I want to move to the Orlando Area :) Need help please. (Tampa: transplants, rent)

[DIZBIZ]

I'm new to this Forum. I love Disney World and would love to move from TX to FL. I know nothing about living in Florida other than what I have researched online. Very Confusing! Ugh! So far it looks like everyone loves Winter Garden/Windermere but Winter Garden seems to get bad crime rate reports...although I know there is bad area's in every town.

1) I'm in my 40's - no children, so schools are not important.

2) I want to be close to disney without living in the orlando area.

3) looking for new construction homes. ( large 5 bedroom single story) If anyone can recommend good homebuilders that would be great.

4) I love living close to where I work/play. My work commute now is 15min with traffic. I'm in healthcare so I'm hoping I wont have a hard time finding work. i Like areas where I have short distance to shopping, grocery, doctors, restaurants etc.

5) Quite neighborhoods with low crime of course. I have read some real horror stories about people moving to FL and most of them warning me not to move to FL... blah...blah. I hoping to get facts from people who live in the Orlando metroplex.

Thank you in advance.

[annerk]

Five bedroom single story might be tough. Would you be willing to go with three or four bedrooms on the first floor and two or a bonus room/bedroom on the second?

Clermont would work well for you--lot's of healthcare jobs and new construction. Plenty of shopping healthcare, restaurants, etc. Give me your budget and I can suggest a builder/community.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by DIZBIZ

I'm new to this Forum. I love Disney World and would love to move from TX to FL. I know nothing about living in Florida other than what I have researched online.

I would highly suggest visiting first as a local (versus a vacation) before making the leap, and wouldn't confuse fantasy time spent at Disney World with the realities of living in the area as it's nowhere near what you imagine most likely.

[DeejayDJ]

I second what Kyle suggested. My goal is to eventually move to Orlando and I have decided to make several what I call "research trips" to get a actual feel of the city, people, environment, basically if Orlando is a good fit for me. My last trip was in December of 2012 and I know Orlando has changed since then, but I do plan on making more trips hopefully this year and next. I made sure to stay away from the tourist traps and did not venture even close to Disney, Universal, or Seaworld. I stayed at a hotel in Altamonte Springs and drove around and researched areas where most of the locals live such as Seminole County, Winter Park, Lake Mary, Downtown. Bear in mind that I was alone and I strike up a conversation with locals at restaurants to get a real feel of what they like/dislike about Orlando. I then did the mundane things you would do in any city and that is go to a shopping plaza, go to say a Walmart, go to a bank. I did not have the chance to place myself in I-4 traffic, but that is on my list of things to do because I understand I-4 is a nightmare and I am researching methods to bypass I-4 if I can altogether and learn about the tolls and backroads.

For what its worth, I did not run into any negative people while I was there. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly. They honestly told me what they liked and disliked about the city. Yes, many people were transplants from other parts of the country. However I did not experience any rudeness and bear in mind that I live in Charlotte, NC where southern hospitality is at its core here.

[EditorJul]

We are closing in two weeks on a new construction four bedroom single-story with a bonus room on the second story (just needs to have a door put in and it will be a second master bedroom, as it has an en suite bathroom and walk-in closet). The location we picked in Windermere is quite literally in the back yard of Walt Disney World (including fireworks views every night). Not sure what your budget is, but we found it to be very affordable for what we were considering. (We were able to put in some upgrades and add a pool with various upgrades and still come in under $500K.)

As far as Winter Garden goes, if you stay in the Horizon West part of Winter Garden, you will have almost exclusively new construction and low crime rates. You also have your choice of pretty much any builder that you can think of. When we were looking around, the ones that really fit our needs were Beazer, DH Horton, Meritage, Pulte, and Taylor Morrison. We also looked at Ashton Woods (who has a large development called Ashlin Park just starting in Windermere), but they didn't have the single-story life that we were looking for.

For the Windermere/Winter Garden part of Horizon West, you're located about halfway between Dr. P. Phillips hospital and Florida Hospital at Celebration. There's also a new hospital facility being built up in Winter Garden. In addition, there is a medical facility being planned near the Summerport subdivision, and there are many smaller medical offices. Longer-term (theoretically within 5 years, although I'm a "don't believe it until I see it" type of person), Horizon West Town Center-Hamlin will have a large medical campus at its north-central area.

I absolutely agree with Kyle that spending some time in the area not doing the vacation experience can help determine whether the life is a good fit for you. That said, there are many people who do balance "real life" with a permanent staycation-type life. Because I supplement my editing work with freelance writing as a travel and tourism writer with a Disney emphasis, I'm in the parks a couple times a week for a few hours here or a few hours there. It is very easy to pop over to Epcot and use that as our local food court or just wander around Animal Kingdom for a morning watching the animals starting their day or head over to one of the resorts to do a couple miles of strolling to stretch the legs. It also frees up time to vacation elsewhere, which is a unique added perk.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

I would highly suggest visiting first as a local (versus a vacation) before making the leap, and wouldn't confuse fantasy time spent at Disney World with the realities of living in the area as it's nowhere near what you imagine most likely.

This.

Disney is just a tiny sliver when it comes to Metro Orlando, and most of us locals forget it even exists most of the time. Not to mention, it's on the far outskirts of town, so unless you're making a trip there specifically FOR that, you won't ever go near it. Don't get me wrong, Disney is fun. It's just not part of most locals' lives.
That being said, Orlando itself is very nice. I like it above all cities in Florida, with Tampa being a distant second. If I were you, I'd visit, rent a car or Uber, and just go through the actual city to get a feel of it.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by DeejayDJ

I second what Kyle suggested. My goal is to eventually move to Orlando and I have decided to make several what I call "research trips" to get a actual feel of the city, people, environment, basically if Orlando is a good fit for me. My last trip was in December of 2012 and I know Orlando has changed since then, but I do plan on making more trips hopefully this year and next. I made sure to stay away from the tourist traps and did not venture even close to Disney, Universal, or Seaworld. I stayed at a hotel in Altamonte Springs and drove around and researched areas where most of the locals live such as Seminole County, Winter Park, Lake Mary, Downtown. Bear in mind that I was alone and I strike up a conversation with locals at restaurants to get a real feel of what they like/dislike about Orlando. I then did the mundane things you would do in any city and that is go to a shopping plaza, go to say a Walmart, go to a bank. I did not have the chance to place myself in I-4 traffic, but that is on my list of things to do because I understand I-4 is a nightmare and I am researching methods to bypass I-4 if I can altogether and learn about the tolls and backroads.

For what its worth, I did not run into any negative people while I was there. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly. They honestly told me what they liked and disliked about the city. Yes, many people were transplants from other parts of the country. However I did not experience any rudeness and bear in mind that I live in Charlotte, NC where southern hospitality is at its core here.

We did the same thing. It was a well thought out and long term planned decision that took about 10 years to finalize. We took several trips to the area where we didn't do the theme park things, just drove around looking at different areas. We had a number of friends here, so didn't really need to talk to strangers (kind of creepy IMHO) to get the feel for the area. We did take note of how friendly people seemed as we drove or walked through various neighborhoods. Some people waved--we liked that. Some they glared--we didn't like that. One the lady tried to get our life story and told us every bit of gossip about every person in the neighborhood, we decided no way we wanted to live there!

[DIZBIZ]

I was also looking at Claremont! Yes! I will defiently consider 1.5 story. My budget is approx. 400,000 to 450,000.
Thank you!!

[DIZBIZ]

You betcha!! I want to especially visit in the summer to see if I can handle the heat/humidity. TX is hot/humid as well and I have visited WDW in July but I realize a stroll down Mainstreet USA is different than a stroll to the grocery store. LOL. Thank You.

[DIZBIZ]

Thank you for your recommendations. I also plan on making some "research trips". Its good to hear you didn't run into rude/negative people I lived in Charlotte for 8mo..I couldn't sell my home in TX and couldn't afford rent & house pmt so back to TX I went. Charlotte is beautiful and I really enjoyed my stay there.