Harmony, FL?

[princesspwrhr]

There's a decent possibility for my family to move to central Florida soon. My husbands contract allows him to work from home, he just needs to have high speed reliable internet and be within an reasonable distance from an airport. I am a teacher. I've been looking around in the area to get an idea of what's available/would fit etc.

I was drawn to the idea of living in Celebration, I love the convenience of everything and the community feel. I understand there are a lot of rules with the HOA, but we've dealt with strict/crazy rules before. We don't particularly care one way or another for lot size, an apartment or townhouse is fine.

In the process of researching Celebration I came across the mention of Harmony, Fl- about 45 minutes away. I fell in love with the concept and schools- but, there are some considerations with distance to grocery and kids activities. My oldest goes to college this year, my younger two are middle school.

The Harmony schools are better rated (and have positions open for elementary teachers), plus the vet tech program at the high school looks great (an interest of my youngest). But- the youngest plays travel soccer and takes guitar lessons & is in band, and the middle is involved in 6 styles of dance plus company and Irish feising. I want to find quality programs for them to participate in without spending my evenings driving all over the county (which I feel like I do now)

The Celebration School is rated well, and there seems to be conflicting reports on Celebration HS- some sites give it a 5 out of 10, some give it a B+, which to me are VERY different grades. It does have an IB programme. Preliminary looking at the community shows the after school activities very close, some in Celebration, and of course I know the grocery stores are easily accessible. Also, no immediate job for me, I would have to commute or wait for any vacancies in the upcoming school year.

Does anyone have any experience with Harmony? How much diversity is in the neighborhood/school? Where do you find reliable and consistent information on the schools? All location, whether they give Celebration a high or low report have "reviews" from plausibly real people rating it 4 out of 5 bubbles/stars, etc. Or dance and soccer programs in the Celebration/Kissimmee/St. Cloud enormous geographical area?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't live there but drive by it in occasion. It is fairly remote but they did "build it up" a little. They have a small town center with what appears to be a basic grocery and a few other things. They have a large high school (as it appears from the road).

Pretty sure there is both a Winn Dixie and a Publix the moment you set foot into St Cloud.

One thing to keep in mind, while it isn't "that far" from st Cloud--once you hit St Cloud--light after light after light. The commute quote would be realistic with no traffic.

Celebration is going to be much closer closer to civilization and open up your options. While I don't have personal experience with Harmony, it does have the one traffic light town vibe as far as offerings. I'm sure that over a decade or so, things will pop up, but that is how it is right now.

The quoted drive times are insanely optimistic IME. 30 minutes to Disney??? I just plugged in the high school to Disney and it was nearly an hour.

Before even considering living there, I would have to do lots of research and test drive realistic routes. Even basic drive bys and research makes the town extremely unappealing unless one were trying to escape civilization.

Keep in mind this is a web site geared to selling homes: http://harmonyfl.com .