Maine to Jacksonville - Narrowed a few cities down, need advise please. (Atlantic Beach: apartment, rentals)

[vpcd]

I made a previous post some time ago asking for opinions as where to move in Jacksonville to meet a certain criteria. I got some helpful information but nothing specific to what I was looking for. This is probably because at the time I wasn't able to provide much about a preferred location and Jacksonville is indeed a huge city. That being said ...

Here were my criteria, #1 being most desired:

1. Low crime and low noise.
2. Work within 15-25 minutes(conditional if a nice place/area)
3. Beach within 30-35 minutes
4. City area within 15-20 minutes(shopping, fun, Wal-Mart and what not) and bigger events within 35 minutes.
5. Ground floor preferred house/apt with 750(prefer 850+)sq feet under 675$
6. Surrounding attractions, looks and appeal, outdoorsy/wildlife type stuff

I've isolated a few areas and have developed some thoughts on them. I would like to know what the community thinks.

San Marco
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Pros: Looks nice, from my understanding is a nice community, very close to the city while relatively low crime and noise.
Cons: Expensive to live in, leaving higher cost per square foot of housing.

Anything below "Southeast Jacksonville" on Google maps
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Pros: Seems to match all criteria having a solid balance.
Cons: Pricing seems /fair/ but I've noticed there are not as much available housing -- might be harder to hunt and find a good deal.

Atlantic beach
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Pros: Low crime with attractive surroundings, available housing, housing seems to be within my pricing guidelines with low prices per sq foot, right near the beach.
Cons: Not seeing any... which is what concerns me. Am I missing something??

[trola2]

I've been on a similar hunt. And I just came back to KC yesterday after having spent a week there in Jax trying to narrow down the neighborhood I want to live in. Here is what I learned - San Marco is lovely but some say it's mostly a family-type neighborhood - there is more to do just across the river in Riverside. I would call Riverside an "urban hipster" area - my daughter and son-in-law would love it. I have not ruled out San Marco.
Re: AB (Atlantic Beach) - just stay E. of Mayport Rd. To find rentals at the beach, you have to go there and drive around. I saw several on Friday when I was driving around. They are usually in houses that have been converted to multi-family and they don't advertise. Does that help?

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by vpcd

I made a previous post some time ago asking for opinions as where to move in Jacksonville to meet a certain criteria. I got some helpful information but nothing specific to what I was looking for. This is probably because at the time I wasn't able to provide much about a preferred location and Jacksonville is indeed a huge city. That being said ...

Here were my criteria, #1 being most desired:

...2. Work within 15-25 minutes(conditional if a nice place/area)

Do you have any job lined up anywhere? That would seem to be the first step if I were in your shoes. Robyn

[vpcd]

@trola2: Is crime bad west of Mayport Rd? The whole Atlantic Beach area seems like a community with housing being in decent shape, which typically indicates low crime.

@Robyn55: Having a job lined up would be great but I have a lot of other complications I have to resolve. I don't know where I'm going to live because I haven't found an apartment yet(not moving until around July 1st give or take a couple weeks) so that makes finding work difficult. Also, I'm not sure how I would go about getting a job without being able to interview. Have to admit, I'm a little concerned about the car I'll be driving down in. The good news is that I'll be leaving with over 9k so I just have to hope everything works out. If the car makes it my girlfriend and I will be in great shape.

[trola2]

I just re-read your post and I guess my situation is not quite as similar as I thought. My budget is higher and I am looking for a bigger place.
W of Mayport Rd is just not the nicer part of AB. I don't know about crime rates there. Sorry. But based on what you're saying Riverside might be a more affordable neighborhood. There are others here on this forum that would be more knowledgeable than I am.

[fsu813]

Originally Posted by trola2

I've been on a similar hunt. And I just came back to KC yesterday after having spent a week there in Jax trying to narrow down the neighborhood I want to live in. Here is what I learned - San Marco is lovely but some say it's mostly a family-type neighborhood - there is more to do just across the river in Riverside. I would call Riverside an "urban hipster" area - my daughter and son-in-law would love it. I have not ruled out San Marco.

If you live in an in-town neighborhood, you kinda live in them all. Many people in Riverside & Avondale historic district, San Marco, Springfield historic district, and Downtown simply live their lives within those neighborhoods. Throw in Murray Hill too.

Call it snobbery or preference, but if you live in one (ie, San Marco) you'll still probably spend a significant amount of time in the others (ie, Riverside, as you mentioned)

They're all 2-5 miles away from eachother, and traveled by bicycle or jogging route in & out of eachother daily.

[vpcd]

So riverside isn't that bad crime/noise wise? There's a lot of affordable housing there it seems. After living in a city where 10 buildings were torched in a week and where my car had been hit and run 3 times in a year avoiding this sort of thing is pretty important.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by vpcd

After living in a city where 10 buildings were torched in a week and where my car had been hit and run 3 times in a year avoiding this sort of thing is pretty important.

The "Hood" of Jacksonville doesn't sound as bad as where you're moving from!

[vpcd]

The hit and runs are because no one respects anyone these days. No one has anything to lose so why stick around or leave a note. Managed to 'catch' one person doing it only because two witnesses took their plate information. Didn't collect anything though because it only damaged her car and not mine, go figure. As far as the fires they seem to of stopped. Many suspect insurance fraud given the circumstances. Anyway, I don't want my car on bricks and I don't want to have to get a concealed permit, although I might anyway if I'm in such a large city.

Just looking for a nice neighborhood with an okay amount of living space.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by vpcd

Just looking for a nice neighborhood with an okay amount of living space.

What is an OK amount of Living space? Because I am looking around the city to find a 3br to rent for just my self and Riverside which has a few parks but the avg home/lot size there seems to me to be on the small side. And San Marco is just about as small lot size wise. Some of the newer neighborhoods seem to have homes/lots just a bit larger, but I can't stand the cookie cutter aspect of the homes in them. Nor can I tolerate a homeowners assoc meddling in every little aspect of living there.