Anyone familiar with the St. Augustine FL area?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I’m a native Floridian and would like nothing better than to get out of the state when my husband and I retire in another 3-5 years. I’m tired of the crazy drivers, sick of hearing Spanish every place I go, weary of the high property taxes and insurance costs and fed up with the crime. The city where I live has really gone downhill in the past 10 years or so and it’s not getting any better. I want to stay in the south, though, and we’re considering north FL, GA, AL, SC, NC, and TN. </p>

<p>We’re planning a road trip up the coast to the St. Augustine area in a couple of weeks because we’ve heard really great things about it. I’m not sure that the taxes and insurance there will be that much lower than they are in south FL but I think the pace and the lifestyle will be more in tune with what we want. I’d love to hear from anyone on CC who knows the area. I know there aren’t a whole lot of Floridians here but any info about St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, or even Jacksonville will be helpful. Thanks! :)</p>

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<p>I am! I’ve been there several times. I lived in jacksonville for a while as well.</p>

<p>Alright this is going off of what I remember but i’ll give it a shot. St. Augustine is very historic and has excellent beaches. It has somewhat moderant(sp?) traffic, but at around 5 it gets pretty bad. Theres plenty to do there.</p>

<p>Jacksonville, oh boy. This is a pretty large city and the traffic can get pretty bad at times. I believe the sales tax there is about 7%(I could be wrong). </p>

<p>Sorry, but thats about all i could remember. :)</p>

<p>I hope this helps any.</p>

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<p>I would suggest Sanibel and Captiva islands. There is little crime, the maximum speed limit is 35, only a few people speak Spanish and it is absolutely beautiful. There are tourists but because of limited parking and a toll causeway, the place is not overrun with tourists. You will still have high real estate property taxes and hurricane insurance but it’s worth consideration.</p>

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Oh, that would never do! I’d be getting speeding tickets all the time! :wink: Thanks for your suggestions, though. I’ve never been to Sanibel and would love to see it, but I don’t want to live on the gulf coast of Florida because it’s more likely to get hurricanes than the northeast coast.</p>

<p>icedragon, what do you remember about housing in the area? From what I can determine online, there are lots of new homes being built out by 95 but they’re all in these cookie-cutter developments and the architecture is exactly like the homes down here in south FL. I like older homes with some character – I’m a sucker for a big front porch with a railing, for example.</p>

<p>I think I’m going to need to go out of state to find what I really want, but we’re going to give FL a chance first. I’ve lived here for 58 years and really haven’t visited too many other areas of the state in all that time.</p>

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<p>PatsM, PatsM, PatsM, you’re making me feel OLD. I would agree that the FL you knew growing up is g-o-n-e. I visited DisneyWorld the first year it opened. Got off I4 and drove for miles past nothing but trees and swamp until we arrived at the parking lot. Parking was free, and I think it was six bucks to get in (more if you wanted lots of ride tickets).</p>

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<p>Patsmom, I think you can find some older, charming houses in St. Augustine but you’ll pay a premium and they may be closer to the touristy area than you might like. Since you’ll consider Jax, how about the San Marco neighborhood or Riverside? Many lovely older houses can be found in both. The Ortega area has some great old houses, too. If you prefer a beach community, Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach, both near Jax, have some older cottages (actually quite New England shingle-style looking.) Ponte Vedra looks somewhat past its prime, IMHO, I guess because it seemed to have boomed in the70s and early 80s. In my mind, PVB meant “new money”, at least until the cheap, cookie cutter developments came along. Beware that prices in the beach communities skyrocketed in the last decade and have not “corrected” as much as in other places.</p>

<p>Outside of FL, some places to check out in the other states you mentioned could be small towns in NC, fairly close to Charlotte, such as Monroe and Gastonia. If you want to be closer in, the Meyers Park neighborhood is wonderful but pricey. I love Chattanooga, TN, but haven’t seen much of its neighborhoods. It’s certainly worth a visit. </p>

<p>There are numerous small towns in AL that may appeal to you, depending on your price range and what you want close by (major hospital, shopping malls, university, golf course, etc.) Near Birmingham are two small towns, Homewood and Mountain Brook, that have terrific older houses; the latter can be very expensive. There’s also a planned community, the Town of Mt. Laurel, in Shelby Co., that features front porches, parks, and some shops & services within walking distance of the houses. In northern AL, outside of Huntsville, are some small towns that might appeal if you want a real change from beaches in FL. I’ve also seen several southern AL town featured in magazine articles on retirement locations, some of which are on the Robert Trent Jones golf trail. One big advantage of AL is low property taxes, for the most part (Mtn. Brook is one exception.) </p>

<p>Have you requested any real estate ad magazines, such as Homes & Land, from the places you’re considering? You could also pick up a couple of the retirement-oriented magazines that run features on different communities. At least those can help you to narrow down the list of places to visit. One last suggestion, if you have time to take some extending trips, it would be nice to rent a home for a week or so (try vrbo.com) to really experience the various areas.</p>

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<p>I grew up in Jax, and it has changed big time from when I lived there. I, personally, don’t like it at all. Too much concrete. Ponte Vedra is okay, but housing is expensive, and you have to deal with traffic to get to the mall, etc. St. Augustine is still nice, but growing bigger. Lots of tourists, though, and they tore down the Bridge of Lions (unbelievable). Still, good food and beautiful beach. Don’t know about the housing prices, though. </p>

<p>What about Fernandina Beach or Brunswick, Georgia?</p>

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<p>I’m sorry i can’t really remember anything about the houseing :(</p>

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<p>patsmom, If you decide to cast your net to NC I can answer questions.</p>

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<p>Patsmom -</p>

<p>We have a place on Flagler Beach and there is nothing like it. Very casual, like an old Florida beach town, but nice restaurants etc., about 20 miles S. of St. Augustine, 20 N. of Daytona, so you can get to shopping etc. Palm Coast, the next city up, is nice but growing like crazy so experiencing some growing pains as far as traffic, infrastructure etc., which should settle down. Great housing prices, a relaxed atmosphere, we are finishing our kids in school here (Chicagoland) and will be retiring to Flager as soon as possible.</p>

<p>Of course GREAT golf if that floats your boat, the Intracoastal two blocks to the west, ocean one block to the east. I can’t imagine a place where you can be so close to the beach for so little… I mean we are literally 100’ from the sand for less than the price of our single family home up here. Insurance? auto is fine, but property, esp. oceanside is very very high.</p>

<p>St. Augustine is really nice but considering the huge amount of tourism we prefer to just drive up for the day rather than live there.</p>

<p>Take a road trip and check it out! :)</p>

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<p>Brink, thanks for the mentions of those neighborhoods in Jax. I’ll check into those. As for NC, we loved the area near Davidson College when we did a college visit there a few years ago. Where is Meyers Park - in Charlotte? </p>

<p>I know Huntsville AL well because my mother is from there and have visited it since I was a kid. We’re considering it but man, does it ever get hot in the summer! And it’s a tornado magnet, too. But I googled Mt. Laurel and it looks gorgeous, so thanks for the heads up. I will definitely check it more closely.</p>

<p>colmomto2, thanks for your perspective on Ponte Vedra. I agree, from what I’ve read about it, we can’t afford it. There’s a new development (Nocatee) to the west but, again, the houses look just like the ones in the planned communities down here and there seems to be a ton of construction still going on. And we’re not golfers, so those golf course communities don’t appeal, either. Brunswick GA might be nice – I spent 3 months there back in 1979 when I was at FLETC. Haven’t been back since but it’s worth another look.</p>

<p>I’m not all that enamored of beach communities. I live less than a mile from the beach now and never go there, although I do love that gorgeous view when I’m driving east and cross the bridge over the Intracoastal. When I reach the apex of the bridge, it always takes my breath away to see the ocean all of a sudden like that. But AL34 says, the windstorm and flood insurance premiums for homes near the ocean are nuts! Our windstorm deductible is over $29,000 and the premium is over $3300 annually. And that’s not counting homeowners and flood insurance! That’s one of the main reasons we want to move away from down here.</p>

<p>We will check out Flagler Beach as long as we’re up there, though. I do like the sound of fewer tourists and manageable traffic. Guess soon it’ll be time for another reconnaisance trip - maybe back to NC this time, or a visit to Mom in AL with a side trip to Mt. Laurel! PackMom, I might be taking you up on your offer to answer questions :)</p>

<p>Thanks, everyone!</p>