High Schools in St. Johns County/where to live (Jacksonville: foreclosures, HOA fees)

[lewoodpa]

We will be relocating from Orlando to St. Augustine for my husband's job.We are a city family. Except for St. Augstine High School, the other highs schools we looked at in St. Johns County north seem to be in more rural areas with new residential developments, but without commercial areas (stores, restuarants, etc). We did not make it up to see Ponte Vedra High school. St. Augsutine High School is an A school this year and close to town, but sems to be located in a kind of tough area. I'd appreciate any informaiton about the school as well as well as iinformation about whether there are commerical areas we did not se that are near these other school (Batram Trails, Crrekside, Nease).
Thank you for your help.

[Peter the Brit]

Neese has small commercial areas and is close to the main Malls in Sth Jacksonville
I have a lot of time for SAHS and live very close in a brand new development of which there are several in the immediate area.
The school is located in a lower quality housing area but it has a very large catchment covering both good and bad areas However it is an A school which speaks for itself and allows your kids to mix with all types of students which did no harm to my two both now USF grads and one with *** Laude distinction.

[lewoodpa]

Thank you for your thoughts. Were your kdis in the Cambridge program? I saw online that there is a communtiy called Heritage Landings nearby and one called, I think, Royal St. Augsutine. I'd love to know anything you can tell me about these. Housing seems to cost less than in Orlando.

[Peter the Brit]

I live in Heritage Park which is nearby...mixed housing with plenty of families and located next to the High School and near the freeway
Royal St Augustine is older and a golf community not well located as there is a nearby undesirable neighbourhood.
Heritage Landing is about 5 miles further away
Housing is much cheaper than Orlando if you know where to go.

[hbondra]

Check out Nocatee, its right by Nease, zoned for Nease with a Ponte Vedra address, so great for home value. Nocatee is up and coming with many dev. to pick from with diff. price ranges.

[lewoodpa]

Peter- Do you mind my asking the cost of your homeowners insurance and the hoa fees in Heritage Landing? Do you know if the insurance is cheaper in the west side of north St. Johns County?Are there any particular problems in the Heritage Landings project? I saw someone mentioned break ins/poor construction. Are there local places you go for hreakfast, coffee shops, etc? I saw lots of these in the "tourist" area but don't see fighting the traffic/parking issue to get down there on a regular basiss. Are there any other subdivisions close to town you would reommend with homes less than 300k? Sorry for so many questions. We really appreciate your help.

[Peter the Brit]

I live in Heritage Park which is not Heritage Landig.
Heritage Park community is conveniently located off of CR 16 on Woodlawn Ave. The community is convenient to the St. Augustine outlet malls and Belks shopping malls, as well as interstate 95. Just a few miles west of Downtown St. Augustine, and about a 30 minute drive to Jacksonville
My insurance for a 200o sq ft brand new home is $750 pa
Just back from breakfast and we have several places within a 5 minute ride.
In my opinion Heritage Landing is not a great area to live for reasons you have been told
If you have a budget up to $300k there are plenty of homes and good areas we can find for you
If you pm me your e mail address I can search and send you some homes
Peter

[lewoodpa]

Thank you for your candor, Peter. We won't be ready to buy a home in St. Augustine until this summer. We'll wait until then to hire a realtor. Right now, we are just trying to orient oursleves in terms of what might be the best aresa for us. We will keep you in mind when the time comes to buy a home. Thank you for your willigness to assist.

[ssclulow]

If you are a "city person" do not consider Heritage Landing. It is far away from everything that you have mentioned is important to you and the houses were hastily constructed during the housing boom when no one cared what they purchased because the assumption was the resale price would go up and it didn't matter. The houses out there are now valued at much less than what people owe on them and there have been many foreclosures. I agree with Peter, you have a lot of much better options other than Heritage Landing. You are only a 2 hour drive from St. Augustine. Drive up here and walk around the neighborhoods you are considering. People here are mostly very friendly and will answer any questions you have truthfully. When I moved here 15 years ago, Heritage Park did not exist, but I know many people who live there and all of them are very happy with that community. It probably is the most convenient, best valued established home community in St. Augustine.

[lewoodpa]

Thank you for your response. I was confusing Heritage Landing with Heritage Park. I didn't realize there were two communities with such similar names.

We did come up over a Sunday and drove from one end of the county to the other and on the St. Augustine Beach side. We looked at every high school except Ponte Vedra. St. Augustine High School was the only one that seemed to have any neighborhood type commercial development nearby (with the exception of the Publix, drug store combo we ocasionally saw near the St. Johns County high schools). We looked at/walked around several developments that we immmediately knew were not for us (Palacio, Nocate and Durbin Crossing among others- no offense intended to anyone who lives there and loves it). We had hoped to find an old style southern home with a big front porch and a swing. We have seen some of those in downtonw St. Augustine, but the price exceeds what we can afford. Otherwise, living right in the middle of the urban area would have been right up our alley. We have never lived in a modern subdivided development where you need to drive everywhere and are considering it only due to the absence of the type of housing we would prefer in our price range.

Our current reisdence is 15 mintues from shopping malls in two diferecnt directions, 3-5 minutes from restaurants, grocery store, drug store, church is 10 minutes away if you hit all 4 stoplights and our son's school is literally around the corner. He can walk a few blocks to have lunch with his friends at the deli on weekends or to have a smoothie after school, walk or ride his bike to the movies, school or church. We love that we live in a neighborhood where he has those options. We realize opportunity comes with change and that we will find things about St. Augustine that we love as much as we love our lives here. But I really regret the loss of freedom and independence that our son will experience.