Where to live in Jax

[lynnie2183]

We'll be moving from Corpus to Jacksonville at the end of January so my husband can start P3 FRS and I need advice on where to live. Anyone have any suggestions? We are looking for a house to rent, maybe in Mandarin or Orange Park, but would take an apartment if we have to. Needs to accept pets!

Have heard that the traffic in OP is pretty terrible. Agree/disagree?

Thanks,

Lynn

 

[litreofcola]

I lived in mandarin for 18 years, In my opinion Mandarin is much nicer than orange park. However, Orange Park is closer to NAS Jax. Without a lot of traffic, the drive to NAS Jax was APPROXIMATLEY 15-20 minutes from where I lived in Mandarin. There was a bunch of Pilots/NFO's who lived in my neighborhood, so the drive must not be that bad (although it does involve a Bridge).
As far as houses to rent I do not think you would have any problems finding one. There are plenty of residential real estate offices in the Mandarin Area and tons of houses.

And yes Orange Park Traffic SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

 

[WannaBEaP3gal]

I live in the Southside area right now... traffic sucks there during rush hour, but I can walk to the movies, 20-some resturants, Starbucks, etc. and the grocery store is just a 2 minute drive but the way the apts are set up you don't feel like you are around all that stuff so it's really nice. Stay away from Arlington/Regency/Downtown area... not good. They have all different kinds of apts in that area that will suit your needs. Oh and I almost forgot, a huge classy mall will be finished in March thats probably a 3 minute drive from where I live... if you have any ?s PM me

 

[smittyrunr]

I live in Mandarin and love it- there are plenty of apartments around to choose from. I didn't look at renting a house, but those I know who did had no problem finding anything, the housing office on base was pretty helpful. Even with traffic, it's never more than 20 minutes into the door of VP-30. Orange Park is closer (same side of the river) as NAS JAX, but the commute can take much longer and you have to deal with traffic to go just about anywhere.
All the apartments I looked at take pets, no rottweiler or pitbull breeds, but the pet fees can be a bit expensive. I think my apartment was $350 nonrefundable.
I'm in VP-30 right now, if you have any other questions let me know.

 

[lynnie2183]

Could any of you tell me what apartment complex you live in? I'm looking online at apartmentguide, etc., but it would be nice to get a recommendation from someone who actually lives in one of them. You can PM me if you'd like. Thanks

 

[hornetframer]

I live in Mandarin also. A nice place to live is Paddock Club Apartments. It is pretty nice there and quiet for the most part. NAS Jax is 7-8 miles from my place to the main gate. Takes about 15 minutes to get there. There are different shopping places within a 5-10 minute drive including the Avenues Mall (which is pretty nice and they are upgrading it now with a new floor). The place is only 6 years old. I see quite a few people walking dogs here. My old downstairs neighbor had a HUGE dog and never heard him at all.

 

[smittyrunr]

I live in Waterford at Mandarin... having just helped a friend look at apartments, others in Mandarin I would reccommend: Timberwalk and St. Augustine at the Lake.

 

[NFOwife]

We lived in Jax for 3 years (and if you end up staying after the rag, I'd recommend looking for housing in Julington Creek Plantation, just south of Mandarin- it's wonderful!!). Apartment wise, in Mandarin we had friends at the Waterford and a lot of friends also lived off of Phillips near the highway in the Antlers and other apts. near Baymeadows. Mandarin and OP commutes are roughly the same because of the OP traffic. I'd definitely stay away from living in OP because of the traffic and also the other side of the bridge (the Mandarin side) is just nicer overall. I know the Waterford accepts pets because our friend had a dog and a cat. If you're both working you might want to look into renting a house, it's a little more $$ but with a dog you can't beat the convenience of having a fenced in yard (we have 2 dogs). Best of luck! I'd be happy to help you with any other Jax questions, we miss it a lot!

 

[PropStop]

Don't live in St. John's Plantation, off of southside. It SUUUUCKS! Avoid Paradise Island, they screw military people there (we almost got screwed by them, but we screwed them before they screwed us, they were the screwee, we were the screwers). Soutside is alright. I know a few guys who lived at the beach and loved it, long drive though. Going from Soutside/Mandarin to the base isn't too bad, you're always going against traffic - unless you have a 1700 event, then things wil SUUUUCK.

 

[HooverPilot]

I've lived in the Fleming Island area of Orange Park for 4 years now, and I wouldn't live anywhere else in Jax. Traffic is not as bad as people seem to perceive. I hate driving San Jose much more than Hwy 17 in OP. Look for something in Eagle Harbor or Fleming Island Plantation and you will not be disappointed!

 

[trvsmrtn]

Normandy and Chafee area on the westside has several new subdivisions going up and it's only about 20 min from NAS Jax. The houses are much cheaper than you'll find in Argyle, OP and Southside and values will jump over the next few years once all the construction is complete. For example, I bought a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1780 sq ft for 124k in Aug 2002 and it's worth over 160k now.

 

[VarmintShooter]

Dragging this back from the dead, but did anyone use (or know of) a good realtor who can help us find a place to rent?

I have pretty much the exact requirements of the original post ... prefer a house over an apartment, have a cat and a dog. Need a garage to store extraneous cr@p.

I gather that Mandarin is the place to be, but Google didn't come up with much in the way of rental properties.

 

[makana]

Dragging this back from the dead

I'm glad you did because I have the same questions and situation.

 

[NFOwife]

Varmint, I'm not sure if he does rental properties or not to be honest, but our realtor that we originally used to buy our house in Jax was great and is associated with Watson Realty, the biggest real estate agency in Jax. I know they have a property management section too so hopefully he can point you in the right direction if he can't help you himself. He's former USNA/Navy so he's familiar with the whole military thing. John Earhart, (800) 711-2279, email jdeusna@aol.com .

 

[VarmintShooter]

NFO Wife, thanks very much ... we'll check him out!