How to Find Your New Jacksonville Area Neighborhood
You might be ready to move, or must move due to job or personal reasons.
It’s natural to streak ahead in your mind to what your next home will, or should, be. But equally important is where that home will be. And this is true even if the location of your next destination is predetermined by a career or life decision.
Let’s say you’re headed to Jacksonville and seeking a new custom Florida home. Jacksonville is a booming metro area with major natural resources, industries and, of course, Atlantic Ocean beaches.
There are innumerable places you can move in Jacksonville, and decisions you can make about doing so. Here’s how to find your new neighborhood.
Urban or suburban?
This won’t be as crucial if you’re moving to a smaller town. But in Jacksonville, you’ll need to decide whether living in-town or in the suburbs is more your preference. Or hey — maybe beachfront or waterfront.
In some cities, it’s more expensive to live downtown and less expensive in the suburbs. In others, it’s the opposite. You’ll have to investigate Jacksonville to unearth those particulars. But if the same size house is less expensive in one area of town than in another, that’s a factor that would matter to most of us.
It means you’re paying for the location. Which brings us to…
Go local
What are you paying for if you opt for the more expensive home?
Get out there and find out!
This isn’t always as easy as it sounds. You may live in another part of Florida or completely out of state, and researching new neighborhoods in-person takes planning, money and effort. But it’s absolutely worth it if you can make it happen.
Take a long weekend, a few hours’ drive, or book a vacation in Jacksonville. Before you arrive, select two or three areas that appeal to you based on research and friends’ or family recommendations.
Spend your time driving each area’s streets, eating in its restaurants, touring its model homes. Locate the grocery stores, shopping complexes, schools and hospitals. Note rush-hour traffic and new business and residential construction (the latter means the area is growing).
You’ll leave with the kind of priceless information that will help you narrow your new-home search. But don’t pout if you can’t manage in-person visits.
While you’re checking out potential new Jacksonville neighborhoods in person, don’t be shy about talking to folks you meet. Perhaps your most important question is, “Why should I want to live here?”
Talk to the wait staff at places where you grab lunch. Spend time with the sales agents manning model homes. Talk to residents who already live in the communities where those model homes are located.
Aside from dinner and coffee recommendations, those people are more likely to volunteer what it’s like to live where they do — and whether you should too.
All of which puts you closer to finding your new neighborhood.
predetermined by a career or life decision.
