Best place to live in Central Florida

[VanessainWonderland]

Hi Disers!

I need advice from those of you living in the Central Florida area....

We recently just moved back to Central Florida after 4 years in TX. We are running out of time and need to buy a house soon. We have been looking in the St Cloud area because it has everything hubby wants.....Land and NO HOA for a great price....but I am not crazy about the middle and high schools in Osceola County and find St. Cloud to be a little run down....(JUST my opinion...)

Is there ANYWHERE in Central Florida with older, established homes with land and great schools for a decent price? Also, I work in Kissimmee but would not buy there.....Hubby works in Orlando...

Thanks for any input!

 

[vicki_c]

I wanted to buy a house in Harmony. I loved it there, although it is a little "Stepford." Ultimately, it was too far to commute for me to Melbourne, but I wished it hadn't been. I think that kind of development though is a love it or hate it type thing.

(realized after the fact that that totally doesn't meet the land and no HOA criteria - more the exact opposite!)

 

[rvchat]

Have a few friends and family in that area and they always recommend : Winter Park, Celebration , Dr Phillips

not in that order..... Lucky you, btw

Hi Disers
I need advice from those of you living in the Central Florida area....

We recently just moved back to Central Florida after 4 years in TX. We are running out of time and need to buy a house soon. We have been looking in the St Cloud area because it has everything hubby wants.....Land and NO HOA for a great price....but I am not crazy about the middle and high schools in Osceola County and find St. Cloud to be a little run down....(JUST my opinion...)

Is there ANYWHERE in Central Florida with older, established homes with land and great schools for a decent price? Also, I work in Kissimmee but would not buy there.....Hubby works in Orlando...

Thanks for any input!

 

[elf]

Not big on land but we enjoyed living in Winter Springs. Schools were good too. Mine went to elementary but I worked as a teachers aide and thought that Oviedo High School was pretty good. I visited and looked at Winter Springs as well that looked good. I liked the whole NE Orlando area. On Wed. early dismissal day, I used to take my younger dd and go straight from school, to WDW took 35-45 min. depending on traffic.

 

[dclfun]

I live in Hunter's Creek and love it but it does have a HOA and alot of rules. I guess the trade-off is nice neighborhoods, good parks, and good schools. I have a friend who lives in St. Cloud and loves it but it's too far from my workplace ( I work in Celebration Place). You'll probably want to take a look at traffic and tolls too- the tolls on 417 which I take every day can add up!---Kathy

 

[VanessainWonderland]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied! We took a look at Winter Park today and it was beautiful but very expensive! Also pretty far from my job....(I teach in Kissimmee) Also visited Waterford lakes area....Love it there as well.

I LOVE Hunter's Creek, but the HOA thing scares my husband away....I told him that if we ever moved back to Florida that he could choose the house....now I am starting to get a bit worried! HA!

How about old Oveido....anyone familiar with that area? Is there any land out by Waterford Lakes?

 

[vicki_c]

I'm sure the HOA can be overbearing at times (not in my current neighborhood, but a former neighborhood), but it does serve a purpose. There really was a vast difference in upkeep between my neighborhood in FL that had a HOA and ones right around the corner that didn't have a HOA.

The slight aggravations we had with our HOA were worth it to me to keep from seeing cars on blocks in people's yards and other unsightly stuff.

So in many cases, the rules are not a bad thing.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Lake County- Clermont/Groveland/Minneola. Not South Clermont, look for zip codes 34711 & 34715. I love living in Lake County, lots of lakes, great schools, low home prices and we have rolling hills. This area has a real home town feel, plus we have everything you need in regards to shopping right here in town.

Lots of people commute to Orlando from this area, since we have access onto the turnpike and it's a straight shot into Orlando, 30 minutes. Minneola has a brand new state of the art High School that's incredible, Lake Minneola High School, they use Ipads instead of textbooks, the place is incredible. Some area's of Clermont are zoned for the school as well.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I always thought the neighborhoods off of 417 near John Young parkway looked really nice. There is another exit in there, but I forget it's name. But if you travel from 528 towards Disney on 417, you will see these neighborhoods.

 

[WeLuvDCL]

My in-laws live in Clermont and it's very nice (34711) zip. There are 2 houses real close to them for sale right now (off Anderson Hill Road). Not sure of prices. One of the house needs a lot of yard work, I think it's a forclosure. Close to lake also.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Brevard County, of course We still technically count as Central FL. We live on the beachside and our schools are awesome! We have lots of established neighborhoods, etc. I wouldn't live anywhere else

 

[WheelCEO]

golden oak

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

We are also in Brevard county. Hubby retired after 26 years in the air force and now works at Patrick afb. We are in West Melbourne. Only an hour or so from the mouse. We are currently building a 4200 square foot house with pool anc it was very affordable! We love it here.

 

[vicki_c]

We are also in Brevard county. Hubby retired after 26 years in the air force and now works at Patrick afb. We are in West Melbourne. Only an hour or so from the mouse. We are currently building a 4200 square foot house with pool anc it was very affordable! We love it here.

That's where I used to live! Enjoy your FL lifestyle!

 

[jwfla422]

We are also in Brevard county. Hubby retired after 26 years in the air force and now works at Patrick afb. We are in West Melbourne. Only an hour or so from the mouse. We are currently building a 4200 square foot house with pool anc it was very affordable! We love it here.

We absolutely love your area. Are you building in Viera? I would just love to move from South FL to Viera (like a whole different world)!!

We're visiting the area next month, can't wait.

 

[TiggerTails57]

Subbing.......

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We are also in Brevard county. Hubby retired after 26 years in the air force and now works at Patrick afb. We are in West Melbourne. Only an hour or so from the mouse. We are currently building a 4200 square foot house with pool anc it was very affordable! We love it here.

Where are you building? We live Beachside (Indialantic) and lucked into an awesome foreclosure in the incorporated section of town last year We love Brevard County

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We absolutely love your area. Are you building in Viera? I would just love to move from South FL to Viera (like a whole different world)!!

We're visiting the area next month, can't wait.

Viera is beautiful! We live on the beach, but DD's horseback riding barn is in Viera. I love going there...Viera has stores other than surf shops

 

[VanessainWonderland]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

We took a look at Clermont and I absolutely LOVE it....country enough for the husband with shopping close by! I will definitely be looking at those homes on Anderson rd. Brevard county sounds great as well....LOVE the beach! I will give everyone an update soon!

Oh and for those of you that live in Clermont...any good churches out there? Not traditional..looking or more of a 'young' church with a band, etc....(I know...so picky, right!?)

 

[JDUCKY]

not sure on the churches but Clermont sure is up and coming. Once road construction on 27 and 50 are finished, it will be even better. We head that way sometimes for shopping instead of up to Ocoee (West Oaks mall or WalMart).

There are a lot of good areas but definitely have to consider exactly where for good schools. Where we are in Winter Garden, things are getting better. A new middle school opens up next year (and we're zoned for that which we're not too thrilled about since we're closer to the one where we have DD in already and don't want to switch). A new high school is going up in Summerport and is opening in a few years.

Plenty of shopping just a few min. up the road at Winter Garden Village and going the other way it's all rural and open and some nice views of the city and the Disney fireworks from some points on the road