?'s for the Jacksonville guys

Hey Y'all.
My wife and i are moving down there end of this month. Never been to Jacksonville before, but heard they have some heavy crime areas. We're looking to rent a house preferably but would settle for a nicer apartment.

So, what areas i should avoid? Also, how is the area around the airport? And would 850-900 topps for rent get me out of the ghetto. lol. Thanks

 

Hey, I have lived in jax for 22 years and lived on just about every side of town.
Can't say that there is a horrible side of town, but just north of downtown, i would not go there, or want to live there. Umm Westside has its spots aswell, but some great areas in there too. Ok places that i have liked (Orange park, flemming island,southside area, mandarin, beaches mostly all nice, the northside above I295 and 9A merge.. I myself live 10 mins from the airport, its very nice around here the area is called oceanway. But all in all jax is a great city, with tons to do, but there is always gonna be parts of town u just don;t wan to live in, just take a few day to look around and see what areas your interested in.
Hope this helped, just post back if ya have questions..

 

Heath, thanks for the response. That helps. I'm hoping to fly down and check it out before we leave. Not sure if we'll have time to or not though. I was looking at Mission Pointe Apartments near the airport online. Hows that area look?

 

The airport area is GROWING....I moved away in 2000 and I went back last year and was amazed at the progress.

I lived in Mandarin. I'd suggest St Johns County. Or would have, the house prices seemed good and they had good schools.

 

Yeah I don't think Duval has the best schools.

 

So Mandarin, that's a section of Jacksonville right? Is that also Duval County?

 

yes, Mandarin starts near San Jose Blvd and I-295
It is east of the Buckman Bridge and west of I-95 along I-295.