Looking for the best place to move in the Lake Mary area (Orlando: appointed)

[Ollie from PNW]

Our family is going to be moving to Florida from Washington next year. We've always lived in the Seattle area, so it's going to be a huge change for us. My husbands work will be in Lake Mary. Right now he commutes over 2 hours a day, so we look forward to cutting that significantly. We have 5 school aged children, so we are looking for a good community for families. Safety and good schools are very high priority. Our maximum price would be about $260. Anyone out there have any suggestions for us? We are all ears! Thank you so much! We love the Orlando area, and are looking forward to this new adventure!

[sellingflhomes07]

There are a lot of great communities in the Lake Mary area and you will not have a problem locating a neighborhood in or around the Lake Mary area. Home prices are beginning to rise here and not sure what it will be like in a year from now.I would suggest before you move coming to Lake Mary and go on a look see trip with a Realtor.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Ollie from PNW

Our family is going to be moving to Florida from Washington next year. We've always lived in the Seattle area, so it's going to be a huge change for us. My husbands work will be in Lake Mary. Right now he commutes over 2 hours a day, so we look forward to cutting that significantly. We have 5 school aged children, so we are looking for a good community for families. Safety and good schools are very high priority. Our maximum price would be about $260. Anyone out there have any suggestions for us? We are all ears! Thank you so much! We love the Orlando area, and are looking forward to this new adventure!

There isn't a lot of inventory in Lake Mary at any given time because of the strong demand for a good school district and a safe neighborhood in the Orlando area. Currently there's only 15 homes in your price bracket (below 265K) with four bedrooms. If you can manage three bedrooms there's a better variety with 28. There are two school districts at play in Lake Mary, the Lake Mary HS and Seminole HS districts. Both are excellent but vary in terms of feel. Lake Mary HS is the typical overachieving suburban high school surrounded by middle class Lake Mary. Seminole HS is the original high school in the area and is located in a working class, mostly white neighborhood in Sanford. It has the only International Baccalaureate program in the area and the students who participate in that program meet (and often exceed) the standards set at Lake Mary HS. Many Lake Mary parents are adverse to sending their kids to Seminole HS because it has a much higher ratio of Black students and is in an area they find "sketchy", though bear in mind it's not dangerous rather not attractive. Having lived in the area for awhile I attribute it more of a case of "keeping up appearances" as there have been no reported incidents of dangerous issues for students attending SHS from Lake Mary. If you are of the mindset of exposing your kids to different cultures/backgrounds while still attaining a great education you won't be disappointed by the IB program at SHS. Here's a link to the IB websites in case you're not familiar.

SHS - International Baccalaureate Program
International education - The International Baccalaureate offers high quality programmes of education to a worldwide community of schools

[sean1the1]

Its Getting harder and harder to get into IB at Seminole for the 2013-2014 school year the school is projected to be at 3700-3800 kids making it the largest high school in Central Florida And North Florida.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

Its Getting harder and harder to get into IB at Seminole for the 2013-2014 school year the school is projected to be at 3700-3800 kids making it the largest high school in Central Florida And North Florida.

Wow! Perhaps it's time for another IB program in Seminole County. Lake Howell HS would be a good candidate since it has one of the lowest enrollments of any HS in the county and is located on the south side of the district.

[sean1the1]

They ended up sending transfers out to all the incoming freshman giving them other options besides Seminole because it will be ver overcrowded even the children who live in the zone got them.

[AONE]

In Lake Mary my vote is for Heathrow but homes there are mostly above 300k but there are some distressed sales under the 270 mark presently. Timacuan is nice, but a bit older. I would also take a look at Oviedo and Winter Springs if you like Seminole County.