The Commute Dispute (Orlando, Apopka, Eustis: rental, hotels, buying a house)

[suorkaterina]

Fall of next year my husband, mother and myself are moving down to Florida. My mother will be buying a house in The Villages but will be living with us until she closes on one. My husband and I plan on finding just the right rental to remain in until we save enough to buy a home. I had honed in on Clermont because it was equidistant from The Villages and the Orlando area for Mom's commute to her possible jobs near Lady Lake and our job prospects(restaurants/hotels) closer to the touristism areas of Orlando. Google maps tells me it's about 45 minutes either way. However my mother is starting to urge my research towards Mt Dora which seems like too much of a commute for DH and I. The possibility of using Lynx buses from Clermont was one factor for us too as we share a car. The rents are lower in Mt Dora but we'd probably spend the difference in gas to get to our jobs while my mother would have a more decent commute time. I had my heart set on Clermont but I'm willing to think outside that box to keep the peace.

So I'm hoping for some advise. I want to keep everyones commute to about 45 minutes or less and I'd ideally also like to find a 2br rental for less than 900$ a month. It seems to me we have to sacrifice one for the other. Thoughts on other areas to look at?

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by suorkaterina

Fall of next year my husband, mother and myself are moving down to Florida. My mother will be buying a house in The Villages but will be living with us until she closes on one. My husband and I plan on finding just the right rental to remain in until we save enough to buy a home. I had honed in on Clermont because it was equidistant from The Villages and the Orlando area for Mom's commute to her possible jobs near Lady Lake and our job prospects(restaurants/hotels) closer to the touristism areas of Orlando. Google maps tells me it's about 45 minutes either way. However my mother is starting to urge my research towards Mt Dora which seems like too much of a commute for DH and I. The possibility of using Lynx buses from Clermont was one factor for us too as we share a car. The rents are lower in Mt Dora but we'd probably spend the difference in gas to get to our jobs while my mother would have a more decent commute time. I had my heart set on Clermont but I'm willing to think outside that box to keep the peace.

So I'm hoping for some advise. I want to keep everyones commute to about 45 minutes or less and I'd ideally also like to find a 2br rental for less than 900$ a month. It seems to me we have to sacrifice one for the other. Thoughts on other areas to look at?

Apopka might be a good choice. There are other areas for restaurant/hotel jobs that do not involve the Disney area. The traffic won't be as bad either in terms of commuting.

[annerk]

You won't be able to use Lynx from Clermont for a service industry job. They only run for commuters into the downtown core morning and evening rush.

[suorkaterina]

So Lynx is best for 9-5ers?

Now that I am looking more at Mount Dora I'm getting conflicting commute times to Orlando. But they don't seem too bad, and rents are almost 200 cheaper on average. Anybody know the aprox. commute time from Mount Dora to say International Drive?

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by suorkaterina

So Lynx is best for 9-5ers?

Now that I am looking more at Mount Dora I'm getting conflicting commute times to Orlando. But they don't seem too bad, and rents are almost 200 cheaper on average. Anybody know the aprox. commute time from Mount Dora to say International Drive?

a painful hour+ at times

[annerk]

Originally Posted by suorkaterina

So Lynx is best for 9-5ers?

Now that I am looking more at Mount Dora I'm getting conflicting commute times to Orlando. But they don't seem too bad, and rents are almost 200 cheaper on average. Anybody know the aprox. commute time from Mount Dora to say International Drive?

If you are talking about the Lynx park and ride (the only Lynx available outside of the Four Corners area) then they only run in the morning during morning commute hours and evening for evening commute hours. You wouldn't be able to use them unless you were working a day shift.

With traffic from Mount Dora to most of I-Drive or the Disney complex you'd be looking at an hour or more each way. There's a reason the rents are cheaper--the commutes are measurably longer. You'd be paying $10 a day or so in tolls to get from Mount Dora to I-Drive unless you wanted to take a lot of very slow back roads.

[suorkaterina]

I'm still gunning for Clermont. Wondering how I can win my mother over on this. The fact is we are the ones that are still going to be living there after she moves out and I seriously doubt once we make the initial big move we are going to want to save up for another move(first, last, and security) to move us closer to Orlando when we'd rather keep our savings for a permanent move when we buy a house. Our final goal is to be closer to Orlando. I really like the Doctor Phillips area. If we weren't moving with Mom, we'd be looking there Windermere or Hunters Creek right now. Compromise is hard.

[Downtown Steve]

It is possible to commute by bus from Mount Dora to Orlando...you would use LakeXpress to get to Zellwood where it meets up with Link 44 for that fabulous trek down 441. They are studying a plan to start a commuter rail which sounds like it would be a dream for a Mt Dora to Orlando commute but that could be years away and even with SunRail being a reality, I wouldn't invest too much on Central Florida approving a passenger rail project just yet.

Sounds like the easiest solution would be to have mom live somewhere other than the Villages. I see busloads of Village residents heading to Eustis and Mount Dora to go shopping when it hit me - these guys are overpaying for a faux small town setting and then spend more money to go to a legitimate small town each week. Why not just move into the small town to begin with?

[suorkaterina]

Originally Posted by Downtown Steve

It is possible to commute by bus from Mount Dora to Orlando...you would use LakeXpress to get to Zellwood where it meets up with Link 44 for that fabulous trek down 441. They are studying a plan to start a commuter rail which sounds like it would be a dream for a Mt Dora to Orlando commute but that could be years away and even with SunRail being a reality, I wouldn't invest too much on Central Florida approving a passenger rail project just yet.

Sounds like the easiest solution would be to have mom live somewhere other than the Villages. I see busloads of Village residents heading to Eustis and Mount Dora to go shopping when it hit me - these guys are overpaying for a faux small town setting and then spend more money to go to a legitimate small town each week. Why not just move into the small town to begin with?

Mom's got her heart set on The Villages since she has family living there. The tough part is just finding a place that pleases her for the short amount of time she will be living with us before she buys a house there, and a place that works for us for the couple-few years it takes for us to save up to buy a home. It's a matter of all our commutes to jobs. She'll be looking for a job close to the Villages and we'll be closer to the tourist cooridor. There has got to be a way to keep us both from major commute times and super high rents.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by suorkaterina

Mom's got her heart set on The Villages since she has family living there. The tough part is just finding a place that pleases her for the short amount of time she will be living with us before she buys a house there, and a place that works for us for the couple-few years it takes for us to save up to buy a home. It's a matter of all our commutes to jobs. She'll be looking for a job close to the Villages and we'll be closer to the tourist cooridor. There has got to be a way to keep us both from major commute times and super high rents.

There really isn't. Clermont or Minneola are going to be your best bet.