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Old 03-20-2012, 03:46 AM
 
7 posts, read 9,993 times
Reputation: 25

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Hi there!

I'm moving to Central Florida (I'm a FL native, but to South Florida) in the Fall. I'm a self-employed, single writer without any kids. So I don't care about commutes, school districts or a job. I work from home. I want to save for a house, and enjoy the lack of state income tax that I really didn't appreciate when I was growing up there.

All I care about is:

• A decent movie theater
• Late night diners
• Coffee shop (Starbucks is fine. I'm not fussy)
• Not getting raped, shot or feeling really nervous about coming home late
• Secured parking/Not having to worry too much about my Honda being stolen out of the apt complex.
• Place must have a tub
• Full kitchen (although it can be small and only have two burners, but still I need an oven.)

It would be cool (but not remotely required) to get some of those nifty amenities like:
• A pool
• Some sort of fitness center (even just a treadmill)
• Being within a 45-drive to the airport would also be a plus. (In general, being in an area that wasn't too far out in the boonies so if I do online dating I won't be considered too geographically undesirable.)
However, these are totally optional, and I could live without it.

What are my odds? Neighborhood suggestions? The smaller the place (studio) the better. I don't want to buy a bunch of furniture or pay a lot in utilities. By the way, what are your utility costs?

Thank you in advance in answering my questions. I will gladly provide information on Los Angeles or Dumaguete Philippines (my most recent residences) to you in exchange if that ups the odds of responses.

Last edited by christycomic; 03-20-2012 at 03:59 AM.. Reason: being neurotic
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Old 03-20-2012, 05:31 AM
 
27,323 posts, read 44,318,606 times
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Check out Sun Lake Apartments in Lake Mary. It's a nice complex with the usual amenities of a pool and fitness center. The apartments feature nice kitchens and include in-unit, full-size washers and dryers. You can actually walk if desired to Starbucks, umpteen restaurants and shopping. It's 5-10 minutes from a nice stadium-seating theater. It's very safe and you won't feel uncomfortable at night coming/going. A 600sq foot small one bedroom runs right at $700 a month, but they often have one month free specials which would knock that down significantly. Electricity costs for that size apartment would probably run around $60-$70 per month. Lake Mary has a fairly active nightlife scene on it's own, but you're also 15 minutes from downtown Winter Park and around 20-25 to downtown Orlando. The trip to the airport is around 30-35 minutes.

Sun Lake Apartments | Lake Mary, FL | Home
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Old 03-20-2012, 07:30 AM
 
7 posts, read 9,993 times
Reputation: 25
Thanks for the very specific recommendation. That's totally awesome. I hadn't looked any further North than Altamonte Springs, but those prices sure sound great. I've bookmarked them to check out when I get back. I thought it would take much longer to get to the airport from there (but then again, I'm used to LA traffic.) 35minutes is a breeze.
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Old 03-20-2012, 04:38 PM
 
Location: Asheville, NC
12,638 posts, read 32,196,103 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by christycomic View Post
Thanks for the very specific recommendation. That's totally awesome. I hadn't looked any further North than Altamonte Springs, but those prices sure sound great. I've bookmarked them to check out when I get back. I thought it would take much longer to get to the airport from there (but then again, I'm used to LA traffic.) 35minutes is a breeze.
Kyle gave a great suggestion. Also try privately owned condos in Regency Park in Lake Mary and Notting Hill in Heathrow. Great and safe location. Has everything you're looking for as well. There's also the airport in Sanford which is 10 minutes away. Allegiant Air has several locations to smaller airports with very cheap flights.
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Old 03-20-2012, 10:39 PM
 
19 posts, read 47,618 times
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Great information Kyle. Do you know anything like that in Altamonte? The only thing that scares me about Lake Mary is it just seems so far from downtown. Not that I'll be there a lot, but I just prefer being closer, even if it's only like 10 minutes closer.
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Old 03-21-2012, 05:27 AM
 
27,323 posts, read 44,318,606 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curveslidechange View Post
Great information Kyle. Do you know anything like that in Altamonte? The only thing that scares me about Lake Mary is it just seems so far from downtown. Not that I'll be there a lot, but I just prefer being closer, even if it's only like 10 minutes closer.
Anything in that price range in Altamonte isn't going to be nice, and most of the complexes in Altamonte aren't walkable to a whole lot. Altamonte Springs isn't known as a walkable community period because of it's high levels of traffic congestion. It's 18 miles to downtown Orlando from Lake Mary, with all but a mile or so via highway. I would really question how 8-10 minutes extra drive time is going to keep you from visiting downtown Orlando.
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Old 03-21-2012, 09:59 PM
 
7 posts, read 9,993 times
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Way cool of you guys. I had originally planned to rent somewhere near Disney, because I'm considering buying a house in the Kissimmee/Davenport area. I travel a lot and would like the option to offer my place up for short-term rental and those areas are zoned for it. I don't need to turn a profit on the house. It will be my primary residence. I'd just like to subsidize my mortgage payments when I'm out of town. Are those areas really cruddy as far a cheap rentals?

I figure it will take me at least a year to comfortably finishing gathering a decent-sized downpayment, so I want to be comfortable where I live. Lake Mary really seems nice.

I guess I'm just curious. How much worse is rental life in Kissimmee/Davenport/short-term-Disney-rental land?
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Old 03-22-2012, 06:05 AM
 
27,323 posts, read 44,318,606 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by christycomic View Post
Way cool of you guys. I had originally planned to rent somewhere near Disney, because I'm considering buying a house in the Kissimmee/Davenport area. I travel a lot and would like the option to offer my place up for short-term rental and those areas are zoned for it. I don't need to turn a profit on the house. It will be my primary residence. I'd just like to subsidize my mortgage payments when I'm out of town. Are those areas really cruddy as far a cheap rentals?

I figure it will take me at least a year to comfortably finishing gathering a decent-sized downpayment, so I want to be comfortable where I live. Lake Mary really seems nice.

I guess I'm just curious. How much worse is rental life in Kissimmee/Davenport/short-term-Disney-rental land?
There are hundreds (if not thousands) of rental homes near Disney and lots of empty homes/units in that area thanks to the real estate crash. If you go onto websites like VRBO you'll see gobs of them and in my mind the competition is too fierce, especially since there are already more than enough all-suite properties, time-shares and vacation condos (not to mention the hundreds of regular hotel properties). I just don't see it as worth your while in terms of return on investment, hassle involved as a landlord or trying to market it.

Kissimmee would tend to be more cruddy than Davenport which is more/less just plain isolated. Both suffer a fairly high crime rate as tourists make for great targets and the Davenport area is known for lots of rental homes/condos (primarily UK tourists) which make for easy break-ins due to the lack of "regular people" living in the area....i.e. no nosy neighbors.
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Old 03-22-2012, 07:09 AM
 
12,017 posts, read 14,391,478 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by curveslidechange View Post
Great information Kyle. Do you know anything like that in Altamonte? The only thing that scares me about Lake Mary is it just seems so far from downtown. Not that I'll be there a lot, but I just prefer being closer, even if it's only like 10 minutes closer.
Valid concerns. The I-4 stretch from Lake Mary Blvd to 434/436 can be pretty rough in the morning. It can even get bad all the way through Lee Rd

Quote:
Originally Posted by kyle19125 View Post
Anything in that price range in Altamonte isn't going to be nice, and most of the complexes in Altamonte aren't walkable to a whole lot. Altamonte Springs isn't known as a walkable community period because of it's high levels of traffic congestion. It's 18 miles to downtown Orlando from Lake Mary, with all but a mile or so via highway. I would really question how 8-10 minutes extra drive time is going to keep you from visiting downtown Orlando.
If you need to commute to downtown daily, Altamonte would be preferable to Lake Mary IMO. Otherwise, not an issue
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Old 03-22-2012, 01:34 PM
 
19 posts, read 47,618 times
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I also get the feeling that Lake Mary is more of a family-type location, and Altamonte I would be closer to young, single professionals. Am I completely off on that? I'm not a huge party person or anything, but I don't want the only single females around me to be in high school.
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