What cities in Florida would you suggest a young couple to move to? (Jacksonville: best cities, waterparks)

[WeWantOutOfMichigan]

Hi! My fiance and I will be moving to Florida next June after we get married and we are wondering which cities in Florida you would recommend us moving to based upon our "requirements" listed below:
- not too much crime however, we do live in Lansing, Michigan, so crime isn't out of the ordinary for us but we would prefer to live somewhere safer.
- within 5 miles or so of a nice beach
-good schools
-we are in our twenties so we would prefer an area that has a decent amount of younger people in the area
-lots of fun things to do
-nice single family homes under approximately $400,000
-not too much traffic
I know there may not be a city that matches exactly each one of these things, but somewhere similar to these requirements would be much appreciated! We love the hot weather, nevermind the hurricanes, snakes, alligators, etc. Could you please list specific areas in these cities you would recommend us moving to.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[ssclulow]

Employment is very hard to obtain anywhere in Florida. How do you intend to earn a living? Ordinarily I would say move close to where you will be employed but your post never mentions employment. What kinds of activities will you want to do for fun?

[WeWantOutOfMichigan]

Originally Posted by ssclulow

Employment is very hard to obtain anywhere in Florida. How do you intend to earn a living? Ordinarily I would say move close to where you will be employed but your post never mentions employment. What kinds of activities will you want to do for fun?

All finances are covered, my fiance and I are attending college full-time. We are only going to look for areas with employment when we graduate, but for now that's not the case. That's why we want to move somewhere that has good colleges (universities) and even elementary-high schools just incase we do decide to stay long-term. We want an area that has nice shopping, beaches, waterparks, nice dining, good areas to go running and biking, safe areas to take a nice stroll around a park or outdoor mall, movie theaters, and any other fun things the city may have available.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by WeWantOutOfMichigan

All finances are covered, my fiance and I are attending college full-time. We are only going to look for areas with employment when we graduate, but for now that's not the case. That's why we want to move somewhere that has good colleges (universities) and even elementary-high schools just incase we do decide to stay long-term. We want an area that has nice shopping, beaches, waterparks, nice dining, good areas to go running and biking, safe areas to take a nice stroll around a park or outdoor mall, movie theaters, and any other fun things the city may have available.

What colleges will you be attending? Since you've written messages in many Florida forums here in the last couple of days - I doubt you've been admitted to any in Florida. And please note that I doubt you meet our residency requirements for in-state tuition. Robyn

[WeWantOutOfMichigan]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

What colleges will you be attending? Since you've written messages in many Florida forums here in the last couple of days - I doubt you've been admitted to any in Florida. And please note that I doubt you meet our residency requirements for in-state tuition. Robyn

I take your reply a little offensive. Actually my fiance and I both applied and were accepted to The University of South Florida in Tampa and Nova Southeastern University in Jacksonville Florida. Those are the only places we have applied to. Our grades are excellent and we will be transferring from Michigan State University (where we currently attend). Also, when did I ever say I will need in-state tuition rates? We spend and save our money very wisely and we have enough money to cover out of state tuition. By the way, why does it matter if I was accepted or not? We aren't moving for another year so we still have time to apply at other universities incase we decide not to move to Tampa or Jacksonville. My reason for posting this topic in many areas of Florida is because I want to find the best possible place to move before I choose a place that is not right for us. I was planning on getting a job set before we move just to keep me more busy, but I figured since I will be attending school full-time then that will keep me busy enough. I did not mention anywhere in my posting concerning being admitted to a college or having to pay in-state tuition because all of that is already covered and we will be applying to a couple other universities as well. If you do not have a polite answer or suggestion for me, please do not reply to my posting.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by WeWantOutOfMichigan

I take your reply a little offensive. Actually my fiance and I both applied and were accepted to The University of South Florida in Tampa and Nova Southeastern University in Jacksonville Florida. Those are the only places we have applied to. Our grades are excellent and we will be transferring from Michigan State University (where we currently attend). Also, when did I ever say I will need in-state tuition rates? We spend and save our money very wisely and we have enough money to cover out of state tuition. By the way, why does it matter if I was accepted or not? We aren't moving for another year so we still have time to apply at other universities incase we decide not to move to Tampa or Jacksonville. My reason for posting this topic in many areas of Florida is because I want to find the best possible place to move before I choose a place that is not right for us. I was planning on getting a job set before we move just to keep me more busy, but I figured since I will be attending school full-time then that will keep me busy enough. I did not mention anywhere in my posting concerning being admitted to a college or having to pay in-state tuition because all of that is already covered and we will be applying to a couple other universities as well. If you do not have a polite answer or suggestion for me, please do not reply to my posting.

Take my opinion FWIW. USF is part of the Florida university system. Nova Southeastern is basically kind of an on-line school. Big difference.

And most good students here at places like UNF work at least 20-30+ hours a week to support themselves while they're in school (even if they have in state tuition rates).

So how much money do you and fiance have in the bank to pay for this assuming neither of you plans to work? Hundred thousand or two? May not be a polite question - but your questions and messages don't make much sense to me in terms of dollars and cents. Robyn

[WeWantOutOfMichigan]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Take my opinion FWIW. USF is part of the Florida university system. Nova Southeastern is basically kind of an on-line school. Big difference.

And most good students here at places like UNF work at least 20-30+ hours a week to support themselves while they're in school (even if they have in state tuition rates).

So how much money do you and fiance have in the bank to pay for this assuming neither of you plan to work? Hundred thousand or two? May not be a polite question - but your questions and messages don't make much sense to me in terms of dollars and cents. Robyn

My questions and messages make perfect sense in terms of dollars and cents. I do not have to tell you how much money my fiance and I have in the bank, that is very private. I feel very uncomfortable about you asking me how much money we have, that is very rude. Bottom line is that we have the money to support us throughout college. Keep in mind that we are attending school full-time, so we would rather keep our focuses completely on school rather than a job at this moment. Why does my money have you concerned? I never said that we would attend either University of South Florida or Nova, I just said we were accepted there and we are going to continue to apply to other universities in Florida. All I wanted to know was where the best cities in Florida are to live based on our requirements. I don't understand why you keep going on and on about money and jobs when I have already mentioned that we have that covered. I'm not a stuck up snob like you may think I am just because I don't have to work while attending school. You mentioned that most of the "good students" work between 20 and 30 hours per week. Are you saying that just because we will not be working during school then that means we are not good students? We are very hard workers, the both of us volunteer quite often and we value our education. A job will just get in the way of our already busy school schedules. Please don't judge us based off of our employment and financial status.

[BabyBoomers2]

Robyn55 is only trying to help you! We all ask "inquiring questions" that some folks take offensive to.......don't get mad, just don't answer! I ask "inquiring questions" myself. From what I know, unless a student is wealthy, don't most students have to work a part-time job and go to college? When I went to college, years ago, I got a monthly check from the Veteran's Admin. (college bene from the Navy), but I also had to have a part-time job. You are telling us that both of you are financially set so neither of you have to work at all while attending college.......that's great! I suppose there are students that attend colleges/universities like Yale, Princeton, Harvard that don't work while attending.
FYI: Jacksonville is MORE of a "family related" city than some "hip" young city where there are all kinds of things for folks in your age bracket to do. The beach areas would definitely be more "up your alley" for living in your age bracket.
Good Luck

[madcapmagishion]

Betwee NSU and USF go with USF <nobody laughs when you tell them you went there> and move to Tampa please, that way you won't get your thin skin offended by logical questions.

[fsu813]

There are 2 large hubs of young people: the beaches and the general downtown area.

If you want to be near the beach....then you'd want to live at the beach!

If you don't mind a 20 minute drive or so, then you can live in the other 80% of Jax.