Winter Park-looking for reasonable commute (Orlando, Kissimmee: real estate, budget, work)

[poodlestix]

I am looking for a house to purchase, but I am new to the area. I will be working in Winter Park on Lee Road, the 2000 block (West of I-4). I'm trying to figure out where I can live and not have a nightmare commute. I've seen homes I'd like in Oviedo, Kissimmee, & St Cloud, but I'm told those would be bad commutes. I was told it could even be an hour-and-a-half from Kissimmee to Winter Park because of how bad the traffic is on I-4. Is I-4 the only possible route from Kissimmee to Winter Park? And why would the commute from Oviedo be so awful when the online map indicates it's only a 14-mile drive? What are Winter Garden, Ocoee, Chuluota, and Altamonte Springs like? Would those commutes be okay?

[Wilshire81182]

If you do not have to use I-4 your commute will be shorter and less painful. A lot of the surface streets have long lights but do not usually get backed up. It is just the Interstate that you may be stopped in gridlock traffic. If you can afford areas in Oviedo and Altamonte, I would pick them over Kissimmee because of the commute and the fact that they are nicer communities with better schools. If you lived in Oviedo, you could commute along Red Bug Lake Road or Aloma/426 and it will be busy, but you should at least be moving.

[poodlestix]

Thanks for the info! Are those two areas you mentioned better than Winter Garden, Ocoee, Oakland, Winter Springs, & Chuluota? I don't want to leave any good areas out of my search.

[compelled to reply]

Why cant you just live in Winter Park? Once you get on the other side of 17-92 it's nice (in fact more so than anywhere else in Orlando IMO) and the schools are good. Expensive but if you can afford it totally worth it. If you can't afford that area, how about the Lake Brantley area in Altamonte Springs? Very good area, safe, very reputable school district, and 15 minutes to Lee Rd and I-4. Seriously, no reason to commute all the way out to those places, ESPECIALLY Kissimmee which is a dump (Sorry).

[jaimeblt]

It can take a while to get from Oviedo to that part of Winter Park because the traffic on Aloma, Horatio/Howell Branch, and 17-92 can be bad. It's not always bad, but it can be often.
As a side note, I lived in Maitland off of Horatio, and don't appreciate how all that development got approved in Oviedo/outlying areas without proper mass transit/transportation infrastructure.

[poodlestix]

I appreciate the input thus far! I have ruled out Kissimmee, St Cloud, and Chuluota. I'm planning to look at a few homes in Casselberry & Altamonte Springs with my realtor tomorrow.

[saintlover313]

Why aren't you giving Winter Park a consideration? Just wondering. I just purchased a VERY nice house in an Orlando zip, but is literally 2 mins from Winter Park that, due to the housing slump, was very cheap. And my budget was very low. It's in a safe neighborhood, very well taken care of, has a pool, has Winter Park school district, all those yummy things. Maybe look at some homes in Winter Park. I am not sure if I can give you this information on this website or not, but my real estate agent was crappy but I was out of state and in a hurry so I used the website Zip Realty to do some searches on homes. There's several different ways you can search but I used a proximity search to my work, and you can add number of rooms bathrooms etc. Good luck in your search and I hope that helps some!

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by poodlestix

I'm planning to look at a few homes in Casselberry & Altamonte Springs with my realtor tomorrow.

The only good thing about Casselberry is Anthony's Pizza. And in Altamonte, the key words are Lake Brantley. Don't bother with anything east of I-4 or close to Apopka. I still don't understand why you wont look at Winter Park though, unless it's too expensive (also there is a part that's not that expensive called Winter Park Pines that is very cozy and established and has top notch school districts). I just see no excuse for the commute when the city you are going to work in is good. Winter Park is one of the most sought after areas in Orlando.

[bdpop]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

The only good thing about Casselberry is Anthony's Pizza. And in Altamonte, the key words are Lake Brantley. Don't bother with anything east of I-4 or close to Apopka. I still don't understand why you wont look at Winter Park though, unless it's too expensive (also there is a part that's not that expensive called Winter Park Pines that is very cozy and established and has top notch school districts). I just see no excuse for the commute when the city you are going to work in is good. Winter Park is one of the most sought after areas in Orlando.

What's wrong with Casselberry? There are some nice areas there, especially along Red Bug Road. Just stay away from 17-92 and the Fern Park area.

[bdpop]

Also Indian Hills in Casselberry is nice.