Real Estate Blog for Buyers and Sellers - Elizabeth Peters

Jacksonville, FL: The largest city by land mass in the contiguous United States. Does every part of town? Let’s find out! People are relocating to Jacksonville, FL everyday and they want to know about the different areas of town. It’s hard to know these things if you’ve never been here and you aren’t able to come visit- so I thought it would be a good idea to dive a bit deeper to get you more familiar with the areas of Jax. So I thought I’d just drive a quick loop through different sides of town. Since I’m covering so much ground today and I don’t want to overwhelm you, I'll just give a brief overview of each area, but let me know if you need more description of a specific area. I love talking about all things Jacksonville and moving to Jacksonville so I’m happy to help you out with any challenges in your journey. (Urban Core) I began in the area known as Jacksonville’s Urban Core, super cool part of town, in my opinion. The urban core includes downtown, Brooklyn, Riverside, Springfield and San Marco. There’s lots of revitalization going on, and that opens up many opportunities to rehab historic homes. What I like about these areas is that these aren't your cookie cutter suburbs and big box retail stores. You won’t find a lot of chain restaurants in these areas either. These neighborhoods are known for creativity, uniqueness, a lot of great views and just a really cool crowd of people in these neighborhoods- If you’re looking for walkable areas, this will be perfect, it’s right on the river and the bridges are walkable, which a lot of people find convenient. You’ll find parks, seasonal events, the Riverwalk allows a really easy way to get out and be active year round, you can catch live music and entertainment, and many local shops and places to get some food and drinks all within walking distance. The houses you’re going to find here are historic, typically built before the 1930s and very eclectic. Big price jump with the options you can choose from here- From your fixer-upper & renovation opportunities, some triplexes and duplexes too for investment opportunities, also listings for up to 2 and 3 million dollar homes. I wish I could put a more generalized price tag on these homes but I just simply cannot. But this is the Urban Core, I am never surprised when people just fall in love with these historic neighborhoods. (Southside & Baymeadows) Next, I cruised through the Southside & Baymeadows area. Everyone wants to live here, so it's very crowded but that’s because there’s a lot going on in the area, in between downtown Jacksonville and the beaches and centrally located. Luckily no matter which side of town you’re on you’re close to the highways, but people like being on the southside because it’s possible to save yourself longer commutes if you just stay in this general area. On this side of town, you’ll basically have everything you need and wouldn’t need to leave often if you’re living and working over here. It’s a good mix of residential and commercial. From a living standpoint, this area offers a suburban feel with many different styles of homes here, if you need a condo, townhome or single family you’ll have a lot of options to choose from, and you’ll see more HOA communities over here. Certain subdivisions will have listings that are much more expensive but you can still find quite a bit of listings in an affordable price range if you absolutely need to make that work and there are tons of condos and townhomes. University of North Florida is located right over here so expect to see a little bit of the college crowd over on this side as well. If you’re looking for activities, entertainment, golf courses, a lot of amenities,Tinseltown theater is very popular with some really great restaurant options, the bigger shopping malls are nearby, the St. Johns Town Center is beautiful and tons of higher end shopping. You can find some good locally owned businesses, but you’ll notice a lot of the big brand retail stores and grocery stores a bit more. you just cannot go wrong here. If you’re looking for a place that has everything it’s the southside of Jacksonville. (Jax Beaches) The beach locals spend as much time outdoors as time will allow- whether it’s daily visits to the ocean, catching the sunrise views, fishing off the pier- being outdoors comes naturally to you if you’re living at the beach and you’ll notice that right away. Lots of activities and things to do outside and the area is big on the nightlife scene-. You’ll find different events all throughout the year at the beaches- concerts, a wide variety of festivals, outdoor movies at the Seawalk Pavilion and beach themed holiday events like Deck the Chairs. You get many options for indoor & outdoor bars & restaurants. The Beaches have their own town center. In addition, the shops and fitness studios at the Beaches Town Center- it's also a top destination site for happy hours. (East Arlington) Next Stop- East Arlington. East Arlington offers a bit of a sparse urban feel in close proximity to shopping, restaurants, and the beaches. If you’re getting stationed at Mayport, this would be a convenient location because it’s about 20 minutes to the base, 20 minutes to the airport, 20 minutes to the beach, about 20 minutes to downtown, and just a quick drive to the St Johns Town Center. Most of the neighborhoods have really mature and beautiful landscaping with bigger lots here- You get the big backyard, the big front yard and the side yards.. I love that the neighborhoods around here act like those true neighborhoods. Lots of families outside together, they have the strollers out, they’re out walking their dogs, they’re out with the community food trucks, gathering to catch up.The homes- A lot of 1960s, 70s and 80s builds on the market in this area, with some newer construction sprinkled in as well.Another place that’s close by is The Jacksonville Arboretum Botanical Gardens- one of the most beautiful parks in Jacksonville to just enjoy the outdoors. It’s dog friendly, the walking trails there are mostly shaded, and easy for beginners and children. And then there’s the Timucuan Preserve- Another place with gorgeous views, bordered by the river and home to the historical Fort Caroline which offers visitors a glimpse into the colonial history of the area. If you love the outdoors, this area would allow you a great time of hiking- Florida style. (Northside) Traveling through Jacksonville’s Northside. A really easy commute from Arlington, as well as downtown. A lot of cool things are popping up over here. The most well-known places here are definitely the Jacksonville Zoo and Catty Shack Ranch if you wanted to go see the big cats among other wildlife. You won’t be limited on places to eat and drink here. River City Marketplace is a big shopping and dining destination, Northside residents love having this close by. If you venture out you’ll find some really cool spots for waterfront dining and if you like seafood, there are so many on this side of town- some popular staples would probably be Palms Fish Camp, Chowder Teds and New Berlin Fish House and Oyster Bar. Really quick access to the highways again, 95 and 295. It takes practically no time to get to the airport. Good residential mix of quiet pockets and suburbs- you’ll see quite a bit more new construction communities over here as well. Overall, a great mix of commercial and residential. They’ve really got everything represented over here in this area. (Northwest Jacksonville) Now how about West Jacksonville? So, the westside covers a large, large area- basically everything west of the St. Johns River, whereas, east of the river is broken up into different places. So I wanted to first swing through the northwest part to break it up here a little bit. This is where the northside and westside sort of blend in together. A lot of established neighborhoods and homes, residents choose to live out here because they appreciate the bigger lots. Way more space in between each property so there are good opportunities if you’re buying for agricultural purposes. I find that this side of town has a quiet, country feel, but like the rest of Jacksonville, we are seeing quite a bit of new construction as well. This would be a great choice for someone who still wants to be in the city but prefers the areas where you can still be tucked away. A lot of industrial parks and commercial businesses are nearby to some of the residential neighborhoods. Again, some bigger brands represented but mostly just local businesses. Some of the local restaurant staples are Soul Food Bistro, Pho 99 and Treemendous BBQ. Northwest Jacksonville is made up of a lot of older homes, some new, but mostly older in the well established neighborhoods. (Southwest Jax) As I made my way down into Southwest Jacksonville, it brought me up really close to my original starting point, again, where some of these neighborhoods start blending in with those historic districts and on the other side, if you keep heading west you’ll cross over into Clay County. A lot of the homes on this side of town are older builds from the 1940s but also a lot of options for newer builds and new construction. It’s really changed quite a bit over the years and it’s really cool to see the new opportunities. Cecil Commerce center is close by, it used to be a Naval Air Station but now I’m seeing the land over there being used for commercial development. Herlong Airport is also close by, for aviation enthusiasts, and that is where I went skydiving for my birthday one year- definitely recommend trying that if you need to get out some adrenaline. The equestrian center is up the street- they always have events going on, horse shows, barrel racing, car shows, 5k runs. I’m also hearing that the fairgrounds are being moved out this way. The great thing about this side of town is that you’re still going to find a lot of different homes at different price points. Many different types of homes and communities, you can still find small 2 bedroom houses, bungalows and condos with plenty of options to find some good bargains. A lot of potential for rehabbing and plenty of homes for sale that were just fully updated. Again there’s not a whole bunch of chain restaurants over here on this side of town either if you aren’t including fast food. There are some bigger brands represented here as far as stores and restaurants are concerned, but mostly local. Some restaurant favorites here would be Sushi Bear, Shut em down for authentic southern, A&D Manila Bakery and JL Trent's Seafood. The confusing thing about Jacksonville is that each side of town is a mixture of neighborhoods with homes ranging in vastly different prices, ages and styles. It’s an older city with tons of new things happening everywhere so it’s hard to place each area into a little category that explains things clearly. So this is why I wanted to break it up and explain it a bit, to let you have a visual and hopefully once you arrive it’ll make more sense. There’s really so much more to Northeast FL and I was really only able to hit on the most obvious things with these short tours of each area. If you need me to go more in depth, please don’t hesitate to reach out, I’m happy to explain these things in more detail. The idea of this was just to show you that you can have any kind of lifestyle you want. You can truly find the best of city life, century old homes, life in the suburbs, quiet country living, or life at the beach. There can be many benefits to living here, with many people moving here everyday. I hope I was able to give you some perspective. If you’re interested in checking out my relocation guide, you can download it here: https://elizabethpeters.lpthomesearch.com/moving-to-jacksonville-guide- If you have any questions at all, feel free to send me an email at elizabethtalksjacksonville@gmail.com. Thanks and happy house hunting! Tour of Jacksonville, Florida