thinking of relocating to st augustine (from long island) (Palm Coast: for sale, real estate)

[sheashea77]

Hey all! I hope someone here can give me a little guidance. I see a thread on here from familymom that had a similar question to mine.

We are going to st cloud this thursday to visit friends & are going to drive up to st augustine this saturday. We are considering moving to florida from long island early next year (cant take the winter any longer). My mother is moving to st augustine in september so we are strongly considering that area. We are a fairly young family (31 yrs old) with 2 small girls (3 yrs & 9 months). I think the northeastern part of florida would be perfect for us weather-wise. I would still like a small change of season (since we are ny'ers!)

I would like to know what areas we should check out as far as real estate goes in that area. I have looked at a lot of real estate online but it's hard to tell where things are. I know that area is very spread out. i looked at Nocatee online but it seems a little out of our price range.

Where would you suggest we take a peek at for real estate under $225,000.00 (hopefully closer to $200,000) for a 3 bedroom 2 bath (at least 1500 sq ft)? I want to take my husband on a tour of "realistic real estate". I dont want to show him these model homes that are way out of our range.

Thanks for any help! As I said it's very overwhelming to begin this search

[nicernurse]

Hi SheaShea!
I just joined this site and was happy to see your post. Good luck with your trip! I am also thinking of moving to the St. Augustine area soon. Of course, I have similar questions to yours even though my daughter is 11 now. Keep us posted and have a safe & productive trip!

[heatrnnr]

Hi there. You should check out Sevilla. It is close to the Wolrd Golf Village. There are a few other neighborhoods in the area for you to look at while you are out there too. We moved there 9 months ago from Chicago and love it. Our neighbors are actually former long islanders. There are plenty of homes for sale or if you wanted to build new there are open lots as well.

[sheashea77]

thanks for the replies! nicernurse, i'll let you know when i get home next week how it turned out. my husband is ready to move tomorrow, i'll take some convincing.

heatrnnr, what are do you live in?

[sheashea77]

duh! i'm assuming you live in sevilla. ugh, sorry i still have baby brain!

[heatrnnr]

no worries, yeah Sevilla is where we are at. The other neighborhoods we looked at were murabella, Heritage Landing, and samara lakes. You guys should be able to get a great deal whatever area you end up in. Sevilla is a lot of young families and it seems like most are from different areas of the country.

[valleygal]

I had planned to move to St. A and ended up in Palm Coast, about 20 minute drive south of St. A. It is a great area and very, very reasonable. To get an idea of home prices, google search homes - st. aug (or palm coast) you can enter zip codes - 32137 for PC, 32084; 32086, 32080, 32092, 32095, 32081, 32082, 32259 are all St. John's County zip codes and most are in the St A area. You will definitely find what you are looking for - price range and sq foot in these areas. We just moved last week - I am still unpacking boxes. It is so wonderful you just won't believe it. We moved from Pittsburgh. So happy we made the jump.

Curious - where will your mom be living? And what do you plan on doing (work wise) when you move?

[lvmy3grls]

Hello - as a former "Long Islander" I can speak from experience in saying that you will be very happy here!!! The weather is perfect for 9 months, and the other three are hot, but not usually as humid as LI anyway. There are pools and beaches everywhere, and every home has central A/C so you actually feel cooler in the summer than in NY. We moved here in 2007 and we LOVE it!!!!!! We live in Murabella, and preferred that to many of the other neighborhoods mentioned. Yes, we do have a CDD fee of about $200 a month, but that combined w/our taxes is only about $5500 a year, way lower than taxes in NY. And, you get the pool, workout facility, tennis, etc etc etc for that money. The schools are great, people are friendly, everyone is always getting together, lots of neighborly things to do. At this time, I know of at least 3 homes that are under $200K 3/2..so you will get one if you are looking!! Please send me a message if you would like more info, any way I can help, I know how you feel...good luck!!!!

[heatrnnr]

i'll second lvmy3grls, you will love it here! One thing to watch for in cdd's is to check what is included. We didn't really look at that too much at that. For example our lawn watering is included in ours so even though we water our lawn 2 times a week our monthly water bill is only 50 bucks a month. Just something to look at. The other thing I would say is if you build a house some builders will pay your cdd and/or hoa fees for a few years as an incentive. All that being said, compared to what you see up north, your taxes and cdd fees combined will still be less than what you see up north. Add the lower sales tax and no state income taxes and it's much cheaper to live here. Good luck in your search. There is a neighborhood garage sale this Saturday so if you come through the neighborhoods you will be able to see a bunch of people out and about.

[blakesq]

Valleygal where do you and your significant other work? Is the palm coast near any major metro centers. I am a lawyer thinking of moving my law practice from New England to the St. Augustine area, thinking that the proximity to JAX will help my transition, and help my wife find work.

Originally Posted by valleygal

I had planned to move to St. A and ended up in Palm Coast, about 20 minute drive south of St. A. It is a great area and very, very reasonable. To get an idea of home prices, google search homes - st. aug (or palm coast) you can enter zip codes - 32137 for PC, 32084; 32086, 32080, 32092, 32095, 32081, 32082, 32259 are all St. John's County zip codes and most are in the St A area. You will definitely find what you are looking for - price range and sq foot in these areas. We just moved last week - I am still unpacking boxes. It is so wonderful you just won't believe it. We moved from Pittsburgh. So happy we made the jump.

Curious - where will your mom be living? And what do you plan on doing (work wise) when you move?