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My family and I live in Orange County, CA and in summer of 2012 we are relocating to Jacksonville, FL. We just got the approval from my husbands work to transfer to the other office they have out in Ponte Vedra Beach.
We want to know everything there is about Jacksonville/PVB, just so we are a bit prepared. How is it out there? When we first arrive my husband will be either taking the bus or riding his bike to work, so we are looking for atleast a 3bedroom apt no more than 10mi from PVB. How is the bus system there?
We also have a 9yo(11 when we move) boy, a 6yo(8 when we move) girl and I am currently pregnant with a baby girl due in January(will be 17mo when we move). What are the schools like close to that area? Are there any good daycares/preschools anyone can recommend? Also, we would need a Dentist and Pediatrition recommendation if anyone can help with that.
Also, what about gas prices in that area? Gas is really expensive here so were hoping it's lower there .
What is the weather like? I've heard about the heat, humidity and hurricanes. Is it really 'that' bad? We had a VERY hot and humid summer here, temps got as high as 105..normal is about 85-90. It actually JUST started to cool off and feel like fall just a couple of weeks ago.
When we arrive, we wont have our furniture for a good week or so. My husbands company will be moving us, so we would probably have to stay at a motel near by his work. Any good motels that we could stay for a week or 2 if needed?
Like I mentioned before, we would atleast need a 3bedroom apt...of course we prefer a house, but we are keeping all options open just incase. Whats the renting prices like out there? I've been doing a bit of research the past few days and I almost gave birth seeing the rental prices!! Is it really true?? I saw a lot of apartments for less than $1000 for a 3br! $1000 would be our top $ that we can pay, but less is always better . Right now in CA, we pay $1565 for a 3br2ba.
And last-but not least...how is the crime out there? Are there any 'bad' neighborhoods? Orange County has a few neighborhoods that I would never raise a child in. Whats the Law enforcement like? I don't know ANY Florida state laws. How's the traffic?
I'm sure I forgot a couple of important questions, but I'm hoping someone can help us out!
St. John's County has very good schools compared to the rest of the State.
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What is the weather like? I've heard about the heat, humidity and hurricanes. Is it really 'that' bad? We had a VERY hot and humid summer here, temps got as high as 105..normal is about 85-90. It actually JUST started to cool off and feel like fall just a couple of weeks ago.
We've only lived in Jacksonville (actually St. Johns) for about seven months. Summer here felt the same as it feels all over the deep south. It didn't seem any hotter or more humid to me than did Georgia or Mississippi. Typical deep south heat and humidity. The difference is...there are beaches here!!!...Beautiful beaches to cool off in when it's hot!
We moved from the D.C. area where last winter was just awful! I haven't experienced a Florida winter yet, but I'm told that the humidity in this area makes winter weather feel very, very cold. My neighbor is from Michigan. He said that his first winter here in Jacksonville was a shock. He didn't expect it to "feel so cold".
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Are there any good daycares/preschools anyone can recommend? Also, we would need a Dentist and Pediatrition recommendation if anyone can help with that.
You'll want to choose daycare, pediatricians, dentists, etc...based on where you end up living. Things are kind of spread out in this area. We have been very happy with Baptist Pediatrics. They have several offices all over the area.
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Also, what about gas prices in that area? Gas is really expensive here so were hoping it's lower there
Everything seems dirt cheap to me in the Jacksonville area. But like I said, we moved from the D.C. area...cost of living is insane up there.
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Like I mentioned before, we would atleast need a 3bedroom apt...of course we prefer a house, but we are keeping all options open just incase. Whats the renting prices like out there? I've been doing a bit of research the past few days and I almost gave birth seeing the rental prices!! Is it really true?? I saw a lot of apartments for less than $1000 for a 3br! $1000 would be our top $ that we can pay, but less is always better . Right now in CA, we pay $1565 for a 3br2ba
I laughed when I read this. When we found out we were moving to Jacksonville, I started looking at houses. I swear I kept thinking the homes must be built on burial grounds or something. In D.C. (well, really Northern Virginia) you cannot find a 3 bedroom house in a decent area for under about $600,000. You might could find a townhouse for $400,000. When we were looking at house in Northern Virginia, we rented a townhouse for a year to get a better feel for the area. We paid $2400 a month for a three bedroom townhouse!
There are tons of beautiful homes in really nice communities with pools, water parks, golf, tennis,...... for $250,000-$300,000. Housing is amazingly cheap down here!
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And last-but not least...how is the crime out there? Are there any 'bad' neighborhoods? Orange County has a few neighborhoods that I would never raise a child in. Whats the Law enforcement like? I don't know ANY Florida state laws. How's the traffic?
I guess traffic is another thing that depends on what you are used to. I haven't seen any traffic at all in Jacksonville. And I've driven from downtown to my house in Julington Creek at 5:30-6pm at least four or five times. There are cars. But if they are moving, I don't consider it traffic. But again, we moved from the D.C. area where traffic is just horrible.
Sounds like you want the OC quality of life in FL. I would look in the Intracoastal West area along San Pablo Road or Hodges Boulevard between J. Turner Butler Blvd (a limited access highway) and Atlantic Blvd. There are TONS of apartments and condos in that area, and bus service. Or see further down for PVB specifically.
There is not much bus service in St. Johns County except between St. Augustine and the Avenues Mall, both far from where your husband would be working. If you live in old Ponte Vedra east of A1A around the golf courses and the Inn you can easily bike around and many people do. Your husband will probably be working either in an office park near Sawgrass Village (there is a Ruth's Chris there and a restaurant called Pusser's) or behind all of the shops just north of there. There are sidewalks along A1A.
The weather is most likely much more humid than you are used to in California (might even feel like walking in a bathtub or a steamroom at first), but temps rarely go above 95. Still, 85 and 90% humidity in FL might feel like 105 degree days in CA. Jacksonville really cools off in the winter. Next week there will be two days where the low will reach 31 degrees at night (very strong cold snap coming through and dropping snow from N Georgia up the East Coast). If the low is going to be 31 in Jacksonville, it is most likely 33 along the river in Jacksonville and 34, maybe 35 at the beaches along the ocean or intracoastal. The water keeps the beaches cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It does get below freezing occasionally, though, so be prepared for cooler winter weather on occasion than SoCal. Usually the lows are in the 40s in January and February with highs in the 60s. March it warms up quickly. April can be hot. May can be unbearable, and that continues on through October.
There is not a lot of crime in the Intracoastal West region or in Ponte Vedra. There are a lot of DUI checkpoints around there, though, and Jacksonville is not transit friendly (maybe bike friendly in that area, but be careful nonetheless). Schools are good in St. Johns County and I believe if you are in the Intracoastal West area, your school in Duval County would be Atlantic High, which is also supposed to be good (it's brand new). Fletcher is the school for Jacksonville Beach. It is good for FL schools , but there are definitely a lot of partiers and surfers at that school who stay in Jax Beach for their whole lives.
I'm sure you will have no problem finding 3 bedrooms for $1,000 in Duval County, but in Ponte Vedra that might be a stretch. Look anyway around Marsh Landing Parkway (search for Marsh Landing apartments), Robyn55 can help you here. Jacksonville as a whole is a lot less expensive than OC (but you found a 3 br out there for only $1565??), but PVB is not exactly cheap. There are also lots of apartments just off of A1A just south of JTB that probably aren't too expensive.
Because there is not a lot of real crime in that area, law enforcement is strict on speeding and DUIs. Be careful; they are bored over there! If you are driving on Ponte Vedra Blvd and the speed limit is 25, by God do NOT exceed 28 or you will be ticketed! It's a narrow road anyway. Traffic from PVB into town on JTB during morning rush hour is not dismal anymore thanks to road widenings, but in the afternoon JTB can be pretty darn backed up for miles heading towards the beach (and even heading to 95 from about Southside in). 295 gets pretty slammed in the afternoon, too, and avoid the Buckman Bridge (295 south towards Orange Park) at any time of day. Never drive on that bridge. I have lost 2 family friends and almost another on that bridge to crazy drivers and when it isn't flowing, it is an 8 lane parking lot. Aside from that, Jax does not have the traffic that OC has! (You're almost 4 million people over there in that county, we are 1.4 million in the metro).
I know your ethusiatic and everything about moving to Jacksonville, but if I were you, I would visit Jacksonville first before moving there. It's not going to be as great as you think it is. I'm suprised someone from Orange County of all places has a big smiley face anticipating moving to Jacksonville. You must not have any idea...
allenk893- I don't have a clue what I'm getting myself into . BUT I love trying new things and seeing new places. I have lived in Orange County my entire life and I hate it here. It's not at all what it's cracked up to be. The weather may be the only good thing because you get that beach breeze even when it's hot. And hot to us is when it hits 80 .
On top of that, we have some family...baggage..shall I say, that we NEED to get away from. Living out here is tough and we are unable to live on our own, as our own family. So we live with my Mom and Sister. My Mom undermines my husband and I ALOT when it comes to our children and what goes on. We have to explain ourselves to her every time we get onto one of the children. God forbid if they need to be disciplined by form of warning, taking away a toy/tv time/friends, time-outs or even grounding. She will yell at us till shes blue in the face about how wrong we are for whatever reason. That should not be how it goes. I am the parent, I should have the say in how I discipline my children and what rules they must follow, no matter if we live with her or not. We all pay equal amount for rent/bills here(in an apt, not her house that she owns), so it's 'kinda' like a roomate situation, yet she doesn't see it that way. She see's it as She's the Mom, it's her way or no way. Don't get me wrong, I love my Mom to death...she just makes it very hard to be a grown up.
So moving is really for the best for MY family. Do I really want to move somewhere hotter? NO! If I had my choice I would pick somewhere were we could try out all the seasons..I've never lived in snow..it would be great to try it out. See if I like it or not. But we don't have that choice. We can either stay in OC, living with my Mom, unhappy, but able to enjoy cool weather, living paycheck to paycheck. Or we can take that jump and try something new out. Live somewhere we have never been. Who knows..maybe we will love it. Maybe we will hate it. We won't know until we get there. My husband has only 2 offices, here and there. So our choices are slim. With him transfering it means we keep the same income, but get to take a breather every month..not having to worry if we will have enough for rent..or if the kids need new shoes, or if we simply want to enjoy going to the movies, etc. With things cheaper there..we can actually LIVE.
We have to atleast commit to a year. So thats where we are going to start off.
I try to be a very optimistic type of person. So the smiley face is there to remind me that, maybe, it wont be as bad as some think.
If I had to venture a guess, the same types of people that live in OC, particulary the beach communities of Laguna and Newport, etc, are also the same types of people that live in PVB. They are both wealthy areas near the beach with red-colored politics (not in your face) and relatively similar demographics. PVB is like a resort style, cheaper Newport Beach without navigable canals. The guy from SA sounds pretty bitter. PVB is one of the most popular relocation communities in the state and for northerners. There is probably more in common between the beach communities of Jacksonville/ICW west and OC than not. You may be surprised.
I personally don't know how someone from SA is so bitter against Jacksonville. There are certainly beatiful areas of SA like there are in any city, but imho the weather in Jax is better, the amenities are similar/the same, the city is growing rapidly just like SA, the COL is good, there is water and outdoor recreational areas everywhere unlike in SA, and the traffic here is better (also less of an illegal alien problem). Come on over. You know there are a lot of transfers between Jax and San Diego, even outside of the military, and OC can't be too dissimilar to SD (people from here move there and love it and people from there move here and love it, probably mainly from the price difference).
I also live in Southern California and have for most of my life. My wife and I have been visting Atlantic Beach/Jacksonville 3-5 a year for the last 4 years. We have been every season, we've felt the cold and the hot and humid. None of it bothered us as much as we feared. The CoL is way cheaper than So Cal. The price for gasoline, for example, is 40 to 60 cents a gallon less than here. We have been house hunting and find the property close to the beach in Atlantic Beach a steal. We would have moved 2 years ago had I not been offered a job that I couldn't refuse here. As sson as I see my job ending we're going to buy a house in AB, move and not look back. The politics and CoL in Cali. is way out of control.
Good luck with your decision and I understand any reservation that you might have as it is 2500 miles away
Last edited by murfslaw; 12-03-2010 at 05:13 PM..
Reason: clarity
I've lived all over this country and overseas. We moved every three years my entire childhood. My dad was a career military officer. My husband is former military and now works for the Federal Government. We move even more often now than we did when he was military. I have literally never lived anywhere for more than three and a half years at a time.
I say all that to make a very simple point. You can find something to like about almost anywhere. Your new house becomes "home" the moment you hang that first picture. If your husband has a good job, then there is absolutely no reason to be worried about moving to Ponte Vedra. If you were moving to Africa, I would suggest doing more homework. Our overseas moves were always a little more stressful. But moving across the country is no big deal.
Don't stress about it! I have found people to be very friendly in the Jacksonville area. There are plenty of military and government families, so y'all won't be anywhere near the only newcomers. We have been very happy with the schools in St. John's. And I have kids in elementary, middle, and high school....and one away at college. And the cost of living is unbelievably cheap compared to most places!
It sounds like you already have a really positive attitude about the move. Make sure your kids see the move as exciting....an adventure! I'll bet you'll love it here!
I personally don't know how someone from SA is so bitter against Jacksonville. There are certainly beatiful areas of SA like there are in any city, but imho the weather in Jax is better, the amenities are similar/the same, the city is growing rapidly just like SA, the COL is good, there is water and outdoor recreational areas everywhere unlike in SA, and the traffic here is better (also less of an illegal alien problem). Come on over. You know there are a lot of transfers between Jax and San Diego, even outside of the military, and OC can't be too dissimilar to SD (people from here move there and love it and people from there move here and love it, probably mainly from the price difference).
What?! I'm from Florida buddy!! Check out my profile!! I'm a Floridian born and raised!! However, I have lived alot of different places and now I am currently in San Antonio, TX. I've moved back and forth for the last 5 years. I'm probably going back to FL soon. It doesn't take that long to view where I have lived and WHY I am commenting in the first place. My goodness!!
Know EXACTLY how you feel here!! Both of us, wife/myself, were tired of living in So Cal/Orange County and decided to move to the Denver, CO metro area in 2002. When I first met my wife in March 2001, she revealed to me that she was researching a move to Laughlin, NV. We didn't really discuss the reason for the move, but she also told me that she had not yet told her family about her possible plans. She did/does love her family, but needed to get away. Since we were both raised in a "snow-belt" State (Mich and Indiana), we were looking forward to going back to 4-seasons. For the 5 1/2 years we lived in Colorado, we did enjoy the 4-seasons until I had hip and shoulder surgeries and the winter cold affected me a lot.
Northeast Florida weather is great for me, except for when it gets too cold. Can tolerate the cold, it's the snow we absolutely don't want anymore.
SoCal2Jax: On top of that, we have some family...baggage..shall I say, that we NEED to get away from.
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, but there are definitely a lot of partiers and surfers at that school who stay in Jax Beach for their whole lives.
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