Retirees: Mandarin, Greenland Rd, Jul Creek, Fleming I? (Jacksonville, St. Augustine: sale, houses)

[RockyTopNC]

OK, we are a couple of 60-something retirees, and have been in Jax a couple of yrs. family in the area, including a 1 yr old grandson. We are considering leaving our 3rd floor walkup for a small house, and are looking at different parts of Jax.
We want a 3br, 2 ba, 2 car garage, 1400-2000 sq ft, $150,000-200,000, in an area maybe 10 to 20 yrs old.

I would like a neighborhood large enough to have at least a small pool and gathering area, since we no longer meet folks at the workplace. I would like a mix of ages: enough retirees so I am not the old one left on the street when all the cars pull out of their garages at 7am. I have explored the over-55 places, and that is definitely not it. I like the idea of kids in the area- I want the grandson to have friends in our neighborhood, and a playground to go to.

A yard big enough to put up a fence and store a small rv behind it would be a bonus. Or a neighborhood storage lot for everyone's big toys would be ok too, but not as convenient I guess.

The parts of town we are considering are:
--Greenland Rd area, off Old St Augustine. I really liked the look of Waterford Estates, but don't know if there is enough of an age mix there. We might be all alone in the over-60 demographic.. ideas?
--Mandarin peninsula. Saw some nice small subdiv's, but w/out the common areas I would like to have. Chelsea Cove was one. Looked great, but no common areas.
--Julington Creek. a bit far south, and is it all young families? Have not driven that area yet.
--Fleming Island. yeah, Buckman Bridge and all that, I know. There appear to be a lot of different areas there, including some clearly over what we want to pay. No interest in golf/tennis, so do not want to be in a dedicated 'golf community', and there appears to be a lot of that there.

Bartram Park/Springs? Are there places there that would fit?

Suggestions? Opinions? Comments?

[Peter the Brit]

Have you looked a little further south at Nocatee and Palencia.

[RockyTopNC]

Looked at Nocatee, and it all seemed too new. I like neighborhoods the same way I like dogs... I don't buy/adopt puppies b/c you never know what the mature personality will be, and I think neighborhoods are the same; you never quite know what you've got until a few yrs later.

I will look at Palencia- never heard of that one. Thanks for the suggestion.

[EricBoyd]

Palencia is ~20 minutes south of the Mandarin area.

[Peter the Brit]

Palencia may be to new for you if you dont like Nocatee

[hlauburn]

What about Ponte Vedra Beach? Very popular with retirees.

[wewantseasons]

Batram Park, is relatively new also. Greenland Road has some older neighborhoods, as well as new construction, but also keep in mind there is an Elementary and High School on that road, so I'm not sure how many retiree's are in the area. I grew up in Mandarin, but of course being a kid I only recognized the other kids You might want to try a little farther down Old St. Augustine Road. Losco Rd. has a lot of neighborhoods that are all older. There's a neighborhood called Walnut Bend a little further down that an older neighborhood, there's not a public pool in that one, but they do have a park. Loretto Rd. also has a lot more older neighborhoods, but there is also an Elementary school on that road(I'm not sure how close you wanted to live to a school, the traffic can get kinda bad during drop off/pick up times) But all in all Mandarin has a pretty good mix of all ages in the neighborhoods. It's probably the nicest area of Jacksonville, at least it's the only area I would even consider sending my kids to public school. Hope this was somewhat helpful

[RockyTopNC]

Thanks everyone for your input. Especially wewantseasons, you gave me some really good suggestions. We want a real mix of ages, so it sounds as though the Mandarin area generally is good to pursue. Don't really mind school traffic. In fact we are both retired high school teachers, so sub teaching might even be an option st some point.

[wewantseasons]

You're welcome! Like I said I grew up in that area, so if you have any questions you can DM me, but I think you said you have family in the area, I'm sure they'll have some answers for you too

[EricBoyd]

You're likely to find some good properties for your price range in our area. I live and work in Mandarin and have seen the sale prices come down quite a bit in the last few years. A buyer I'd been working with for 2 years just closed in January, being able to buy a much larger home for their price range, which they never would have gotten when I first started showing them houses.