Best places to live within half an hours drive of Orlando

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by Prichard

I'm a big fan of Mt. Dora! Near Mt. Dora is a little known community called Howey-In-The-Hills (actuall name, I'm not making this up). These two places are true gems that someday people will be scratching their heads asking "why didn't we move there when we could buy a nice house for $350,000?"

In the late '90's I remember seeing a nice red brick house on Lake Dora selling for about $300,000. I ask myself the above question every day.

Howey-In-The-Hills is a little far out from Orlando though..... Agreed on Mount Dora. If I had to stay in Central Fla that's where I'd probably move (but I'm in a position where I can afford about 200-300K homes only....

BTW. Where in Winter Springs are you??? I live there as well..... Sold our house and moved into Seville in the Highlands pending an eventual relocation to NC, VA or WV. 11 Years of brutal heat is enough for this Irish boy...

[Prichard]

It doesn't matter if you're Irish or native Floridian like I am - the heat is brutal either way and you never get used to it. I live down 434 from you in the Tuscawilla area of Winter Springs, and plan on staying in this area for a little while. Nice and quiet - not too much crazy construction going on too close to me.

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by Prichard

It doesn't matter if you're Irish or native Floridian like I am - the heat is brutal either way and you never get used to it. .

True, but the sun plays heck on my pretty white complexion...

[Nomoresubways]

Prichard, since you seem to know a pretty good amount about Mount Dora...

I heard that they were extending one of the main highways up there to go through or close by to Mount Dora, which would cut down on the commute to Orlando considerably (and also help in commuting to places like Lake Mary and Maitland. What highway was that? Is that 429? Just curious, it was one of the reasons I ended up buying the house down there considering I work in IT and I heard Lake Mary and Maitland were going to be the place to work in a few years in my field...

[Prichard]

Yes, what they are talking about is the "missing link" of the northwestern portion of the Orlando belt-way. I don't know what number this road is going to have; I suspect several. The Beltway is made up of the 417, 408, 429, and I think one or two other streaches of road already.

From what I understand, it will run, basically along SR 46 from I-4 to 441 (west of the 429) and then I believe will be linked up to the 429 southeast of 441. Also, I believe there will be a spur that will run off of this road out to Eustis. From what I understand it will not run through Mt. Dora (couldn't anyway because of all of the lakes), but near Zellwood-Tangerine. It's hard to find any current information on the internet regarding its status, but some old information is contained here: www.state.fl.us/audgen/pages/pdf_files/13063.pdf. Also, I noticed that Rick Keller obtained some recent funding to study how best to complete this portion of the road.

As to when this road will be constructed, that's anyone's guess. There has been huge political fallout and in-fighting between the municipalities and the envoronmentalists on this one. The environmentalists only want the road to be an "express" type road that will connect to I-4 basically along the current SR46 to an point southeast of Mt. Dora, with no on/off ramps. However, each of the small cities that it is planned to run near wants on/off ramps in their towns for access and economic reasons. If you really want to know where this stands, I recomend calling the Seminole County Expressway Authority and get ready to get bounced around until you get to the engineering department that is on top of the current status.

[Nomoresubways]

Very interesting. So this has been a topic of debate for quite some time, not a recent concept. I was told by my realtor that it should be completed sometime in the next 2-5 years, but by the sound of the link you listed, it's already been about 10 years since it was originally planned. I'm used to such promised projects here in NYC, such as the 2nd Ave subway and LIRR access to Grand Central Station. Some things sound better on paper I guess.

I've also heard that SR 46 is not the best for commuting, so I won't want to go that route when I move down.

[Prichard]

Nomoresubways, last I checked (seriously checked about 2 years ago), it was my understanding that they were moving ahead with this. But, you will find that in Fla., schedules for road projects have a way of making it on the "fast track" or the "slow track" depending on economic timing and political obsticals.

[SmokinJoe]

We used to live in Windermere. It is one of the best places to live. The people can be uppity though. Some of my daughters' schoolmates actually told their teachers that their moms told them they didn't have to do their math homework because when they got older their lawyers would do it for them. Errol estates in Apopka is very nice.