09/25/08

Great value in good part of Jacksonville

by jon625

We moved to Jacksonville from out of state two and a half years ago. The availability of condos and houses was pretty overwhelming since we weren't familiar with the area. We had targeted either the San Marco or the Southside area after doing some research on-line. We had a great realtor with Century 21 out of their Baymeadows office. Ultimately, we found that the square footage of the places in our price range (~$130,000-150,000) in San Marco was just too small and the condo units weren't that nice. My wife and I went to about 15 different condo complexes in the Southside area after ruling out San Marco. We ultimately decided on a unit in Sonoma (a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom) since the square footage was much larger than any other area we had looked at (a few other condos had some more amenities like a larger porch or more expansive fitness center, but the unit itself was often cramped). Our experience so far in two and a half years has been great. Our son attends Twin Lakes Academy and loves it, and we've got really quick access to the beach (15 minutes), downtown (about 15-20 minutes) and the St. Johns Town Center mall (a nice upscale mall with great restaurants like PF Chang's and Maggiano's). The only reason we give four stars is that we're a little disappointed that the value of the home has dipped somewhat because of the lousy housing market! But we're very happy with the unit and the neighborhood in general so we definitely recommend it to anyone making the move to Jacksonville.

• Pros: Floorplan size, appliances (washer/dryer, fridge, etc.), playground area, LOCATION!
• Cons: Market values (we think they'll bounce back soon, though),