Job offer (St. Augustine, Orange Park, Golf: sale, rent, HOA fees)

[justmejc]

I may be taking a job within my company in the JAX area. I am from Kansas City and our cost of living is is pretty reasonable...however my wife and I have yet to buy our first home.
I am paid pretty well, but I am afraid of the homeowners insurance and the property tax....are these two things that are hard to tackle? My wife likes St Augustine area, but I seem to feel more comfortable in somewhere like Orange Park.
I have been in many tornadoes, but hurricanes to me are another story and the thought of the ocean coming to land is scary!!! We are a young late 20's with a 3 year old and just seeking some advice from the great JAX people.

Thanks

[riveree]

Housing prices are pretty comparable in all 3 of the counties - Duval (Jax), Clay (Orange Park) and St. John's (St. Augustine).

Property taxes are based on a number of things, the core of the formulation being the price you paid for your home. Millage rates vary in each county:

Duval's total millage is 16.68
http://coj.net/NR/rdonlyres/eftut33p...lage+Final.pdf

...and a calculator to help give you an idea of cost:
Duval County Property Appraiser - Tax Estimator (http://apps.coj.net/PAO/Tax_Calc/ - broken link)

Clay county's for Orange Park specifically is 17.10
http://ccpao.com/millages.html

...and their calculator:
CCPAO: Tax Estimator

Good luck finding St. John's county's millage rate, I couldn't :
Home Page

Maybe someone who lives in St. John's can post the millage for you (total millage please, so the OP can compare apples to apples).

Homeowner's insurance is based on a number of factors as well. The exact location of the house, the flood zone rating for the house, the building materials of the house, they type of roof, your personal credit score, and on and on and on....

No one county is going to have cheaper homeowner's insurance than another. Taking out of the equation a home at the beach, it's pretty much a level playing field. You can live 50 miles from the beach and still be in a flood zone, or near a large body of water, or have some other way for your insurance to be higher than expected.

Hurricane action can hit us all in all the counties here in NEFL - again, being further from the ocean is not always the better location to be - more hurricanes come up the gulf and across the state in a SouthWest to NorthEast direction than the other way around. Of course,for the hurricanes coming up the Atlantic side, you're at a disadvantage being at the beach. So, I would not move deep inland just to try and escape hurricane activity, it's just not that simplistic.

We have an entire subforum dedicated to the much loved hurricane question, see here:

Hurricanes Forum - Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum

Tornadoes....now that's something else. Your chances of a tornado encounter DO go up the further inland you are. Our rural areas in NEFL get plenty of tornado warnings .

You'll want to factor in your job location into your choice of where to live anyway, so I'd just stay open to all the areas you're considering and keep reading the forum and asking questions when they come up .

[Katie1]

I would suggest that you rent a year to get to know the area...

[agreatlife]

In St Johns County, taxes vary by the area. Here is a link to get to the adobe file.

Property Taxes

Near the bottom there is a link for the millage rates

Also, deduct 25,000 from the purchase price of the home before you calculate if the home is going to be your primary residence - that's the homestead exemption.

[SlickP]

Originally Posted by justmejc

but I am afraid of the homeowners insurance and the property tax....are these two things that are hard to tackle? My wife likes St Augustine area, but I seem to feel more comfortable in somewhere like Orange Park.

One thing to keep in mind is if you move into a new development pay attention to the CDD and HOA fees. This could be a substantial add to your monthly payment. I would also guess your Homeowners Insurance and Property Tax will be higher here but we don't have a state tax which helps some. One thing that will help is since the housing market is depressed there are many great deals to be had. Homes that were selling for say $350-$400 two years ago could easily be $100k less now. There are areas off I-95 and 210 or I-95 and International Golf Parkway that are still a St. Augustine address but not in the historic district (about 15-20 minutes). Good Luck.

[CityCare]

The area of Mandarin, near intersection of San Jose and I-295 is very nice. It is about 20 min to St.Augustine and 5-10 min to Orange Park from there. Schools are good too, Crown Point elementary school, Mandarin Middle, and Mandarin High. It is also considered safe area.
There are plenty of houses on sale now, average price per sq.ft about $120-125.
Look for house in no-flooding zone, it will bring your home insurance rate down.