Moving to Jacksonville from Michigan? (attorney, YMCA, property taxes)

[fsu813]

Crime in Jax is high if you look at the overall numbers. However if you take a closer look then you'll see that the vast majority of it is in specific areas.

Not in the nieghborhoods that I listed: Avondale & San Marco are upscale, almost no serious crime happens there. Riverside is a mix, but is becoming more & more Avondalish by the year (they are next to eachother). It's a nice area that is becoming upscale. Springfield is surronded by not-so good areas, but the neighborhood itself is fine. No serious crime has happened to any residents in quite a long time. However, it's not surprising when bum on bum at violence at 3am is reported in the next days news. It's not obviously completely revitalized, so you have to have a little urban pioneer in you to live there. Notice i say little, b/c it's just fine for the most part.

There is virtually no area in Jax that cannot have a serious violent crime. In the past few months a guy was shot leaving his office in the Southside, a guy was shot in a nice apartment complex, and a SWAT team standoff occured in the upscale San Pablo neighborhood. All of these are considered nice, suburban areas. That being said, unless you live in a bad area then I wouldn't worry about crime anymore than usual. Just normal, everyday precautions and awareness are simple and good enough. Most of crime that does happen is not random, persay, but involves personal vendettas, drugs etc.

I'm 29, my wife is 26. I grew up in Riverside in the late 80's & 90's. It was not considerd a good area then, but a area in transition. Now it's perhaps the most popular neighborhood in the city. I'm comfortable living in these areas, no big deal. My wife is from Naples, FL, however and never saw a homeless person until she moved away to college (ha). It took about 6 months for her to get used to a more urban, metro neighbrohood & lifestyle. Now she loves it... in fact we bought a home in Springfield a few months ago after living in the area for over a year.

People like different things. But i've found that most people's "fears" quickly dissapate once they've spent time the area.

[R1v3rRat]

The poximity to the highway is non-issue. The first phases of the development are close to to 95 yes. And those lots are small.

I live in the back where the lots are larger and you can not hear the highway at all. HOA is no problem what so ever. Satellite dishes, fences landscaping, parking... etc no problems for me or my neighbors I keep my boat in my garage and pull it out to wash/ get ready to hit the water and I have no problems.

As far as resale. The builder is building non-stop. I would say about 66%-75% complete. I would guess the entire community is built out in < 2 years. 3 Years tops. Yes, pretty much all people moving into Greenland are building new. I have yet to see a for sale sign on an existing house. The community is relatively young.

** Something to consider is CDD fees. Many people outside of FL have no idea what they are. It is basically a "fee" you pay in addition to your property tax and or HOA. These fee's can range from $600- $2500/year.**

Please do yourself a favor and read these 2 threads. they are not long but will help you be informed!
//www.city-data.com/forum/jacks...ing-hills.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/jacks...rty-taxes.html

Some community's have them, some do not. Some are high, some are low. Some people feel it ensures they live in a high standards community. Some think it is unecessary and a good (not pyscho..lol) HOA is all you need.

The areas myself and parks71 mentioned are all tributaries of the St. Johns river. They are all connected by the St. Johns. You and your husband are more than welcome to join my wife and I on the boat for a tour of the local waterways. Altough I tend to "cruise" around 75mph...

[kimberlykl2009]

Well I haven't seen anyone post on St. Johns country much yet, so I thought I'd help you here. I am from St. Johns, I actually grew up in Fruit Cove which is a great location for raising kids. The schools are alot better than Duval, and I did get to see this first hand. I went to private school in mandarin, several of my siblings went to magnet schools in duval, and alot of my friends went to public schools in duval. I went to public high school in St. Johns county, and from what I understand the school is better. Fruit Cove is very suburban, safe place to raise the kids, etc etc. Lots of upper-middle class young families, you should see halloween in the neighborhoods, tons of kids, good park system. Not alot to do, unfortunatley, events take place downtown and the best art scenes (not that there is much of one in jacksonville) are in the riverside/five points area. Mandarin can be very nice too, I delivered pizza there for about a year (this is the area where your husbands work is). I reccommend staying away from areas like southside, baymeadows, university, orange park because while these are not terrible areas I don't consider them ideal, and I think you are looking for ideal.

Another part of St. Johns county to consider is the 210 area. You have close access to I-95, and your husbands drive to work would be pretty quick. 210 is a nice area and the best (and worst) thing about it is that you are half-way between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. You can get to the historic district of St. Aug in 30 minutes, or to Jacksonville's downtown in 30 minutes. Also 25 minutes to the outskirts of ponte vedra, or 25 minutes to guana beach state reserve. Good for families, bad if you like to bar crawl (there are true "bars" off of 210, only restaurants with liquor licenses).

[parks71]

That "upscale" apartment complex on san pablo is anything BUT that. You have to have very low income to even qualify to live there just so you know.


If crime is an issue for you, stay away from downtown areas for the most part. The best areas crimewise would probably be Mandrin or west beachs area. Even though I live west beachs, I would say Mandrin is overall better because of the school system but then you have a 30-40 min drive to the beach.

All of those places I mentioned for wakeboarding are branch offs of the river except Palm valley which is in the intracoastal. They are just deep narrow creeks surrounded by trees to keep the water calm.

I forgot to answer your gator question, yes you will see gators and BIG ones too. I would see them often but they never really bothered any of us. I was always more worried about all the snakes to be honest.

The schools in Duval county for the most part are very bad. Some of the worst in the country just so you know. My nephew who was in 2nd grade I believe moved to Tennessee and had to go back a year because he was so far behind compared to thier schools up there.

Florida is the 50th worst state for money per pupil and Duval county is one of the ten worst counties in the worst state! Dont buy into the hype that its just the high schools either.

The crime is bad as, Jacksonville has the worst crime per capita in the entire state for the past 10 years.

I am not trying to scare you off because yes, you can live in low crime areas and yes you can live in areas with decent schools but I just want you to know both sides. Good luck with your move.

[parks71]

By the way, Oak Leaf and areas that have their own schools and parks are VERY nice but they come at a big price. The association fees are VERY high in my opinion, hundreds a month I have heard. Maybe someone that lives out there can comment on that. They do have strick rules as well usually like no company vehicles ect.

[wb3690]

Originally Posted by parks71

By the way, Oak Leaf and areas that have their own schools and parks are VERY nice but they come at a big price. The association fees are VERY high in my opinion, hundreds a month I have heard. Maybe someone that lives out there can comment on that. They do have strick rules as well usually like no company vehicles ect.

I like the rules......our neighborhood always looks nice. I grew up living in neighborhoods like this so I prefer it. In Hawaii where we were before there wasn't alot of pride in where people lived.....unfortunately alot of families on bases just don't invest the time in their homes.....I think it's the "well we're going to move in a few years" mentality.

Anyway it is pricier.....we could have got a larger house, but we chose to live in Oakleaf for the schools, the sense of community and all the extras.....I believe the CDD fees are tied into your property size so our fees are only over 100.00 a month. WHICH we figured out by the time we would have joined a Y or an Athletic Club all the fees would have added up to be about the same. Here I can walk up to the gym/pool etc.....I really like it out here and am glad we chose this neighborhood.

We do have a HOA, 50.00 a month, but it is the CDD fees that are more expensive.....we've had no issues with either.....and our fees are built into our monthly mortgage and are sitting in escrow so they'll be paid later on.

[R1v3rRat]

Just a reminder... CDD fees are not fixed... they can go up at any time...

[Brie85]

Originally Posted by R1v3rRat

** Something to consider is CDD fees. Many people outside of FL have no idea what they are. It is basically a "fee" you pay in addition to your property tax and or HOA. These fee's can range from $600- $2500/year.**

Thank you for pointing this out! I have never heard of CDD fees. And I must admit, the more I learn about them the less I like them. Are there nice areas within St. Johns County that don't have HOAs or CDDs?

[R1v3rRat]

Yes, Kensington does not have CDD dees and is very nice. that is in St. Johns county and very close to where you hubby will be working. Kensington New Homes by CornerStone Homes - Floor Plans, Pricing, Photos, Maps & Directions (http://www.mycornerstonehomes.com/kensington.php - broken link)

Greenland does not have CDD's as well. Although that is in Duval County.

Non CDD communities are few and far between..... One's worth living in anyway.

RR

[fsu813]

kimberelyk,

there's actually a rather active and large "arts scene" in Jax. I'd be happy to educate you by request. Most of this does revolve around Downtown & the Historic neighborhoods that I listed.

parks71,

over 2/3rd of schools in Duval received an A or B, i linked the spread sheet....how is that "hype"?