Help with Central Florida City Choices (district, community, development)

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Steph876

Budget:

I think I forgot Florida was a destination state. I should have expected the housing market, but honestly, it was shocking.

My budget is in the neighborhood of $500k with the current interest rates.

I feel comfortable with a mortgage around $3,000 a month, and the best rate I was quoted was 5%. To further complicate matters, a situation just arose with my mother-in-law (77), and it looks like she may need some help in the near future. That means I need 5 bedrooms, or 4 bedrooms and an office. When you're talking 2500+ sq ft for $500k, I've found we're also looking at replacing the roof and HVAC system. When I see houses that already have those major updates, I can move up the price some. Make sense?

So, that's the budget.

Got it. So if that's your budget and you don't care about neighborhood schools you can live pretty much anywhere. What I would think important is figuring out which private school you'll be using and trying to find a house within 15 minutes of that. At 15 minutes the drop off and pick up already puts you in for an hour of driving every day. Personally, we don't play with sitting in traffic, so we live down the street from our school and my kid rides a bike 4 minutes each way. When they were smaller we rode with them. Now they're old enough to do it on their own. Not necessarily for you but for other people who might be reading - This is possible in parts of Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland (Brookshire and Dommerich/Maitland Middle are built around bicycle infrastructure), Winter Springs, and Winter Garden. Audubon Park, Baldwin Park, Lakemont, Delaney, Blankner, etc. are all good schools that are very walkable. I know from doing bike/ped counts that Audubon and Baldwin are in the 50-60% range for bike/walk. Keeth/Indian Trails in Winter Springs is similar.

OH!! ALSO, I learned to watch out for hidden CDD fees! Hiding that fee should be against the law! I missed it because, when I was reviewing the taxes at the county assessor's website, I didn't click the button to download the pdf of the owner's ACTUAL tax bill. Doing that felt ... I don't know ... intrusive and unnecessary.

I know I'm just one person, and in the grand scheme of things I accept that I count for very little. Still, I find the practice of hiding fees so dishonest, unethical and swarmy, that since then, whenever I find a hidden CDD, or leased solar panels that hadn't been disclosed upfront ... I just move on to the next house. I know someone will happily come along and buy their house and think nothing of it. That's just not going to be me.

Yes, it is shady. You can request disclosure of all encumbrances - in writing - before making an offer because not all liens and fees will show up on the tax bill. If they lie or omit you have recourse. Caveat Emptor.

Also, HOA and CDD fees are part of buying into an HOA. You can avoid that by not buying into an HOA. I can see the point of an HOA for a townhouse development or an apartment building but for a detached house it's always more hassle than it's worth. If they're not taking care of the outside of your house and taking care of all of your landscaping and/or maintaining your pool then what are you actually paying for?

[brinkofsunshine]

Here’s some examples of what you can get under $500k in the Conway/Delaney Park/Wadeview Park/Hourglass District area. A lot of homes in this area don’t have HOAs and there’s no CDD fee as the area is very established. It’s the kind of area that generations of Orlandoans have raised families in.

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/orlando/...06--1013725533

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/orlando/...06--2093200390

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/orlando/...06--2034174781

Edit: Just saw that you need 2500 sq Ft… that’s going to be tough. I’d look at the area south of Lake Nona, around St. Cloud/Sunbridge: https://www.trulia.com/builder-commu...den/9067863418

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Steph876

WOW, all of this is really great information! I so sincerely thank you all, please, keep it coming ...

I will not have to commute to MCO daily, but at times it could become very frequently.

The job is corporate compliance for a manufacturer who has facilities in 10 states.

I was told the majority of my time will be split among the three plants in Florida, but travel to the out-of-state facilities will be necessary as well. How frequently will be dictated by business need. So, I'm imagining periods where I'm headed to MCO quite regularly, and stretches where I don't need to go at all. I'd like to be within an hour, just in case that changes, and I find myself at the out-of-state facilities more often than originally advertised.

Schools aren't a paramount concern for us. We think good schools are very important for kids, property values, and resale, etc. We just don't use the public school system ourselves. It's not a knock on public schools whatsoever, it's just that our son has special needs. We have one student to worry about, they've got hundreds and sometimes thousands. We just think we're in a better position to cater to his individual needs than they are.

All the areas discussed so far seem "safe enough" to me. The differences appear small. If you consider, "Total Crime" statistics for 2022 (violent+property), Winter Springs is the safest, followed by Tavares, then Maitland, and last Mount Dora. Mount Dora is only in last place because their property crime (theft) is bizarrely high. Maybe tourist towns bring out the thieves? I really don't know.

The order of towns you listed for crime stats is basically a ranking of the amount of retail and/or bars they have. Property crime (theft) stats are strongly correlated with retail activity. Unfortunately shoplifting happens. For me, I'm more concerned about violent crime, burglary, etc.

Not to be redundant from my previous posts but I would find your preferred school(s) and build your search around that. In the end though, given your criteria, you should really limit your search to Orange and Seminole counties. Most of Seminole will fit the bill. Most of Orange would as well but far southwest Orange (think Horizon West) and far northwest (think Apopka) are going to be too far from the airport.

[Grace512]

Check out Sorrento, north Apopka and Mt. Plymouth. Very close to the 429 toll road for easy access to Orlando with a nice rural feel. Sorrento elementary is a nice school.

[germanoricua]

Originally Posted by brinkofsunshine

Edit: Just saw that you need 2500 sq Ft… that’s going to be tough. I’d look at the area south of Lake Nona, around St. Cloud/Sunbridge: https://www.trulia.com/builder-commu...den/9067863418

Sunbridge itself could be over your budget but there are a few more options right south of Sunbridge.

Examples:
https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/saint-cl...71--2576319946
The HOA is $90/month, no CDD.

https://www.trulia.com/p/fl/saint-cl...71--2621862316
HOA: $67/month, no CDD.

https://www.trulia.com/home/208-Tali...771-2058225732
HOA:$69/month, no CDD.

All these are in zip code 34771. This zip code has mostly new construction. There are many new developments off Narcoossee Road, e. g. on Cyrils Drive (Sunbridge and a few other new developments), Jack Brack Road and Jones Road.

This is 30 minutes from the airport. This area - located between St. Cloud and Lake Nona - has all essential stores: a Walmart Supercenter in St. Cloud and one in Lake Nona, 2 Aldi's in St. Cloud and one in Lake Nona, Home Depot next to Walmart in St. Cloud, Lowe's next to Walmart in Lake Nona, Sam's Club in Lake Nona, several Publix supermarkets 5 to 10 minutes away up or down Narcoossee (they will build another one on Narcoosee and Cyrils Drive), all kinds of restaurants in Lake Nona.

[Mdfl]

I hope you have been made aware of the home insurance problems in Florida. You have to include this in your budget. The realtors tend to forget to mention this and it often comes as a shock to out of state buyers.

[WinterParkLocal]

You have younger kids so are schools important? Your agent should be able to easily pull school ratings from the FDOE site and they should have CDD/Tax estimate for any properties you want to look at. Florida is amazing at open public records.

From your list, Maitland followed by Winter Springs if you want a midwestern feel. All the other I'd just cross out.

[WinterParkLocal]

lastly... ALWAYS get your insurance locked in during your inspection period. Florida insurance is a hot mess right now, you do not want to be surprised by an insurance quote or lack of insurability after your inspection period ends.

[sitonmywhat]

"...I suggest you research the crime stats before deciding on an area in Central Florida."

(from wp169.)

Yes, indeed. FL has exploded in population since I lived there in the '70s. To me, the whole place seems to be paved-over. And CASHLESS toll roads? Pain in the butt. It's good that you won't be using the public school system. Also, I looked at an app that calculates distance and driving time. Palm Bay is 66 miles from MCO, and it offers a drive-time of 63 minutes. But I don't believe that for a minute.

You'd be near the beach in Palm Bay. For shopping, I expect you'd be heading up to Melbourne quite a bit. THE PLANET is covered in Starbucks. No issues there.

I'm most familiar with Maitland and Goldenrod and Oviedo and Winter Park. I've just about got the roadmap etched in my skull along both SR 436 and 426. I suppose Winter Park is the most upscale. Oviedo holds lots of students from Central Florida University. I once dated a girl from Oviedo. Not sure what happened to her family's orange grove.

Just looked again. Toll Road, Route 417. Might speed you up getting to MCO. Rte. 417 runs right by Oviedo and intersects with the Bee Line Expwy, Route 528.

[sitonmywhat]

[quote=drive carephilly;65481734]Got it. So if that's your budget and you don't care about neighborhood schools you can live pretty much anywhere. What I would think important is figuring out which private school you'll be using and trying to find a house within 15 minutes of that. At 15 minutes the drop off and pick up already puts you in for an hour of driving every day. Personally, we don't play with sitting in traffic, so we live down the street from our school and my kid rides a bike 4 minutes each way. When they were smaller we rode with them. Now they're old enough to do it on their own. Not necessarily for you but for other people who might be reading - This is possible in parts of Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland (Brookshire and Dommerich/Maitland Middle are built around bicycle infrastructure), Winter Springs, and Winter Garden. Audubon Park, Baldwin Park, Lakemont, Delaney, Blankner, etc. are all good schools that are very walkable. I know from doing bike/ped counts that Audubon and Baldwin are in the 50-60% range for bike/walk. Keeth/Indian Trails in Winter Springs is similar.



Yes, it is shady. You can request disclosure of all encumbrances - in writing - before making an offer because not all liens and fees will show up on the tax bill. If they lie or omit you have recourse. Caveat Emptor.

Also, HOA and CDD fees are part of buying into an HOA. You can avoid that by not buying into an HOA. I can see the point of an HOA for a townhouse development or an apartment building but for a detached house it's always more hassle than it's worth. If they're not taking care of the outside of your house and taking care of all of your landscaping and/or maintaining your pool then what are you actually paying for?[/QUOTE

What is CDD?