Good apartments in Jacksonville? (Tampa, Orlando: sales, transporting, rentals)

[CuriousMiscer]

I'm currently researching and brainstorming FL and specifically the "middle" area (Tampa, Orlando, etc) for a possible move in the near future.

Just out of curiosity I thought I would pop in here and ask how rentals and rents are in Jacksonville.

Compared to Tampa/Orlando is this place cheap? I'm a single guy w/ no kids, I don't need much other than cheap price (<= $1000 a month), working AC and that the area is "somewhat safe" (as in, VIOLENT crimes are low).

Any notable apartments in the city that are in good/safe areas and affordable? Any specific complexes I should check out?

I was just wondering about Jacksonville housing market, thanks

[rs1n]

Use the crime map from the JSO to help you with figuring out where violent crimes have occurred. I am sure others here will chime in and be more explicit (there are also plenty of threads and references to crime if you have not had the chance to do any searches).

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office

[projectmaximus]

What do you want for under $1000...a one bedroom apt? If so, then you can afford tons of somewhat safe areas with working AC. You might even get into the popular/trendy areas and/or a really swanky unit with lots of amenities.

[jcorbi82]

I used to live in Laurel Pointe at 3000 Coronet Ln. Right by a K-mart. University Ave S and Beach Blvd. A decent number of drug dealers, hustlers, bums, and hoes in there. You WILL have neighbors asking you for things, various knocks on the door, your typical rude Floridians, and if youre new and you dont act focused or tell them to get lost they WILL put their hooks into you. Money, rides, you name it. (Because they are transporting drugs or making sales and would rather be inna car that iant theirs so they can deny it all. IF they stop you while they go and make the money.) Don't even bother getting annoyed about the volume of music, and it was truly a game of "pass the roach" when one apartment apartment gets exterminated, they go next door. Then that one eventually gets exterminated.. You get the idea. They never go away. And if someone's apartment close to yours gets sprayed and you see them then that's why. You have to set your own bombs, I never could stand looking at dead Roach bodies. Palmettos, American Sandy Brown, whatever. Roaches.

$550 a month or so in 2010 but if Brian Naples is still the property manager, he's a pretty **** and vinegar guy that doesn't know how to talk to or treat people beyond what money they owe. Will tell you "don't worry about it" in one sentence, three to four months later you get a bill from a collection agency (that you dont have to pay, by the way.)

TONS of Jax apartments for less than a G a month. TONS. Just have to watch the area. I too am single and the 1-bedroom at LP was HUGE.

[CuriousMiscer]

Originally Posted by jcorbi82

TONS of Jax apartments for less than a G a month. TONS. Just have to watch the area. I too am single and the 1-bedroom at LP was HUGE.

Yes, I noticed that as well. When casually browsing apartments dawt com website what IMMEDIATELY stuck out to me was how Jax apartments seem to be dirt-cheap. Of course, I am wary of such low prices and assume there is some kind of trade-off or the neighborhoods have higher crime etc, but I've never been there so maybe it's the "real deal".

I also notice a lot of cheap houses in Jax area, plenty of fixer-upper properties for under $50k. I felt like a kid in a candy store seeing such low low prices on simple houses

I don't remember the last time I saw properties so cheap here in Denver, due to the housing bubble here even an ugly fixer-upper starts in high 50's into the 70k range. Most properties around here in Denver are GROSSLY over-priced, it's refreshing to browse thru Jax listings and realize affordable housing is still out there.

[VirtualErik]

To expand on apartments and rentals, how do house sales and mortgages compare? cheaper, more expensive?

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by CuriousMiscer

Yes, I noticed that as well. When casually browsing apartments dawt com website what IMMEDIATELY stuck out to me was how Jax apartments seem to be dirt-cheap. Of course, I am wary of such low prices and assume there is some kind of trade-off or the neighborhoods have higher crime etc, but I've never been there so maybe it's the "real deal".

I also notice a lot of cheap houses in Jax area, plenty of fixer-upper properties for under $50k. I felt like a kid in a candy store seeing such low low prices on simple houses

I don't remember the last time I saw properties so cheap here in Denver, due to the housing bubble here even an ugly fixer-upper starts in high 50's into the 70k range. Most properties around here in Denver are GROSSLY over-priced, it's refreshing to browse thru Jax listings and realize affordable housing is still out there.

If you're running across dirt cheap prices - the odds are excellent they're in parts of town most nice decent people wouldn't care to live in.

Here are 2 nicer apartment places in 2 different nice parts of town these days:

Southside Jacksonville FL Apartments | The Uptown at St. Johns

Luxury Jacksonville FL Apartments | The Brooklyn Riverside

You can get places for somewhat less in nicer (although perhaps somewhat older) places - but not a whole lot less. Robyn

[projectmaximus]

^Those are both among (if not actually) the most expensive rentals that are not high-rises on the river or ocean. You can find much cheaper and still be in parts of town that nice decent people live.

That said, there's an even lower level of cheap that you should be wary of and I'm not sure what price levels you are talking about. As far as fixer-uppers under 50k, those are much harder to find in good areas these days. Sure, you can easily find some that need to be totally rehabbed, but you're generally looking at 100k all-in.