Are there any large lakes in the Jacksonville area w/lakefront homes? (Orlando: for sale, real estate)

[Sherri L]

Hi,
Guess the title says it all
When doing a web search the sites I *did* find were not very informative.

If anyone can let me know if there are any and post the name of a few I would greatly appreciate it

Thank you!

[EricBoyd]

What is your definition of "large lake"? Many lakes in our area are man-made and are a result of wetland mitigation for land development. They are generally small (less than a few acres) and not navigable, except for paddleboats or canoes where allowed by HOA rules.

[Robyn55]

Well - there are places like Doctors Lake (in Clay County). But they're not true lakes. Just bodies of water off the St. Johns River that are shaped like lakes.

There are parts of Florida with real lakes - some are perhaps an hour from Jacksonville. What are you looking for? And why do you want a lake? With our on and off droughts in recent years in Florida - many lakes have during various years turned into mud holes.

Note that many small "lakes" here are simply man made built rain run-off retention ponds. Robyn

[Sherri L]

Hi,
Thank you for the replies

Generally, lakefront property is less expensive in coastal areas than riverfront so cost is a big factor.

Having a private dock has been a wish of ours for years...(We purchased 7 acres ag exempt property in Central TX years ago before the drought dried up the lake and we are now searching for the elusive lake property in a different state).

We are just in the research phase now

Also, finding smaller towns (40-80K population) with a lake is appealing to us, but having a larger (over 500,000 population) within a 40-60 minute drive is important.

I realize that just over 28% of our country is suffering from drought to one degree or another, but TX has been too sever for *us* for years now.

I miss the ocean terrible but my husband loves lakes, so a compromise is in order LOL
Both worlds is what we are searching for

Thank you

[madcapmagishion]

Lake Asbury(a community) between Middleburg and Orange Park about 30 minutes south of Jacksonville. Theres also a couple of lakes over in Lake City that have homes on them.(Lake Jeffery, Lake Harris and Alligator Lake) And lets not forget Kingsley Lake 1 hr south of Jacksonville and Lake Brooklyn and Lake Geneva 1.5 hrs south of Jacksonville all with homes around them.

[mawipafl]

In northeast Florida a search for "lakefront" property will generally give you frontage on man-made lakes since as others have said, we don't have as many lakes as, say, the Orlando area has. But we do have quite a few rivers and creeks that will offer homes with docks. Off the top of my head I can think of the Ortega River, Trout River, Governors Creek, Black Creek, Julington Creek -- and there are many more including the Intracoastal Waterway.

There's probably an easier way to search, but you could try a two-step process: 1) open a website showing a map of Jacksonville with zip codes and zero in on the zip codes that contain rivers and creeks. ex. //www.city-data.com/zipmaps/Jac...e-Florida.html

Then 2) open a real estate website and plug in the zip code to see what's for sale narrowing your search for waterfront.

[Caladium]

Are there problems with the man made lakes in JAX? Up my way homes on man made lakes are considered quite desirable. Unless you're talking about small circular ponds--I've seen a few of those at apartment complexes and I could see how that might not be as desirable. On the other hand, if a developer builds a lake that's fairly big, irregularly shaped, and includes side branches and other interesting features it's just as pretty as a natural lake, IMO.

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Are there problems with the man made lakes in JAX? Up my way homes on man made lakes are considered quite desirable. Unless you're talking about small circular ponds--I've seen a few of those at apartment complexes and I could see how that might not be as desirable. On the other hand, if a developer builds a lake that's fairly big, irregularly shaped, and includes side branches and other interesting features it's just as pretty as a natural lake, IMO.

In my opinion, absolutely not a problem at all and is, for some, very desirable. It's only a "problem" if the waterfront desired goes beyond the aesthetics, meaning a person wants water access for a boat.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Are there problems with the man made lakes in JAX? Up my way homes on man made lakes are considered quite desirable. Unless you're talking about small circular ponds--I've seen a few of those at apartment complexes and I could see how that might not be as desirable. On the other hand, if a developer builds a lake that's fairly big, irregularly shaped, and includes side branches and other interesting features it's just as pretty as a natural lake, IMO.

I don't know of any builders/developers down here that build large man made to look like natural lakes, just some retention ponds which they are required to build. Some areas have some rather large spring fed borrow pits left over from when the interstates were built back in the 50's and 60's. And a couple of golf courses also have nice lakefront settings, Deerwood and Hidden Hills come to mind. But I believe they are both built out, as are most of the golf properties here.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by madcapmagishion

I don't know of any builders/developers down here that build large man made to look like natural lakes, just some retention ponds which they are required to build.

Ah, gotcha. Yes, that's not as desirable (although one nice thing is they won't flood in a bad storm, like a natural pond can).