Moving to Jacksonville from Michigan? (Plantation, Palm Valley: 2009, apartments, HOA)

[Brie85]

My husband and I are in our mid-20s and we may be moving to Jacksonville for my husband's job. He would be working near the intersection of I-95 and Old St. Augustine Rd. I will be looking for a job as a recent law school grad. How are the job prospects in Jacksonville for an entry-level attorney?

Looking through prior threads on this forum, I am leaning towards living in St. Johns County. Good public schools are important to us and I am uncomfortable with having to rely upon a magnet system in order to have a quality education. I also saw some mention that taxes were lower in St. Johns County, is that true? Thankfully we are used to suburban living and the driving culture since we live in Metro Detroit.

We hope to buy a home in a non-HOA area (or at least a fairly non-restrictive HOA area) with a fenced yard. Our price point right now is around $300K and we would like to keep the daily commute to thirty minutes or less if possible. What areas would you recommend?

[fsu813]

I can't speak to taxes, however the only segment of schools in Jax that has major problem are High Schools. If you are in your 20's and don't have kids yet, then i wouldn't worry about High Schools, obviously.

Here are the school grades so you can see for yourself (over 2/3rds got an A or B): http://www.duvalschools.org/reseval/...ch%20Alpha.pdf

I can also speak to entry-level attorney prospects (somewhat). A friend of mine just passed the bar and has been looking around. There is not an abundance of jobs, that's for sure. If you are willing to take a less desirable position then you probably won't have an issue. If you need one with perks then you will.

There are ons of good neighborhoods for 300k. You can basically have your pick. So you don't want an HOA, you do want a fenced yard.....

anything else?

do want to be near: a mall? national chain restaurants? public parks? the highway? mature trees? near others in thier mid 20's? new construction? historic district? unique, non-chain restuarants & shopping? the arts? the river? the ocean? walkable neighborhoods? diversity? quiet area? vibrant area?

at 300k & with-in a 30 minute drive you can pick & choose.

[Brie85]

A nice library system is important to us. I would like to be within 20 minutes of a very good public library. We would also like to be close to an inland body of water where we can water ski and wakeboard. Are alligators or other wildlife a problem for families wanting to do water sports? As far as neighborhoods, we would like to be in a family-friendly area with other young professionals and young children. We would also like to be around other people that have dogs, and close proximity to a dog park would be nice.

When you mention jobs "with perks" does that mean that available positions do not provide health insurance or sick/vacation time? I am flexible as far as practice areas, types of employers, and even salary requirements but I do hope to have some basic benefits.

[fsu813]

I'm a fan (and resident) of the Historic neighborhoods that surrond Downtown (Riverside, Avondale, Springfield, & San Marco). These are all older neighborhoods (obviously), with large, mature shade trees lining the streets. These neighborhoods:

- are just a few miles from Downtown and eachother

- are very walkable Homes with 'walkability' command higher premium | Jacksonville.com

- are very close to: an abundance of nice public parks: Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, (includng the city's only free dog park, brand new Cold Noses: New Springfield dog park opens Friday | Jacksonville.com), perhaps the single best library branch in the entire state (also new and very large Main Library - Jacksonville Public Library), smaller libraries Willowbranch Branch Library - Jacksonville Public Library, San Marco Branch Library - Jacksonville Public Library, Murray Hill Branch Library - Jacksonville Public Library, tons of young professionals and families, many, many dogs (including a rescue orgnaization sacarc.org - Home, unique dog events Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Jacksonville Magazine Online and, of course, the St. Johns River and various smaller tributaries St. Johns River - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Those are the things you asked about specifically.

These area's are very popular with the 20-30's crowd, and the more metropolitan/cosmopolitan crowd in general, becuase of these reasons:

- it's the center for the arts. all the major/best museums, theatres, art festivals, concerts, etc are in these areas. Art Walk: Downtown Jacksonville : First Wednesday Art Walk, RAM: Riverside Arts Market - Jacksonville, FL, MOCA: MOCA Jacksonville | Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Cummer: The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens Jacksonville FL, Karpeles: Karpeles Manuscript Library, Florida Theatre: FloridaTheatre.com > Home, Performing Arts: Times Union Center Performing Arts, Fall Festival: Autumn 2009 - A Springfield Music Fest, Jacksonville, Florida, Jazz Blues R&B Folk Music, Independent theatre: Welcome to the 5 Points Theatre , children's theatre: Theatreworks, Inc. Quality Children's Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida, THEATRE JACKSONVILLE

- it's the center for unique, non-chain shops, botiques, cafes, & restauarnts in the city. You won't find a Wal-Mart, Applebee's, etc here.

- unique archtecture. Riverside, Avondale, & Springfield are Historic Districts with wholelly unique and original archetecture you won't find anywhere else in the city. no cookie cutter houses here. While at the same time, modern, new contruction homes made to look historic can be found here & there. Not only residences, but other many other buildings as well: Amazon.com: Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage (Jacksonville Historic Landmarks Comm) (9780813009537): Jacksonville Historic Landmark Commission: Books

- again, walkability & proximity. You can walk, bike, trolley, or take a short drive (depending on where you live) to the the river, museums, festivals, farmers markets, the riverwalk Metro Jacksonville | Covering Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, the sports complex, major concerts, theatre, public speakers, great eats, unique botiques, nightlife, nice parks, & downtown resources. in the larger picture, this area is smakc in the center of the city, so your no more than 30 minutes max away from anywhere.

- it's more "young", "progressive", & "vibrant" than most other areas, while not being over-the top. so there are plenty of evening & nightlife opprotunities, real farmer's markets, a great mix of diversity (everything from poor, wealthy, ultra conservative, radical hippies, young, old, gay, etc) people can walk and bike to & from instead of drive, etc.

Here are some photo tours:

1) Riverside / Avondale: Tons of young professionals, lots of great restaurants, botiques, cafes, parks, weekly & monthly festivals, and the river. Avondale is more expensive and slightly more stuffy. Riverside is more funky, artistic, & "young". Both have good night life. A great mix of 2 story and smaller bungalows, lots of duplexes & apartments too. The two neighborhoods are right to next to eachother so the boundaries aren't always clear. This is many people's favorite area in the whole city.

Here are some great photo links:

Riverside: Metro Jacksonville - Urban Neighborhoods: Riverside

Riverside: Urban Neighborhoods: Five Points | Jacksonville FL | Metro Jacksonville

Riverside: Metro Jacksonville - A Walk through Park & King

Riverside: Metro Jacksonville - Riverside Arts Market Opens

Riverside: Metro Jacksonville - Park & King Shopping District: Photo Tour

Avondale: Metro Jacksonville - Urban Neighborhoods: Avondale

Avondale: Metro Jacksonville - Urban Exploration: The Shoppes of Avondale


Riverside/Avondale's prominant community organization: www.riverside-avondale.com

2) Springfield. The oldest neighborhood in the city, it used to be bad news but is in the middle of a massive renovation now. You can easily find a great, totally renovated, gorgeous historic home for a good price (new construction historic looking homes or original early 1900's homes) or one's to fix up if you like. There are a tons of great community organizations to get involved in as well (Mommies Club, Wine Society, etc). Very walkable as well with lots of parks, a few good cafes/restuarnts/night life, and Downtown is very close. Because it's not finished you can get the most for your money by far here. A neighbrohood in "transition" that's extremely tight-knit. Mostly 2 story houses here, with few bungalows. Good amount of duplexes, a few apartments. Southern Living Magazine will be featuring this neighborhood in their January issue as one of the best "comeback neighborhoods in the East", and it's recieved a ton of positive press of late with all the new openings and relatively stable home prices.

Good links:

Springfield: Metro Jacksonville - Springfield vs. Savannah: Can you tell the difference?

Springfield: Metro Jacksonville - A Springfield Photo Tour

Springfield: Metro Jacksonville - Springfield Heritage Throwback Baseball: East vs West

Springfield: Through the Night: Springfield Historic District | Jacksonville FL | Metro Jacksonville

Springfield's prominant community organization: www.sparcouncil.org

4) San Marco. Perhaps the most expensive of the areas, it does have some areas thate are more reasobale as well. It's on the otherside of the river (southbank) across from Riverside/Avondale. Very walkable area, with a good amount of shops, restaurants, cafes, parks, etc. More expensive, generally, than the other areas. Some decent nightlife options too. Plenty of young people as well. a Mix of large and small homes.

Some links:

San Marco: Metro Jacksonville - Walking San Marco Square: Photo Tour

San Marco: Metro Jacksonville - Urban Neighborhoods: Touring San Marco

San Marco: Metro Jacksonville - San Marco: A Walking Oasis in an Unwalkable City

San Marco's community organization: www.smpsjax.com - a note: RAP & SPAR are the 2 best community organizations in the city, all others pale in comparison, including this one.

In my previous post I linked the spead sheet of all the school in the county. You can see that there are plenty of elementray and middle schools that are highly rated in these areas. The Highschools are the problem.

I wouldn't live anywhere else in the city.

[LoveBoating]

We have a boat (20' cuddy) and have been on the St. John's River a few times, but have seen very few-to-almost no water sports (skiing/wakeboarding) on the river or even Intercoastal water areas. Sorry! Most people here just cruise or fish on these waters. Jax isn't like Michigan lakes. Actually, other than the beach areas, we have not seen any swimming areas here at all! Again.....sorry! There are gators here, but the only ones we've seen have been at the zoo. As far as Dog Parks here go, try this http://www.dogparkusa.com/florida/jacksonville.com

[R1v3rRat]

Ok...

We just built a new home here... well been here for 1 year now. www.greenlandchase.com It is very very close to where your husband will be working. We absolutely love our neighborhood, the builder and the home itself. Our builder is building like crazy. Our street is full of younger families late 20's to late 30's/ Some with kids others expecting and some without. My wife and I are both 31 and we love it.

IMO you can't beat the neighborhoods location. It is perfect. it is sooo easy to get anywhere in Jax because of the location.

About a 10 minute drive from greenland is this place. Dog Wood Park of Jacksonville It is freakin huge! Our dogs love it there. Best dog park i have ever been to.

We are boaters and I can tell you there is a ton of boating to be done. Lots of waterfront bars and restaurants. There are several places where skiing/wakeboarding is found. Julington creek which flows into the St. Johns is a popular spot as there is lots of flat water. This is very close to the area where you are considering. (95/Old St. A) Several free public ramp otions there. Also 6 mile creek and Black Creek which both flow into the St. Johns are very popular wakeboarding spots as well. The main river while sometime can be flat as glass, 75% of the time it isn't what your looking for watersports wise... but there are many tributaries which are suited.

Hope some of this helps. If you have any other specific questions send me a message.

RR

[LoveBoating]

Ok, we have been here since the January '09. We have never seen anyone on the river water skiing or wakeboarding. However, we were told that some watersports is done on Julington Creek, we have just never been inside the creek to see it. As far as wakeboarding, we did talk to 3 teen boys at McDonalds (their truck/boat in parking lot) who told us that they were going wakeboarding on Julington Creek. We have also seen some tubes on boats at Goodby's Landing, but have never seen tubing done on the river. As far as "waterfront" bars, restaurants, yes they are there, especially at the Jax Landing and the southern end of Dr.'s Lake.

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

Ok...

We just built a new home here... well been here for 1 year now. www.greenlandchase.com It is very very close to where your husband will be working. We absolutely love our neighborhood, the builder and the home itself. Our builder is building like crazy. Our street is full of younger families late 20's to late 30's/ Some with kids others expecting and some without. My wife and I are both 31 and we love it.

IMO you can't beat the neighborhoods location. It is perfect. it is sooo easy to get anywhere in Jax because of the location.

About a 10 minute drive from greenland is this place. Dog Wood Park of Jacksonville It is freakin huge! Our dogs love it there. Best dog park i have ever been to.

We are boaters and I can tell you there is a ton of boating to be done. Lots of waterfront bars and restaurants. There are several places where skiing/wakeboarding is found. Julington creek which flows into the St. Johns is a popular spot as there is lots of flat water. This is very close to the area where you are considering. (95/Old St. A) Several free public ramp otions there. Also 6 mile creek and Black Creek which both flow into the St. Johns are very popular wakeboarding spots as well. The main river while sometime can be flat as glass, 75% of the time it isn't what your looking for watersports wise... but there are many tributaries which are suited.

Hope some of this helps. If you have any other specific questions send me a message.

RR

[wb3690]

Where are you coming from in Metro Detroit? I grew up in West Bloomfield and Ann Arbor (Go Blue!). I miss the falls up there, but do NOT miss the winters!!!!

We currently live in Clay County out in Oakleaf Plantation and love it. I looked at areas in St. Johns and that would have been our second choice if the drive to work wouldn't have been so long for the husband.......

Amy

[parks71]

Theres several places for water sports in Jacksonville. The reason nobody sees them usually is because you cant just do water sports in the middle of the river, wayyyyyy to rough for that.

The most popular places are

Palm Valley - living at the beachs area
Ortega - living on the westside of town
Arlington- living downtown or arlington
Black creek- living in the far westside area/Orange park

The only part of town there is not a good place to do watersports is the northside of town.

The places I mentioned are glassy even when the wind is kicked up really good.

[Brie85]

Wow, thanks for all the great responses! I hope you don't mind if I ask a few more questions.

FSU813 ~ The neighborhoods that you listed look nice but I'm a little concerned with the crime in urban areas. I grew up in a city with zero murders, violent crime was nearly nonexistant and property crime was a little higher but still very low. Would I feel safe in Jacksonville's urban areas?

LoveBoating ~ Thanks for your insights. Have you been pleased with the boating options in Jacksonville?

R1v3rRat ~ Greenland Chase looks very nice but it seems close to the main highway. Do you have problems with traffic noise or lack of privacy because of the location? Also, will the developer be building a lot of new homes in that area? I'm a little concerned that resale value might be an issue if buyers coming in will be opting just to build their own home. Lastly, have you had any trouble with the HOA?

wb3690 ~ I grew up in Plymouth but we currently live in Belleville. I've spent a lot of time in Ann Arbor though, it is a really neat area. The fall is quite beautiful in Michigan right now with all the leaves changing colors but I am dreading the dreary winter that is right around the corner! It looks like Oakleaf Plantation has an HOA, if so, do you mind dealing with them?

parks71 ~ Thanks for identifying good areas for water sports. Are the areas you listed actually still considered part of the river?