yet another family fleeing SoFla (Jacksonville, Orlando: how much, houses, neighborhoods) - Florida (FL) - City-Data Forum

sofloriduh · 09-22-2016, 12:42 PM

My husband and I both grew up in South Florida. We have been hating it for a while. We can't afford to buy in a good school zone down here and the overcrowding is getting terrible. People have gotten much ruder and self absorbed in the last 20 years. Our parents also grew up here and it has really changed for the worse.

We have been considering Jax metro. I stay at home right now but will be in HR when I go back to work. My husband does pool, spa, and fountain leak detection and repairs, so we are limited to areas with year round pools, hence not just GTFO out of Florida for good. We would need to live in a central location in the metro area. He is thinking he would work from Fernandina to Daytona, so what areas are worth looking into that are in the general centre of that area?

In South Florida - we prefer the east side of town (US1 is around a mile from A1A in this area) due to proximity to stores and more local dining options (not a fan of chain restaurants). The western part of town is more spread out and cookie cutter. Where we live now isn't exactly walkable, but we can get to pretty much any store within 10-20 minutes. We also like being close enough to the beach to just go for an hour long dip if the mood strikes. Are there many areas that fit this criteria? Our budget maxes out at 300 but I'm hoping to find something closer to 225. Am I dreaming?

Neither of us have spent much time in Jax. I do not think Palm Coast is what we are looking for, from what I have read about it on here.

For fun - we like rowing, ethnic and local cuisine, history, traveling...we are spoiled by cheap fares out of FLL/PBI. Would we have to plan on flying out of Orlando rather than the local airport?

We have one child who will be in school soon, and plan on one or two more.

projectmaximus · 09-22-2016, 05:19 PM

I can guarantee that your housing dollar will go much farther up here. Fernandina down to Daytona is a very long stretch so almost anywhere in Jax will be central. The East Arlington area is a newish, family suburban area that is close to the beach and close to any shopping needs you may have. Lots of suburban shopping strips making waves out there with new retail to the Jax market. Also convenient to the St Johns Town Center which is the shopping mecca of northeast FL. The caveat is that when I say suburban shopping and SJTC it is 99% chain. Which is really indicative of most of the Jax metro. The beaches and the urban core neighborhoods are gonna be the areas with a higher concentration of local establishments. These are also incidentally the more walkable environments.

Schools will be tricky. I think East Arlington isnt bad but I'm not sure. Duval County as a whole is very inconsistent and most people will stick to the outer counties like Clay to the SW (good schools overall), St Johns to the SE (#1 district in the state) and Nassau to the north (#2 district). Areas in East Arlington will offer nice older houses for under 250k...or really nice brand new town homes.

MCO in Orlando obviously has by far the most options in the region, but the JAX airport is very nice for a mid-tier city. It's very pretty, clean, and super easy to use, and the flight options are ok and getting better. Regarding cheap flights, we have a fair number of Jetblue and Southwest flights that are generally cheap imo, and we also have become a sort of focus city for Allegiant Air with 10 direct flights now. Those tix are SUPER cheap if you dare fly Allegiant lol.

UST in St Augustine also had a couple cheap flights on Frontier to Chicago and Philly but they're cutting those next month. It may become seasonal but we don't know that yet. Sanford Airport, 30 min NE of Orlando, is also a massive Allegiant focus city so more cheap options there.

Bobdreamz · 09-23-2016, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofloriduh

My husband and I both grew up in South Florida. We have been hating it for a while. We can't afford to buy in a good school zone down here and the overcrowding is getting terrible. People have gotten much ruder and self absorbed in the last 20 years. Our parents also grew up here and it has really changed for the worse.

We have been considering Jax metro. I stay at home right now but will be in HR when I go back to work. My husband does pool, spa, and fountain leak detection and repairs, so we are limited to areas with year round pools, hence not just GTFO out of Florida for good. We would need to live in a central location in the metro area. He is thinking he would work from Fernandina to Daytona, so what areas are worth looking into that are in the general centre of that area?

In South Florida - we prefer the east side of town (US1 is around a mile from A1A in this area) due to proximity to stores and more local dining options (not a fan of chain restaurants). The western part of town is more spread out and cookie cutter.

Where we live now isn't exactly walkable, but we can get to pretty much any store within 10-20 minutes. We also like being close enough to the beach to just go for an hour long dip if the mood strikes. Are there many areas that fit this criteria? Our budget maxes out at 300 but I'm hoping to find something closer to 225. Am I dreaming?

Neither of us have spent much time in Jax. I do not think Palm Coast is what we are looking for, from what I have read about it on here.

For fun - we like rowing, ethnic and local cuisine, history, traveling...we are spoiled by cheap fares out of FLL/PBI. Would we have to plan on flying out of Orlando rather than the local airport?

We have one child who will be in school soon, and plan on one or two more.

So is living in a "walkable" area a concern? Because if it is , JAX will give you no solace in that area compared to S. Florida.

You also say that "In South Florida" you prefer locales East of US 1 which is the Urban side of S. Florida. Most of JAX resembles "The western part of town is more spread out and cookie cutter with chain restaurants."

It almost seems like you are escaping the things you love besides over crowding.

goolsbyjazz · 09-23-2016, 10:09 AM

Ok, I apologize in advance for semi-hijacking this thread, but I have similar questions as the OP regarding the area. My wife and I were considering a possible move to South Florida but Jacksonville also has been lurking in the back of our minds. We do a lot of travelling so my question is about the airport. I have always lived near larger airports and am not familiar with Jacksonville's airport at all. Is it similar to Charlotte's since both cities are comparable in size?

Bruins_Fan · 09-23-2016, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

Ok, I apologize in advance for semi-hijacking this thread, but I have similar questions as the OP regarding the area. My wife and I were considering a possible move to South Florida but Jacksonville also has been lurking in the back of our minds. We do a lot of travelling so my question is about the airport. I have always lived near larger airports and am not familiar with Jacksonville's airport at all. Is it similar to Charlotte's since both cities are comparable in size?

Not nearly as many non-stops as CLT. CLT is a hub for American (previously US Airways).

projectmaximus · 09-23-2016, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

I have always lived near larger airports and am not familiar with Jacksonville's airport at all. Is it similar to Charlotte's since both cities are comparable in size?

No not at all. First of all, Jax and Charlotte aren't all that comparable in size. The Charlotte metro has one million more people, making it about 66% larger than Jax. Secondly, Jax is pretty close to Orlando International. More than half of Jax's 1.4 million metro population is less than 2 hours from MCO, which definitely takes some of the demand from JAX. Lastly, Charlotte is a major air hub. Its airport is top 10 in passenger traffic in the country, while Jax's is around 50th. Jax is at least 2 or 3 tiers below, in both volume and options.

That said, I find it to be excellent for the ~50th busiest airport. We are slowly getting more and more flight options and decent competition among carriers.

chuleta1519 · 09-24-2016, 05:18 AM

Regarding the airport. I'm a frequent business flier and have been using JAX for about 7 years now. While there are more flights out of MCO, if you focus on Delta, jacksonville to atlanta is 45 minutes and from there, the world is available. It's very convenient and easy, at least for me.

JAX is fast, efficient, clean, great.

Robyn55 · 09-24-2016, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofloriduh

My husband and I both grew up in South Florida. We have been hating it for a while. We can't afford to buy in a good school zone down here and the overcrowding is getting terrible. People have gotten much ruder and self absorbed in the last 20 years. Our parents also grew up here and it has really changed for the worse.

We have been considering Jax metro. I stay at home right now but will be in HR when I go back to work. My husband does pool, spa, and fountain leak detection and repairs, so we are limited to areas with year round pools, hence not just GTFO out of Florida for good. We would need to live in a central location in the metro area. He is thinking he would work from Fernandina to Daytona, so what areas are worth looking into that are in the general centre of that area?...

People don't use their pools year round here. It gets too cold. I imagine that people need work on pools during the "off season" - but don't know how much. Pool leak repair is kind of a specialized area - and don't know how easy it would be to start such a business from scratch here. Note that working from Daytona Beach all the way up to Fernandina Beach - well it's a huge area. Don't know how your husband could possibly charge enough to cover his travel time/costs. Robyn

snuffybear · 09-24-2016, 05:44 PM

Right...people don't seem to swim from Oct-March. But perhaps that is when they are getting their pools fixed?

Vector1 · 09-26-2016, 03:44 PM

Amelia Island is pretty affluent, so is St Augustine. So your hubby likely wouldn't need to go much further south, especially not all the way down to Daytona for pool work.
Also he should consider getting into installation or repair of pool heaters, as much of the area you are considering gets much colder then S FL, so more people heat their pools up there.

BTW - S FL has only become that way due to the influx of NE snowbirds and people from Central/South America.