Moving to Jacksonville from Orlando...Help (Winter Park, Orange Park: low income, apartment complexes, renters)

[Kattywagon]

My family needs to find an apartment relatively close to both Navy bases as my husband got stationed at Mayport, but is going to Nas a few months later. We have three small children 7 and under. I have been online looking at apartments for weeks and have seen some nice floorplans and great deals money wise. The problem is that whenever I look on any apartment rating sites, I seem to have only picked the apartments in bad areas! People keep complaining about drugs and/or apartments that are unkempt with bad management.

I just graduated from college down here and I am taking a break from school and work until Jan while we get ourselves and the children settled in, so we don't want to pay too much for a place, preferably less than $1000/month. There seems to be lots of places in that price range, but I am most concerned about being safe. Can anyone tell me where NOT to live? Maybe you guys could give me specific zip codes or something. Any of the apartment locater people I've spoken to say they can't tell me where the bad areas are.

I don't know what to do, I am too far away to be making a million trips up there to look around. Please help!

[riveree]

Hi Kattywagon,

So your husband will only be at Mayport for the first few months and then at NAS after that?

If so, I'd probably concentrate more on being in a good commuting distance to NAS even if that means a longer commute to Mayport initially.

Mayport and NAS are pretty far from each other....Mayport at the Ocean, NAS on the Westside of Jax, just above the Clay county border.

One option would be to choose to live on the Southside of Jax (east of the Saint Johns River) and your husband would end up commuting to NAS across the Buckman bridge (295), sort of a reverse commute. Mandarin could be a good choice on the Southside if you go this route. Mandarin is nice, family-oriented, good schools, safe...the only significant downside is the traffic issues. Try zips 32223, 32257

[Kattywagon]

First off thank you for responding! It's amazing that there are all these people that have read by thread and only you took the time to help me.

I would like to know though if there is anywhere I should not go specifically and do you think that I am wasting my time tring to find a place under $1000? Even some of places that I have looked into in Mandarin and Orange Park have gotten bad ratings online. Is there no place reasonably priced that doesn't have drug dealers and stuff around? Right now I pay $705 here in Winter Park(right outside Orlando) for a 3bd/2bth 1142sq, so jumping to $1000is a big deal for us. I really don't want to get a job right now if I don't have to. I have been working and going to school for a while now and basically taking care of my three kids by myself since my husband has been away overseas so much. I just graduated finally and I just want to take a break until the end of the year at least.

I am so frustrated.

[riveree]

You're welcome Kattywagon. Others will jump in here soon...they probably just haven't had a chance yet or they're trying to come up with their best advice for you !

Your commuting needs will keep you out of some of the worst-off areas which is primarily the NW quadrant of Jax...very economically depressed & has crime issues.

Overall, both Mandarin (Southside of Duval Cty) and Orange Park (Clay Cty) are safe, family-friendly areas. There might be some small spots that have some issues or particular apartments that are older or run down.

If you were to go with Mayport, it would have more sketchy areas than either Mandarin or Orange Park, though plenty of military families live in Mayport year after year, so I guess that says something for it.

I am not renting at this time, so I'm not all that up to speed on what $1000 will buy, but I imagine you could find something decent and safe for $1000 without too many compromises. Look at the other threads on this page - there's one specifically about rentals and some posters have given some great links for apartment hunting.

I'll also add that I am seeing a lot of the apartment complexes advertising free months and other incentives to get renters in...there's some heavy advertising going on which means you will have more leverage with them - great news for you.

The ratings online have to be taken with a grain of salt....some people always hate the landlord or have unrealistic expectations of what should be provided in exchange for rent, blah, blah, blah.....you know how it is !

So, my advice would be check the other threads for resources to do some more searching, and if you find a few apartments you're interested in, post the info here (name and address of apartment) and ask for feedback on the location.

Luckily, you're close enough that once you narrow it down, you can hopefully make at least one trip up to scope it out in person.

When's the move, by the way?

Don't worry, it'll all work out, things just come together a piece at a time !

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by Kattywagon

First off thank you for responding! It's amazing that there are all these people that have read by thread and only you took the time to help me.

I would like to know though if there is anywhere I should not go specifically and do you think that I am wasting my time tring to find a place under $1000? Even some of places that I have looked into in Mandarin and Orange Park have gotten bad ratings online. Is there no place reasonably priced that doesn't have drug dealers and stuff around? Right now I pay $705 here in Winter Park(right outside Orlando) for a 3bd/2bth 1142sq, so jumping to $1000is a big deal for us. I really don't want to get a job right now if I don't have to. I have been working and going to school for a while now and basically taking care of my three kids by myself since my husband has been away overseas so much. I just graduated finally and I just want to take a break until the end of the year at least.

I am so frustrated.

Go to JSO's (Jacksonville Sherrif's Office) and look at their "crime mapper". It will provide you info on what types of crimes have occurred when and where. Riveer has provided you with some good info so far. SW Duval around the Clay County line near Blanding Blvd has had new apt complexes built in the last 2 or 3 years and I think that there is another on coming. From my experience, those areas are safe and nice as well as Mandarin and there is supposed to be a new complex I believe in Mandarin near 295 that has been completed or near completion. Apt ratings website is helpful but you also have to take into account that it is just someone's personal feelings that may or may not be true. Like I mentioned earlier, just Google JSO's crime mapper and you can go from there. That'll give you a true indicator. Good luck in your search.

[sue629]

The area in Orange Park known as Fleming Island is very nice, quiet, family orientated. Though there is alot of building going on there, it has retained somewhat of a rural feel. It is maybe a 15 minute drive to NAS. The area that seems to have some crime problem is near the Orange Park Mall around Blanding Blvd. but Fleming Island is fine. if you can find a rental there, I would consider that area.

[Kattywagon]

Thanks riveree and he's so hot for your help.

I did manage to find some crime stats for various zip codes in Jacksonville and cross referenced it with the apartments I have been looking at recenty and it looks like you have to pay to be safe up there. How sad. You guys are right on about where to live though and I actually found some apartments people willing to tell the truth about their complexes and certain areas around them. A lot of the places I looked at turned out to be income restricted and I was told that I should stay away from those places because with low income comes low IQ and thus low behavior and I believe that to be true no matter what race you are.

Anyway, I decided to start looking at houses to rent also and have found some that are basically the same pricesas the higher apartments, but closer to the $1000 mark. I like living in apartments and my husband doesn't want to mow a lawn, he says he's alergic to grass or cut grass or something(I've never heard of such a thing), so I guess we'll pay someone. I guess I could do it, but I rather not.

I have found though that even though the house prices are similiar to the higher rent apartments, there are significant increases in square footage so that's good and I wouldn't mind a yard for the kids to run around in. So now I just need to convince my husband and figure out the finacial side of everything because we both want me home when he comes home and it isn't always really cost affective to put kids in daycare to work during the day...sigh.

Decisions, decisions...

[Kattywagon]

Thank you also Sue69, I didn't see your post at first...maybe I was typing. I will look into that area also.

[cyrece]

You could also try the Kernan area 32224-32225. That's very popular area due to the schools. If you're interested in homes for rent, try rentclicks.com...its awesome!

[thessarabian]

Have you talked to the housing office on base yet? I would recommend that being your first stop, since you might qualify for base housing. If not they can give you some good recommendations. Also, is renting your only option? There are a lot of townhouses going up right now that are nice (new!) and the mortgage would be less than what you'd pay in rent for the same thing. And since your husband's in the Navy you'll probably qualify for a VA mortgage program.