One of the biggest mistakes buyers make is focusing only on the house and not the area around it.
Because you can change paint colors, flooring, countertops, and even landscaping, but you cannot pick up the house and move it later if you realize you don’t like the location.
And honestly, sometimes the location can affect your day-to-day happiness even more than the house itself.
Things like commute times, school zones, noise levels, traffic, flooding, neighbors, and what’s around the property can all impact your quality of life and even your future resale value.
So before you buy, here are some things you may want to think about when choosing the right area in Northeast Florida.
Choose the Right Areas in Northeast Florida, Let’s Talk About Schools
So if you’re local, you probably already know what areas that you want to live in, but here are some other things that you may not think about and take into consideration.
Like, for example, schools. A lot of people do buy because they wanna be in a certain school zone, but sometimes you may not want to be close to schools.Story time, I had a buyer who actually did not want to be close to schools. He was older, he didn’t have school age kids, so he did not want to buy in an area that had school zones. And the one that we were looking at had an elementary and a junior high school, so it was a really long school zone that you had to drive in. And he’s like, “I don’t wanna drive in that.” So that made sense. You have to think about that.
If you’re relocating to Northeast Florida and trying to narrow down areas, feel free to reach out. Sometimes it helps to talk through your lifestyle and daily routine to figure out which areas may fit you best. Call/text 904-910-3516 or email me: pam@pamgraham.com.
Here are the area schools for those of you with kids:
How’s The Neighborhood Look And Sound?
Let me start off this section with Fair Housing Rules. I will not talk to you about people based off the Fair Housing Rules. What I will talk about is noise and visual appeal of the neighborhood. Meaning the upkeep or lack of upkeep. So, if you’re wanting to eliminate areas or neighborhoods due to people, I am not the agent for you.
As you’re checking out neighborhoods and areas, drive by at different times of the day to see what it looks like, as far as noise and parking. Are people parking in their yards? Are they having parties? How’s the grass looking? Are they blasting music? Are dogs wandering the streets? Zombies? (checking to see if you’re paying attention)
Because for me, I’m very visual. So when I looked at houses, I eliminated houses that were around other houses where their yards were like knee-high tall grass or homes falling apart, because I didn’t wanna live around neighbors who don’t take pride in their homes.
Also, you can ask neighbors, you know, stop and knock on the doors. I know it’s a little difficult nowadays, because a lot of people don’t answer the door, but if you see people out, stop and talk to them. Ask them how the neighborhood is. Is it quiet? Make sure questions touch all the bullet points that you’re interested in.
Story time….. I had a buyer looking at a house in part of a neighborhood that I heard that it had some flooding issues in the back. So we did see a neighbor outside, and we stopped and talked to him. He gave us the whole story that they had water back there that was waist high, due to a storm that came through. They actually had to have the fire department come back and help them get out because the water. This was not in a flood zone either!
Location, Location……Location
Another thing is how locations can impact resale, and what I mean by that is, obviously, more desirable areas that people really wanna be in are going to have a higher resale, but you also wanna consider individual houses. Where are they sitting at? Does your backyard butt up to a main road? Are you gonna wake up one day and there’s a car in your backyard? Some people don’t want to be around power lines, so you wanna look at that. Are there water treatment plants that you could be near, some people don’t wanna be around that.
All these things can impact your resale value, so you wanna look at it as objectively as you can. Like sometimes you will see a house that is cheaper than the other houses in the same neighborhood, so you have to ask…. why is it cheaper? Does it back up to businesses? Is it next to train tracks? Close to a hospital where you may hear sirens more. When you go to sell, that could affect your resale value too.
Commute
Commute times is a big one. Commuting in this area can be difficult, especially if you work in Jacksonville and you have to commute to Jacksonville from, say, Clay County or St. Johns County. What are your hours that you’re going to be working? Rush hour traffic it can be two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and if your hours are typical rush hour times, then it could affect your travel time.
If you’re not local, you probably don’t know about the Buckman Bridge. I don’t know what it is about that bridge, but it seems to have accidents on it all the time. The lanes end up getting shut down and it’s backed up. It’s a nightmare when that happens. One time while stuck on the Buckman, I did get to see a storm come through and watched the rain coming towards us. That helped pass the time. With the Buckman Bridge, you don’t have many options to get where you need to go, because there’s not that many bridges over the river that you don’t have to drive a good ways to get to it.
So you want to look at where are you in regards to where you’re working at. Do you have to go over the Buckman? Do you have to go over the Shands Bridge, which is a little bit farther south, connecting St. Johns and Clay Counties?
So make sure when you’re looking at these areas, you consider your commute time, because that can really cause your quality of life to be impacted negatively and you end up regretting where you buy, because of the long time that you’re going to spend in the car.
If you’re thinking about buying in Northeast Florida and want help narrowing down areas that fit your lifestyle, commute, and budget, feel free to reach out. Sometimes having somebody local helping you think through these things can save you from making a decision you regret later. Call/text 904-910-3516 or email me: pam@pamgraham.com.
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I’m Pam Graham, a Northeast Florida real estate consultant, which includes Jacksonville, Clay & St John’s Counties. I break down the market in layman’s terms so you can make smart decisions—whether you’re buying, selling, or just keeping an eye on what’s happening.
Call/Text 904-910-3516
Email: pam@pamgraham.com
