what's your budget?
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Old 07-08-2013, 12:53 PM
 
36 posts, read 93,062 times
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Those photos of areas in Jacksonville look lovely!!! I am wanting to retire next year and like Happy-nam above would like the things she mentions. I hadn't considered Jacksonville due to the traffic. I drove through /by it 2 weeks ago and was terrified by all of those busy roads.

Is it easy to learn...or is it overwhelming? Living in Palm Beach County we don't have such a complicated road system.

So just how bad is the traffic situation?
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Old 07-08-2013, 02:08 PM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,788,014 times
Reputation: 17349
Quote:
Originally Posted by brittransplant View Post
Those photos of areas in Jacksonville look lovely!!! I am wanting to retire next year and like Happy-nam above would like the things she mentions. I hadn't considered Jacksonville due to the traffic. I drove through /by it 2 weeks ago and was terrified by all of those busy roads.

Is it easy to learn...or is it overwhelming? Living in Palm Beach County we don't have such a complicated road system.

So just how bad is the traffic situation?
I've lived both places and Broward. It's not overwhelming but it definitely takes some time to figure out the road system. Like remembering the difference between Beach Blvd and Philips Hghwy what exits go where and the differences in what's on each highway. It's possible you'll never use that highway system much. But I used it alot. Like when I needed filters for my air cleaner and had to figure out how to find the place on Beach. OR Phillips. LOL I never got them straight in 4 years living there.

You have to factor in commuting traffic and INCIDENTS if you're working downtown. And there is construction going on which is pretty much never ending. Anywhere. BOTH major highways I've lived on in Vero Beach happened to have major construction for the 4 years since I bought my place here and the current one on my road Rt 1 won't be finished till Spring 2015.

There is congestion in Riverside at the shopping area that may prevent you from running there for lunch. Maybe. But you can detour around it by going different routes. There is also a train that runs on the San Marco side several times a day that may factor in a good 10 - 15 minutes wait. So if you're the last minute type of person, just remember those small things. If you get lucky you can jump on 95 to avoid that railroad crossing but sometimes if you just wait it's faster than the drive around it. The major mall is easy and a straight drive down 95. The other major mall area always tricked me getting there and once I got there... because it's an outdoor "mall" meaning a center of stores. Town Center. But people who go there all the time don't seem to have a problem with it. I have to admit though, driving around Jax, I ended up at the beach several times by taking the wrong road too far haha.

The driving styles are different. Starting at PGA South and in Miami etc you get crazy fast drivers going south, maybe a little fast passing and cutting in your lane but they just go fast and that's that compared to Jax. In Jax you have a variety of "creative" drivers. Two people passing you from both sides and both wanting to land in front of you in the middle at ONCE and cutting you off or giving you a break job because TWO CARS are jumping in at once, tailgaiting like crazy at high speeds, and there's alot of LEFT LANE exits that people seem to get annoyed if you chose to USE THAT EXIT and not be driving 90 MPH up until the last second!! Lot of people cutting from the far left lane to the far right exit at the last minute too. So there's that. They cut you no slack for not having every freaking lane memorized and not being EXACTLY where you need to be at every minute. That is a common problem with left lane exits and not great signage or too much signage that is confusing if you're new there and the entire traffic flow is going 85 MPH (above the speed LIMIT). IT's not like you can stay in the right lane till your exit if it's gonna be on the left LOL. So my GPS was very helpful in Jacksonville. Especially as a pet sitter/dog walker.

Last edited by runswithscissors; 07-08-2013 at 02:20 PM..
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Old 07-14-2013, 09:41 AM
 
Location: I live in reality.
1,154 posts, read 1,413,347 times
Reputation: 2267
WOW! I, too, thank you fsu813 for the time sending the pix of the different neighborhoods. I have been driving back & forth from Charlotte, NC to Jax since 2000 and now looking to retire there, as it has almost same weather, day to day, but NO SNOW. I had etched ALL your same neighborhoods as possibles to live in, but somehow missed the Murray Hill one! It helped me feel I am on the right track seeking 'eclectic' as my sort of living and I will be putting my stuff on Craigslist now, in larger quantities, to make my move much sooner! Thank a million!
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Old 07-14-2013, 04:40 PM
 
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach FL
14,617 posts, read 21,375,745 times
Reputation: 6793
Quote:
Originally Posted by fsu813 View Post
Here's my favorite neighboods in Jacksonville, in no particular order:

Ortega...
We took our perhaps once a year "great circle route" trip from the beaches yesterday to Riverside/Avondale (had errands in Avondale and wanted to stop at Whole Foods). And we wound up driving home through the back roads of Ortega. I don't know whether it's the time of year - or something else. But the area in general looked pretty shabby (even the blocks where houses on one side of the street were direct waterfront).

Anyway - I won't tell people what they should or shouldn't do in general terms. It's just that "stock photos" don't necessarily tell the truth about anything. And I'd certainly explore a place in person before I decided to move there. Robyn
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