Homes in St. John's County FRUSTRATING! (Jacksonville: buying, school district, to live in)

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by MegaFarad

I'm sorry to say that I had been looking at moving to St. John's County, more specifically the Ponte Vedra or possibly more west towards the river, and that I've had to rule it out for exactly the reasons the OP stated. I looked and looked and simply couldn't find a house for sale or being built that wasn't a little box with front entry garages lined up on straight streets with no character... and I was looking up into the $700's. It's a shame what builders are throwing up right now.

Perhaps you should look at older houses? Our house is below. Our community requires side entry garages unless it's impossible to build them on a particular lot. Our streets aren't straight. When we built our house - we were more interested in "building strong" than "building pretty" (we had left Miami after Hurricane Andrew) - but I think our house has a little character. BTW - it's not for sale. But - if it were - I doubt it's worth more than about $600k today (house is on the smaller side - but we have about 3/4 acre). Robyn

[EricBoyd]

Nice elevation, Robyn. We actually call that "courtyard" entry garage. Side entry would truly be on the side of the house. The draw for the side/courtyard entries is that the big steel doors aren't seen from the street. Some folks, my wife and me included, like having the view of windows/shutters, landscaping, etc, instead of the wall of steel. Some communities have fancied-up garage doors and those look OK for front-facing garages. :-)

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by EricBoyd

Nice elevation, Robyn. We actually call that "courtyard" entry garage. Side entry would truly be on the side of the house. The draw for the side/courtyard entries is that the big steel doors aren't seen from the street. Some folks, my wife and me included, like having the view of windows/shutters, landscaping, etc, instead of the wall of steel. Some communities have fancied-up garage doors and those look OK for front-facing garages. :-)

Thanks Eric and sorry I got the terminology wrong. We wanted an 18 foot wide driveway (because we don't like doing 15 point turns when we're backing out of the garage). It's hard to do that on the side of a house unless you have a *very* wide lot. Also - all of our main rooms face to the back of our lot. The only time we see the front is when we pull into the driveway or answer the front door. Robyn

[thatguydownsouth]

Both my coworker and I (Yuppies) recently purchased houses. He bought one of these boxy houses on a postage stamp in St Johns County. I bought a house off of Southside blvd for 30k more.

I have a pool, twice the yard, drive 2 minutes to work, have the same square footage as he does, home is all brick, 5 minutes from Lowes (Which Ive never frequented as much until becoming a homeowner), right near grocery stores and all of the entertainment.

Coworker: 30-40 minute drive to work (depending on wrecks), tiny yard, no pool, had to add all of the things the builder didnt include with the house like window treatments/gutters etc, can play ping pong with his neighbor through their windows, has to drive to St Aug or Jax to get to the entertainment.

Just take your time and find a good home in Jax, youll be glad you did. People talk about the crime here vs St Johns County. I have yet to have a single issue in the 2 years Ive been renting/owning on the Southside.

[Shannon4426]

^Thatguy, I'm guessing you don't have kids yet? That's one of the biggest draws of St. John's.

[thatguydownsouth]

Are you referring to the skin color of the schools? It seems thats why a lot of people are buying in St Johns County who have kids...to have less "diversity" in the schools.

[fsquid]

Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth

Are you referring to the skin color of the schools? It seems thats why a lot of people are buying in St Johns County who have kids...to have less "diversity" in the schools.

and the race card has been played!!

[SaintCabbage]

Originally Posted by fsquid

and the race card has been played!!

misplaced and inappropriately as always!

[fsquid]

easiest way to end debate is to play the card.

[EricBoyd]

Originally Posted by fsquid

easiest way to end debate is to play the card.

Either that, or the 'Nazi/Communist' card.