[logybogy]

You should have looked at the census data. Hispanic growth mostly Puerto Rican has been explosive for more than a decade thanks to Puerto Rico's economic troubles and Hurricane Maria just put the numbers into overdrive.

Look at the census data.

Jacksonville, Ocala, Gainesville, St. Pete, Tallahassee, Sarasota, Bradenton, Melbourne, West Palm Beach do not have these issues.

If you are paranoid, move to a county that is less than 10% Hispanic.

[florida.enfp]

Originally Posted by Scottamemnon

World Golf Village isn't too much more of a commute into the city to be honest. I work from home, so I dont have the issue, but my wife regularly has appointments during rush hour and its never too bad from where we are in Bartram Park. World Golf is just another 10 minutes away, but the traffic potential is not really increased until you hit 295. Its not really about golf honestly either, it just is a good value for housing, with great schools there... without as much keeping up with the joneses you would have in Nocatee or Ponte Vedra Beach because the houses are a few years older.

If you stay close to I-95 you should have a decent commute no matter where you are on the southern side. One thing you will probably find is that your blood pressure will be much lower here compared to Orlando. I-4 is terrifying. Just removing that from your life will help!

The good news for jobs is if you are a white collar worker, Jax is a pretty good city for jobs. Its not a tourist spot, so the businesses here are more traditional. Banking, Health, and Insurance are pretty big. When I was looking to move here, before my northern job let me go remote, I had a few interviews down here and the pay rates were pretty good for the cost of living.

We are still annual passholders at Disney, its a 2 1/2 hour ride, so not terrible. We tend to stay on resort for a night or two when we visit instead of just coming home. You will find a lot of people up here still go down to Disney fairly regularly.

Well that's good to know. Right now I have a remote gig as well. So I plan on staying that way, it's more of a just-in-case sort of thing. That's cool and good to know people still like to cruise down here for Disney.

Would you move into Bartram park area if you were to do it again?

[florida.enfp]

Originally Posted by logybogy

You should have looked at the census data. Hispanic growth mostly Puerto Rican has been explosive for more than a decade thanks to Puerto Rico's economic troubles and Hurricane Maria just put the numbers into overdrive.

Look at the census data.

Jacksonville, Ocala, Gainesville, St. Pete, Tallahassee, Sarasota, Bradenton, Melbourne, West Palm Beach do not have these issues.

If you are paranoid, move to a county that is less than 10% Hispanic.

LOL, not paranoid...just want somewhere we can make friends and there's long term potential.

I think the frustration has stemmed from doing so much research, to find the best spot/area within Orlando that was close to the parks, and Windermere/Winter Garden area seemed to fit the bill. Would have considered Clermont if schools has been more appealing. But then we got to Windermere, looked around and were shocked that it was what people had described about other parts of Orlando.

I'd love to hear from someone who's lived in Windermere Area for awhile and seen it take a turn so quickly.

And by the way, I DID go off of Census data...look right here on the City-Data website:
//www.city-data.com/city/Windermere-Florida.html

It says 5% hispanic...that's why I say it's got to be 2010 numbers from the previous Census. I believe it has almost entirely flipped in the last decade. We just showed up late to the game, and were very surprised at how much we don't fit in. Like, we get looks from people like "what are you doing around here?"

Last thing I'll say though - low hispanic numbers was/is not our goal...it's just we weren't used to the variety/flavor of hispanic found here...where people don't even look like they care to learn english...that's a new one on me. If you compare that to the West Coast, the hispanic population is mostly Mexican. To their credit, most of them speak english. It's just impossible to make friends with people when you cannot communicate with them.

Should have zoomed out a bit and looked at the whole picture with Orlando I guess.

[florida.enfp]

Originally Posted by Scottamemnon

One thing you will probably find is that your blood pressure will be much lower here compared to Orlando. I-4 is terrifying. Just removing that from your life will help!

OMG. You are not kidding. I-4 is the worst of it, BUT, it's basically everywhere. There's a lot of truth to this. Also you just pick up on the stress of other people around you...it's a restless place here.

[bmw335xi]

I know many people who live in this area, many of which within the past couple years. All of them english speakers and they have no problem making friends or fitting in. You want the honest truth... it probably doesn't matter where you live. Blaming language barriers is an excuse.

[florida.enfp]

I understand where you are coming from. Some people, do indeed need to hear the old "wherever you go, there you are". This is not that. Would we eventually make a few friends? Sure. We aren't socially awkward people. I'm just not into the whole "finding a needle in the haystack" sort of thing, or seeing my kids cry to me at night over the school they go to, because the kids speak behind their backs in another language and make fun of them. No thanks.

[logybogy]

Just keep in mind the demographics of the local schools can be totally different than the school zone for various reasons. Birth rates are higher among minority famalies. It's actually common for white non Hispanic to be the minority in schools in urban counties.

[florida.enfp]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I know many people who live in this area, many of which within the past couple years. All of them english speakers and they have no problem making friends or fitting in. You want the honest truth... it probably doesn't matter where you live. Blaming language barriers is an excuse.

To go with this thought for a minute, what part of this area do they actually live? Are they cast members? Do they have a family with school aged kids? What neighborhood(s)?

[aax]

Originally Posted by logybogy

You should have looked at the census data. Hispanic growth mostly Puerto Rican has been explosive for more than a decade thanks to Puerto Rico's economic troubles and Hurricane Maria just put the numbers into overdrive.

Look at the census data.

Jacksonville, Ocala, Gainesville, St. Pete, Tallahassee, Sarasota, Bradenton, Melbourne, West Palm Beach do not have these issues.

If you are paranoid, move to a county that is less than 10% Hispanic.

Hurricane Maria ruined Orlando.

[doom1001]

Okay I can speak about this because I live in exactly the area the OP is talking about and I'm hispanic and moved from Miami.What I would first say is that yeah this is a good area so what you get here are not poor Puerto Ricans fleeing from Maria.Its fairly well off to rich Brazilians,Venezuelans,Colombians and others moving from all of South Florida and yeah even some Puerto Ricans but at least in this area its not mostly Puerto Ricans,other parts of Orlando yes.People in other countries have money and this is a popular area with some of the highest growth in the state.I will also say that this is not Miami yet,Miami is pretty much hispanic everywhere you go,but even so is still a bilingual city as most people speak both.This part of Orlando is ridiculously diverse,like literally people from everywhere,is it getting more and more hispanic,of course,but theres still plenty of whites moving from northern states,you see the plates everywhere you go.I think what scares me the most is how crowded this area is going to be in 5-10 years,it already feels like traffic has doubled in the 3 years I've been here.Also if you hear me talking spanish in the Lakeside Village Publix that doesn't mean I don't speak English,I've been speaking both all my life being born in Miami.Others you see might not speak it well or at all but at least here they have to learn it,if they lived in an area of Miami someone else mentioned,Hialeah,they could live there all their life and possibly not need to learn,but truthfully even there most learn enough to at least get by or become fluent,obviously their profession has to do with that.But I agree it does feel like many people in this area are moving straight from their countries and don't know English yet.I see the 15 year olds in Mcdonalds talking Spanish among themselves,even in heavy Hispanic Miami in the majority of areas that same scenario those teens are talking English.My point again this area is crazy diverse,expect to see any and everything.