Considering a Move to JAX from Orlando (Jacksonville, Plantation: apartments, rental homes)

[lindquist22]

Hi,
I've been trying to read as many posts as possible re: relocation to get a better idea of JAX and surroundings.

Our specific situation is:
We would like to rent a house or townhouse in a SAFE neighborhood (I have two kids) with very good schools. These two items are our top priorities, safe and great education. Limit on montly rent would be $1,600. Would like to be around shopping areas (Publix, 5 min, other stores can be 10-15 min away, including up-scale shopping and restaurants).
We would like to be close to a reputable equestrian center - if anyone knows anything about any stables, that would be very helpful.
Prefer communities with atmosphere (front porches, tree-lined streets, nice neighbors who look out for each other) but that's something we can look into when we buy, not a necessity right away.

Can anyone help me narrow down my search for specific areas and/or communities? A community pool would almost be essential as well as my kids are fish out of water...

Thanks so much in advance for any advice you can give.

[riveree]

Hi Lindquist,

The equestrian areas tend to be much further out from the center of Jax. The more rural edges are where the horses tend to live. The city of Jacksonville has its' own Equestrian Center out near I10 (far Westside of the city). So, you could choose to live out that way, but then you might not have some of the other things you mentioned (close shopping, etc.).

Here's a link to the Jacksonville Equestrian Center:

http://www.jaxevents.com/jacksonvilleequestriancenter/ (broken link)

That being said, there are two horses that get ridden right outside of my neighborhood and I'm definitely not in a horsey-area, so you may find stables here and there sprinkled throughout the more dense areas too.

To find a townhome/house in a safe area with a community pool, you might have to give up on the atmosphere you described. We have some charming older neighborhoods in Jax, but that is not where you'll find the type of rental you describe (you're describing a more modern community).

So, I guess my questions to you would be:

1) Do you want a longer drive to the stables or to shopping/restaurants?

2) Where will you be working? Jax is huge, enormous and spread out - how much of a commute do you want?

When I think of the horse element of your request - I think of the far Westside of Jacksonville. When I think of the school, shopping, and community pool aspect of your request, I think of the Southside.

Try searching (on realtor.com or wherever you're searching) for a neighborhood called "Sutton Lakes" in 32246. They have 2 or 3 community pools, playgrounds, etc. (it's a huge community), very close to the beach, downtown and the new Saint John's Town Center, and the schools are A-rated (elem & middle). Plenty of single family home rentals in your price range. It's possibe there might be a small stable nearby.

[lindquist22]

Thanks so much, Riveree, for your thoughtful response.

To answer your questions:
1. longer drive to stables vs. shopping/restaurants
2. I work from home, so commute won't be an issue

I did do a search on Home Rentals, Homes for Rent, Apartments, Houses for Rent, and Rental Homes (now rentals.com), Craigslist and realtor.com for Sutton Lakes (which sounds what we'd be looking for for now) but can't really find many home rentals.

What is the local newspaper called - perhaps I can check the classifieds as well.

In the more charming neighborhoods you mention, do you think there might be home rentals that have a pool in my price range? If so, can you recommend some communities.

Thanks again.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by lindquist22

Thanks so much, Riveree, for your thoughtful response.

To answer your questions:
1. longer drive to stables vs. shopping/restaurants
2. I work from home, so commute won't be an issue

I did do a search on Home Rentals, Homes for Rent, Apartments, Houses for Rent, and Rental Homes (now rentals.com), Craigslist and realtor.com for Sutton Lakes (which sounds what we'd be looking for for now) but can't really find many home rentals.

What is the local newspaper called - perhaps I can check the classifieds as well.

In the more charming neighborhoods you mention, do you think there might be home rentals that have a pool in my price range? If so, can you recommend some communities.

Thanks again.

You're welcome .

I just did a search now on realtor.com with these parameters:

32246
$1400-$1800
3 bedroom, 2 bath minimum

And these are the two pages I came up with:

http://rentals.realtor.com/rentals/s...4&bth=4&typ=40

There are some listings for Sutton Lakes, The Woods (also nice) & Hawkins Cove (nice, but there are some road noise issues in some parts of the neighborhood, and there may not be a community pool).

The local paper is the Florida Times Union.

The established, older neighborhoods may have rentals with pools (but plenty of houses in Jax have no pool at all). Here are some zips to start with:

32207: San Marco
32217: San Jose
32225: Fort Caroline
32257: Beauclerc/Mandarin

[Buffy123]

lots of homes on the edge of the city on the west side of jax with horses. nice new homes going up on the west side heading out on argyle forest rd. sorry about the education thing, but jax is not known for good education. i personally i like orlando better for living but jax cost of living is a lot cheaper than orlando making it a good choice.

[FloridaNewbie]

We saw several rentals available in the Julington Creek area and they do have a great community pool area. Julington Creek Plantation -- Home... Zip would be 32259

[samchatt]

hi samchatt here,
i am a south east london (UK) native and i've been offered at job at Mercedes-Benz in Jacksonville and i would like to know some areas to live i have been looking on a website at houses not sure if you guys have heard it but its mercedes houses and would like to know what areas are rough if any and where in jacksonville is the best place to bring up a family?

[riveree]

Originally Posted by samchatt

hi samchatt here,
i am a south east london (UK) native and i've been offered at job at Mercedes-Benz in Jacksonville and i would like to know some areas to live i have been looking on a website at houses not sure if you guys have heard it but its mercedes houses and would like to know what areas are rough if any and where in jacksonville is the best place to bring up a family?

Hi Samchatt,

You might want to start a seperate thread of your own so we don't distract from this thread of Lindquist's, but I'll try to answer briefly.

If you will be working for Mercedes at their Western Way location, you'd be working on the Southside of the city and that would be a great place to live as well. In the immediate area of Mercedes on Western Way is primarily apartments, but you could go out in any direction from there and find a nice neighborhood for your family.

I'd suggest starting a thread with the particulars you're looking for: type of house, type of neighborhood, what you'd like nearby (the beach? shopping?), and - most importantly - your budget. With this information, you can get focused feedback .

[lindquist22]

Thanks to all of you for your replies and suggestions. I will check it all out over the next couple of days.

I have an education question. When I read the stats on greatschools.net and see that a school in Jacksonville achieved around 97% in reading, math and writing - doesn't that 97% mean that 97% of all of the children of that school achieved the markers set (I imagine by "no child left behind") by the state? I've found quite a few schools in the Jacksonville area that seem to have much higher scores than where I live, supposedly in one of the best school areas in the Orlando area - Windermere.

I'm trying to figure out how much I can depend on that % number per school to see if it's really achieving that almost all of their students can read, do math and write?

Thanks in advance.

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by samchatt

hi samchatt here,
i am a south east london (UK) native and i've been offered at job at Mercedes-Benz in Jacksonville and i would like to know some areas to live i have been looking on a website at houses not sure if you guys have heard it but its mercedes houses and would like to know what areas are rough if any and where in jacksonville is the best place to bring up a family?

Riveree made a great suggestion in starting another thread. Mercedes-Benz is in the process of constructing a second dealership on Blanding Blvd on the Westside of Jax about 5 blocks north of Collins Rd across from the Lincoln Mercury dealership. I passed by there on Monday and they're about a couple of months away from completion. It looks like it's going to be nice. Southside is a good location to raise a family with multiple living options over there.

I know the Blanding Blvd Rd area near the second dealership better so I'll tell you what's back there. In the area where they're building the second dealership, there are some nice subdivisions down Collins Rd across I-295 as well as about 3 gated apt complexes on Collins Rd near Blanding Blvd that have been built within the last 3 years. There are some townhomes back there are well that are fairly new on the golf course. They also have finished building some new homes on that same golf course. In that same vincinity off of Collins Rd near the golf course are a couple of new subdivisions that have brick homes. Across from the new dealership is another new apt complex that is gated as well and is about 3 years old. Down the road on Blanding is another apt complex that is relatively new, about a year old and it is gated as well. If you want to move into Clay, there are some communities on Argyle Forrest Rd as well as Oakleaf Community which is also off of Argyle.

So as always, it'll depend on the location that you'll be working at but you will have alot of options.