Ok...switching Areas Again! Jacksonville Fla. Anyone??

St Augustine/ St John's County! Our schools are the best in the state! Check out the Julington Creek and NW St John's areas. We're right on the coast, so any place in the county is a reasonable drive to the beach. Feel free to ask me anything- I've lived in the area my whole life!

It also depends where in Jacksonville his work is. Some areas are not so nice, but there are many that are okay. I'd never want to live in Jacksonville/Duvall county, but I'd be okay with working there.

*Except for the school requirements, I would recommend you check out Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island. It has pretty much everything you listed... except good schools.

JIA (Jax Int'l Airpt) is on the north side of Jacksonville, so an easy drive from Fernandina. It isn't a horrible drive from most areas of Jax, unless you are going at rush hour traffic time. I lived on the South Side for many years... from Mandarin (southside suburb) it is about 30-40 minutes to the airport depending on traffic. Westside... probably about the same, but then you are on the other side of the river from your beach destination. That means a good 45 minutes to go to the beach.

St. Augustine my be worth looking into. I have heard that some of St. John's County's schools are good.. but I haven't lived in that county, so have no first hand information. And you add another 30 minutes to a trip to the airport. (which I only mention, b/c I'm thinking your husband is going to be doing a lot of traveling, right?)

There are several magnet schools in Jacksonville, so I'd be leery a bit of some of the others. I know that they are highly sought after and competitive to get into. It's been many years since I lived there and the schools that used to be the "good" schools, probably aren't anymore, since there are schools now that didn't exist then. Personally, if we were to move back, we would likely look somewhere along the west side of the intercoastal or in the Mandarin or old San Jose areas. But that would all depend upon the commute. My husband's work commute wouldn't be fun from those areas...

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Deerwood is on the southside, sort of between the St. John's Town Center shopping development (near the University of North Florida) and Mandarin. San Jose is a bit north of these areas, closer to the river and downtown.
Deerwood, 20 years ago, was a high end area of town. Deerwood Country Club, St. Johns Country Day School, etc etc.
It's about 10 minutes northeast of the Mandarin area.
The shooting of the black kids in the car by the 40something year old man over loud music at a gas station a while back (that the trial has been in the news recently) happened at the gas station at a main intersection right there at Baymeadows Road.

I don't know much about Jacksonville but my brother and his family lived there for about 4 years. They really liked it. I know they did walk their dogs a lot. There was also a nature preserve (?) where they spent a lot of time walking.

Amelia Island is beautiful ! It's not too far from Jacksonville !
I wish I could help you with schools, but, I live up North!

Honestly Jacksonville is a pit. If you get to st augustine it is nicer, but how rotten do you want your husbands commute and surrounding area to work to be?
Tampa is a much nicer bet and area. The area is a little busier and more expensive, but you can get nice and reasonable with 45 mins of downtown Tampa. The beaches are also much nicer. There is a reason it is a little more popular.

My husband's cousin and aunt and uncle immigrated to Jacksonville from Iraq. They live in a beautiful area, which is in the Deerwood area. Based on a quick Trulia rental search of their zip code, I did find some pretty good places in the area.

Zip: 32256

I know that this cousin's uncle raised 3 daughters in Jacksonville, and they all attended the public schools in their area. 2 of them are now dentists and 1 is in medical school, so they schools can't be THAT bad.