St. Augustine west of downtown, east of 95 (Jacksonville, Miami: houses, per square foot)

[silvertreefrog71]

Well now isn't this the regular debate?

Facts are:

Saint Augustine is not as segregated as it was, say, ten years ago.
Yes, King street and about half of the downtown area is more than prodominitly black. Yes, these areas are teeming with the majority of our crime. However, the crime doesn't end there. Overall the crime here is not that bad.

The downtown area is beautiful and has alot of really neat shops. To live downtown you need to be prepared to spend alot for the home as well as yearly taxes. The property taxes are the highest in the downtown area.

Jacksonville is about 25 to 40 minutes from here depending on which side of town you are in.

The North side of town is mostly older homes/neighborhoods and mobile homes. There is a nice fairly new golf community off fo SR16 between 95 and US1/Ponce DeLeon Blvd.

There is alot of construction happening here. Jacksonville and saint augustine are slowly merging into one. If you are looking for a moderate neighborhood with decent prices and crime levels look at "The South".

I don't know your price range, but the nicest place between here and Jax is World Golf Village, located off of 95 on World Golf Drive. However, the houses are very expensive.

Also, keep in mind that while the houses range generally between 200,000 and 400,000 in Saint Augustine, the economy stinks! Jobs are scarce and don't pay well. Our hospital is one of the worst I've ever been in as far as care goes. And, the new bumper sticker motto is "A quiant drinking village with a fishing problem". The "to do" list around here pretty much consists of :

1. Fish
2. Drink at a local bar downtown
3. Bowling at the local alley
4. Movies at our "mall" theater
5. the occasional festival ( Rythem & Ribs and the Indian Pow-wow)

Good luck.

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by LM1

to speak of these mythical black areas that are clean, crime free and safe; yet as someone who has traveled 47 of the 50 states and lived in 9 of them, I can say that I have yet to encounter such an area.

Just this sentence alone is so indicative, so revealing...WOW!

My only hope is that people like the original poster who happen to read comments like the above quote will not get the impression that ALL of Northeast Florida is still infested with blind race haters after all these years.

[LM1]

Originally Posted by silvertreefrog71

Well now isn't this the regular debate?

Facts are:

Saint Augustine is not as segregated as it was, say, ten years ago.
Yes, King street and about half of the downtown area is more than prodominitly black. Yes, these areas are teeming with the majority of our crime. However, the crime doesn't end there. Overall the crime here is not that bad.

The downtown area is beautiful and has alot of really neat shops. To live downtown you need to be prepared to spend alot for the home as well as yearly taxes. The property taxes are the highest in the downtown area.

Jacksonville is about 25 to 40 minutes from here depending on which side of town you are in.

The North side of town is mostly older homes/neighborhoods and mobile homes. There is a nice fairly new golf community off fo SR16 between 95 and US1/Ponce DeLeon Blvd.

There is alot of construction happening here. Jacksonville and saint augustine are slowly merging into one. If you are looking for a moderate neighborhood with decent prices and crime levels look at "The South".

I don't know your price range, but the nicest place between here and Jax is World Golf Village, located off of 95 on World Golf Drive. However, the houses are very expensive.

Also, keep in mind that while the houses range generally between 200,000 and 400,000 in Saint Augustine, the economy stinks! Jobs are scarce and don't pay well. Our hospital is one of the worst I've ever been in as far as care goes. And, the new bumper sticker motto is "A quiant drinking village with a fishing problem". The "to do" list around here pretty much consists of :

1. Fish
2. Drink at a local bar downtown
3. Bowling at the local alley
4. Movies at our "mall" theater
5. the occasional festival ( Rythem & Ribs and the Indian Pow-wow)

Good luck.

Pretty much a 100% accurate post (except for the "drinking village" bumper sticker being "new". That dumb thing has been around for near a decade )

[LM1]

Originally Posted by cricketfan

Just this sentence alone is so indicative, so revealing...WOW!

My only hope is that people like the original poster who happen to read comments like the above quote will not get the impression that ALL of Northeast Florida is still infested with blind race haters after all these years.

Yeah. OK.
Kumbaya.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by silvertreefrog71

There is alot of construction happening here. Jacksonville and saint augustine are slowly merging into one. If you are looking for a moderate neighborhood with decent prices and crime levels look at "The South".

I second "The South" as a nice neighborhood. I would add to it "The Shores", which is 'right next door' to "The South". Both are big, established, solid middle class neighborhoods with well priced, good-sized homes.

"The Shores" has a clubhouse, pool, park on the Intracoastal Waterway, nature trails, etc. - it's worth a look .

But as mentioned previously, for work you'd most likely be heading to Jacksonville and this part of St. Aug, though very nice, will be a long commute.

[LM1]

There was actually a lot of speculative money put into both the shores and the south (for older, established homes) and right now, the selling prices of most all of them are bearing a pretty substantial discount over what they were 2 years ago. (You can buy for $150 today what was $199 two years ago)

The Shores/South is a very nice area, with a slight edge of 'niceness' going to the South, but not by much.

The Shores was St. Augustines first "cookie cutter" community when they first ran out of land around the historic district. Before the Shores, "St. Augustine" was almost entirely defined by Anastasia Island and the Historic District (back when St. George Street was actually the center of town commerce- it had auto parts stores, grocers, etc instead of T Shirt Shops, trinket stores and Post Card peddlers that occupy it today.. Back when you could still drive on it)

IMO, you would be fine buying in the Shores or the South. If I were buying in St. Aug and looking for the $175-$300 range, I would unquestionably look there first.

Also, keep an eye out on St. Augustine Beach.
St. Aug Beach and the Historic District are the two 'natural' upper-tier communities of St. Augustine (with World Golf Village being the third 'unnatural' upper tier community) with the difference being, there are still a lot of modest homes in the St. Aug Beach area that offer killer location without paying a gross premium for extreme amounts of square footage.

You're not going to find anything cheap in St. Aug Beach within "listening distance" to the ocean, but there are a lot of very good prospects there. I am extremely, extremely bullish on St. Aug Beach over the long term. It offers everything that other FL seaside communities offer at 1/3rd the price.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by LM1

There was actually a lot of speculative money put into both the shores and the south (for older, established homes) and right now, the selling prices of most all of them are bearing a pretty substantial discount over what they were 2 years ago. (You can buy for $150 today what was $199 two years ago)

The Shores/South is a very nice area, with a slight edge of 'niceness' going to the South, but not by much.

The Shores was St. Augustines first "cookie cutter" community when they first ran out of land around the historic district. Before the Shores, "St. Augustine" was almost entirely defined by Anastasia Island and the Historic District (back when St. George Street was actually the center of town commerce- it had auto parts stores, grocers, etc instead of T Shirt Shops, trinket stores and Post Card peddlers that occupy it today.. Back when you could still drive on it)

IMO, you would be fine buying in the Shores or the South. If I were buying in St. Aug and looking for the $175-$300 range, I would unquestionably look there first.

Also, keep an eye out on St. Augustine Beach.
St. Aug Beach and the Historic District are the two 'natural' upper-tier communities of St. Augustine (with World Golf Village being the third 'unnatural' upper tier community) with the difference being, there are still a lot of modest homes in the St. Aug Beach area that offer killer location without paying a gross premium for extreme amounts of square footage.

You're not going to find anything cheap in St. Aug Beach within "listening distance" to the ocean, but there are a lot of very good prospects there. I am extremely, extremely bullish on St. Aug Beach over the long term. It offers everything that other FL seaside communities offer at 1/3rd the price.

Totally agree with all of what you said ! And, OP, from The Shores or The South, you have only a 15 or so minute drive to the beach door-to-door !

[LM1]

Yeah, also, keep in mind that both the Shores and the South have ICW properties.
They're going to be very, very expensive but you aren't that far from water. If you own a boat, you might want to keep in mind that the Shores has (had?) a public launch.

[tamcim72]

check out local.live.com its msn's version of google earth and I recently checked my neighborhood and the picture is about 1 1/2 years old ( my roof is on but the landscaping wasn't in) it will give you a more updated look of west of 95 (WGV area).

Plus I love the "birds eye view" which isn't available for all locations but it's really cool.

[clouds]

some of the replies in this post are disturbing and way overgeneralized....wow....