Need some advice (Jacksonville, Westchester, Keystone: fit in, rental, crime)

[keico]

We are a large family

Three adults and four kids

Presently we live in New York City, the bronx. We actually live in a good neighborhood.

We visited Disney World for two weeks last year. My wife fell in love with florida and now we are talking about moving.

New York City is ok, but it is getting too expensive to live in. We are looking for a change of pace.

We have checked on Craigslist for house to rent that could fit into our budget. From what we found Jacksonville seems the best choice. We would be looking for a four bedroom house for rent (Maybe with option to buy).

Anyway like any parents we are concerned about neighborhood, schools, and hospitals.

We definately do not want to live in the city, but prefer to live outside the city, (Not to far away)

Oh also before I get to mention there has to be a Super Walmart that we can get to.

I myself spent about 6 years living in Virginia, so I kinda know what to expect.

Our main concern is to live in a safe neigborhood. Drug free, no gangs.

I am sure many people have asked for advice concerning where to live in Jacksonville. So please bear with us.

So what would you suggest. Which area outside the city would you suggest. Where a family can live in peace, have some privacy ( It would be nice to have some distance form neighboring houses)

Thanks in advance for all advice

[kramme]

I can give some advice for where to reside. The question is and I am sure it is personal, but if your a professional and persruing your career in Jacksonville I highly reccommend Ponte Vedra Beach. Very nice, upscale crime is low. Education is good but there will always be problems with schools or colleges. Although Ponte Vedra Beach is known to be expensive, but then again I do not know your earned income. If your heard of the TPC (golf tournament) then your in Ponte Vedra Beach. Good Luck

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by keico

We are a large family

Three adults and four kids

Presently we live in New York City, the bronx. We actually live in a good neighborhood.

We visited Disney World for two weeks last year. My wife fell in love with florida and now we are talking about moving.

New York City is ok, but it is getting too expensive to live in. We are looking for a change of pace.

We have checked on Craigslist for house to rent that could fit into our budget. From what we found Jacksonville seems the best choice. We would be looking for a four bedroom house for rent (Maybe with option to buy).

Anyway like any parents we are concerned about neighborhood, schools, and hospitals.

We definately do not want to live in the city, but prefer to live outside the city, (Not to far away)

Oh also before I get to mention there has to be a Super Walmart that we can get to.

I myself spent about 6 years living in Virginia, so I kinda know what to expect.

Our main concern is to live in a safe neigborhood. Drug free, no gangs.

I am sure many people have asked for advice concerning where to live in Jacksonville. So please bear with us.

So what would you suggest. Which area outside the city would you suggest. Where a family can live in peace, have some privacy ( It would be nice to have some distance form neighboring houses)

Thanks in advance for all advice

Outside of the City/Duval County would be Clay County, St Johns County and Nassau County. Parts of Nassau and Clay are probably going to be more cost effective than Northern St Johns County. Nassau is more rural and with Clay and St Johns you'll prolly be able to find a rental home much easier. Remember, Duval County is pretty big and as such you can live on the outer edges of Duval.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by keico

We definately do not want to live in the city, but prefer to live outside the city, (Not to far away)

You might want to clarify what you mean by "city". The vast majority of Jacksonville is suburban.

You can choose a suburban part of Jacksonville that has an urban feel, a typical suburban feel, or even a country-like feel and they will all be within the city lines.

All of Duval county is within the city lines (840 square miles - it's a BIG area). Our actual "Downtown" is quite small, so you can live just minutes outside of Downtown and be in the suburbs, you don't have to drive an hour away like you do in NY.

Here are some zips in Jax that are nice, convenient and family-friendly:

32225 - there are some nice big lots here that might be a good fit for you
32246
32224
32207
32217 - big lots here too, nice neighborhoods near the river
32256
32257 - some big lots here as well

I moved here from NYC (Manhattan) and my personal fave areas are 32207 & 32217 (currently living in 32246 which I like very much too).

[keico]

Well let me apologize first. I was not to clear on what I meant about outside of the city.

I have read through many post about Jacksonville and do not understand how the land is layed out.

My impression was that if you are going to live say in downtown Jacksonville then yes there would be problems as far as crime and what not.

When I say outside of the city I mean a part that you could call country or wilderness.

When you look out your window you don't see your neighbors. Meaning I want some land to seperate me from other neighbors.

I would prefer a long driveway. One that isnt too close to main road.

I am not sure if this is making any since. I am trying to describe what we are looking for to my best ability.

As far as our income you could say that we are retiring an should be having to survive on $3000-$3500 a month.

We were looking for a 4 bedroom house for about $1000 a month. We have seen plenty on craiglist.

Hope that answer some questions

[riveree]

Originally Posted by keico

Well let me apologize first. I was not to clear on what I meant about outside of the city.

I have read through many post about Jacksonville and do not understand how the land is layed out.

My impression was that if you are going to live say in downtown Jacksonville then yes there would be problems as far as crime and what not.

When I say outside of the city I mean a part that you could call country or wilderness.

When you look out your window you don't see your neighbors. Meaning I want some land to seperate me from other neighbors.

I would prefer a long driveway. One that isnt too close to main road.

I am not sure if this is making any since. I am trying to describe what we are looking for to my best ability.

As far as our income you could say that we are retiring an should be having to survive on $3000-$3500 a month.

We were looking for a 4 bedroom house for about $1000 a month. We have seen plenty on craiglist.

Hope that answer some questions

If you were looking for a home on a half-acre or even an acre then I'd say you can look inside of the city limits, but if you are looking for ACREAGE - you're best looking well outside of the city into the surrouding counties and beyond.

Be prepared - rural NorthEast Florida is not like Upstate New York. I'd live in the Catskills of New York, I would NOT live in rural Florida.

The zips I highlighted in my above post, 32225 (Fort Caroline), 32217 (San Jose), 32257 (Mandarin) have some homes with spacious lots. These are wonderful neighborhoods to live in. Of course, land costs and so these homes tend to be more money than on a typical smaller lot.

I understand not wanting to live downtown, but are you willing to live in Suburbia? Like I said earlier, you can have variations of Suburbia and still live "in civilization" here. But if it's real "country life" you're after, you're going to need to travel quite a distance out from the city to get that.

You could look into Deeper Clay county and Bradford county for some tiny, tiny towns ("one traffic light" towns) where you can still buy acreage at a decent price. Look to towns like Keystone Heights, Starke, etc. This would be my personal idea of a nightmare, but hey, different strokes for different folks .

For renting, a 4-bedroom house can be found to rent in Jacksonville fairly easily, but the ones in the decent areas tend to cost more along the lines of $1300, $1400, etc. $1000 out in the country areas should go pretty far though.

I think a visit to Jacksonville would be in order so you can see for yourself just how suburban it is (think "Westchester" and "Rockland County" ).