Winter Springs, Oviedo or Winter Park? Where to move? (Orlando: real estate, city hall)

[TiredofOhio]

My wife and I are looking to move to the Winter Springs/Oviedo area with our two children (11 & 9 yrs. old) in the late spring, early summer of 2012 from our northern Cincinnati suburb. We feel we have outlived our time here in Ohio and are looking for some new scenery. My wife is a nurse and my company has a facility located in Sanford. From what I have read for the most part from different threads on this site, this area seems somewhat desireable. Due in part to the favorable schools and the community feel, we're really looking towards these areas. Unfortunately, we're going to have to base the move on what information we can get online. We'll be looking to rent a house at first until we can get settled in wherever we decide to go.
Is there a definite area to chose over another? Parks, and having access to things to keep the family busy is a necessity. If it's fairly close to drive too, that would be fine. Any tips for moving into this area?
Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by TiredofOhio

My wife and I are looking to move to the Winter Springs/Oviedo area with our two children (11 & 9 yrs. old) in the late spring, early summer of 2012 from our northern Cincinnati suburb. We feel we have outlived our time here in Ohio and are looking for some new scenery. My wife is a nurse and my company has a facility located in Sanford. From what I have read for the most part from different threads on this site, this area seems somewhat desireable. Due in part to the favorable schools and the community feel, we're really looking towards these areas. Unfortunately, we're going to have to base the move on what information we can get online. We'll be looking to rent a house at first until we can get settled in wherever we decide to go.
Is there a definite area to chose over another? Parks, and having access to things to keep the family busy is a necessity. If it's fairly close to drive too, that would be fine. Any tips for moving into this area?
Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Winter Springs and Oviedo are nice areas to look into, but given your place of employment in Sanford would steer you toward Lake Mary or west Sanford for a painless commute. Lake Mary and more recently west Sanford have been considered prime real estate in the Orlando metro area due to the high quality schools (along with Oviedo the best in the metro area), low congestion and overall safety. New Smyrna Beach is less than an hour away and is a great beach for families. The immediate area has plenty to do for young families as well.

New Smyrna Beach Visitors Bureau
City of Lake Mary, Florida
Sylvan Lake Park
Cross Seminole Trail
Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens

[4powells]

I sent you a PM. Your situation and mine are virtually identical. Would like to talk to you more and share information that we discover.

[Broker Dave]

Oveido & Lake Mary are safe bets, biking, farmers market, neighborhoods with sidewalks, Christmas gatherings at City Hall, school football games, etc...

Wife is from Ohio and she picked Lake Mary.

Hope this helps,

[TiredofOhio]

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice!
I haven't seen too much up on any threads for the Lake Mary area. Any one have any other info on this area?
It's a hard pick between Oviedo, Winter Park, West Sanford & now Lake Mary....

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by TiredofOhio

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice!
I haven't seen too much up on any threads for the Lake Mary area. Any one have any other info on this area?
It's a hard pick between Oviedo, Winter Park, West Sanford & now Lake Mary....

Here are some threads on Lake Mary. Bear in mind you won't find much specifics about "west Sanford" as it's conversationally usually lumped in with the rest of the city, which is largely inaccurate despite the label. Sanford annexed quite a bit of land to the north and west of the city proper which adjoins Lake Mary and subsequently has the same attributes other than city name. The area surrounding the Seminole Towne Center Mall, the area west of I-4 and the area west of 417 are all equally desirable to most of Lake Mary.

//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...lake-mary.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...ary-where.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...lake-mary.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...mary-need.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...lake-mary.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...any-input.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...lake-mary.html

[Crane's Rooster]

I would also suggest you look at Wekiva/Sweetwater and Altamonte/Maitland. Wekiva is nice family oriented area. Lots of walking trails and parks and great schools (make sure it's Lake Brantley School district). Easy access to most shopping and dining options. Altamonte and Maitland are also great communities for active families. Again, lots for a young family to do as well as easy access to most amenities. Lake Brantley and Winter Park are the good school districts. In Altamonte I would choose 32714 and in Maitland I would choose east of I4. All of these areas would be a reasonable commute to Sanford as you would be going against the flow of traffic.

[NextBigAdventure]

I would want to know where your wife will be working before choosing a location. Best to make the commute reasonable for the both of you. If she won't be seeking employment until she is here, it may be good to know where the positions she's most interested in are. Nursing has so many options and there are opportunities in FL for RN's to pursue advanced practice credentials while working as a paid employee through some of the hospitals. That was actually my plan when we first began discussing an Orlando move and I was in nursing school. But things change. As it turns out my family is moving to Lake Mary later this month. We looked at a couple places in Winter Springs as well. Ultimately from what we saw Winter Springs (and from what I hear Oviedo- too long of a commute so we didn't look there) has a more suburban, sprawling feel- less sidewalks, not so much of a central business district. But had we found the right house there, it was perfectly livable and pleasant. Lake Mary seems to be more pedestrian friendly, though not nearly as much as Orlando itself. Longer distances.

[wholeysmoke]

I think Winter Springs is the nicest, great schools, quiet, close to the 417. The area near Tuskawilla Country Club is your best bet.

[grizzlet]

My family are considering a move to Winter Springs next summer, I am also a nurse and have a 9 year old I would be very interested how things are going with your plans. We also are doing majority of our research online.