Moving to Orlando - Need advice on locations to look for housing (Maitland: for sale)

[jdrinner]

Hi Folks,

I know you get the question all the time, but I was hoping a few of you wouldn't mind giving me some advice.

My husband is interviewing for a job with UCF. His main office would be in Lake Nona, with some travel to the university. I was hoping you could help us narrow down places to look for housing. Here is a bit of what our criteria is:

1. Commute to work (lake nona) 30 min door to door
2. Good Schools - especially elementary
3. nice family neighborhood....I would like to have other children around, walkable streets/sidewalks, community pool, playground, ect.
4. We would be looking for a 3 bedroom single family house in the 200k range.

a bit about us:

We are late 30's early 40's with 2 young children (3 years, and 7 months). We are from the Boston area and have lived both in the city (Dorchester) and the country (central Mass). We would prefer to be in a neighborhood that has amenities within walking distance. I would love to have a community pool, and playground within walking distance for the kids. We want a bit of a yard for the dog and kids but nothing too big it would require a riding mower.

Thank you for your help!

Jessica

[GregTraub]

Well, I'd think Lake Nona Itself would be the first place to look. Perhaps the Northlake Park neighborhood would be very walkable (elementary school is actually WITHIN the neighborhood), as well as Village Walk, and a the Moss Park area neighborhoods like Northshore at Lake Hart.

Next thought would be the Waterford Lakes Area. Homes are a bit older than Lake Nona(mostly late 90's and early 2000's), but there are several neighborhoods throughout the area that would be great choices.

[liv2mtb]

Hi JDRINNER
I am in the same boat. I am relocating to Orlando in the spring and have spent at LEAST a couple hundred hours on this and other sites researching Orlando. My only experience with Orlando is WDW since I live on the west coast. We are also late 30's with one child in the 6th grade.

I like the term of your commute request "door to door." I dont think a lot of people get that. My wife and I will be looking primarily in the Lake Nona area. All new schools and fast growing area. My wife is an RN so being close to Medical city works and I work at the airport so the commute works forf me too. Our second choice is the waterford lakes area south of the university. Its in between both Lake nona and UCF. Go to greatschools.org and look up timber creek high school and east river(also a year old) high school and you should be able to find elementary and middle schools in the same zone. Most are rated very well. The nice thing about that site is you can click a link for homes for sale in the area of the school you are researching.

Keep in mind there are a lot of short sales in both areas and are real bargains. However it could take 3-6 months to close a short sale so you need to get to work. Be patient to find what you want but start the leg work now. Try starting with those two areas first. Excellent schools and fairly,if not , brand new homes for very affordable pricing. Orange County also listed about 15 high schools or so on the 2010 top high schools in the nation.
America's Best High Schools: The List - Newsweek
GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

[jdrinner]

Thank you both for the advice!!

[totsuka]

There are a huge number of choices. You might just rent for six months and look around. The Orlando market for homes is really good for buyers. 'We bought in Baldwin Park which works out great for us, but I also liked some parts of Maitland. The longer we are here and drive around a bit more you can find some really charming areas to live. The schools are a big problem, but I think that is common across the country now.