[MultipleMOM]

My husband, myself and our five children are looking to relocate to FL this summer from IL. Can't stand the winter's here anymore (I'd move today if I could). I've always loved FL when we've vacationed there, but we've never really looked around for areas to live. Now that we've decided we want to move down there, we're trying to figure out where we want to start looking. We will both be seeking jobs in the school system as teachers, so the most important things to us are safety and good schools. We do LOVE Disney, so we'd like to be close enough to go when we want to, but we don't have to live 10 min. away or anything. Last summer when we were down there, we stayed in the Davenport area, but visited the Altamonte Springs area several times to visit friends and really liked it up there. We've heard good things about the Seminole Cty schools, so I think that is where we're kind of starting our search...

My head is spinning, though, from searching all these posts on where to live and where not to live. So, finally, I decided I'd post my own question. Here is a list so far of the areas we've compiled and then you can tell me what you think... Thanks!! (oh, the type of house we're looking for - probably 4-5 bedrooms, 3-3.5 baths, decent yard space, pool... and since we're both on teachers' salaries - it's going to have to be under $300. Which, I realize cuts down our options.)

OH, and can anyone speak for amounts for property taxes, homeowner's insurance, etc. for that size house in these areas? And can anyone give me ideas on what your utillites cost (electric, gas, water, garbage, phone, cable/internet, etc.)?

Thank you so much!! Here is the list of cities/towns:
Altamonte Springs
Maitland
Winter Springs
Winter Park
Tuscawilla
Oveido
Longwood
Casselberry
Clermont
Celebration
Hunters Creek
Avalon Park
Waterford Lakes

Can we find a house that meets our needs/price in ANY of those areas??

Beth

[bcfarmlady]

You might find something. Seminole County is very nice, I lived there in Oviedo for 13 years. Since I sold my home in 2004 I can't really tell you about the cost of such things as taxes etc. I now live in Brevard County on the East Coast, which is also very nice.

Not sure what you mean by decent size yard. Most of the homes in the sub-divisions are on "Postage Stamp" sized lots. Your neighbor is 1- -20 feet away... and I don't mean his property line, I mean HIS HOUSE. Not sure what it's like up there in IL, but you might want to make another trip down here to check things out. It all depends on what you like in your lifestyle.

All of the towns you listed are very nice. Oviedo is nice and grew 3 times it's size while I lived there from 1991 - 2004. The University of Central Florida is not far away and is growing by leaps and bounds. They recently added a new football stadium and also a very nice indoor arena. The areas in the center of the state are probably the best for the price of insurance since the coastal areas are being hit real hard with higher prices and companies backing out.

I don't want to sound Anti-Florida...I've been here since 1991 from Massachusetts. As a northerner... here are things I have learned ...

1. Yes, they can fit a 2000 Sq Ft house on a 1/4 acre lot.
2. NO, you won't have a large yard... but then again, you don't want to mow a large yard and you WILL BE mowing year round. Even if you do find a large yard... the kids can't really go out and play because... IT's too hot, there are fire ants that bite and HURT as well as other creepy crawly things, there are armadillos that dig holes.
3. Pools are great, I had one in my first house. But unless you learn how to care for it and use it a lot.... then it's just a hole in the ground to which you can pour lots of money... on the other hand, the beach is not too far away. BUT are crowded and sometimes its hard to find parking close by.
4. There are BUGS... inside, outside and all around. You must spray your house perimieter regularly to keep them out. There are many companies that will charge you a lot of money to do this for you.
5. 80% of the people here came from someplace else and they learned to drive there too.
6. The roads are very crowded, traffic lights are sometimes 1/4 mile apart. Expect to spend a lot of time sitting in traffic if you plan to go into Orlando or just about anyplace.
7. It's HOT and HUMID in the summer and coming from "Up North" it will take you several years to get used to it... if you do.
8. The schools are also very crowded. They are run by the county and each high school has between 3 - 4 thousand students.
9. Disney is nice, but even if you live here, plan on spending a weeks salary or more to take your family there for one day.
10. The other theme parks are just as expensive.
11. Most sub-divisions have a Home Owners Association where you will pay dues at least yearly...some bill you monthly or quarterly. The fees can be quite high. These Home Owners Associations also have lots of rule/regulations that affect the way you live... such as... what colors to paint your house (they will even tell you WHEN to paint your house), what landscaping you do (they will tell you if your grass is too long), what you can park in your driveway, how long you can keep your garage door open and In CELEBRATION they even tell you what kind of curtains/drapes to hang in the windows facing the street.
12. Florida has lots of lakes, rivers, stream and water retention ponds ... none of which you can swim in because of the alligators. They love small dogs/cats for lunch and will even go after small children.
13. In most places you can't park your boat or recreational vehicle in your yard. So you have to put it in a storage facility,.... another monthly fee.
14.The schools are run by the county and many are overcrowded. All the elementary schools usually have portable classrooms within a year or two of being built... and they stick around for many years. The FCAT testing is very controversial and many students fail. The dropout rate is not always what is published... it's more.
15. You'll need at least one extra bedroom for family from "Up North" who suddenly need to visit you all the time in the winter.
16. Although this year was quite mild... we do get hurricanes and tornados AND of course there is the DAILY THUNDERSTORMS in the summer and did you know that Orlando is known as the Lightening Capitol of the world.

ON THE OTHER HAND....
1. There is no snow.
2. There IS a lot of history and beautiful places to visit that don't cost you an arm & a leg... like St. Augustine.
3. The weather in winter is very nice... but I find it hard to get into the holiday spirit while stringing christmas lights on my house wearing shorts and sweating.
4. There are lots of shopping places, but they pretty much all have the same kind of places.
5. There is citrus fruit... but it's just as expensive as "up north"
6. Therre are FRESH strawberries in February.
7. Craft shows, carnivals, fairs etc... are from Nov - May when it's bearable to be outside to enjoy them.
8. Throughout the year you can go out on your front yard and watch the space shuttle or rockets launch from the Kennedy Space Center.
9. There are many cruise ships and casino ships in Port Canaveral.
10. If you want more yard space and less Home Owner rules.... look to the outer areas such as Polk or Lake county on the west side of Orlando and towns on the east side such as Bithlo, Chuluota or even Christmas ( yes there is a Christmas Florida and many people go there to have their holiday cards postmarked as such).

If you decide to look at the coastal area... I live in Brevard County... my home is for sale... it's 1848 SQ Ft and 4 bedrooms 2 bath.

Here are a few links for you.

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/index.asp - Seminole County Government

http://www.cityofoviedo.net/ - City of Oviedo

http://www.seminoleclerk.org/ - Seminole County Clerk

http://www.seminolesheriff.org/en-us/ (broken link) - Seminole County Sherriff

http://www.scpafl.org/scpaweb05/index.jsp (broken link) - Seminole County Property Appraiser's office

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/lls/library/ - Seminole County Library

http://www.flboe.org/ - Florida Dept of Education

[cmj_fla]

Wow, bcfarmlady, pretty well summed it all up and had some great info about Seminole county.

I might look into Lake County like Clermont. It is a great family town and close to the Parks. It has beautiful rolling hills and the schools are better there than in Osceola and Orange Counties. You could definitely find a nice house in your price range and find a job as well.

I would cross Celebration off your list. It is very overpriced and not the best choice for the money.

Good luck!

[Dee2e]

Originally Posted by MultipleMOM

My husband, myself and our five children are looking to relocate to FL this summer from IL. Can't stand the winter's here anymore (I'd move today if I could). I've always loved FL when we've vacationed there, but we've never really looked around for areas to live. Now that we've decided we want to move down there, we're trying to figure out where we want to start looking. We will both be seeking jobs in the school system as teachers, so the most important things to us are safety and good schools. We do LOVE Disney, so we'd like to be close enough to go when we want to, but we don't have to live 10 min. away or anything. Last summer when we were down there, we stayed in the Davenport area, but visited the Altamonte Springs area several times to visit friends and really liked it up there. We've heard good things about the Seminole Cty schools, so I think that is where we're kind of starting our search...

My head is spinning, though, from searching all these posts on where to live and where not to live. So, finally, I decided I'd post my own question. Here is a list so far of the areas we've compiled and then you can tell me what you think... Thanks!! (oh, the type of house we're looking for - probably 4-5 bedrooms, 3-3.5 baths, decent yard space, pool... and since we're both on teachers' salaries - it's going to have to be under $300. Which, I realize cuts down our options.)

OH, and can anyone speak for amounts for property taxes, homeowner's insurance, etc. for that size house in these areas? And can anyone give me ideas on what your utillites cost (electric, gas, water, garbage, phone, cable/internet, etc.)?

Thank you so much!! Here is the list of cities/towns:
Altamonte Springs
Maitland
Winter Springs
Winter Park
Tuscawilla
Oveido
Longwood
Casselberry
Clermont
Celebration
Hunters Creek
Avalon Park
Waterford Lakes

Can we find a house that meets our needs/price in ANY of those areas??

Beth

Yes, and if I were allowed to post the homes without fear of being locked out, I would. Use any well know real estate search engine, you'll find lots of properties to meet your needs in your price range. I'm in Longwood, been here for ages and love it!

[amax41]

Farmlady did say almost everything. Here is what I can add to it since we are here only 1 year -

Real Estate Taxes are WAY lower her
No state income tax
Meat and fish are way cheaper
While produce is somewhat the same - it is WAY better here
A Florida Orange right off the tree tops a sunkist in the market any day of the week
Love the strawberrys!
Disney is only 1800 for 4 annual passes.... pretty cheap if you have kids under 14.
We have a new get away habit - 4 day cruises - $200-300 pp Sweet!

[trinflorida]

I am not for sure why you are set on the areas you have down but I would look in Brevard County (I moved here from west Michigan and wouldn't look at another location in Florida now)...specifically the Viera area....Brevard county top school system in Florida, Viera has a VERY low crime rate, close to Disney and the very close to the beach

[MultipleMOM]

Originally Posted by trinflorida

I am not for sure why you are set on the areas you have down but I would look in Brevard County (I moved here from west Michigan and wouldn't look at another location in Florida now)...specifically the Viera area....Brevard county top school system in Florida, Viera has a VERY low crime rate, close to Disney and the very close to the beach

Thank you - I will check out Brevard...

[MultipleMOM]

Farmlady - WOW! Thank you for all the info!!

We did spend almost a month in FL this past summer. And I know all about the prices of Disney - we spent 9 days there when we were down, as well as hitting Sea World and Universal. We love it anyway!! Our plan is to get annual passes for all of us.

Yes, we know teachers are not paid well - that is the case EVERYWHERE - not just FL! But, short of changing careers at this point in life, that is what we have to deal with. We have some major overcrowding issues in our areas here, too. However, all the checking we've done has given us enrollment numbers of 1000-1700 students for the high schools (at least those in Seminole Cty), I believe I got all that info off this website!! Is it wrong?? If anyone has other info on that, please share!!

We've done checking into bugs, critters, snakes, alligators, ants, etc. and none of it really bothers us. We're not planning on trying to catch any alligators, so we'll steer clear of them and be watchful in areas they could be. As for the yards and fire ants - can't you spray something in the yard to kill them? I thought I heard that somewhere. I'm pretty sure the house we rented in Davenport was sprayed for them - as we played in the yard there with no problems. We did find a snake, but he was harmless, we just took him off elsewhere to roam. We are researching the venemous snakes, though and talking to the kids about staying safe with all the various wildlife FL has to offer.

We have MANY tornadoes in IL, so we're used to that. At least with hurricanes you get a warning, though! I realize there are still tornadoes in FL, can't escape that there. There have been some bad several years (excluding the last) for FL with hurricanes, hasn't there been? But, before that, there were not as many, right? Does anyone know if that is expected to continue or calm back down? I guess that causes a slight desire to be inland a little more than on the coast. I realize no where is really "safe" from a hurricane, but if it's going to die down at all when it has landfall, I'd rather be inland some... (I think...)

Thank you all for the info and offers about homes you're looking to sell, but right now we're really just looking for areas we want to be in. We won't be purchasing until late spring/early summer/mid summer, maybe even. (Dreamchaser, your home is beautiful, though!!)

Dee2e - can you email them to me? Can I send you my email address?

Thanks again and if there is any other info people have, please continue to share!!

[gypsychic]

You might want to check out Lakeland, or another town in Polk County. Easy distance to Disney, and Polk needs teachers bad! They just got a nice raise this year too. Lakeland and Winter Haven especially are beautiful towns, great to raise a family - lots of parks and stuff to do even without Disney! We just love it here!

[SouthernBelle3]

I live in the Mount Dora area in Lake county. You can get a house like you want for around 250,000. Sellars are dropping the price around here. A house in our neighborhood has 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, screened in pool, nice size lot and less than 10 years old so it has the newer building codes for 250,000.
Lake County schools are ok. May not be like you are used to. FCAT really stresses some parents out. I would stay out of Orange county for sure.
Insurance on my house of 1500 sqft built in the late 1990's is around 950 year with a 2% insurance deductible for hurricanes.
Electricity around 160-200 month, but I don't have a pool.
Water and garbage run around 50 month unless I run the sprinklers twice/week, then it doubles.
Taxes are hard to estimate because thanks to Save our Homes, my taxes run around 1600 month, but that based on an assessed amount that is way lower than the market price now.
High speed internet and cable in our area is around 102 month. Cell phone is probably same you pay in IL.