Sanford-MIDWAY section-Seminole County need your opinion PLEASE (Orlando: sale, crimes)

[sunstate]

I had a 1920's spanish style house just off 17-92, near 26th st. Yes, it was very close to the commercial properties nearby but was in a residential neighborhood. It was the only 1920's house in the area and had a cool history to it. The homes in the immediate area were more modest but were owner occupied and I thought the area was on it's way up. I thought wrong. Sanford is the County seat and as such, is home to all the services in Seminole County for the indigent. The court house is located there, the jail, the criminal courts, the dog pound, probation offices, WIC offices, food stamp offices, and the only Federal Housing in the area (near 13th st.). Sanford also has the highest milage rate (for property taxes in the tri-county area.) Strange that property taxes (per thousand value) in Sanford is higher than Lake Mary or Heathrow.

[Rhett_Butler]

My area was off of Airport Boulevard behind Wicklow Elementary and it was a nice quiet neighborhood without a lot of trouble to speak of..... It wasn't fabulous or anything and I've never tried to claim Sanford as "mahhhhvelous" or anything. Just that there are decent areas around the city if one looks..

[kimber762]

Hello, i came across this thread and am shocked at what people are saying about sanford. does sanford look run down, yes, why? because it is old, thats why. I really would love to know where you people lived and grew up since alot of you here say sanford is violent. Here's a some great examples to make those who say it's ruff and violent eat their words. In the northeast, where i was born and raised. The "bad" or "war zone" areas of a city have one rule. If you don't live there you dont go there. there is no mixing of people (rich vs. poor). you do not see a white male in his 40s driving a convertable lexus in these areas that is frequently seen in sanford. if that man did that in ny or ct he would not drive out or be able to walk out. i would not have lost in pine hills and asked for directions from a rather large group of black males in a front yard and actually get correct directions! no i am not racist, unfortunately i have observed that the majority of floridians see a gathering such as that as a group of thugs. a white women would not be able to drive her caddilac to a store on 13th street, go grab a pac of ciggs while her windows were down come out and her car and radio is still there. DO THE RESEARCH!! i cannot stress this enough! sanford has had i believe maybe 5 murders in like 15 years or so. that sounds so dangerous right?! a friend of mine works in the sanford pd, even he says it's a joke. the cops who don't even obey the law have nothing better to do then pull people over for the things they do. are their fights, yes, but their teenagers. there's no hits, few stabbings, few drugs. they don't even control drug blocks here! yet you say it's bad. how many cops have been shot, stabbed or their families murdered? none. does the police station get robbed? burned to the ground? no. do the cops get robbed while in uniform? no. the gangs are a joke as well. there are a ton of gangs in the small town known as sanford with a population of 44,000 i believe. anyone who knows what "ghetto" is will tell thats the #1 sign that people are fake therefore not dangerous. it's misguided kids who have a identity problem and watch tv and want to live like rappers do. they make their little "gang" with 8 or so friends and give themselves a name. do they do real harm, no. i have talked with many people that moved to fl, sanford and orlando more so. we all came to the agreement that florida doesn't know where it lies. the northeast laughs at them, the south doesn't consider them south. so naturally they have to find some type of identity. oh and another example which noone can deny that prooves that central florida is fine is this: if people are so violent, areas so dangerous, why every year does the KKK and the skinheads walk their little parade right through some of orlandos "worst areas". do you want to know what would happen if that was even attempted in the bronx ny, brooklyn ny, hartford ct, bridgeport ct? take a guess, come on.. ok i'll tell you what would happen, death would happen. they would be killed, unfortunatley the officers in charge of security would be injured or killed, inocent people would die. but not in florida. also, the majority of sanford is not developed. there is more farmland than homes. I honestly think those on here that say it's so bad and act like their house got shot up and found their neighbors body in their back yard like drama. thats it, you like drama, you want attention, you want people to feel sorry for you for where you live. it's honestly pathetic. as my closing statement i will say this. if florida (not miami) is sooo bad, why would people from the northeast make it a money game to see how many teeth, purses, wallets, chains they can bring back from their trips to florida? and yes that has been going on since the 70's. get a life and enjoy the peace you have compaired to the reast of the country with real problems where people and children die.

[Magnulus]

Sanford is a decent town. There are some poor people but there isn't alot of crime. There are people of color living there, some of whom's kids do poorly in school, and I guess it's a hangup for some people- but it doesn't translate into all that higher crime rate. But there are real honest to goodness Florida crackers living there, and these people are salt of the earth types, not like some of the folks closer to Orlando who wouldn't help a little old lady across the street. The people are honestly friendlier. If you like outdoor activities, fishing, ATV/dirt bikes/motorcycles, it is a good town for it, too. Far better than O-Town. There are alot of social services there, but so what? There are also alot of government jobs- nobody thinks about that bit when they blast Sanford for being the county seat and having the jail, the county mental hospital, and the pound.

So I'd say if you want to build a house in Midway, have at it. Who knows, maybe the area will gentrify a bit as people realize Sanford is not such a bad place to live. If you want to live in a perfect neighborhood you are going to be stuck with some other kinds of tradeoffs. Honestly this doesn't look like the best time to build or buy, since the market is probably going to drop, it is still a huge bubble. Try renting instead. It's a much better idea right now. But Sanford looks like a great place to live.

[Rhett_Butler]

This topic had been sleeping for awhile, but in response to the last two posts I'll simply reiterate my stance that Sanford is a decent place to live in many areas, but I'd stay clear of 13th street and Midway. JMO.

[DigiRaven]

Originally Posted by kimber762

Hello, i came across this thread and am shocked at what people are saying about sanford. does sanford look run down, yes,

I say there is absolutely nothing wrong with Sanford. A couple areas that needs clean up and refurbishing. I say its a lot better than a few years ago. All cities have bad spots even lake mary, longwood, winter springs, etc etc.

people cut down deltona at times. Have they ever been to deltona? appearntly not. A lot of good folk living there. its the small problems that get amplified through the news thats makes a town look bad. I say the towns from maitland to deland are all pretty good. just got to know where to live and find the best spots and hopfully some rich investor will clean up the corners.

[beckycat]

Run!!! This area is one of the worst areas around. Houses are shacks and most don't have plumbing. I wouldn't feel safe there. Mt Dora is very nice, but many older people live there. If you buy land to build on, which I did, you pay a high impact fee on taxes. (ex. I pay $2K and my neighbor pays $900) There are nice areas in Sanford that are affordable. If you let me know what pice range you're looking at, I can point you in the right direction. It's almost impossible to purchase land anymore. What type of area are you looking for?

[NJ91]

Originally Posted by beckycat

Run!!! This area is one of the worst areas around. Houses are shacks and most don't have plumbing. I wouldn't feel safe there. Mt Dora is very nice, but many older people live there. If you buy land to build on, which I did, you pay a high impact fee on taxes. (ex. I pay $2K and my neighbor pays $900) There are nice areas in Sanford that are affordable. If you let me know what pice range you're looking at, I can point you in the right direction. It's almost impossible to purchase land anymore. What type of area are you looking for?

I went in February to see some lands in Mount Dora, Sanford, Orlando, and Saint Cloud. I liked Orlando on the Wedgefield Area, and Saint Cloud on the Bay Lake Ranch. But like you said, it's almost impossible to purchase land. The good ones are too expensive, some of them want like $149,000 for one acre, plus the impact fees, plus the cost of cleaning the lot, and so on...so, me and my husband have decided to buy a house already built.

My husband's cousin is a real estate agent and we are working with him.

Thank you

[beckycat]

I agree with past posts, there are decent areas in Sanford. Also, do stay away from Midway and 13th St. They are really fixing Sanford up nicely. Downtown Sanford is a very nice town with cute shops. They also have what's called the riverwalk along the water which has been totally refurbished. On the holidays, they always have stuff going on to get everyone together. I don't live there, but I shop there all the time. I would live there, you just may want to get direction on the decent places to live. Actually, the houses are a bit more affordable.

[tamralakemary]

Although it's a little further, you mentioned the Mt. Dora area. That would be worth visiting. I'd invest there before the other.