[kyle19125]

I'm not getting the concern over increased air traffic at Sanford International given 90% of Lake Mary is nowhere near the flight paths.

[EscAlaMike]

What about the Ocala or Gainesville areas?

[Charlie&Rose]

Originally Posted by wp169

That's not what the headline on the article I posted says, but anyway, you are "blaming the victims" (the child and parents) in the Disney incident when there were no gator warning signs at the lagoon. Florida tourists don't know about all the dangers present in the parks, lakes, etc. I lived in Orlando for ten years and I hate to tell you how many times I was near that lagoon walking around or in the water on boats, etc., having no idea I wasn't safe. Although I knew any body of water in Florida can have a gator, I stupidly had the mindset that Disney wouldn't allow access to the lagoon if it wasn't safe. Boy, was I wrong!

There are photos on-line of a gator being in water near the Splash Mountain ride and a Disney worker trying to shoo it away! If that gator close to the rides hurt a child in the park there would be no excuse to blame his parents for letting their child get too close to the lagoon!

When it comes to paying higher taxes up north or being afraid to see a copperhead whenever I leave my home at HH, i'll choose living with the higher taxes any day, lol.

Just watch out for those bears.....also that icy patch, where you could fall, and break something, or car accident....the point is there is always something.

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Perhaps I can chime in as a long-time resident of Sanford-Lake Mary and as someone very familiar with Northern Pinellas County, Viera and Northern St John's County. All four offer locations that are pretty much all safe and upscale. There's also no shortage of amenities nearby although Viera suffers a bit in terms of access to nearby quality medical care and quantity of better grocery/dining options if that's important to you. Sanford-Lake Mary (mentioned together because where they border are indistinguishable from one another) are NE suburbs of Orlando, but more stand alone with their own employment centers in town or nearby. Sanford has an international airport serviced by Allegiant Airlines with nonstop flights to a lot of cities in the eastern half of the country at discounted fares. Of the four options Northern Pinellas County will provide the most traffic congestion, though perhaps not as bad as what you're used to. US19 and McMullen Booth Road are the two north-south thoroughfares on the peninsula. US19 is a limited access mostly elevated freeway that's heavily travelled and a parking lot during rush hours. McMullen Booth Rd is often more favorable and recommend living east of it to avoid US19 if at all possible. Safety Harbor, Oldsmar and East Lake will provide that plus would also include Countryside in NE Clearwater which has access in/out minus US19. Northern St John's County is going to be your least populated, trafficked location but still convenient enough to amenities in Jacksonville's south side and the best potential for maintaining a quieter existence. Nocatee is a planned community which should hold up nicely in terms of not over developing as well as the area around World Golf Village in NW St Augustine. I'm not familiar with Venice but do know it's a nice upscale town however not terribly age diverse, with an average age of around 67.

Thanks so much for pointing out that Viera lacks nearby quality medical care, which I wasn't aware of. I didn't have the time to explore this when I visited for a few days, but I guess now I need to cross Viera off my list because this is very important to me. I haven't been happy at all with the medical care in Venice, or the lack of it. Is Nocatee considered Northern St. Johns County? Do you (or anyone) know the best place to live in St. Johns County that's a really nice area but isn't a few miles from the beach like Nocatee (I prefer to be more inland)? A few sites indicated that St. Johns is the healthiest county in Florida, which makes it very appealing to me. I wish I could find a reliable site for this information because several lists I looked at were very inconsistent. I also saw Sarasota County on some lists, which tells me these lists can't be trusted. I just want and need to live in an area again where there are walking/biking trails and where most of the residents have healthy behaviors.

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by EngGirl

You should be good

'Portability' in Florida refers to the ability of a property owner to transfer some or all of the 'Save Our Homes' benefit on a previous homestead to a newly established homestead. A homeowner must have a Homestead Exemption in place on their current residence to qualify for Portability.

To transfer the SOH benefit, you must establish a
homestead exemption for the new home within three
years of January 1 of the year you abandoned the old
homestead (not three years after the sale).

Thanks. We're pretty much saying the same thing. I only have about another month and a half left to find, purchase and be living in my new home. The chance of that happening is...well...it makes me nauseous to even think about it.
After that I will be SOL, which is very upsetting considering I owned my home for 28 years. This law really isn't fair because basically I had only about 26 months to find my new home in a horrible housing market! If I would have sold my home on 1/1/20, I would have had the full 3 years. They should go by the sale date. Of course, if I had my life to live all over, I never would have sold it.

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by Charlie&Rose

Just watch out for those bears.....also that icy patch, where you could fall, and break something, or car accident....the point is there is always something.

Can you or whoever please start another thread if you want to continue talking about the gator and bears, which has nothing to do with my serious situation? Thank you. I'm just concerned that people are going to stop looking at this or miss the point of why I started it in the first place.

[Charlie&Rose]

Originally Posted by LFJourney

Can you or whoever please start another thread if you want to continue talking about the gator and bears, which has nothing to do with my serious situation? Thank you. I'm just concerned that people are going to stop looking at this or miss the point of why I started it in the first place.

Done. Sorry.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by LFJourney

Thanks so much for pointing out that Viera lacks nearby quality medical care, which I wasn't aware of. I didn't have the time to explore this when I visited for a few days, but I guess now I need to cross Viera off my list because this is very important to me. I haven't been happy at all with the medical care in Venice, or the lack of it. Is Nocatee considered Northern St. Johns County? Do you (or anyone) know the best place to live in St. Johns County that's a really nice area but isn't a few miles from the beach like Nocatee (I prefer to be more inland)? A few sites indicated that St. Johns is the healthiest county in Florida, which makes it very appealing to me. I wish I could find a reliable site for this information because several lists I looked at were very inconsistent. I also saw Sarasota County on some lists, which tells me these lists can't be trusted. I just want and need to live in an area again where there are walking/biking trails and where most of the residents have healthy behaviors.

Check out the new communities of Silverleaf, Trailmark and Shearwater on the far northwest side of St Augustine. It's around 18-20 miles inland of the coast and around 30 minutes to the Mayo Clinic. For already established newer communities check out World Golf Village. It's a little closer to the coast by a few miles, definitely far enough inland I would think however. https://www.worldgolfrealestate.com/

https://www.richmondamerican.com/flo...-at-silverleaf
https://www.richmondamerican.com/flo...tine/trailmark
https://www.davidweekleyhomes.com/ne...-40-front-load

[LFJourney]

Originally Posted by Maddie104

I am just throwing this out there as my husband and I also have a single family home that we bought new and we love everything about it but he wants to move to Florida. I have read good things about Winter Park. I see it is just south of Lake Mary so you are most likely familiar with it. Looking at photos it looks lovely.
Disney has announced layoffs (numbers not mentioned) due to losses in their streaming business that may cause some home to get listed in the area.

Winter Park is awesome, and they have a fantastic Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings off Park Avenue, which has great shops, restaurants, etc. There are homes that have a Winter Park address, but they're not what I'd consider the real Winter Park. It's hard for me to explain what I mean by that, and I'm sure Kyle19125 or someone else more familiar can explain it better than me. That's also just my perception, too.

[trobesmom]

Originally Posted by LFJourney

Thanks for asking, Kyle. The main reason is because I hate cold weather. I guess I'm spoiled because I was born and always lived in Florida so I'm used to this climate, although living in another state isn't totally out of the question, I guess.

I always hated cold weather too. Born and raised in FL and lived there over 60 years. We moved to TN a few years back. I had people telling me that I would hate the cold and would be miserable. I found out that I don't really, because I can get warm if I need to, lol. It gets a little dreary in the winter, but I like that too as I have indoor hobbies. I love having four seasons and I have never been happier. Something to consider.