Possible move to Orlando area! Help with where to live, please! (Winter Springs: real estate, renting)

[Two_in_Tow]

My husband's career may be taking us to Orlando soon. We should have a big decision to make by the end of next week. To say I'm a little nervous is an understatement! My husband lived in the Orlando area 10 years ago, but neither of us have been back. I'm sure it has changed tremendously, and we weren't looking at the city through a parent's eyes. We have two children, the oldest of which will be starting Kindergarten this coming autumn. I love where we are now (the Greater Cincinnati area), in our small town with pretty much non-existant crime, great schools, and yet only 40 minutes away from all the city has to offer.

Should we choose to accept this opportunity, my husband will be working in the Metro West area of Orlando. So far, Oviedo and Lake Mary have caught my attention, but I wonder about the commute? Anything under about 40 minutes would be okay. I am open to any and all suggestions, though! Our biggest concerns are a safe place to raise our children, and great schools. Where should we look? I think we would like to stay under $300,000 for a house, but intend on renting first so that we can get a true feel for our surroundings. Also, I am a stay-at-home mom, so only my husband's commute is a consideration.

Thank you all so much!

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Two_in_Tow

My husband's career may be taking us to Orlando soon. We should have a big decision to make by the end of next week. To say I'm a little nervous is an understatement! My husband lived in the Orlando area 10 years ago, but neither of us have been back. I'm sure it has changed tremendously, and we weren't looking at the city through a parent's eyes. We have two children, the oldest of which will be starting Kindergarten this coming autumn. I love where we are now (the Greater Cincinnati area), in our small town with pretty much non-existant crime, great schools, and yet only 40 minutes away from all the city has to offer.

Should we choose to accept this opportunity, my husband will be working in the Metro West area of Orlando. So far, Oviedo and Lake Mary have caught my attention, but I wonder about the commute? Anything under about 40 minutes would be okay. I am open to any and all suggestions, though! Our biggest concerns are a safe place to raise our children, and great schools. Where should we look? I think we would like to stay under $300,000 for a house, but intend on renting first so that we can get a true feel for our surroundings. Also, I am a stay-at-home mom, so only my husband's commute is a consideration.

Thank you all so much!

Those areas might be too far for metro west. Check out windermere (along 535) and Dr Phillips instead. Very nice neighborhoods that will be a much shorter commute, and will save you $$$$ on the toll roads you'll have to take (408 and 417)

[Crane's Rooster]

Also look into Wekiva/Sweetwater, great area for families and kids. Kind of feel like it's own small little town tucked in between larger cities and suburbs. With the 429 now complete you should be able to take either the expressways or back roads to Metro West in under or about 40 mins.

[brinkofsunshine]

Lake Mary and Oviedo are unnecessarily far from where your husband will be working. I second chopchop0's advice on Windermere and DP. Windermere is a very quiet small town with very low crime. There's two parts to Windermere- old and new. Old Windermere has a charming tiny downtown, lots of sprawling oaks, some dirt roads and expensive homes. This is where the subdivision Isleworth is, where Tiger Woods and Shaq have owned huge homes. The homes are generally older or custom built. New Windermere is of course newer and new subdivisions are being built constantly. You can get more bang for your buck here, although you give up the charm of the older neighborhoods and the trees. Old Windermere's zoned high school (Olympia) is better than new Windermere's (West Orange). Your budget may be a bit low for old Windermere but there's no harm in looking!

Dr. Philips is next door to Windermere, and closer to I-4. This area has a lot of shopping and dining and bumps up right next to Universal, so there's more going on and has a larger population than Windermere, although neighborhoods are still quiet. Again, DP is a safe area with great schools. The high school is going through a renovation right now. It's a bit more convenient for everyday errands because of the retail development. It shouldn't be hard to find a home with your budget.

In short, both areas are highly desirable but a little different. It will probably come down to taste or just finding the perfect house. I live in Dr. Phillips but have lived in Windermere before, if you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them.

[Two_in_Tow]

Thanks for the responses! It was my impression that we were priced out of Windermere and Dr. Phillips. We would like to have at least a 4 bedroom house with a pool. Also, from the Florida DOE, it seemed that Seminole County was the better district.

[Kestrel88]

I do not recommend commuting from Metro West to Seminole County. It will be red light after red light with not enough payoff at the end.

$300k should be more than enough to get you inside the Dr Phillips school district and into a very nice house. Windermere/Dr Phillips is loaded with waterfront property and gigantic mansions but there are still plenty of beautiful homes not on the water and not meant for NBA stars. I'm not sure where you'd be moving from but here in Florida home values are priced 50% less than they were six years ago. A $600k home in 2006 would have been a great place to live by anyone's standards.

As much as property values have dropped though, home owners association fees have skyrocketed. Keep that in mind when deciding between gated communities and regular neighborhoods.

My recommendation would be to save a search on a real estate listing site set at Dr Phillips/4br/pool/<$300k. You'll see that they do exist. Maybe not hundreds of listings but you're only looking for one good deal so you won't need many.

[otown native]

As Kestrel metioned, here's a couple listings just from doing a quick search on Trulia, all 3 are in the DP area...

4760 High Oak Court, Orlando FL - Trulia
5740 Cedar Pine Drive, Orlando FL - Trulia
7834 Snowberry Circle, Orlando FL - Trulia

[FloridaNative35]

Dr. Phillips or downtown areas (Delaney, Lake Eola Heights). There won't be tons of houses in your price range for what you want, but you can find something good if keep looking. Also, the schools are good. Delaney is zoned for Blankner which is a great elementary and middle, and Lake Eola Heights is mostly zoned for Hillcrest, which is a great elementary with a language immersion program (French, Spanish, Vietnamese).

Conway is another possibility, but you'll need to sort out an address to know which school you are zoned for.

[tricon7]

Originally Posted by Kestrel88

I'm not sure where you'd be moving from but here in Florida home values are priced 50% less than they were six years ago. A $600k home in 2006 would have been a great place to live by anyone's standards.

So true. I paid about $100k less for my house in Winter Springs than it was appraised for in 2006.