Is Sand Lake Florida safe?

[Epcot Mom]

My 20 year old is wanting to stay in an Airbnb in Sand Lake. Is it a safe area? It says 7 miles away on I-4. They estimate 12 minutes but with how slow traffic is on I4 I’m thinking longer. Any thoughts welcome!!!

Thanks!

 

[HopperFan]

My 20 year old is wanting to stay in an Airbnb in Sand Lake. Is it a safe area? It says 7 miles away on I-4. They estimate 12 minutes but with how slow traffic is on I4 I’m thinking longer. Any thoughts welcome!!!

Thanks!

Do they have an exact address? I would never rent without that and checking the area. Things can change very quickly just turning a corner in the Orlando area.

Thoughts ~

Orange County technically does not allow Airbnb (short term rentals) although I hear there are loop holes. If it is in Orange County, is it a legal rental and are they taking a risk?

Are they actually renting a timeshare/condo hotel unit? If so they might save money renting it direct if they can identify where it is.

If around "Sand Lake" or "Sand Lake Drive" there are areas that are okay and areas I would not stay in. I think an address is important. If they won't give out the address then I personally wouldn't book it.

If they are only doing Disney, I would look for something closer to there.

 

[fla4fun]

If it’s in the Sand Lake Road area, personally I would take Apopka Vineland Road down to Disney instead of I-4. It’s a multi-lane road with a median, and it comes down right to the Hotel Plaza Blvd. entrance to Disney property. I-4 can be fast, or very slow, and you never know which until you’re in the middle of it.

The Sand Lake Road area in general is very nice, but I agree with finding out at least the neighborhood or subdivision ahead of time. Sometimes people “stretch” the boundaries a bit, to make their property sound like it’s in a better area than it is. So they could claim it’s in the Sand Lake area when technically it’s not.

 

[Grumpy92]

It really depends on where on Sand Lake. East of Kirkman or near John Young then no. If it is Dr Phillips then yes, that is a great neighborhood.

 

[Epcot Mom]

Thanks everyone! It is through Airbnb but they say no address until you rent so…..that’s a no based on the responses here! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience!

 

[georgina]

airbnb doesn't give you an address but they do show you which area it is in on a map if you scroll down. Also the reviews give some good hints as to location. I always look for places with a lot of reviews. Seems a lot of the Sand Lake properties listed are near I drive and Universal.

 

[Brian Noble]

It probably depends on what you mean by "safe." I lived in Oakland for a year as an undergraduate, on the "wrong" side of Shattuck (though just by a block). It was a perfectly fine place to live, and there is nothing anywhere near the tourist zones that is anything like even that.

(Turns out my wife has me beat; she did her MD at Maryland, and she lived in a townhouse in West Baltimore about two blocks from the spot that David Simon wrote about in The Corner.)

 

[rdaky]

Thanks everyone! It is through Airbnb but they say no address until you rent so…..that’s a no based on the responses here! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience!

If it's an entire house, that is still Orange County and is an illegal rental. Another reason for them to not give you the address. Anything in Orange County is going to be illegal, as someone above stated, unless it's in a vacation rental community or they're just renting out a room (which is technically legal but is often also illegal due to HOA restrictions) It's just something to be careful about in general when doing Airbnb near Disney.

I'm local and live in Orange County and also in an HOA that allows absolutely no type of short term rental. People still try to get away with it and it's super annoying. Neighbors WILL report them and then the person who just wanted a place to sleep for vacation is out of luck when it closes down with no warning at the last minute. You don't want that to happen, either.