life in orlando? (Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg: for sale, rent, insurance)

[yleyfabi]

how is life in orlando? is it expensive to buy a nice house in a "safe" part of town? thanks

[Prichard]

We need more than what you posted to answer your question.

What is "expensive"
What is "nice"
I know what safe is, but that's probably 90% of Greator Orlando, which is perhaps a 2400 square mile area (60 miles x 40 miles).

[silvio]

Originally Posted by yleyfabi

how is life in orlando? is it expensive to buy a nice house in a "safe" part of town? thanks

The safe part of Orlando? LOL, that is very broad and open-ended. But in short, more likely than not YES it is. (i.e Winter Park, Heathrow, Lake Mary, Windermere, Maitland, Longwood, Winter Springs, etc)

The unsafe areas, once unsafe, always unsafe...Pine Hills, west Orlando (downtown west), Metrowest in various pockets, and to some extent Rosemont. You really need to get specific.

[pianogal]

I would say the minimum to buy a home in a safe area would be around 250K. I live in new East Orlando, i.e. Waterford Lakes, Lake Nona, Avalon Park, Vista Lakes, Tivoli Woods, etc. The cheapest I have seen in the last couple of weeks is a 1600 square foot 3/2 for $265,000 - most are going from $275,000 and up. These are newer homes. You could probably get a better deal in one of the older, but still safe neighborhoods.

Life is great with the exception of the property insurance issue - I'm praying we'll have a few no hurricane years for that one. Also, taxes are a biggie for us as we pay about 2% of assessed value and the city of Orlando keeps the assessed value pretty close to market value - especially these days. In fact, I have seen some properties for sale for LESS than their assessed value for taxes - which is ridiculous.

You just have to be prepared to deal with these issues. Also, we have a reputation for not having great schools. My son is 24 and had a wonderful education and has done quite well in college. He attended Seminole County schools.

As in any growing area, we have traffic issues. They just can't build roads fast enough to keep up with the growth. We also have many illegal aliens moving into the area which has brought it's own share of problems.

Now that you've heard the bad...I'll mention some of the good things....

I live on the east side, I am.....

30 minutes to Cocoa Beach (Great when the shuttle goes off!)
15 minutes to OIA (Orlando International Airport)
15 minutes to the University of Central Florida
20 minutes to Florida Mall (one of the largest/best malls in Central Florida)
20 minutes to Downtown Orlando
25 minutes to Winter Park (for great Park Avenue restaurants, shopping, etc.)
25 minutes to the Convention Center, Sea World, Universal, CityWalk
35 minutes to Disney, Pleasure Island, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Numerous Dinner Theatres, etc.
35 minutes to Wekiva Springs
45 minutes to Blue Springs (to snorkle, dive or see the Manatees in winter)
60 minutes to De Leon Springs (my favorite - the Old Spanish Mill where you can make your own pancakes, swim, canoe, fish, hike or rent paddle, boats)
60 minutes to Daytona Beach
90 minutes to Tampa
2 hours from St. Augustine (my favorite Florida vacation spot)
2 hours from Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs, etc.
2 1/2 hours from Sarasota
3 1/2 hours from Sanibel, Estero Island, etc.
3 1/2 hours from Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Miami area
6 hours from Key West


As you can see there is never any lack of things to do. Some of the best vacation spots in the world are practically outside our back door!

[Magnolia1354]

I'm a Florida girl -- I grew up in Englewood -- and I have found Orlando to be wonderful and horrible. Frankly, isn't everywhere like that? Despite the fact that the developers are trying their best to erradicate it, wildlife is still hanging in there, (albeit by the skin of their teeth), and can still be found in a variety of wonderful places. There is lots and lots of things to do here. See the previous post for some of the best things. There is plenty in the fine arts department both if you're an observer or an artist. And there are some wonderful people here.

[rholborn]

it just depends what you are looking for. if you would like to be near downtown orlando, or within a 20-30 min. driving distance. there are a lot of great family neighborhoods within a short drive to downtown orlando. you could also be in seminole county (orlando is in orange county) and be half way to disney, and half way to the beach too.

[smash731]

My brother goes to UCF and those surrounding areas are nice (Waterford Lakes etc.) The house prices still seem reasonable. We live in Cocoa, and everytime we are out and about in Orlando, we wished we lived at Lake Nona! The East side is nice because you have access to the beaches and airport without having to deal so much with I4.

[Love2LiveNCities]

Originally Posted by yleyfabi

how is life in orlando? is it expensive to buy a nice house in a "safe" part of town? thanks

Orlando specially towards Orange Blossom. Is not the best part of town. Orlando was rated the rudest city in 2005 according to NBC poles due to it being the one if not the most toured city in the US. I like it though, cool places to go...south and north out of the hustle and bustle is very nice. But if you like Orlando and dont want to be in the center of downtown and all the disney attractions, titusville is one road away(528) and about 25-35 miles depending on which part of town you want to go too.

[street tactic]

I'd say living here in Orlando is pretty good to be honest. It's true that we've seen a serious increase in crime, but thats only natural considering the millions of people that've relocated to this state.

Overall it is still pretty damn affordable & a very diverse state. Plenty to do, and Orlando is smack dab in the middle of it all.