Moving to Jacksonville..or Palm Coast?!

[kort677]

Originally Posted by rttampabay

Unfortunatly I am scared to death of Jacksonvilles crime. We first lived in Brandon when we moved the area but the crime ended all that. Terrible crime. We now live in Riverview in an awesome neighborhood but if I stay here much longer I might have to file for bankruptcy. And I am not joking.

unless you move into a crime infested area of JAX there is no need to be in fear.
in most parts of jax there is crime, but it isn't a bad problem and there is as much crime in JAX as there is crime anyplace else, from what I hear there's plenty of crime in the palm coast area also.

[PitBullMommie1206]

Originally Posted by kort677

unless you move into a crime infested area of JAX there is no need to be in fear.
in most parts of jax there is crime, but it isn't a bad problem and there is as much crime in JAX as there is crime anyplace else, from what I hear there's plenty of crime in the palm coast area also.

I have to say that I agree with you 100%! I was born and raised in Jax and spent all but about 3 years of my life there. I never once had any problems with any kind of crime, neither did any of my friends or family. They do have crime, but so does any city. The larger the city the more crime you have. My husband and I live in Palm Coast right now and we have for about 3 years now.. we were just robbed not too long ago. Someone came into our driveway, broke into our car and took everything that was worth anything.. the police out here aren't too hot! lol! They never found out who did it. We also have a friend that got jumped by a bunch of thugs and they beat him with a baseball bat (he was in the hospital for almost 3 weeks!).. only to find out when they were done that he wasn't the person they thought he was! We are moving back to Jacksonville ASAP! I cant wait to get home! Just like any city, Jax is not perfect, but I am very happy there. I would MUCH rather be in Jax than Palm Coast.. I feel much safer in Jacksonville believe it or not.. lol!

[PitBullMommie1206]

Originally Posted by rttampabay

Unfortunatly I am scared to death of Jacksonvilles crime. We first lived in Brandon when we moved the area but the crime ended all that. Terrible crime. We now live in Riverview in an awesome neighborhood but if I stay here much longer I might have to file for bankruptcy. And I am not joking.

Have you checked out Orange Park? Fleming Island is very nice and its only mabey 10 miles or so from Jacksonville. I dont have much time right now, we are about to go somewhere, but when I googled Orange Parks crime rate this is the first thing that came up... Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed That is from 2005, but Orange Park is still a pretty safe place to live. I always say that I was born and raised in Jacksonville because most people know of Jax, but not OP.. I was born in Jax and in 1997 I moved to Orange Park.. Orange Park is really where I have spent most of my life. If you havent checked it out already I would suggest you do. It might be a place that you would like. When I get a chance I will edit my post with some more info..

[LandShark99]

I am a FLORIDIAN. I have lived in Jax, Daytona, Tampa and now live in Palm Coast. I grew up in Orlando. I spent 20 years in Atlanta.

Driving to Daytona or St. Augustine to shop is no different timewise than going to the mall in Atlanta, Jax, or Orlando. You just get to move a lot faster (as in not stuck in traffic). I lived a couple of streets from Orange Park in Jax and had friends in Fleming Island (previous poster misspelled). I wouldn't live in Orange Park for all the tea in China. It's just the burbs with all the strip malls, dirty and traffic is terrible. Reminds me of areas in metro Atlanta. Fleming Island....well if you can afford it! They have some kind of city fees or something that I hear are pretty stiff on top of the very, very expensive housing. No mall or anything - just a town center (as in "look at these big honking strip malls".

Palm Coast: I gave it 6 months. I am in month 8. Location is great for me. I am 3 minutes from Hammock Beach and less than 10 minutes from Flagler Beach. I can run up to Jax or over to Orlando in 45min to 1.25 hours depending on time of day (traffic). Housing is way overpriced everywhere in
FL still so I will keep leasing until it comes down. Compared to other places I have lived Palm Coast is quiet, no crime, clean, and no traffic. I live in the salt water canal section on a canal and it is beautiful here. I have no trouble getting around town. I learned to use maps long ago and find there are many roads here to avoid the main drag thru town if that is bothersome to you.

The local Parks and Recreation Dept has all those classes you ever wanted to take and there is always something going on here or in the area. The only thing that bothers me is that it is really dead for singles here. No night life and no restaurants to speak of.

Once the town center is built it will change this town completely. The stores will bring low wage workers from other towns and they will bring their friends and families in from other areas and before you know it there will be crime where there was none. Chain restaurants will follow the stores and the momentum will build. More low wage workers with crime infested pals. I know what I am talking about. I lived thru it in our small metro Atlanta town. We had no crime before our town center was built. Pretty soon the town will realize they have to accommodate the low wage workers with housing, and they will. It will open the door for cheap apts and housing. Palm Coast will change. Still, overall compared to other places I have lived it's a good place.

[PitBullMommie1206]

Where did I misspell Fleming Island? I just read over my last 2 posts a few times and I don't see where anything was misspelled. The only reason I'm asking is because I really thought that Fleming Island was spelled how I spelled it.

As far as Palm Coast not having crime and not having traffic.. I have to say, that doesn't sound like the Palm Coast that we live in. As I have said several times before, I have lived in Jacksonville for all but about 3 years of my life. When I was living in Jacksonville I never once had any problems with crime. My husband and I have been living in Palm Coast for about 3 years now and not too long ago someone broke into our car and stole everything that was worth anything. The police still haven't found who robbed us. Shortly after we were robbed our neighbors two doors down had the same thing happen to them.. the police still haven't found who robbed them. A good family friend of ours was jumped by some gang banger thugs and was beaten with a baseball bat! He was in the hospital for a couple weeks.. to everyones surprise the police found out who almost killed him. I guess it was some guys that lived over in the B section behind the library, they were all gang members (Bloods) and they thought our friend was someone that had stolen drugs from them! Our friend is a great husband, a wonderful father a hard worker and he didn't even know these kids. These guys saw the back of his head at night in the dark and I guess they thought it was whoever they thought robbed them. It bothers me when people make Jax out to be this horrible crime infested city and when people make Palm Coast out to be this perfect little crime free town. Jacksonville is a very, very large city, of course it will have crime. Palm Coast is a small city so, it only makes sense for it to have less crime.. you know? I have recently found out though that there are quite a few gang members in Palm Coast! Now as for Palm Coast being clean, I can't say I agree with that. I mean it's not some nasty trashy city, but it's nothing special. It's no cleaner than Orange Park and definitely no cleaner than Fleming Island. The traffic in Palm Coast is horrendous at times! It's to the point where I don't even leave my house unless I have to! It really seems like alot of people in Palm Coast just drive around to drive around. I have to say that I would rather deal with the Orange Park traffic than the Palm Coast traffic any day. The Palm Coast traffic just seems like pointless traffic.. people sitting in their cars just to clog up the roads! Now, don't get me wrong, Palm Coast isn't a horrible place to live and the crime here really isn't too bad, but then again, the crime in most small cities isn't too bad. In the last 3 years Palm Coast has kind of grown on us. One nice thing about Palm Coast is that it kind of has a little bit of that small town feel to it. Alot of the people in Palm Coast are very nice (every now and then you run across mean people, but there are mean people everywhere) and it's pretty quiet here. No matter where you live in Palm Coast you are just a short drive from the beach and you are a short drive from Daytona and St. Augustine. Palm Coast and Jacksonville/ Orange Park are both nice places. They are both very different, but both nice in their own ways. I have to say that although Palm Coast has grown on us in these last three years it's just not the place for us. That's not to say that Palm Coast isn't the perfect place for alot of people though. Again, they are both very different cities so, it really all depends on your wants and needs.

[LandShark99]

Pit Bull Mommie:

Move back to Jax. Why do you stay here if you hate it so much?

Yes, we all read the raging posts from the mother of the kid that got beat up on PC Biz. I wondered why her innocent under-aged son was coming home from a bar at 2 in the morning. Also I wondered why he was supposedly forced off the road heading BACK towards the bar instead of away from it (I know because the office I worked out of then was in the office park on that side of the street within half a block). We know it's a one way parkway with stores in-between so no way could he have been spun around. I am absolutely not going to get in to a debate about that so if you reply to my observations I will not respond. I have no emotional investment in that I do not know these people so I can look at it from a more objective point of view.

Leaving valuables in a car is asking for it. How many times have we heard that in our lives?

Please tell us what section of Palm Coast that you live in where you are having all this crime.

Please tell us when and where you experience this "horrendous" traffic in Palm Coast. I want to go see it. (Proof is in the puddin').

Please site your source of "finding out there there are quite a few gang members in Palm Coast". Don't believe everything you read on the local forums. People have been known to bend the truth or inflate things just a bit on those, don't ya think?

Personally I think you would bash anywhere you lived if it weren't Jax. Just think how much easier your life would be if you didn't have to expend all this energy bashing Palm Coast.

I wish you the best.

[Thinking of moving]

I went down there a few times as well and really felt Palm Coast was the place for me and my family from what I saw on the internet.

Then I saw it firsthand.

Nothing special, then again nothing at all. My wife was dead set against it when she saw how far shopping would be. We waited outside a few schools when it was time for dismissal to see what kind of kids came out and the majority of them looked like thugs or kids who wanted to be gangsters with the loose baggy clothes and pants hanging down.

After doing some more homework we found there were over forty registered sex offenders within a five mile radius of the neighborhood we were looking in. That is incredibly high. Any of you can look and see how many of them are living right in your backyard as well right here:

FDLE Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators

Just click standard neighborhood search. They are closer then you would like to think. I just saw Dateline do a child sex predator search show there which also shows how bad it is.

In reading PalmCoast.biz the crime section, and here, is stating how its common sense to lock your car and you deserve to be broken into if you dont. Are you kidding me? No one deserves to be robbed.

All in all, not a great place. You get a lot of house for your money but the three most important factors in buying a house are location, location, location which you get none of in moving to Palm Coast. Who wants a nice big house in an area you dont feel safe in it?

My take on all these people who defend Palm Coast to the hilt and get offended everytime someone badmouths it are people who couldnt afford to live somewhere nicer. I know there are problems where I live now and its much more expensive but the problems compared to there are minimal. I have 2 registered offenders within fifteen miles of my current home, big difference.

[Nikki75]

I have one question regarding Palm Coast housing. There are quite a bit of newer homes for sale and even more up for rent. Why are houses built 2004-2007 up for sale so soon?

I believe that PCFL is a great place to start a family (minus the influx of criminal minded creatures) and I can't get why people bought and are selling within 1-3yrs. Are they buying/building bigger homes in PCFL or are they moving away completely?

I don't expect that everyone grew up around (or desire to live in the midst of) vehicle robberies, gangs, beatdowns, etc. and some may feel it just came on quickly and basically out of nowhere. I am appreciative of those who paint the picture they see as well as those who re-paint the picture. When considering a place to live everything helps.

LandShark, in your opinion, why do you feel the people are so excitable behind the recent crimes? What are you getting from people mostly in reaction to the rising crime be it minor or major crime?

I think the local website is a GREAT place to get opinions of residents. I am currently following the boardwalk thread which is scary to me because I have a son who will be 14 in March and I have no clue what children is age are up to in Flagler County.

According, to the behaviors of local teens, I may need to get a polygraph machine for him and his friends before allowing him out of the house. I know teens will be teens but I don't want mine getting the L.A. experience of growing up to fast.

[manc]

thinking of moving

we've done the same LOL with the schools to see what kind of kids go there.

anyway we found st augustine or say a little out of the town centre and love it , the kids are in the ketterlinus school , teachers are great, never bother wiith any crime as there is none we have seen.

no molestors within a mile.
neaighbours are really nice, no nosy neighbours are you get that country feeling yet so close to st augustine, world golf village, jax the beach for fishing or the kids playing

we then use the parks etc at palencia where they have these million $ homes


love it here I wish you well

[LandShark99]

Originally Posted by Nikki75

I have one question regarding Palm Coast housing. There are quite a bit of newer homes for sale and even more up for rent. Why are houses built 2004-2007 up for sale so soon?

I believe that PCFL is a great place to start a family (minus the influx of criminal minded creatures) and I can't get why people bought and are selling within 1-3yrs. Are they buying/building bigger homes in PCFL or are they moving away completely?

I don't expect that everyone grew up around (or desire to live in the midst of) vehicle robberies, gangs, beatdowns, etc. and some may feel it just came on quickly and basically out of nowhere. I am appreciative of those who paint the picture they see as well as those who re-paint the picture. When considering a place to live everything helps.

LandShark, in your opinion, why do you feel the people are so excitable behind the recent crimes? What are you getting from people mostly in reaction to the rising crime be it minor or major crime?

I think the local website is a GREAT place to get opinions of residents. I am currently following the boardwalk thread which is scary to me because I have a son who will be 14 in March and I have no clue what children is age are up to in Flagler County.

According, to the behaviors of local teens, I may need to get a polygraph machine for him and his friends before allowing him out of the house. I know teens will be teens but I don't want mine getting the L.A. experience of growing up to fast.

Nikki,

In my humble opinion, people become so excitable because these are their children, that was their car, something happened in their block. They don't only want justice, they want the cops stop everything else and only work on their crime 24/7 until it is solved. In a word, they want vengeance. Sadly, the greatest majority of thefts and break-ins are committed by teenagers to young adults, usually male.

They hide behind their computers and rage on trying to incite others to take up their cause.

I never had kids but I do know Palm Coast has private schools available and personally have never seen any the kids as described above running around Palm Coast. I have, in fact, though had a cop knock on my door looking for a kid (bad address) and while at my door he heard some other kids on the block and asked "Are those kids"? He said they like to keep an eye on their kids, to know their whereabouts and what they are up to, where they party, etc. He had no reason to impress me. I never had kids. So I believe him.

If I was a kid and monkeysuits were in style I'd be sporting one. Kids are not dress out of style and be made fun of at school. I hate the baggy pants. They just passed something, a dress code, a law - I dunno - that will not allow it anymore in schools. The obvious answer is school uniforms. Lobby for it! Or - put your kids in private school.

Nikki, the reason so many newer houses are on the market is the result of the Housing Bubble bursting. The newest ones are for the most part excess builder inventory. The others are mostly amateur investors that are now trying to liquidate or Realtor owned investments. My landlord is a Realtor and still owns some he is trying to flip.