Neighborhood Choices are Mind Boggling

[janeypants]

What is Liberty Pines- a new school? Is it getting good marks from parents? Hmmmm.

I've been focusing on getting ready to sell but am now back to the question of where to live. We also have the opportunity to rent a beach side condo in Jax Beach for an indefinite amount of time very affordably. I wanted to avoid Duval but Jax Beach schools are supposed to be good, right? Although, we may have to switch the poor kid at the end of the school year but we would have time to really get to know the area and where we want to buy.

I guess if we do buy right away, I'm leaning toward JCP for the trees and sense of established community but who knows... I need to visit again and explore a bit more. Maybe by the end of summer we can have a newbie meet-up somewhere.

[SlickP]

Originally Posted by janeypants

What is Liberty Pines- a new school? Is it getting good marks from parents? Hmmmm.

It's the new K-8 school on Russell Sampson Road. Looks like St. Johns Forest and St. Johns G&CC are the two big neighborhoods for the school.

ftp://ftp.bocc.co.st-johns.fl.us/gis...erty_Pines.pdf

[riveree]

Originally Posted by janeypants

I've been focusing on getting ready to sell but am now back to the question of where to live. We also have the opportunity to rent a beach side condo in Jax Beach for an indefinite amount of time very affordably. I wanted to avoid Duval but Jax Beach schools are supposed to be good, right? Although, we may have to switch the poor kid at the end of the school year but we would have time to really get to know the area and where we want to buy.

I guess if we do buy right away, I'm leaning toward JCP for the trees and sense of established community but who knows... I need to visit again and explore a bit more. Maybe by the end of summer we can have a newbie meet-up somewhere.

Right, there are some excellent schools at the beach. It would be a good location to explore more of Duval and St. John's, though once you live out at the beach you may never want to leave .

[dawnspencer]

St. Johns Forest is very nice. High CDDs. Keep in mind on 210 the traffic flow on and off 95 is very, very poor and backs up everyday, morning and evening getting on and off 95. There is a new community on 210 east of 95 called Sandy Creek. Also, Nocatee is an absolutely incredible community. RiverTown has also started building. If you don't want CDDs, Kensington is great and many communities surrounding Julington Creek. I didn't chose Stonehurst due to low elevations and lots of standing water in yards after rain, not sure if developer has done anything recently to improve that. I'm in Heritage Landing at WGV, and have not been happy with the drastic CDD increases, wish I would have chose Kensington or community around Julington Creek. I'm also a realtor, so really know the area.

[TiggnTaz]

Originally Posted by dianaFL

I saw houses off of 210 (west) on frankelrealtygroup.com for $250 in great, safe neighborhoods with good schools. We are moving to that area this summer & I'm looking to buy/rent to be zoned for Liberty Pines Academy.
Anyone have opinions on Liberty Pines?
Are rentals hard to come by in that zone off 210? I'm looking at St. Johns Golf & CC, St. John's Forest (expensive!), South Lake, Stonehurst, Johns Glen & Vining at the moment. Thanks for any input.

We just moved down from NJ and are renting. We looked in the vineings but there was nothing for the kids to do. No Parks or pools.

We ending up moving into StoneHurst. We like it and the pool and feilds are great for the kids and dogs.

[adeltagirl]

Please forgive my ignorance... What is a CDD??????? I dont' know the Jacksonville lingo yet. I'm applying a job in Jacksonville as a radiation therapist so i'm researching the area.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by adeltagirl

Please forgive my ignorance... What is a CDD??????? I dont' know the Jacksonville lingo yet. I'm applying a job in Jacksonville as a radiation therapist so i'm researching the area.

When you buy into a deed-restricted neighborhood, you may have HOA fees or CDD fees or both.

Nearly all of the new/newer neighborhoods were builder-developed and they built them as deed-restricted communities. It's hard to avoid this if you want a newer home .

So in a deed-restricted community, there will be rules such as fence style and height, color you can paint your house, etc. There's a board to oversee things and that is your Homeowner's Association (HOA). There's also a yearly fee to cover shared expenses like lighting at your community entrance sign, etc. So you might pay $200, $300, $400 a year - these are typical fees.

Then there are the big master-planned communities where you'll have a community pool, maybe a golf course, a club house, etc. There might also be a public library inside the community, or another community center. These things are more expensive to build and maintain, so the builder takes out bonds and passes along the cost to the homeowners in the form of CDD fees. So in these communities, you can have both the CDD fees and the HOA fees. The fees can be sliced up a number of ways, but the total cost might be $1000, $2000, $3000 and up per year (usually charged in monthly or quarterly amounts).

That's as I understand it anyway, and every neighborhood is a little different. There's no "one set way" to do it.

[themaker42401]

Originally Posted by dawnspencer

St. Johns Forest is very nice. High CDDs. Keep in mind on 210 the traffic flow on and off 95 is very, very poor and backs up everyday, morning and evening getting on and off 95. There is a new community on 210 east of 95 called Sandy Creek. Also, Nocatee is an absolutely incredible community. RiverTown has also started building. If you don't want CDDs, Kensington is great and many communities surrounding Julington Creek. I didn't chose Stonehurst due to low elevations and lots of standing water in yards after rain, not sure if developer has done anything recently to improve that. I'm in Heritage Landing at WGV, and have not been happy with the drastic CDD increases, wish I would have chose Kensington or community around Julington Creek. I'm also a realtor, so really know the area.

I am interested in relocating to the Jax area, but I want something a little more rural than Jax proper. My wife and I saw Heritage Landing on our last trip up and it seemed like a nice community. I asked a few questions and read a few threads. The topic of CDD fees came up. My first question is how is the Legacy neighborhood? and secondly, do CDD fees ever expire?

[riveree]

Originally Posted by themaker42401

I am interested in relocating to the Jax area, but I want something a little more rural than Jax proper. My wife and I saw Heritage Landing on our last trip up and it seemed like a nice community. I asked a few questions and read a few threads. The topic of CDD fees came up. My first question is how is the Legacy neighborhood? and secondly, do CDD fees ever expire?

If you're looking for rural, I don't think Heritage Landing is going to fit the bill. It's at The World Golf Village, and while it's taking many more years than expected, the plan is for it to be a destination and to be completely built up. That area wants more housing, more stores, more roads - it's a formerly rural area thats' going through the growing pains of becoming suburban right now.

If you want more of a small town rural feel, you might want to check out Penney Farms or Keystone Heights in deep Clay county. Suburbia is heading their way as well, but I think it will take longer and they'll keep a little more of their rural flavor.

CDD fees are usually built to expire (25 years, 30 years...), BUT, there's usually a new fee taking its' place. By the time time the old bonds are being paid off, they'll be something else in the neighborhood that needs tending to and a new bond is probably already in place. So for planning purposes, it's probably best to consider them permanent.