Can you help me find the best areas in/around Orlando to live? (Kissimmee: mortgage broker)

[Keiki]

Hello and thank you in advance for all your help! My husband and I are looking at relocating to Florida in the summer (inbetween school years). My husband is a teacher and I am currently a SAHM (stay-at-home mom). However, all of our kids are in school now, so I might substitute teach just to get out of the house some. We're trying to find the best area to live for our family. Obviously I know everyone has different things they are looking for and like/dislike about areas, but I dont' even know where to start! We've been to Florida on vacations, but never really looked into areas for actually living. Our most recent trip we rented a house in Davenport, FL and loved it. But, we did realize that MANY of the houses were rentals and not sure that is the BEST thing for living in a community. What are your opinions of higher "rental" property areas? So, our criteria for an area...

Good family area (low crime, low sex offenders, other families in area as opposed to more singles or retired or elderly)
Good schools (doesn't have to be an A school, but good...)
Relatively close to grocery stores, etc. (preferably a decent mall within 20 min.)
Lower traffic (but I realize that is going to be subject to where we are working - which we don't have yet.)

Qualifications for price range and the house itself:
3, preferably 4 bedrooms
2+ baths
swimming pool
preferably 1800+ sq. ft.
doesn't need much work (not a fixer upper)
Price Range: It's more of a payment range probably than a price range... But, we'll have to probably stick to under 200K (preferably under 175K, actually) to get the monthly payment we can afford.

So, is this going to be impossible? Or are there areas in/around Orlando that would meet all those qualifications?

[cfIfan]

There are a number of areas which you may want to consider. I live in Orange County and we lovev Winter Garden. The prices you are looking at to be honest are on the low side, and to gat a decent 3 bed 2 and a half townhome with 1500 sq ft in my area will set you bat around $180,000. You would be lucky to find a house with a pool for that price. Another nice area is Lake Nona, but once again prices for what your looking for a higher than your range. For the sort of prices you are looking for you would really be limiting yourself to Davenport/ Kissimmee, and as i have said on numerous occassions, those properties are mostly owned by investers wo neighbours change, tourists tend to be noisy and with the neighbours constantly changing on a weekly basis, for me that poses a security risk. Im curious have you actually spoken to a mortgage broker so you can find out exactly what you can afford. I work with a great mortgage broker and i usually find that people areeither on 2 sides. Either they think they can qualify for a great loan when in all actuality then cant qualify for anythig, or they think they can only qualify for a certain amount, when they could qualify for higher and still meet the same payment or there abouts. I would highly recommend getting pre qualified forst so you know exactly where you stand and can then start your search in earnest then.

Good luck

[blueinez]

i agree with the earlier post, you'll have a hard time finding the house you described for under 200,000. you'll have to consider at least 250,000 -300,000. areas to consider looking in: oviedo and winter springs in seminole county. st. cloud in osceola. conway area in orange county.

[Denise in Fla]

You might try looking into Brevard County,about an hour to Orlando, close to beaches, Kennedy Space center. Traffic isn't too bad, we came here from So Fl where the traffic was awful. You can probably get housing in your price range, try looking at our newspaper-Florida Today.