Family Moving to Orlando area, Any Suggestions? (Lakeland, Ocala: relocating, for sale)

[Florida_Bound]

My family will be relocating to the Orlando area this summer. We are open to where we live as long as it does not excede a one hour commute to Orlando International Airport Area. Like the others, good family neighborhood, good school district, safe / low crime rate is the most important. We want to stay around the $350k range, older established communities are option as this way we have an idea of the resident demograhics. Any help or insight is appreciated. We looked at Lakeland, now we are investigating Oviedo area.

Thanks!

[SouthernBelle3]

Oviedo would be a better location than Lakeland. It is not too far from the airport via the 417 toll road. Don't know about the crime in Oveido. I do have friends whose kids went to the Oveido HS and also Winter Springs HS. Both were satisified with the schools.

[Brasstec]

Oviedo is good - might still be a little far from the airport.

Look for housing in the 32829 area code. Our neighborhood is full of young families - homes in your price range - and we're about 15-20 minutes from OIA.

[Ash5705]

I recommend the Avalon Park, StoneyBrook, Waterford Chase Area. Go on realtor.com and the zipcode is 32828. The area is great, and the schools are Grade A. Plus there are definately homes in your price range.

I work near the airport and it is normally a 30 minute drive, with about $1.25 in tolls (one way).

[HisaRania]

I'm biased but I'm going to recommend the Southchase area. It's close to the places Ash5705 mentioned, but closer to the 417 (the road that takes you to the Airport). It takes me maybe 20 minutes at the longest to get out there. Also Grade A schools, close to the mall, the parks, most of the highways, and there's a Publix, Target, Albertsons, Home Depot, and the local library all within 5 minutes.

You can get a 4-5 bedroom house with a pool for anywhere from 320K to 425K, but there are also some smaller homes for a less.

Here's a site with some slightly old demographics for the area:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Southchase-Florida.html

[DadofTwo]

I would like to reccommend the North Lake county area. Overall, it is cheaper than the Orange/Seminole area. You are under an hour away from the airport and only 30 min from downtown Orlando. Homes run aboy 75,000 less. Our home for sale would be 300,000 were we in Orange CTY. Taxes are also cheaper out here. Schools are good - small campuses unlike the campuses of Orange/Seminole many w/ more than 3,000 students.

Eustis/Mt. Dora is small town living - many older homes and well established neighborhoods. Area not heavily influenced w/ tourists.

[Brasstec]

We're 1 mile from the 417, 5 miles from the 528 (beach highway) and about 10 miles from the airport (OIA). Just saw a 3000+ sf house in our neighborhood go on the market for 375K.

[Magnulus]

Eustis and Mt. Dora are nice areas, but what happens when gas hits 4-5 dollars per gallon, which I don't think is beyond the realm of possibility in the next 4-5 years. What are folks out there going to do then? That's quite a ways away, and the economies in those areas themselves aren't all that diverse or conducive for looking for employment. There are toll roads to get down more towards Orlando but you are still farther away from alot of the employment areas. If you plan to get around in an SUV, you can look forward to spending about 2,500-4,000 a year in gas now or in the immediate future.

One of the stinky things about this area is that you'll often get job offers from poeple all across town, who don't think it's a problem to commute out from the outskirts of Oviedo. They usually are already established in Orlando proper or Winter Park, so they think nothing of it. There's no compensation for having a longer commute, nothing like that. If traffic is bad it can take me almost an hour to get home from Winter Park to Oviedo, and I'm all on pins and needles from the traffic, so I don't really relish that sort of a commute. I think it's something people should think about.

I do have to admit Mt. Dora is probably better because of all the highways and tollways near it. But the east-west connectivity in Orlando is very poor. Think very carefully about location before you decide to move down to Orlando- it might not be worth it.

[rholborn]

seminole county is great including oviedo, lake mary, and orange county such as maitland. feel free to send me a private message (pm), and i can describe more pros and cons in detail!

[DadofTwo]

Well from first hand experience .....I drive from Eustis each day to the west side of Orlando gas costs about 2000 a year and I drive an suv! It is an affordable area and old established neighborhoods with real neighbors. The economy ? It is as diverse as any where else - with all the highways it is not difficult to get anywhere in the area - Disney or Daytona. We know several families fromour church etc. and they all work anywhere from Eustis to Ocala to Orlando to Sanford - thats what makes this area great it is CENTRALLY located

Oviedo? My wife lived over there and her family still does - traffic is great until we hit seminole county - over price homes a very exclusive area .... all the university traffic etc. - so you wast gas sitting in traffic for an hour or so waiting to get home -

So wait in traffic for an hour or drive w/o traffic for 45 mins - not a hard choice and by the way we spend no more in gas than we did living in Orlando with all the traffic!!!!