Homebuilders and communities in Jacksonville, FL (Country Club, Atlantic Beach: houses, neighborhood, buy)

[movingtojacksonville]

We are moving to Jacksonville in a few weeks. We are flying into town this week to look for a place to live. We are looking to spend in the 400k-550k range. We have a 4 year old daughter and my wife will be working in downtown Jacksonville. We are looking at Highland Glen neighborhood, Jacksonville Golf and country club and Palermo. Highland Glen and Palermo are both ICI homes.

I'm looking for honest opinions about ICI homes and also what do you think about Jacksonville golf and country club neighborhood. Which neighborhood would you choose. Also any info you have on chets creek elementary. This area is 10 miles from my wife's work. That's why we are looking at this particular area.

Thanks for your help

[judeK]

As has been noted in here several times. ... "Avoid ICI homes at all costs and at all times" Jax Golf and Country Club is nice but there are some others that are just as good if not better. Consider Hidden Hills G&CC and Queens Harbor G&CC.

[movingtojacksonville]

The sad thing is the ICI homes look nice but I don't want to take a chance and have the issues I've been reading about. We will only be in Jacksonville for about 5 years. So I need something that we will be able to sell easily. Elementary schools are important. Our daughter will start school in a year. So that takes hidden Hills out. We've looked at some homes online in queens harbor G&CC. Two of them that we like are new and built by north florida builder. Do you have any opinion on north florida builders?

[judeK]

North Florida Builders is an old well established Jacksonville company, that as far as I know has a good reputation.
I can't comment on the public schools here as I never went to any of them. I was strictly a private school kid, as
my parents didn't like any of the public schools here either. If you want good public schools you should look in the
St Johns County area, as they are rated #1 in the entire state.

[SaintCabbage]

Originally Posted by movingtojacksonville

The sad thing is the ICI homes look nice but I don't want to take a chance and have the issues I've been reading about. We will only be in Jacksonville for about 5 years. So I need something that we will be able to sell easily. Elementary schools are important. Our daughter will start school in a year. So that takes hidden Hills out. We've looked at some homes online in queens harbor G&CC. Two of them that we like are new and built by north florida builder. Do you have any opinion on north florida builders?

If schools matter, I would stick to St John's County. Plenty of re-sales in St Johns Forest or Julington Creek in that price range.

[JMMH]

I live in an ICI home and was aware of the reservations and bad reputation it had on this community before I committed to the build. I think a lot of the issues they have are with older construction and what was explained to me was that they were using different people at that time.

Like any builder I know the bottom line is what is important to ICI, and yes I know they cut corners with certain parts of the house, but that's what happens with most builders (i.e. put in the cheapest dishwasher they can, etc.). I had the house inspected twice during the build, as well as right before the 1 year warranty was up. Issues found during the build were corrected, and at one year only cosmetic issues were found. ICI did a nice job getting those quickly repaired.

I will say and it's important to know that some people have had difficulty selling their houses in this neighborhood, but I think the main reason is that a lot of people moving now had built their houses before 2009. They paid more for it than it's worth now and are only willing to take small losses. That hurts them because if people are not in a rush, why buy a 5 year old house for say $600,000 when you can build a custom brand new one for $650,000 as there are a lot of lots still available.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a cheerleader for ICI but wanted to share my experience so far. I wanted to build a certain sized house and to live in a certain area of town and for me ICI was the only game in town.

[hornsch]

Have you looked in Atlantic Beach Country Club? You might be able to build for the top range of your budget. It is a great spot IMO.