JAX questions - namely neighborhoods, schools, taxes (Jacksonville, St. Augustine: HOA, houses)

[thesnowapefamily]

Hello - looking into neighborhoods/towns near JAX with good schools, family-oriented neighborhoods and reasonable taxes (approx $3k annually). Does this even exist? Mostly like St. Johns County based on what I've read on this forum for schools, but open to learning more about other locations.

TIA - in the starting phases of a possible move.

[mawipafl]

Absolutely does exist, all of those things on your wish list. Your best bet is to search-n-surf the Jacksonville forum - yes, it will mean a little bit of time, but all of your questions will be answered. You can find all that you're hoping for all over the First Coast, and I'd first choose an area within a decent commute time, and then start whittling down your choices.

[fsu813]

Originally Posted by thesnowapefamily

Hello - looking into neighborhoods/towns near JAX with good schools, family-oriented neighborhoods and reasonable taxes (approx $3k annually). Does this even exist? Mostly like St. Johns County based on what I've read on this forum for schools, but open to learning more about other locations.

TIA - in the starting phases of a possible move.

There's MANY neighborhoods in Jax that have all that.

Too many to name.

- What's you budget?

- How large of a space do you need?

- What do you want to be close to?

- Any others perks you'd like or important characteristics of where you live?

[thesnowapefamily]

Originally Posted by fsu813

There's MANY neighborhoods in Jax that have all that.

Too many to name.

- What's you budget?

- How large of a space do you need?

- What do you want to be close to?

- Any others perks you'd like or important characteristics of where you live?

Thanks - to answer your questions: approx 2500 sq foot home, 4/2, bonus room a plus, ranch, two car garage, close enough to shopping, recreation, and possibly the water (but not on it, no beach living). Need good public school for child. looking to spend between 225k-275k

[mawipafl]

Next question: do you have any idea where the job location would be? The St. Johns River could be a factor (namely, having to cross any of the 7 bridges to commute). Although it's not an utter nightmare to live on one side of the river and work on the other side, traffic can be snarly. But Jacksonville does offer a number of great areas that would fit your criteria so that home and job could be on the same side.

[thesnowapefamily]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Next question: do you have any idea where the job location would be? The St. Johns River could be a factor (namely, having to cross any of the 7 bridges to commute). Although it's not an utter nightmare to live on one side of the river and work on the other side, traffic can be snarly. But Jacksonville does offer a number of great areas that would fit your criteria so that home and job could be on the same side.

Believe it or not, the job location isn't a factor. It's a good problem to have, right?

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by thesnowapefamily

Believe it or not, the job location isn't a factor. It's a good problem to have, right?

Great problem to have :-) (I think?) Anyway, then the possibilities for location choice are endless.

With the word "snow" in your user name, does that mean you're somewhere up north? If so, one difference here is that there are two kinds of "neighborhoods": a smaller cluster of houses on a street or series of streets with no HOA (or a very limited HOA) OR medium-to-large master-planned communities with HOAs with varying association fees. Some of these communities have CDD fees (Community Development District). There are many, many master-planned communities, and each usually has some sort of amenities (recreation) "built in" such as pools, parks, sports fields, etc.

By shopping, if you mean the daily type such as grocery shopping that you want to be close to, that's also easy since there are plenty of grocery stores everywhere. If it's mall shopping that you want easy access to, then there's the Orange Park Mall, Avenues, St. Johns Town Center, Regency, River City Marketplace, St. Augustine outlet malls, and plenty of big box stores scattered all over the First Coast.

If wanting to be near the ocean (within a tolerable drive), then you could look in eastern Nassau County, eastern Duval, or eastern St. Johns. In many areas in any of these locales you can find 4/2 houses in your price range with taxes $3,000 +/-.

[dreamhometeamjax]

There are many possibilities! You just need a realtor to find the right house.

[kokonutty]

Originally Posted by dreamhometeamjax

There are many possibilities! You just need a realtor to find the right house.

Or just find one yourself.