Moving to Jacksonville, looking for best family neighborhoods (Atlantic Beach, Orange Park: apartment, for rent)

[rubyred_hkr]

Hi,

We are moving to Jacksonville at the end of the year. My husband will be working at the Naval Air Station and would prefer a commute no longer than 35 min. We have two small children, one who will beginning preschool while we are there - so a good preschool would be great. I would like to live in a place that is safe, has a grocery store and shops close and nice sidewalk paths and parks to take the kids. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom house that will have a small yard for our son. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

PS how much does electricity cost during the hot months in Jacksonville?

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by rubyred_hkr

Hi,

We are moving to Jacksonville at the end of the year. My husband will be working at the Naval Air Station and would prefer a commute no longer than 35 min. We have two small children, one who will beginning preschool while we are there - so a good preschool would be great. I would like to live in a place that is safe, has a grocery store and shops close and nice sidewalk paths and parks to take the kids. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom house that will have a small yard for our son. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

PS how much does electricity cost during the hot months in Jacksonville?

How much are you looking to spend mortgage wise or in monthly rent? As that will determine where people will recommend that you can afford to live.

Without knowing any specifics, The historic Riverside/Avondale area of Jacksonville comes to mind, about 30 minutes to NAS during rush hour and a nice Publix grocery and plenty of shops and restaurants in the area and more parks than most anywhere else on the First Coast of Florida.

Electrical cost are proportionate to how cool you want to stay! The colder you set the thermostat the more its going to cost.

[fsu813]

Originally Posted by rubyred_hkr

Hi,

We are moving to Jacksonville at the end of the year. My husband will be working at the Naval Air Station and would prefer a commute no longer than 35 min. We have two small children, one who will beginning preschool while we are there - so a good preschool would be great. I would like to live in a place that is safe, has a grocery store and shops close and nice sidewalk paths and parks to take the kids. We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom house that will have a small yard for our son. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

PS how much does electricity cost during the hot months in Jacksonville?

Beleive it or not, sidewalks and walable neighborhoods are a scarcity in Jax.

There's really only 1 neighborhood in all of Jacksonville that has:

- Walkable/bikeable sidewalks
- A grocery store
- Decent preschools
- Parks to walk to
- Shops to walk to

And that's the Riverside & Avondale historic district, especially the Riverside half of that.

www.riverside-avondale.com
Residents already know how great Jacksonville's Riverside-Avondale area is | jacksonville.com

Crime-wise, it's ok. Not bad, but not Pollyanna-ish either.

Other areas that have most of what you list are:
San Marco www.mysanmarco.com
Springfield historic district www.myspringfield.org
Atlantic Beach The Atlantic Beach Official Website!
Murray Hill http://murrayhillneighbors.com/wp/

All besides Atlantic Beach won't be that far, 20 min or less without traffic, 30 minutes with traffic.

[rubyred_hkr]

Thank you for the information! We are looking to spend up to $1,500/month on rent. What are the safest areas in Jacksonville and what areas should you steer clear of?

[fsu813]

The "safest" area of Jacksonville will be way out in the suburbs in a gated community somewhere. Home schooled children. Send a nanny out for errands and groceries. Security cameras on the outside of the house. Barbwire fence. Land mines preventing anyone from walking to your house/apartment. Security guard. Live in ER doctor.

I kid, but my point is as long as your not in a bad area and don't particpate in drug acticity, you don't have anything unsual to worry about.

"Safe" and "Safest" are pretty subjective. Ie, Hodges Blvd, a stereotypical "safe" area has had some very significant unsafe events recently. A couple murders, drive by, and drug house explosion.
The only area of Jax that you can blankently say is bad would be the general Northwest quadrant of Jax. Every other large swath of area will have good, skethcy, and in between.

[rubyred_hkr]

Thanks for the info. I am originally from Chicago area, and I understand that there really are no safe places (b/c some places are targeted b/c they are "safe"), but sometimes there are definitely places to avoid. Or some areas are good during the daytime but you should not be out walking solo in the evening. It sounds like Riverside and Avondale are our best bet. How pricey is it in that area? And what is the area around the base like?

[Jacqueline27]

We live in a neighborhood called Eagle Harbor, it's in an area called Fleming Island which is southern Orange Park. There is EVERYTHING here, multiple grocery stores, doctor's offices, daycares, the school Fleming Island Elementary is rated very high. It might be tight to find a house for rent for $1500 although it's certainly not impossible, you could probably find a house, condo/townhome in Fleming Island for that price. NAS Jax is maybe 8-10 miles (guessing) I'm not going to lie, HWY 17 traffic can be a bit of a nightmare but for what this area has to offer and the safety of it, I would definitely check it out.