winter garden vs windermere?? differences the good and bad (Apopka: homeowners insurance, custom home)

[AONE]

When you look at the homes for sale in Windermere vs Winter Gardenm you get a good idea of what each are is about. Presently there is one home in Windermere under $200,000 ...at 199k. of the 269 homes 100 are over 1 million. of the 103 homes in Winter Garden 13 are over a million.

The nicest area in Winter Garden to me is Deer Island. unfortunately the schools in Winter Garden would need some investigation as they for the most part don't measure up. Windermere's best high school is Olympia which dropped a grade in the last review. ( same as Dr. Phillips ). The highest rated High achools in Orange county are Winter Park and Boone which carry the A ratings.

When you dig you will find Windermere still with a lower crime rate than Winter Garden. They also have far more gated communities. If you can afford the lifestyle it is a good one, even with the drop in the housing market their prices were still above most and climbing again.

For new home communities I like some of the ones in Windermere. There are some builders that stand above the others as well. Hope this helps.

[raza.gu]

AONE,
do you mean the new community north of lake sawyer, on Riggs or Jervey St? I am looking around there right now.
thanks.

[norrodh]

Originally Posted by WG Florida Life

Winter Garden and Windermere are next door neighbors. But they are quite different. Windermere has very expensive homes, going into the multi millions. It is unique and beautifully, a great place to live if you can find something reasonably priced.
Winter Garden on the other hand has much more reasonable home prices. Many very good neighborhoods. South Winter Garden is a bit more up scale than WG north of rt 50. Down town old Winter Garden is absolutely beautifully. The farmers market every Saturday is terrific.
Winter Garden also has the best shopping center in West Orange County and that is Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves. Easy access from Windermere as well.
Traffic is quite reasonable at just about any time of day. 535 is getting expanded right now and that is causing big problems. But once finished, traffic will move great on 535. 429 and the Florida's Turnpike traffic is some of the least congested in Orange County, almost never a problem.
As far as schools, I can only comment on West Orange High from experience. My daughter is attending at present. It is a very good high school. No complaints from me.
To sum up - this is one of the most impressive areas in Central Florida. I live in Winter Garden and love it here and it takes me 12 minutes from my neighborhood gate to the closest entrance to Disney World.

Good luck in your search.

Totally agree with everything WG Florida Life says here!! I live in Downtown WG and work at Disney and we are hoping to buy in Independence. My kids actually dont want Independence because its far away from the stores and action so we are now looking more towards Winter Garden Village. Anyway, we really like the area, we find it safe especially South of 50 (but we presently live close to Downtown and it has its share of trouble). But overall I feel very safe. I come home late at night sometimes from Disney and never have felt threatened or anything. The whole 535 corridor is really good!!

[gaid]

Originally Posted by WG Florida Life

Winter Garden and Windermere are next door neighbors. But they are quite different. Windermere has very expensive homes, going into the multi millions. It is unique and beautifully, a great place to live if you can find something reasonably priced.
Winter Garden on the other hand has much more reasonable home prices. Many very good neighborhoods. South Winter Garden is a bit more up scale than WG north of rt 50. Down town old Winter Garden is absolutely beautifully. The farmers market every Saturday is terrific.
Winter Garden also has the best shopping center in West Orange County and that is Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves. Easy access from Windermere as well.
Traffic is quite reasonable at just about any time of day. 535 is getting expanded right now and that is causing big problems. But once finished, traffic will move great on 535. 429 and the Florida's Turnpike traffic is some of the least congested in Orange County, almost never a problem.
As far as schools, I can only comment on West Orange High from experience. My daughter is attending at present. It is a very good high school. No complaints from me.
To sum up - this is one of the most impressive areas in Central Florida. I live in Winter Garden and love it here and it takes me 12 minutes from my neighborhood gate to the closest entrance to Disney World.

Good luck in your search.

Disney World gets very old after going only a few times. We have been here 5 years and have been stalked and harassed for 4 of the 5 years we've been here. The Winter Garden area is nothing but a lot of crime.

[gaid]

Originally Posted by Mom2M&J

DH just misses Maryland. He would not be happy anywhere in Florida, so don't take his dislike very seriously.

I like the 'feel' of the community, I like the wide sidewalks (when we lived in Maryland there were no sidewalks in our community and it was a pain at Halloween). I like that there are a lot of kids (we have 6 yr. old twins) and they keep running into classmates at the pool, playgrounds, grocery stores, etc. The school is very good and well run, with lots of parental involvement.

The apartments do not bother me, but DH does not like that the only basketball courts are near the apts. clubhouse. There was some incident there last week, some kids broke into an empty house, but the police was called and they were quickly removed. The apartment dwellers have their own clubhouse, and the couple of times we have been there it's been clean, although used. The clubhouse for the single family homes is very nice. We use the pool there often. The one thing that does bother me is that the high school bus drops the kids right before the elementary school one, and sometimes a few teens stay at the corner, talking loudly and swearing up a storm. We have tried talking to them, asking them not to swear in front of the little kids and confronting them, to no avail. I posted a message in the community's facebook page and then took a video with my phone camera of them and told them I was going to post it there so their parents would see how their kids behave outside. After that they have not done it.

I don't shop much at Publix because they're kind of expensive, we usually shop at either the SuperTarget at Fowler Groves or the Bravo's in Winter Garden.

The traffic on 545 to 429 is absolutely HORRIBLE; however the construction to expand the road is almost done (it was supposed to be finished in April ) and that should ease traffic a lot. If you need to get to 429, there is a backway that is a little longer but you do not hit any traffic. I commute to Metro West, and either take backroads or go the backway to 429.

We live close to the back entrance, and we have a wonderful view of the Disney fireworks everynight.

He's much wiser than you. As a whole Florida is nothing more than a hot, buggy crime CESSPOOL!

[annerk]

Originally Posted by gaid

Disney World gets very old after going only a few times. We have been here 5 years and have been stalked and harassed for 4 of the 5 years we've been here. The Winter Garden area is nothing but a lot of crime.

Stalked and harassed for five years? I suspect there is a lot more to this story, and your version would be different from what others have to say.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by gaid

He's much wiser than you. As a whole Florida is nothing more than a hot, buggy crime CESSPOOL!

Says someone who didn't bother to do any research before they moved here other than "Oh, we like Disney World, let's move to Orlando."

[Deannanjim]

We are also looking to relocate to Orlando after my DH retires from the Air Force this summer. We are very interested in the the Winter Garden/ Windermere area, but I think I have one big problem. I will not purchase a house in an HOA and I also want a bit more land than the standard .25 acres. Are either of these remotely possible in thses areas and if not, where should we look? Schools are also a big consideration. Thanks, Deanna

[annerk]

I'ts possible, but it will depend on your budget.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by DanaA

I would love any info about the area if winter garden vs windermere. I have been researching windermere for possible relocation from Philly and would like to know how winter garden compares in schools..homes...communities..close to shopping...close to Disney ...tx

Winter Garden is the poor man's Windermere lol. Windermere is more exclusive, more upscale, more expensive and has more "charm" I guess is the word. If you can afford Windermere, it's the better choice in pretty much all categories. You should also consider Dr. Phillips, which is next to Windermere. It's also very safe with good schools. You are near Disney, Universal, I-Drive, Whole Foods, etc.