whole family looking for a fresh start (Jacksonville: apartment, condos)

[curiousLisa]

I am a single mom in her forties, I have two aduldt children and a6 yr old ,yes you read that correctly. I now reside in central Florida in a area of almost all retirees. In fact, no one belongs to my church that is under 70. Since I am a single mom and have to support my family totally on my own, I have decided to go back to school. I want to go to J. U.,and take radiology. I thought that the medical field was best for job security, and benefits. We have had some very hard years, we have suffered through a very expensive and messy divorce. My husband abused the children, and is now awaiting trial. We are looking to start off fresh and try and put all the pain behind us. My oldest daughter is almost totally blind, so she and her brother are going to get an apartment together. I want to get atownhome for me and my little girl,that way I won't have to worry about yard or maintenance while attending school. Too much time has been spent away from her already. I have had to worked twice as hard to support us and pay legal bills. Please, help us out, living here is not any good for any of us. Jacksonville is so much larger, and has a large spectrum of ages. I need a good place that will be safe, with a good school. I will be commutiing to school and need to be fairly close to university so that I am not wasting time commuting (15-20 mins. Ok) or closer. but again I am in my 40's. Don't want to be around nieghborhoods of all first time college students. Would be nice to meet some people in my age group also. My adult kids need to be near public transportation due to the fact that my daughter can't drive, and I don't want to be too far from her either incase she needs me. You have all been so helpful with others, please give me a good starting point. We are so looking forward to our new life.

[riveree]

Hi again Lisa ,

With your daughter's blindness, the public transportation might be the biggest factor.

Public transportation is no better in Jax than most other Florida cities....in other words, not very good. The further out you go from the city center, the worse your public transportation options get here. In order to rely on public transportation here, you need to live near the city center and within walking distance of a major roadway. The catch 22 is that most of these 'first ring' neighborhoods are in high demand and tend to be more expensive than many other parts of Jax .

If public transportation was not an issue, then finding a great neighborhood near UNF is easy - there are pleny of them in all different price ranges (condos, townhomes - whatever you'd want - check zip 32246 & 32224 to be nearest UNF).

That's not to say there is no public transportation out near UNF - there is, of course. You could choose to live near Beach Blvd or St. John's Bluff Road to make use of it, for example.

It's also not to say you can't choose to live near the city center and commute to school, but your commute will be more like 25-30 minutes from the river neighborhoods to UNF (southside river neighborhoods).

So my best guess would be a compromise in one direction or the other (maybe a longer commute for you?).