Probably looking to Relocate from Detroit to JAX/PVB Help! (Jacksonville: rentals, home)

[Althea428]

Hi there,

doing as much research as I can for a potential relocation to JAX (office is in Ponte Vedra). I am looking for any help I can get regarding

- Where to live / Rent (best walkability, bang for buck )
- Looks nice on the net but avoid in real life
- Schools ( have an incoming kindergartener)

I'm really kind of in overload, as the internet helps mainly with where to go as a tourist. Lived in Key West before so moderately familiar with Florida living ( yeah, I know I know, it's not the same)

We will be staying at Sawgrass in Mid Feb for 5 days to acclimate ourselves with the area .


I greatly appreciate any positive and helpful input you can provide this Mom/Wife/Friend.

PS> This is my first thread/forum thing so I don't know WTF I'm doing.

[Ivan Putski]

I think it would help if you let everyone know what your budget is for renting or purchasing. Do you want diversity or don't really care? Near the beach? Property size? More criteria you give the better.

[Scottamemnon]

I agree budget and renting or buying are the pieces of info needed most here. Most areas close to Ponte Vedra, especially Ponte Vedra Beach will have great schools and be very safe, but it will be more expensive than other areas typically. There are great elementary schools dotting around the city, so there should be options for every budget if you are looking to rent. Its the Middle and High schools that are more suspect in some areas where you need to concentrate more for a home purchase. Generally Northern St Johns county has great schools, but rentals are not as plentiful as in Duval County.

Since I moved her 6 months ago we ended up renting in Duval county, as we found a great elementary school for our 2nd grader. We will probably moved to St Johns in time for Middle School though. For now though we got a lot more bang for our buck in our area.

[projectmaximus]

Originally Posted by Althea428

PS> This is my first thread/forum thing so I don't know WTF I'm doing.

Welcome to the site and to Jax soon. Lol you did just fine with your first thread.

I'll share a few thoughts, but bear in mind that I do not spend much time in the Sawgrass area, or Ponte Vedra, Nocatee, etc which are the areas surrounding it. So there are pockets, nooks and crannies in that region that I am not familiar with.

For all those areas (Nocatee up through PVB) there is nothing that looks nice but should be avoided in real life. It's all nice, new, safe, and secure and if it looks attractive to you online then it'll be that way in person. Some potential complaints about these areas would be expensive, cookie cutter, lack of diversity, character less, not walkable, far from the rest of the city (generalizations so not necessarily all 100% accurate), but these are obviously things you would see online so I don't think you'd have any negative surprises.

You mentioned walkability in your criteria so my immediate thoughts are Neptune Beach, which also I think has good schools from K-12. Neptune Beach, particularly close to the beach where it is walkable, would be pricey, but if it fits into your budget it is definitely worth a look. You might also look at some of the areas around the St Johns Town Center. It's more of a fake walkable but it might be of interest to you. (Outdoor mall development that has gone on steroids). Both are about 15-20 minutes drive from Sawgrass...but note traffic around the SJTC can be horrendous, depending on where exactly in the generally region you lived. There is an insane amount of new or recent housing in the area so the plethora of options is a nice choice.

Nocatee is not what I would consider good bang for your buck, but it's worth mentioning in the other direction from Sawgrass. The development there began over a decade ago with new urbanist planning, and was intended to grow in a very walkable manner around its town center, but I don't think they stuck to that plan very well at all. Like I said I don't spend much time there but the impression is that it has great schools, great family atmosphere, and people who live there love it.

Good luck!

[mythosjunkie]

Welcome!!!

If you work in Ponte Vedra and will be doing a "regular" schedule (read 8-6 m-f or so) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND living close to your place of work. Getting into and out of PV from 4-7pm can rival getting out of the Comerica Park area during rush hour. (At least, I assume the traffic is still pretty terrible getting out of downtown detroit, it's been a couple years haha). PV is beautiful, and if you're looking for nice and not terribly expensive, look for properties off Solano Rd. and down toward the State Park on the inland side of A1A. You can also look for places down Route 1 PAST Nocatee for reasonable accommodations just a short drive to walkable areas. Unfortunately, unless you live in particular areas of Jacksonville or St. Augustine and commute to work, there are not a lot of super walkable areas in Jacksonville/Ponte Vedra. Jax Beach, Riverside, San Marco, Historic St. Aug, and Neptune Beach are all a nice mix of residential and walkable commercial, but there's not much like Hamtramck or Downtown here. (Public transportation isn't a thing here, either, really, unfortunately). However, you can Drive to incredible walkable areas. It's a little weird to get used to, haha.
My mother used to work at Palm Valley in the afterschool program and she loved both the teachers and the kids. It's not terribly diverse down there, but that's mostly economic unfortunately. My sister went to Nease High School in the aughts and liked it a lot. They've only gotten bigger and more funding since, with Nockatee going up right there. Really good classes, and they gave us Tim Tebow, so... that's good? (I'm bad at football). Hope this was helpful!!!

[Eleanor R]

Originally Posted by Althea428

Hi there,

doing as much research as I can for a potential relocation to JAX (office is in Ponte Vedra). I am looking for any help I can get regarding

- Where to live / Rent (best walkability, bang for buck )
- Looks nice on the net but avoid in real life
- Schools ( have an incoming kindergartener)

I'm really kind of in overload, as the internet helps mainly with where to go as a tourist. Lived in Key West before so moderately familiar with Florida living ( yeah, I know I know, it's not the same)

We will be staying at Sawgrass in Mid Feb for 5 days to acclimate ourselves with the area .


I greatly appreciate any positive and helpful input you can provide this Mom/Wife/Friend.

PS> This is my first thread/forum thing so I don't know WTF I'm doing.

Hey There! I have a Kindergartener and Preschooler. I relocated to St Johns and live here now. I'm a Mom/Wife/Friend and connected to the community

Did you visit and see anything you like? PM me! I am out of PMs for today (I'm only allowed to send 2) but it would be helpful for you to connect with another Mom of young kids since you're relocating here.

-Eleanor