Anyone know about towns in Florida?

[Tense]

We're still up in the air. We're trying to relocate to Florida. I just can't decide on an area. It's very hard not having the time really to 'look' aroud. Friends moved to Fort Meyers, I've never been but the houses there are quite$$. I was looking into Debary or Deland or perhaps Clermont, or Winter Garden. Can anyone give me info . All I've ever been to is Orlando, Tampa and Boca Raton.We're looking in the 175K to 200K price range.Any suggestions? A family area I have 2 school age kids.

 

[Otimon]

There is a lot to consider here - the foremost being are you moving to Fla. with jobs already in hand or are you planning to look for jobs once you arrive? What type of work are you in or looking for? Are your children elementary or high school level? All of these are important as to where you might want to live.

Since you know the Orlando and Tampa areas already, why not start there. My suggestion would be to get in touch with a national realtor (Cent. 21 or ReMax for example) in both cities and request they send you information about their cities and the housing market there. This is just what we did before moving from Chicago 5 years ago. I'm sure you could get more info on the net, too, to begin your search.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[marlasmom]

We just moved to Winter Haven. We are retired and were looking for cheap. Our house is less than one year old, we paid $120,000 - 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 car garage and screened in pool and lanai. Maybe too small for a family - although we have my grandson 3 nights a week. My daughter put him (age 11) in a parochial school (Lutheran) because she felt that classes at the middle school were too large. He is doing great there. My husband picked Winter Haven because it is less than 45 minutes to Disney and about an hour to Tampa (my sister is in St. pete Beach). He also did not want (although I did) to be on the water because of hurricanes. E-mail me if you want further info.

 

[Ted and Holly]

We are beginning the relocation process. We hope to be in Florida and settled with jobs by this time next year. We have friends in DavenPort which is about 20 minutes from the gates of WDW. Davenport schools are not that great, we've been told, though there is a Charter School at 4 corners (4 counties come together: Polk, Orange, Osceola and Lake?) And that school is brand new and supposed to be really good. Clermont is known for good schools.



Holly

 

[Otimon]

Marlasmom and Ted and Holly - Best wishes to all of you. I see you are all from New Hampshire. We used to live in Hooksett!

If I may be of any help please let me know.

 

[Poohbear123]

I have some good advice.............................DO NOT MOVE TO MIAMI................anywhere BUT Miami!

 

[iluvorlando]

LOL poohbear! My DH was interviewing for FHP many, many years ago and that is where we would have had to live. NOPE!!

Anyhow, Tense, I really love the area where I live by the airport in Orlando. Very convenient to everything, everywhere. Great schools and lots of great housing.

Hope you have good luck searching.

 

[Melissa R]

I went to college in Deland and LOVED it there. I haven't been back since graduation (1993) and I know that it was a growing town when I left, so I don't know how much more growth there has been. (When I started school there in 1989 there was no movie theater. Our big outings were usually to the Walmart. They built a theater in 1992 I think and we were so excited we hardly knew what to do with ourselves!)

Sorry that I can't offer you any info about housing costs.

I was an elementary education major, so I can tell you that the schools in Deland and the neighboring towns always have lots of student teachers doing their internships there. This is great in that there are fresh ideas being presented, but also has it's downside - student teachers make a lot of mistakes!

I'd love to go back to Deland. I almost stayed there after graduation but just didn't want to be without my family.

 

[WDW2002]

Originally posted by marlasmom
Our house is less than one year old, we paid $120,000 - 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 car garage and screened in pool and lanai.