Moving to Flordia...yes another ?

[We_love_WDW]

I know this has been discussed before but I was wondering if you can offer some advice. My husband has the opportunity to work from his work's Orlando office, so we are seriously thinking about relocating. We have 2 small kids so a great school district is very important to us. Can you offer us some great communities/places to live that have good schools and a nice neighborhood. Also what about all the crime people keep telling me about? Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

 

[beautybelle]

bumping

 

[campingcorgi]

Orlando has some nice areas and suburbs, but commuting can be a nightmare. Where is his office located?

 

[RadioNate]

A general location of office would be helpful. I live in Seminole County (and am selling my house, lol!) and the schools here are good. IMO, Florida schools in general are lacking but that is everywhere in the state and no getting around it. I do like my son's elementary school and have heard good things from friends with JR High aged kids. Our high school was listed on Newsweek's top 1500 HS in America list.

Seminole County is known for better schools than the other areas but I think it likely depends where you are talking about. I don't find them to be light years better than some other areas.

Orlando, like all cities, can be crime heavy in areas.

 

[DisneyCrazy915]

I've only lived in the UCF area so I can't be of much help as to neighborhoods, but I just wanted to say Congrats

I would definitely consider distance to his office when picking a neighborhood. Like a pp said, commuting can be a nightmare, the road system here is All I can say is get a SunPass! Also keep in mind that the Orlando area is quite spread out. I'm technically in Orlando, but I'm 45 min. from Disney on the toll road, longer if I take city streets.
Another thing to keep in mind is Orlando tends to be subdivision after subdivision. The prettier areas, in my opinion, are Winter Park, historic downtown Orlando, Celebration (would love to live here), and anything west of the downtown area (also lots of subdivisions, but prettier). HTH

 

[siouxi31]

You may wish to frequent the city-data.com forums for the Orlando area. They have some fantastic advice.

Best wishes to you!

 

[We_love_WDW]

Hi thanks for the replies so far. His office would be near the University of Central Flordia on Discovery Drive. Any suggestions/advise about that area? What about your thoughts on Windermere and Winter Park? Thank you.

 

[LuvOrlando]

No-one can really tell you whether or not you'd like what you see there. Is there any way you guys can go down and visit the area before making such a huge decision? I don't think I would elect to move my family without doing a walk through of the schools and surrounding areas first. I happen to think you can learn a great deal about an area by visiting the local neighborhoods, food stores, shops, schools and playgrounds because these are the places where there is no veneer and life just is what it is.

Good luck with your decision

 

[Disney Doll]

DH is a realtor and he usually recommends to people who are relocating to go live in the area in a rental for a while, explore around and get the lay of the land and become familiar with the area, do some research on schools etc.

 

[Feralpeg]

Hi thanks for the replies so far. His office would be near the University of Central Flordia on Discovery Drive. Any suggestions/advise about that area? What about your thoughts on Windermere and Winter Park? Thank you.

I live in Windermere and I love it! There is a new elementary school about four blocks from my house. It is only a year old and appears to be a great school.

Windermere is nice because it is very quiet, yet you live on the doorstep to WDW. I can be at Downtown Disney in ten minutes. I am five minutes from the back of the Magic Kingdom. We can see Wishes every night.

Although we are very close to Disney, it is not a tourist area. There is nothing out this way to attract tourists. It is just a quiet residential area with a lot of mid-range to very expensive housing. I never worry about the value of my home dropping due to the other homes in the area.

If you have any specific questions about the area, I'd be happy to try to help.

Your husband would have a pretty good commute from Windermere to the UCF area. Even taking the 408, it would be a good 30 to 40 minute drive and traffic can be pretty bad. The 408 is a toll road.

 

[DisneyCrazy915]

Hi thanks for the replies so far. His office would be near the University of Central Flordia on Discovery Drive. Any suggestions/advise about that area? What about your thoughts on Windermere and Winter Park? Thank you.

Discovery drive, I drive that all the time, beware of the crazy college kids (me) cutting through to get on campus

I would rule Windermere out though, it's fairly far away, about an hour or so from here, again it depends on what roads you take. Winter Park is very nice, lots of shops and restaurants, but pricey. There are lots of areas around here. I think your best bet would be to contact a real estate agent, they'll be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[DisneyCrazy915]

Just a little FYI, if you do move here and your husband winds up taking the 408 to work, it ends on Challenger Parkway, which is where Discovery Drive begins. I wish someone had told me this a year ago, it saves me the headache of Colonial and Alafaya

 

[We_love_WDW]

Thanks for the response. We are going to wdw in less than 2 months so we are going to check out some areas. My husband also has to talk salary with his boss and then we would have to sell our house, we are in the beginning stages of this big move - it's a lot to think about and I guess it would depend on how fast our house could sell before we could get out there.

 

[Art 1]

Winter Park is nice and would be an easy drive to the UCF area. There are some well established private schools in the area.

 

[ChristmasElf]

I too live in Windermere and it would be a terrible commute out to UCF every day during rush hours.

You may want to loof into Oveido or Tuskawilla areas as well. The 408 is not only a toll road but also speed trap city as Orange counties finest loves hhanging out on the 408 (which the speed varies from 55 to 65 in sections that you would think should be 70)