Moving from AZ to FL. Tips??? (Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach: real estate, lease, crimes)

[jae_lynn04]

My husband just got a pretty good job offer in Jacksonville. We live in AZ. We are in our mid 30's with three kids and two dogs. I am nervous about the move! I have only lived in AZ. Where should we move to in Jacksonville??? It seems HUGE. We would rent the first year and lease out our home in AZ. I would like to be kinda close to the beach. I am worried about the schools in FL. Not like schools in AZ are great but still. I don't want to go from a mediocre school system to a terrible one.

He also has a offer in Denver, CO.

Which one??? What to do?

Thank you!

[judeK]

Originally Posted by jae_lynn04

He also has a offer in Denver, CO.

Which one??? What to do?

Thank you!

That's up to you ...
If you like drastic seasonal changes in the weather (90 degrees of heat in the summer to 10 feet of snow in the winter) go with Denver.
If you lean more towards mild seasonal changes come to Jacksonville.

[SmtSF]

I have a lot of family in Tucson, so I can compare Tucson and Jax, if that helps. I think that Jacksonville (the St. Johns County area in particular) is a lot like Tucson, but with a beach. It's hot in the summer, which is no different from Arizona, except that it's also humid. And that humidity is tough! You get used to it. Besides, you've got the beach here and that makes up for the heat. You can go swimming in the early evening and the ocean water is 80 degrees--it feels fabulous. And when fall and spring come, you totally forget how bad the humidity was because it's beautiful. The winters here are generally cooler than Tucson. Some days you can wear shorts, lots of days you'll be wearing a sweater. Sometimes even a coat!

Like Tucson, JAX has a few colleges, sports teams, and a spread-out feel. There are lots of new developments (especially in St. Johns County) and sometimes it feels like the city sustains itself on new construction. So you worry about the next bust. New housing here is more expensive than Tucson, but similar to Gilbert/Phoenix.

Florida schools cap elementary class sizes at 18. I think it goes up to 22 when you hit a higher grade (5th or 6th?). This is a real advantage in education b/c no matter how great the teacher, when you've got 28 kids in a class, kids fall through the cracks. Because of the small class size, schools themselves can be very big. 1,000 kids in a school, 7 kindergarten classes, etc. This can be intimidating in the beginning, but the kids adjust and tend to make lots of friends.

The schools in Jacksonville (Duval County) have a bad reputation, but there are actually several good schools, you just have to look (especially around the San Pablo area, San Marco area, and the beaches). Jax has two high schools that are nationally ranked, but they are magnet schools and there's an application/lottery/rigamarole you need to get through.

St. Johns county has excellent schools. It's probably one of the top three reasons people move to St. Johns. My children enjoy Spanish, art, PE, gardening, science lab, and music as part of their general curriculum. The schools can't seem to keep up with the growing population, so there are trailers on the campuses. It's not ideal, but it's a trade-off. Children in the neighborhood spend their after dinner hours playing outside. There are parks, soccer leagues, dance, horseback riding, baseball, lego robotics, swim team -- all sorts of kid-oriented activities.

What sets Jacksonville apart from any other place I have ever lived is how friendly people are. Genuine, open, neighborly. The day we moved into our house, neighbors came out to ask if they could help us move furniture/boxes. Later in the month, our street threw a block party, so we got to meet all of our neighbors. Even at the grocery store or the tire center, I am greeted by genuine people and made to feel welcome. At the park, people stop to chat. It's a great feeling, because it makes me feel like I'm truly part of a community.

As for neighborhoods, in Duval County, Mandarin is an excellent neighborhood with a variety of housing stock. It's older, so there are a lot of old growth trees and it feels nice and green. It reminds me of the area around Park Mall in Tucson (if you know that area). It can be congested, but nowhere near Phoenix level congestion.

San Marco/Riverside are popular areas because they are full of older homes with character and walkable (though small) downtowns. Similar to neighborhoods near the U of A.

The beach in Duval county areas are their own personality, unique and not like anything in AZ, because, well, they're beach areas! Jacksonville Beach is a mix of restaurants, bars and houses; Neptune Beach has more of a hippie vibe; Atlantic Beach is the rich big sister who goes to pilates.

Ponte Vedra Beach is upscale, but doesn't have much personality. Some of the housing stock is beautiful, and a lot of it is 80's stucco with white tiled floors. It's no charming--your shopping consists of grocery stores and strip malls, but it's very safe. The schools are St. Johns County and therefore excellent. There is not a lot of public access to the beach, which can be annoying, but if you drive a little south, you can usually find it.

Durbin Crossing, Julington Creek, Nocatee and Palencia are new-ish developments and there is that certain cookie-cutter feel. But the schools are St. Johns schools, which means they're generally excellent, and the neighborhoods have heaps of amenities (pool, gym, etc) and the pools are something to brag about. Huge, like a resort, especially the pool amenities at Nocatee. Palencia has a golf course. There are other neighborhoods, both developed (St. John's Golf) and developing (Shearwater) and it does feel like this area is growing too rapidly and doesn't have the infrastructure in place for that growth (more schools, more schools, more schools).

Like Tucson, Jacksonville is very, very, very spread out so part of where you live will depend on how long you're willing to commute. Also like Tucson, it feels like there aren't a lot of employers here, so you want to make sure your job is secure. It can be harder to find a new job here (depending on your industry, of course), then in places like Denver or Phoenix.

I don't know Denver well, but I do know that other members of this board have specifically moved to Jacksonville to get away from Denver. You might search SnuffyBears postings, or PM her.

Good luck with your decision and your big move!

[snuffybear]

LOL- great post although I'm not from Denver

The schools in St. Johns County are excellent.

[SmtSF]

Oh oops, sorry Snuffybear! I don't know where i got that idea--maybe it's the "bear"? It makes me think of snow and snow makes me think of Colorado.

[SaintCabbage]

I've been to Tucson and would choose JAX 100 times out of 100, but I'm an East Coast guy. The red rock desert thing is not for me. Lush green beach scene is much nicer, but it's all subjective. JAX (Duval county) has a bad reputation for schools and crimes, but it's because it covers such a large land mass. There are plenty of areas in Duval that are upscale and nice, albeit a bit older. Saint Johns county is just to the south of Duval and the schools couldn't be rated higher. Check out greatschools.org and search for Saint Johns county. Very safe, affordable (although rising rapidly), and nice. The growth around here in the last couple of years is scary, our secret it out!!

[projectmaximus]

SmtSF gave a great description and comparison. I also don't know much about Denver (or AZ really) but that should paint a detailed and accurate picture for you about Jax.

[Cowspotdog]

We just moved here from Arkansas and we are totally loving it - the weather, the people are just so much friendlier here, the beaches are wonderful and so are the parks (most of which are free to use) During the day is relatively easy to get around with mostly light traffic - rush hours in the morning and evenings can be heavy going and weekends near the beaches but the rest of the time it is awesome.

As for finding a house - do yourself a list - what do you want and need. For us, we wanted to be close to dog friendly parks and beaches, have a good selection of shopping that was easy to get too, a shady quiet neighborhood and to have sidewalks I could go walking places and for it to be safe. We also wanted something that was within 20 minutes of my husbands work. We found exactly what we were looking for and it wasn't in any of the places most people recommend.

One thing I would suggest is to get a real estate agent to help you - give them the criteria and let them do all the searching for you - be very specific on your price point and what you are willing to pay in rent, what areas you want to live and what size house you need - number of bedrooms etc - and tell them quite clearly not to show you things you can't afford. They will also be able to find you areas that have the better schools. I would also set yourself a limit on how many houses you see as it can get over whelming and confusing if you see to many. I know that can be hard but if you see too many they just all blur together.

We were so lucky we found a little house to rent that had just been flipped and had brand new kitchen, bathrooms and flooring throughout. It has the perfect sized garden for our dogs and is the prettiest little neighborhood. We used Federation Management Group and yes - they do make you jump through hoops to be able to rent with them but they also give you one months free rent when you sign up. You can see their listings here Browse Available Properties

[Vinny536]

What part of Az? I lived in Chandler, Maricopa and Ahwatukee near phoenix for a while. I haven't relocated to Jacksonville yet, but i've visited a few times and REALLY like the area.

I really felt the area around the Mayo clinic felt a lot like everything good in Chandler/Gilbert plus water access and thick vegetation. For us that's where we want to end up.

I prefer humid heat over arizona heat. I enjoy the summers here in coastal south east north carolina, I hated the long hot summers in PHX.

[Giants6]

Since the poms poms are out in this thread (most of the positive comments I agree with BTW), here are things I think are some of the negatives.

1. Lack of a vibrant downtown.
2. One major sports team that plays 8...no wait...7 home games a year.
3. Zero casino gaming.
4. An airport with few non stop destinations. Get ready to spend a lot of time in the apocalypse called Atlanta Hartsfield.
5. Horrendous public transportation
6. Transient - we've lived here a few years I can't tell you how many families we've met in that short time who have moved away already. Kids will cycle through friends like they do shoes.
7. School rezonings. it happens a lot, so don't get too attached to your kiddies elementary school.
8. "NO STATE INCOME TAX". Don't expect a windfall here. You'll give all those savings back in the form of low wages, extra fuel costs (the city is spread out big time), and high auto premiums.
9. Weird weird people. I think FLORIDA kind of gets a bad rap for this, but to an extent there is some truth to this. Read a neighborhood community forum, hit up a Jacksonville Suns game, or sit at the food court at the Orange park mall and/or the Avenues and look around. It's a tad depressing.
10. Can't think of anything else. This list isn't so bad. Cmon down, JAX is a great place to live! I'm just a whiner.