More St Johns County questions.....

[HParr]

Originally Posted by HParr

I've heard that we should stay on the west side of the St. John's River.

I meant to say that I've heard that we should stay on the East side of the St. John's River not the West side.

[HParr]

Originally Posted by SlickP

I moved here from Alpharetta about 3 years ago. IMO, Northern St. Johns county is like Alpharetta was 20 yrs ago. Bartram Trail and Nease are excellent High Schools. They are also opening (2) new High Schools in the county next year. One will serve Ponte Vedra and relieve Nease and the other will serve Julington Creek/Durbin Creek and relieve Bartram Trail. Good Luck!

Alpharetta is a nice area, I used to work on Winward Pkwy. about 9 years ago. So I'm glad to here from someone that can compare somewhere that I'm familiar with - with Jacksonville. And do you think that north eastern or northwestern St. Johns County is most like Alpharetta used to be?

What does IMO mean? I have seen that on many posts and I don't know what it means. And I know about the new high school for Bartam Trails overflow and I drove by it when we visited down there during spring break, but I"m not aware of where Neese's overflow high school will be, would you happen to know.

[SlickP]

IMO = In my opinion

Nease overflow school is off Nocatee Pkwy/210 heading east right before you get to the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge. It's basically going to serve Ponte Vedra Beach. NE St. Johns County/Ponte Vedra Beach is totally different than NW. PVB is pretty much completely developed. The NW part of the county from Julington Creek south to say Route 16/Outlet mall including Nocatee is undergoing tremendous growth. There is suppose to be a new mall and retail built off of International Golf Parkway and of course you have Nocatee starting to go in. I know the Resi market is down right now but it will come back eventually. The office buildings aren't here yet like Alpharetta but you have mostly mid-high income single family housing with huge growth to occur over the next 20 years. It's also about the same distance from downtown Jax.

[HParr]

Originally Posted by SlickP

IMO = In my opinion

I didn't mean to highjack this post, it just has so much good info on it that I had to join in. I'm so glad that I found this Post!

Thanks so much for all of the info that you have given me and thanks for teaching me what IMO means (I can't believe that I could not figure that out, I feel stupid now). When we move down there to St. Johns County this summer hopefully I will have a good idea of the areas that I've got to seriously look for a house in.

I can't wait to see more about Rivertown and Aberdeen. I can't hardly tell from the Internet if they are exactly what I'm looking for, but hopefully as those developments start moving along, I will be able to see if they are right for us. Currently we have a condo down there to stay at until I find us the perfect house.

Thanks again.

[SlickP]

Originally Posted by HParr

Currently we have a condo down there to stay at until I find us the perfect house.

That is a very good idea. Rent before you buy. Rivertown is real new. There was suppose to be a golf course with it but that was axed. It will be a long while before that is built out. I like my new development neighborhood but sometimes I wish I would have bought in a more established neighborhood.

[Biggiechri]

Ironically, we are also moving to the area from Alpharetta this summer. And I cant wait to move away from all that Alpharetta and Atlanta in general has become!

[gchasse]

A few things to consider, especially if working in the Arlington area.

First, of all the areas mentioned, you might want to consider not being far away from I95, or your commute might start getting long. I work in the Deerwood Park area and live in Murabella, and it takes me about 25 minutes. You can add another 5 to 10 minutes to that to get to Arlington.

As far as neighborhoods, Palencia is going to be quite a drive, especially with having to go through the Nocatee traffic as that builds up. Aberdeen, Rivertown and Julington Creek are not close to the I95, and that may or may not be important, but it will add to the drive. Also, Aberdeen and Rivertown are both supposed to be huge developments, but are growing very slowly right now.

With respect to construction, my wife and I had initially built a home in Heritage Park (near downtown St. Augustine) and ended up backing out when it did not appraise and the builder refused to come down on the price. That home was a Concrete Block home and we were sad to walk away, but we realized later on that it was a mixed blessing. We ended up buying a wood frame home that had the same floor plan in Murabella, which is a much nicer neighborhood, and also has better schools. The builder was Woodside Homes and it was one of their inventory homes. The inspector (a retired marine who is very honest when doing inspections) said the house was very well built, and after seeing many homes before buying this one, I could tell the difference. I would recommend Woodside as a builder and they have other inventory homes in Murabella.

Hope that helps.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by HParr

I can't wait to see more about Rivertown and Aberdeen. I can't hardly tell from the Internet if they are exactly what I'm looking for, but hopefully as those developments start moving along, I will be able to see if they are right for us.

There's actually quite a bit out there on the internet about them right now, and sorry to say, it's not all rosy:

Aberdeen:

Jacksonville.com

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...21784295.shtml

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...20981624.shtml


Rivertown (who touts itself as an 'environmental' community ):

MyStJohnsSun.com: Resident reports turbid water runoff at RiverTown

Jacksonville.com

(scroll to the second and third entries on the blog
St. Johns Riverkeeper: Search results for rivertown

Sorry, I'm not against new development (everyone needs to live somewhere), but these are 2 developments that really grate on my nerves .

Any incomplete development in this market is a risk right now, but these 2 may have additional issues to be concerned about....my 2 cents.

[ShakenStirred]

Nocatee is priced more because it costs more to build. St. Johns County required the builders to put a storm shelter in every house in Nocatee. Moderator cut: edit...and I can tell you that this automatically adds a substantial cost to the construction of the home that other communities don't have. the question you have to ask is if a hurricane hits, how much is your life worth, because the infrastructure that exists right now is going to make evacuation a nightmare.

Now these rooms certainly don't explain the whole $70k, but I imagine there are newer codes affecting the cost of construction as well. But hey, buy the house down the street for $70k less and I can put a StormRoom in for you for around $10-12k even in an existing home.

Originally Posted by dmbmama

I know this has been asked over and over but I need to have some of my St Johns County questions answered for myself!!!

We will be relocating from Detroit MI to St Johns county this June/July 2008. We have 3 small daughters 6,4 and 9 months. We are looking at building or to find a spec home. 3500 sq ft or more around 700K plus we want to have a pool built as well. I have done A LOT of research already and we have a trip down after Thanksgiving to house hunt. The areas Im interested in would be Palencia, Worthington Park, Durbin Crossing, Julington Creek. Nocatee seems very over priced, I can build the same home for 70k less in another sub. I like the PVB area but I dont think I will find a new home in my size or price. Suggestions on communities would be awesome!!! My hubby is an ER Doc and will most likely be working for Baptist South and probably on midnights.

So any help would be awesome. Im wondering about shopping close to these subs, Targets? Malls?? Grocery?? Im coming from a metropolis with everything at my finger tips a mile away. I want to be able to drive to Jacksonville and St Augustine to run errands, do dinner, hang out for a few hours.

Thanks!!!