Safe/Quiet Apartment living (Orlando, Altamonte Springs: real estate market, apartments, for rent)

[Guitarzan1]

I have been searching the forums and I am also currently apartment hunting. I know that a lot of people recommend Seminole County as being safe, at least parts of it.

What about the rest of Orlando? Can anyone tell me areas to avoid or areas that would be safe to live in for me and my girlfriend? We are just looking for something safe and quiet and not too far away from the city.

I've never lived outside of Seminole so I'm clueless about the rest of Orlando in terms of living conditions.

[urban_hippie]

Hi! Are you able to drive around the area at all? If so, I recommend it. Orlando is strange, with pockets of really nice areas bordering on pockets of questionable areas. Are you rigid with apartment living? I ask because the current real estate market in Orlando has opened up a plethora of homes for rent, often at prices lower than were offered just a few years ago. Your budget will make a difference in where you can live.

If you'd like to be close to downtown, I think College Park is nice, though some of the edges of the area (northern and western areas) seem a bit sketchy.

I don't think living downtown is unreasonably dangerous, either. Again, drive around, because some parts are better than others, but I can tell you my experience living in Colonialtown was one of the best ever. Sure, it's got Colonial Drive cutting right through, and I did see the occasional homeless person wandering through, but all my neighbors were friendly and looked out for one another. I never felt unsafe and never had any problems during the four years I lived in the area.

I would avoid Western and Southeastern Orlando. Just my perspective, but I do not think I'd feel safe living in either area. Also, don't be fooled by "Winter Park" where apartments are concerned. Winter Park is exclusive in some areas, but the apartments in Winter Park, say in the 436/Aloma area, are not known for being all that safe.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Magnulus]

South, Southeast, and parts of Western Orlando metro area are crapholes. Some parts have less crime than others but they all tend to be full of extremely ugly suburban developement, payday loans on every corner, and the people there not only rarely speak English (I am not joking here), but many of them are pretty shady characters who work the extremely low-end service jobs that Orlando is famous for. I cannot think of a good reason to live in that part of town if you can avoid it.

Downtown Orlando itself isn't too bad. The problem is there aren't alot of ammenities downtown. They don't even have a local grocery store even though they have alot of condos down there.

Once you get out far enough areas like Claremont aren't too bad. But that's also farther from downtown Orlando. Parts of Winter Park and Maitland also aren't too bad, the rest of Orange County pretty much is unremarkable and the only people that live there, live there because it is cheap, not because it is a nice place to live.

In Seminole County, Casselberry and Altamonte Springs are probably the least desireable places to live. Altamonte Springs has been seeing an increasing crime rate, and Casselberry isn't all that pretty, but they both are both way better than some parts of Orange County. Anywhere too close to the I-4 is going to have more crime.

[vianomaly]

Where in Orange county is best to live?