Moving to Orlando....need help

[baby1disney]

Hey guys!!! Hope everyone had a great weekend and is having a great day!!!

I'm moving to Orlando next year and I wanted to know if anyone could give some ideas where to look at. I have a 9yr old son too..so I also want to know how the school system is..how the school year runs..etc.

I'm having a roomate move with me and I'm sooo excited!!! I've been looking at a few areas but I'm just not sure what's bad and good. ANY information due to location..schools..neighborhoods..whatever would be great!! Thank you soo much!!!

Terrie

 

[Metro West]

The first question is....where are you going to be working? Orlando is the land of sprawl so you would want to live somewhere near your job.

 

[baby1disney]

Well I'll have my degree in medical assisiting and I'll be goon to school for nursing as well..so anywhere really!! Lol

 

[jlindemer]

Hi there! I have been researching the same things. We want to move next March. DH is going to try to transfer from his job at Home Depot up here to one down there. I work in hospitality and will be trying to find something in my field.

Anyways, I have heard that Seminole County is good for schools, but like you, would love to hear from those that live there.

My boys are 8 & 9--2 boys.

Good luck with all of your research and travels! Where are you currently living?

 

[PeterPan09]

Well I'll have my degree in medical assisiting and I'll be goon to school for nursing as well..so anywhere really!! Lol

There is a huge medical community setting up in the Lake Nona area. You may want to look within commuting distance of that.

Do whatever you can to avoid I-4 in your commute. I'm sure others will agree with this. It's a horrible road.

 

[baby1disney]

Hi there! I have been researching the same things. We want to move next March. DH is going to try to transfer from his job at Home Depot up here to one down there. I work in hospitality and will be trying to find something in my field.

Anyways, I have heard that Seminole County is good for schools, but like you, would love to hear from those that live there.

My boys are 8 & 9--2 boys.

Good luck with all of your research and travels! Where are you currently living?

I'm from Toledo, OH and I also work in the hospitality field. I hope that they can transfer me down there as well...

There is a huge medical community setting up in the Lake Nona area. You may want to look within commuting distance of that.

Do whatever you can to avoid I-4 in your commute. I'm sure others will agree with this. It's a horrible road.

Maybe I just luck out..but as many times as I've been on I-4..I've never had a problem...but thanks for the heads up tho!!!

 

[gibson424]

I'm a huge fan of Baldwin Park. It's a few miles outside downtown Orlando and I believe it was designed by the same people who did Celebration. It has that same kind of small-town feel but there are more apartments and townhomes available. There are also two schools in the neighborhood. I can't vouch for how good they are but they seem nice enough. It's definitely a little pricey but it's a really nice area and it's close to Florida Hospital South which is one of the best hospitals around.

There is a new "Medical City" being built down in Lake Nona, but I think a lot of it is still a ways off from completion so if you're looking for work now, I wouldn't dive right into that area.

Also, yes I-4 can be a pain, but what road isn't a pain? You're going to find traffic no matter where you live, and you're probably going to have to use I-4 no matter where you live. It's the nature of the beast....unless you're on the west side of Orlando and you can use the 429 to get to Disney...that road is awesome but it has tolls.

 

[Metro West]

Do whatever you can to avoid I-4 in your commute. I'm sure others will agree with this. It's a horrible road.

Definitely keep this in mind. I work downtown at Orlando Health and since I live on the west side of town, I can avoid I-4 completely. You wouldn't pay me enough to have to drive that monster every day. Once you get familiar with the back roads, it will be a snap getting around. When I go to the parks, I usually take ApopkaVineland that comes out near DTD. Again...avoiding I-4 and tolls.

Since I'm fond of the west side of town, you might want to consider Ocoee or Clermont...both are easily "commutable"...if that's a word and close to the parks. Keep in mind...you do NOT want to live in a touristy area. Too much traffic to deal with daily and when the holidays come...look out.

 

[Mickeefan]

Definitely keep this in mind. I work downtown at Orlando Health and since I live on the west side of town, I can avoid I-4 completely. You wouldn't pay me enough to have to drive that monster every day. Once you get familiar with the back roads, it will be a snap getting around. When I go to the parks, I usually take ApopkaVineland that comes out near DTD. Again...avoiding I-4 and tolls.

Since I'm fond of the west side of town, you might want to consider Ocoee or Clermont...both are easily "commutable"...if that's a word and close to the parks. Keep in mind...you do NOT want to live in a touristy area. Too much traffic to deal with daily and when the holidays come...look out.

I will agree with Metro West. We live in Ocoee and it's about a 20 minute drive for my roommate to get to work at the Magic Kingdom. It's about a 30 minute drive to downtown. We do whatever we need to to avoid I-4.

 

[OKW Lover]

Val & I have been chatting with some of the podcasters during our frequent visits to WDW about this question. We took a drive around the various neighborhoods during a couple of our recent trips just to see them. So far we are leaning towards Clermont. But we've gotten good recommendations for the Hunter Creek area and may check that out on a future visit.

 

[PeterPan09]

Val & I have been chatting with some of the podcasters during our frequent visits to WDW about this question. We took a drive around the various neighborhoods during a couple of our recent trips just to see them. So far we are leaning towards Clermont. But we've gotten good recommendations for the Hunter Creek area and may check that out on a future visit.

I love Clermont. Close to WDW, but not tourist central.

 

[Metro West]

But we've gotten good recommendations for the Hunter Creek area and may check that out on a future visit.

Hunter's Creek isn't too bad...lots of rentals in that area but also lots of shopping and not far from the theme parks.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Please keep in mind that Hunter's Creek, Baldwin Park et all come with a premium, as they are highly desired areas.

Both of the ares mentioned have great amenities....shopping, restaurants, medical facilities all very close by. This drives the cost up.

We just bought a new home in St Cloud (which has a terrific small town feel) and a similar home in Hunters Creek was easily $75,000 higher in price... and trust me....we searched.

Baldwin Park will be even higher as it's a planned community. Celebration, which has also been mentioned, is the same story.

 

[baby1disney]

Thanks everyone for the great advice!! I've been lookin online at craigslist..forrent.com and other places as well. I've seen a couple of nice apartment complexes and I'm goin to check some of them out when I go down in a few weeks.

It's just so scary to move to a new place...especially this big!! But..I have always loved FL..especially Orlando..and I can't wait!! My son can't either!! LOL

I've even been looking at houses to rent out..but I've been getting mixed reviews about that. Some have told me to rent a house instead of an apartment..and vice versa. I'm really kinda leaning toward an apratment..but not sure yet

But..I'm sure that I will be happy with either choice!!

 

[planaholic]

When you are looking at apts (or even neighborhoods), be sure to check the crime rates. I've recently looked at moving down there myself and was dismayed to find out all the apartments I was looking at had bad ratings with respect to crime.

I have family in Orlando and spend a lot of time there, and some areas are very seedy. I love pockets of Orlando, but I find I always have to drive through ugly, less desirable areas to get from place to place. Then again, I'm used to a smaller city with way more trees & less strip mall sprawl.

 

[Ringmaster]

We live in Hunters Creek - starting to get real busy there! Pretty much everything from shopping to dining is here. Close to the parks 10-15 minutes, 1/2 hour to downtown.

Check this website out if looking for a house or rental.
www.hotpads.com

You can search by a map of the area. Anything that is listed you will know right where it is at.

 

[OKW Lover]

Please keep in mind that Hunter's Creek, Baldwin Park et all come with a premium, as they are highly desired areas.

Both of the ares mentioned have great amenities....shopping, restaurants, medical facilities all very close by. This drives the cost up.

We just bought a new home in St Cloud (which has a terrific small town feel) and a similar home in Hunters Creek was easily $75,000 higher in price... and trust me....we searched.

Baldwin Park will be even higher as it's a planned community. Celebration, which has also been mentioned, is the same story.

Kevin, Val & I drove through St. Cloud in April, but unfortunately we weren't equipped with a map so we only saw 192. I'm guessing you are off that road. I'll have to chat with you and John sometime about your neighborhood.

Agree that Celebration is over-priced. I didn't realize the prices in Hunters Creek were also pretty high.

Maybe we will wind up in no-name town.

 

[jlindemer]

I'm going to hi-jack a little, but in hopes that both myself and the OP will benefit.

How is No-Name Town? Are the schools good there?

Thanks for the heads up on the hotpads.com site. I really like it! I am hoping that next February/March there will be some good listings for 3 bedroom homes for rent.

Does anyone know of an apartment/townhome complex that has a garage/area where the kids could put a basketball hoop? I know some have the courts on-site, but I thought having the driveway where the kids could play would make them feel more at home.

 

[DisneyKevin]

If you have an ipad or an iphone, you might want to try the Realtor.com app.

You can set search parameters for price, size, bedrooms, bathrooms etc.

You can also search by location by using a zip code or even dropping a pin in a map if a certain area appeals to you.

That's how John and I found this neighborhood...but not the actual house. We found this floor plan in a different house and loved it, but the house had been sold.

We told our agent that we wanted this floor plan in this neighborhood and bought this house the day it hit the market.

 

[jlindemer]

Thanks Kevin. I have an iPod, and tried, but it says I need either the iPad or iPhone. I have looked at realtor.com and found a few we like. However, my family would like to rent to ensure that we are not tied down in case we find we do not like the neighborhood, etc. I really liked how Realtor.com gave information about the neighborhoods as well.

We stayed in a rental house on vacation in 2009. It was in St. Cloud. We took Osceola Pkwy to the Turnpike and then headed to 192. From what I remember (and the help of Google maps) it looks like we stayed close to Remington Blvd. It was a nice neighborhood, but we were only there for 7 nights. Not enough time to tell if it was safe, and how the schools are.