Need Advice, Moving to NE Florida (Jacksonville, Daytona Beach: rentals, health insurance, condo)

[TOC]

Hello all, only my second post on here....looks like a great source of information from people who know what they're talking about. my fiance' and I are planning on relocating to northeast florida within the next year or two (we are actually from the jersey shore, gulp...the SOUTH jersey shore, please dont hate!). we both love florida, have been there many times, and miss it every time we leave. we are summertime people. we just need some advice on where to look for a laid back, low stress, beach community. we love st. augustine and that is really our first choice, you can just feel the history there and we love it. we know palm coast is not for us, even though realtor.com makes it look so nice! we also need to find work....i am a financial advisor so i would hope i'd be able to find something. we are young, 24 years old so we dont have the highest budget (around $200-$250), but are looking to settle down in florida. any help would be appreciated....keep in mind that i have never lived more than 15 minutes from the beach so we are definitely looking into a beach community if possible, or even a new home community close to the beach or something. Thanks in advance!
-Bob

[kort677]

Originally Posted by TOC

Hello all, only my second post on here....looks like a great source of information from people who know what they're talking about. my fiance' and I are planning on relocating to northeast florida within the next year or two (we are actually from the jersey shore, gulp...the SOUTH jersey shore, please dont hate!). we both love florida, have been there many times, and miss it every time we leave. we are summertime people. we just need some advice on where to look for a laid back, low stress, beach community. we love st. augustine and that is really our first choice, you can just feel the history there and we love it. we know palm coast is not for us, even though realtor.com makes it look so nice! we also need to find work....i am a financial advisor so i would hope i'd be able to find something. we are young, 24 years old so we dont have the highest budget (around $200-$250), but are looking to settle down in florida. any help would be appreciated....keep in mind that i have never lived more than 15 minutes from the beach so we are definitely looking into a beach community if possible, or even a new home community close to the beach or something. Thanks in advance!
-Bob

I too am from the shore, northern, the best advice I can offer is to lock down a job then look for a place to live near your job.
Good paying jobs seem to be scarce in FLA, you might be surprised at how low the wage scale is here. And in your field there isn't much in NE Fla.

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by TOC

Hello all, only my second post on here....looks like a great source of information from people who know what they're talking about. my fiance' and I are planning on relocating to northeast florida within the next year or two (we are actually from the jersey shore, gulp...the SOUTH jersey shore, please dont hate!). we both love florida, have been there many times, and miss it every time we leave. we are summertime people. we just need some advice on where to look for a laid back, low stress, beach community. we love st. augustine and that is really our first choice, you can just feel the history there and we love it. we know palm coast is not for us, even though realtor.com makes it look so nice! we also need to find work....i am a financial advisor so i would hope i'd be able to find something. we are young, 24 years old so we dont have the highest budget (around $200-$250), but are looking to settle down in florida. any help would be appreciated....keep in mind that i have never lived more than 15 minutes from the beach so we are definitely looking into a beach community if possible, or even a new home community close to the beach or something. Thanks in advance!
-Bob

For your type of work there are a number of companies you can look at in the area. AMEX is always advertising for financial advisors in the J'ville are. You have Bank of America and Wachovia with large operations there as well. JP Morgan and Citi have financial operations there are well. RBC Centuria just opened up offices there last year. Raymond James (I've actually been in their offices, very nice) and the other investment houses have offices with people that do what you do. There are also a couple of well known companies that deal strictly with high dollar clients so you may want to look into that. If you watch CNBC they'll actually bring on some of the people from some of the more boutique investment firms in JAX to talk about the markets on Squawk Box. Richard Amblin(?) was always a regular on Squawk over the last couple of years until he left the firm. BTW, the firm he was with is based in PVB (Ponte Vedra Bch). For the most part, these firms are mainly situated in the JTB (J. Turner Butler) corridor on the Southside of town. So if you can find a place at the beach you wouldn't be too far from those offices. B of A and Wachovia have most of their operations downtown so you would have to commute to downtown. Look on monster dot com and career builder. I was called for a interview with AMEX for financial advisor position 4 years ago in Jax but I didn't do it b/c I was doing something else. So yes, there are positions there. Jacksonville is a pretty strong financial center.

[riveree]

I mentioned this on your other post, but I'll repeat it here - Finance is a big industry in Jacksonville.

Along with He'ssohott's great list of leads, I'll add:

Fidelity (just moved one of their headquarters here - Downtown)

Washington Mutual (spread throughout Baymeadows...6 buildings?)

CitiGroup (we have Citicard, CitiFinancial and the retirement division..name escapes me now...they're in Baymeadows and Downtown)

There are lots of good places to live in and around Baymeadows & Downtown that would give you easy access to the beach as well (in case you're priced out of living AT the beach). Plenty of rentals in Baymeadows too if you'll be renting first.

[TOC]

thanks everyone for their help....i'm still liking st. augustine as long as i can find a relatively new home for $200k-$250k. right now at the jersey shore i'm paying $1,125 a month for an 860sqft 1BR appartment and several hundred bucks more a month in utilities/insurance. as far as my career goes, its not just investing that i do, i also handle insurance like group health insurance, life, disability, and long term care...is this a profitable career in NE Florida? i would think it would be but who knows. i'm just so worried about moving down there and all of a sudden going bankrupt! thanks again everyone, any additional information is also appreciated.

[riveree]

As for finding a relatively new home in St. Augustine in the $200-$250k range, I can't say that you won't find it, especially if you're willing to live in a smaller space or a condo/townhome, but the single family homes in this price range will probably place you more inland (more than 15 minutes from the beach). You never know for sure until you look, but it seems to be this way.

Florida is not the bargain it was, even here in the relatively cheap NE part, prices have gone way up. St. Augustine is hot, especially close to the beach, and a lot of retirees move there with money from other places...they've been doing so for many years. I know when I lived in NY, NYers knew where St. Augustine was and the knew where Ponte Vedra was, but hardly anyone ever knew where Jacksonville was!

Are you planning to open your own financial advice business when you arrive, or are you going to work for a company? Your last post sounded like you were going to be working for yourself, and that would make a difference (no commute to worry about, etc.).

[NatalieG]

I recommend you check out Ormond Beach, and Ormond-by-the-Sea. It is between Daytona Beach and Palm Coast, but a very nice, affordable beach town.

[Lulu_IWG]

Just thought I'd share this since we've been looking at the employment scene in Jax and we've found that on Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com, there are alot of employment opps. in Finance in the Jax area. My hubby is looking for management position so when we type that in we are getting alot of financial companies like Citigroup and Robert Half International, etc. in our searches.
Hope this helps.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by NatalieG

I recommend you check out Ormond Beach, and Ormond-by-the-Sea. It is between Daytona Beach and Palm Coast, but a very nice, affordable beach town.

Very different areas from the St. Augustine area that the OP mentioned liking. Also employment can be much more difficult to find in these areas.

Natalie, You are a realtor in Ormond/PC areas, yes?

[TOC]

riveree....i am planning on working for an independant broker that does all kinds of financial services from investments to life and health insurance.

ANOTHER QUESTION...i know you guys are probably sick of me by now but i would like to find out what builders or new home communities are good and can be trusted...for example, i heard a lot of bad things about Seagate homes and that they are built horribly so i need suggestions. i want to make sure that the home doesnt fall apart! also, i know its florida so its buggy, but relative to the rest of the state i heard that NE florida near the coast isnt all that bad, is this a correct statement? Thanks again guys!