Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 08-13-2007, 09:07 AM
 
Location: Cincinnati nut moving in 2 weeks to Florida
2 posts, read 12,565 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

Hello everyone,

We are relocating in 2 weeks to Florida. I am having a hard time finding out which areas of Lakeland to stay away from or live in. I am married and have three children. I am in a beautiful interracial marriage;I am Puerto Rican and my husband is Black. So with this being said and understanding how this world is, we would want to live somewhere in Lakeland where we will feel comfortable. My husband will be working for Aramark in Auberndale and I have my own freelance consulting business. We would like an area that is pretty close to Winter haven where my mother and some family live and Auberndale where my husband will be working. We will initially stay just a couple weeks with my parents in WinterHaven while we are looking for homes to rent in Lakeland. We will be purchasing a home next year. Please help I have to start looking now for a place to live there and I am completely lost

Thanks for all the help I can get
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-13-2007, 10:42 AM
 
17,533 posts, read 39,105,017 times
Reputation: 24287
Quote:
Originally Posted by DivaMom View Post
Hello everyone,

We are relocating in 2 weeks to Florida. I am having a hard time finding out which areas of Lakeland to stay away from or live in. I am married and have three children. I am in a beautiful interracial marriage;I am Puerto Rican and my husband is Black. So with this being said and understanding how this world is, we would want to live somewhere in Lakeland where we will feel comfortable. My husband will be working for Aramark in Auberndale and I have my own freelance consulting business. We would like an area that is pretty close to Winter haven where my mother and some family live and Auberndale where my husband will be working. We will initially stay just a couple weeks with my parents in WinterHaven while we are looking for homes to rent in Lakeland. We will be purchasing a home next year. Please help I have to start looking now for a place to live there and I am completely lost

Thanks for all the help I can get
Hi DivaMom! I don't know how much help I can be to you, as we are new to Lakeland ourselves, but I can't tell you how much we love the area. I am not really familiar with WinterHaven or Auburndale at all - I only know that they are within very close driving distance, about 10 - 15 miles to the east and are much smaller towns than Lakeland.

As far as living in Lakeland itself, you and your family will probably enjoy living in the downtown core, which is where we live. It is a little more diverse than most people think; in fact right across the street from me is a very sweet bi-racial family with two little girls. We are 2 miles south of the downtown itself. You might drive around Lakeland when you get here to see what kind of feel you get for the area and the neighborhoods. By the way, the Hispanic population in Polk County is growing, so I don't think you will feel out of place. I really don't see problems anywhere unless you were going to live in the boonies, or rural outskirts of town.

The worst area I see is to the north of downtown, near the hospital. Another bad area I was told is heading east, going down Crystal Lake Drive (not sure how far, because Crystal Lake area looks nice near town).

If I were you, I would try to find a good realtor or property manager in the area, to recommend to you a good place to rent so that you can be located conveniently to the family and your husband's job.

Good luck to you, I think you will really like it here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-13-2007, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Orlando Florida
75 posts, read 404,323 times
Reputation: 32
There are some amazingly low LTV buys in Lakeland right now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2007, 04:53 AM
 
Location: Martinique, in the Caribbean
18 posts, read 103,299 times
Reputation: 12
Hi TerryRiddle,

What is an LTV?
we're thinking of buying a 1-acre or so in Lakeland area, to live there in about 5 years from now.
What are the upcoming subs over there?
Hyp!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2007, 12:35 PM
 
2 posts, read 20,750 times
Reputation: 10
Hi I Have Live In Polk County All My Life And I Will Tell You What It Is Really Like. Lakeland Is Pretty Big And The North Part Of Lkld Like Rockridge And North Florida They Are Pretty Bad Areas. There Are Alot Of Drugs And Gang Actividy There Crime Is Bad. I Live In Winter Haven, Auburndale Area And 2 Yrs Ago I Was Robbed At Gun Point In My Own Home And My Son Was There He Was Only 2. But That Didn't Matter To The People Who Done It. So Be Careful Coming Here I Wish You Good Luck. My Family And I Are Leaving Trying To Relocate Somewhere Else.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2007, 12:38 PM
 
2 posts, read 20,750 times
Reputation: 10
Hi I Have Live In Polk County All My Life And I Will Tell You What It Is Really Like. Lakeland Is Pretty Big And The North Part Of Lkld Like Rockridge And North Florida They Are Pretty Bad Areas. There Are Alot Of Drugs And Gang Actividy There Crime Is Bad. I Live In Winter Haven, Auburndale Area And 2 Yrs Ago I Was Robbed At Gun Point In My Own Home And My Son Was There He Was Only 2. But That Didn't Matter To The People Who Done It. So Be Careful Coming Here I Wish You Good Luck. My family and I Are Relocating somewhere else because it is not a place to raise your family.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2007, 04:15 PM
 
Location: Martinique, in the Caribbean
18 posts, read 103,299 times
Reputation: 12
Hi locaandkayjay,
what about south Lakeland? Close to high schools areas?

I read that downtown was not so bad to raise a family, what do you think about that?

Which area of Lakeland is worth it, in your opinion?
Hyp!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2007, 06:45 PM
 
975 posts, read 3,730,190 times
Reputation: 263
Do many people commute from Lakeland to the Orlando area?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2007, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Orlando Florida
75 posts, read 404,323 times
Reputation: 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyperbole View Post
Hi TerryRiddle,

What is an LTV?
we're thinking of buying a 1-acre or so in Lakeland area, to live there in about 5 years from now.
What are the upcoming subs over there?
Hyp!
Loan to Value - I work with investor/buyers and developers on these types of properties. Basically means that you are buying and therefore obtaining a loan at a price much lower that the appraisal value thus creating instant equity that you cash out if need be. In this market buying at the lowest LTV possible is critical in protection against property values dropping. For example we may have a home that is appraising at 300k that the developer or seller may be will to take 195K for which is a 65% loan to value giving the buyer 105k in equity the day the property closes. There are many of these types of scenarios right now because of the supply and demand issue. Most are not listed by relators.

Send me a private message if I can help.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top