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Hi,
I have lived here in the Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beaches area my whole life. However, I have family members living in the WVA,VA, and OH areas where I have done alot of traveling throughout life. Jacksonville is great if you know the right areas and now is the right time to buy. The prices are coming down with alot of homes on the market. It may be a bit of a culture shock at first for northerners but our laid back ways are easy to get accustomed to. A great place to look is Intercoastal West. Not as pricey as the Beach but centrally located between Beach and Town. I have just put my own house on the market as we are moving our family back to the beach and I have lived here in a Gated Community (intercoastal west area) for 5 years and have loved it. Just time to upgrade with a growing family. The area is definatly worth looking into you'll find
Best of luck with your move and transition.
akwrenn
i am planning to move down to JAx from VA. i visited it and i loved it, considering the cost of houses, etc. Could any one help me with the following?
1. how diverse is it?
2. is it solely church driven politics and culture?
3. i am an IT consultant, so wondering how are the jobs in there?
4. are prices of houses and economy dropping?
really appreciate your help
1. Jacksonville is the biggest city in Florida but it doesn't always have, at least to me, the feel of a big city. It has the vibe of a good southern town. What do you mean by diverse? Are you talking about the ratio of black and white folks? Rich and poor? Well, it's got plenty of each as well as a smaller portion of others, but it ain't nothing like San Francisco or New York.
2. Yes, every Sunday, the city of Jacksonville sends teams of officials out to residential areas and drags you out of your home and forces you to go to church.....sunday morning, sundee night, and Wednesday nights. No, really, yes, to some degree there is an aire of church driven conservatism, but it's all good and nothin' to worry about. What is it, in particular, you are concerned about politically and culturally? It's not a "heathern" city by any means, like Miami, but yet you can still find plenty of "Stuff" to get into if you want it.
3. Lots of manufacturing type of jobs, but the area is growing and many oppourtunities are there....something in your field is very likely.
4. It's a buyers market right now for sure. Many folks are having to reduce the prices of homes in order to sell.....just like everywhere else I guess.
Last edited by Cameron Cayman; 01-09-2007 at 12:17 PM..
Reason: left out
[quote=fastninja500;261119]I'm assuming that living in Duval county is expensive. I know St. John's county is expensive as well. What about Clay county? Out of all 3 counties, I recommend St Johns first, then Clay, then Duval last. Clay is more rural, except for Orange Park, but it's much more Rural in Middldeburg and Green Cove Springs.
St. Augustine - My number one choice. **And my #1 as well. St Augustine is an excellent place to live, very low crime, if any at all. Plus it's a very sought after, affluent area. Homes ranging from about $250k to over 1 million. Also, as far as commute... depending on your work hours, I would say 45 minutes to 32246 approx from St Aug. I would much rather live out in St johns co then live dead cener of all the traffic in the beaches 32246 area...
Is land expensive there? Its not easy getting land, and its not cheap anymore. you may find a home on a 1/2 acre lot, but you are probably looking at about 400k. Depending on where you are looking. St Johns Co, Id say about 400k plus, Duval, forget about it... Clay, maybe 250-300k, it really just depends on location.
Switzerland ? Very nice also. Fruit Cove is very nice, as well as Julington Creek. If you look up homes on Realtor.com, look at zipcode 32259
My wife and I have a 12 year old boy. So school is very important. Any highly rated Catholic/Christian schools around? Im not sure about the Catholoc schools, but almost any St Johns county school is great. You can look up www.greatschools.net or even http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/
for the St Johns Co school district.
Ideally, we'd like to avoid living in a gated community. Rather, we'd like to buy a 3 to 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home, 15 to 20 years old, on at least 1 acre of land, maybe a pool too. What would be a good ballpark figure for something like this? Depending on Location, maybe 400k. I would say a minimum of 300k and on up from there.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to pm me with any questions. I live in St Johns Co and have been here 15 years. My kids are in elementary school here and its a great area.
PS. Why are there so many "gated" communities around? I dont think theres very many at all. St Johns county is very safe, Clay is pretty safe as well. Duval is least safe out of them all [quote]
One thing I want to add, Jacksonville (or Florida as a whole) is not as cheap as it once was. If you can tell us the general price range you are wanting to stay within, i can give you a ballpark of property taxes. the homeowners insurance is not an easy one anymore...not even in N Florida. We are paying almost 2k on an 1800 sq ft home. Our policy doubled this year due to the hurricanes and i know it will be going up yearly from here. If you have a house built after 2002, you can get discounts on your homeowners insurance since they were built under the new hurricane codes, so thats one advantage of buying new. Any other questions, feel free to ask.
Everyone, thank you so much for your feedback. I'll review them when I get home from work. Lot's of research to do. At least I know which areas to focus my research on.
you should also mention that prices seem cheaper up on the northeast side and up towards Yulee/fernandina. lots of new neighborhoods going up starting from 160,000-180,000 for a 3 bedrm/2 bath new home. crime seems low and nassau county schools are A rated. also- don't discount the mandarin area schools. my kids are both at Mandarin Middle - an A rated school and are both in advanced classes and on the honor roll. excellent school and teachers! Mandarin Elementary, also an A rated school, was an incredible experience for us also. I think if you find A schools and become a very involved parent - all will be well!
Michael
real quick beacuase I have to go for my 4 mile walk
but houses here are much less expensive than Morris county.
for example my friend in Somerset Nj has a house worth $600k and pays taxes of $10k
here the same house would be mid to high $300k taxes around $4k.
North of jax is not the same as north jersey, There has been quite alot of building in the area in the past few years but from one jersey person to another it is a bit rural still
my husbands boss lives in Fruit Cove which is next to Switzerland which is next to Jullington Creek. You actually maybe able to find the land size and house you were talking about. It is hard to find that size lot with new construction.
the only reason I say the traffic to St Aug can be tricky is there seems to be constant "issues" on 95 near the world golf village, I don't know if it is because they are amazed when they see the sign or they are just not paying attention but It seems you hear "theres a back up 95n near the WGV" usually involving a semi.
Ill type more when I get back
karla
You guys have really been helpful. I thank you again! Wish I could buy you all a beer or a steak.
In another sub-forum, someone posted "Murder rates soaring, with no end in sight Florida". Bummer. Sounds like a warzone down there?! Hope these are just a result of media hype. I'll have to assume that these happen only in areas of Florida comparable to Newark and Camden in in NJ.
We had a bit of snow today. Took me 2 hours to drive to work due to accidents along the way. Actually, it was only a dusting, really. The three vehicles that I saw were all all-wheel drive vehicles to boot. Probably over-confidence. I'm sure traction is better with these all-wheel drive vehicles. The problem is stopping . Rather, stopping in time, before you use the other vehicle to stop yours. I guess some people just have a difficult time driving in the "snow".
In any case, thanks to all your help, I've narrowed my search to St. Augustine, Switzerland, Fruit Cove and Julington Creek. Looking at the map, I believe they're all in St. Johns county. I realize these places are a bit expensive. Maybe we'll just downsize a bit.
I have a couple more questions:
1.) Does anyone have any recommendations on towns in Clay county that are close enough to DEER LAKE DRIVE (01), JACKSONVILLE, FL 32246 ? I believe our office is just east off Route 115, north of Route 202.
2.) Hurricanes - how often in recent years has the Jacksonville area been hit? Do these hurricanes get much weaker the more inland you are? Meaning farther from the coast?
3.) A friend of a friend of a friend has offered a small condo for rent in Jacksonville Beach, about 12 miles away from our Jacksonville office. I was thinking: go by myself, rent the place for 2 or 3 months, which would allow me to make a more informed decision before uprooting my family from Jersey and moving there. Is Jacksonville Beach a nice and safe area?
Thanks very much and enjoy all that beautiful sunshine!
fastninja500
if you go to google and put in jacksonville fl 32246 it will show you right where you will be working
the best direct route will be 95n from south of the city
there are some nice areas in Clay county (see the orange park on the map you will get), Flemming Island has some nice neighborhoods. The Buckman bridge can be heavy with traffic in the morning
the 3 main roads coming from the east are Atlantic Beach and rt 202,
rt 202 is straight highway no lights to 95, if you are on 202 by 7 am you should be about 25 mins to your work.
another area to consider depending on your price range is the Ponte Vedra area. this is in St Johns county so you get the good schools. If you are a golfer the Players Championship is played down there every year at Sawgrass.
Hurricanes well I have lived here 15 years 5 of those in Ponte vedra beach. We only had to leave 1 time in 1999. the funny thing is the house I stayed at in orange park lost power but power never went out at the beach.
The one thing I would do is check with your insurance company on rates in different areas.
If you have the chance to rent something for a couple months go for it. it will give you a chance to check out the area. however if you are looking to do this while it is still winter up north you may not want to "brag" to the family too much on how warm it is or how you just got back from the beach lol
warning though if you are a beach person, once you live at the beach you will not want to live "over the ditch"
karla
1. Jacksonville is pretty diverse. You have a wide variety of professionals, and blue collar workers. Racially, there is a good mix of black, white, asain, arabic, and philipino communites.
2. Most would have you believe that 1st Baptist rules this town, but I don't believe it. Jax isa pretty conservative town, but you have a good amount of liberals (BTW - not a dirty word people!). In terms of diversity, there is a good mix of Prodestant, Catholic, and Jewish Communities in town (not sure about Islamic worship in town, but I'm sure there are places to go).
3. Modis is a professional staffing firm in town, and has their name on the most prominent building in the Jax skyline. Not sure of the market, but you can google them by entering 'MODIS IT'
4. There seems to be a great deal of housing inventory (especially new houses) in and around town. I heard on the radio that some new builders were offering up to 60k off the prices of their houses. Some are giving away plasma TV's and some are even offereing to pay property taxes for a year.
Hope this helps....Welcome to town! (From where in VA are you moving?)
Hello-
I plan on relocating to Jax sometime in 2008. I currently live in the W-DC area. I am married with 4 children + ****-zu. My children ages are 17, 14, 13, 11. The younger 3 are very excited about relocating, but I want to find a diversed safe neighborhood to relocate into.
My husband lived in Jax until the late '80s, he was a young boy then and now currently 39 does not remember alot. He does remember the beauty of the State of Florida and the bugs !
I have also read in the local newspapers about the increase in crime (murders, rape, robberies, drug-abuse etc) My husband is also a recovering addict and I just want to make sure that this is the right move for us. Could you tell me through your eyes what you really think about Jacksonville, Florida, recommended areas (North Jax, South Jax, West Jax, etc.), Hows the school system, what Government Agencies are there, reasonable home prices, racial tension, closest Seventh Day Adventist church.
Deliverme
I received your pm
let me know if there ais any other information I can help you with
Karla
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