Any New Yorkers Living in Orlando? (Westchester, Winter Park: homes, job market, neighborhood)

[Orlando Bound]

My husband & I are spending March scoping out the Orlando area looking to relocate. I have heard a lot of negative comments on these threads, but are there any New Yorkers who could shed some insight? Or anyone out there with positive comments? Taking the horrible job market and traffic out of the equation?

Any feedback would be great! Thanks

[Wilshire81182]

I think a lot of the complaints come from people who picked what seemed to be a nice area but once they moved there, they had to deal with a lot of disrespectful neighbors. Some examples of this disrespect are really aggressive driving, red light running, loud music, not waving or talking to your neighbors, etc. I think the biggest example of this type of area is Waterford Lakes. The homes and the area is undisputably nice and a great place to live overall, but then you throw in the people. There are a lot of young families with rude teenagers (and I am in my 20's so do not think I am just in this mentality because I am a cranky older person), college students, and the worst aspects of the Northeast (loud, rude, aggressive personalities). Not that I think everyone from the NE is like that, but this is a stereotype that sometimes can be proven true and why transients from other parts of the country and native Floridians have a hard time with some who relocate from the NE. If you pick an older area of town closer to Downtown or Winter Park where there are brick paved streets, this softens traffic noise and slows down drivers in residential areas. These areas are generally more established and less susceptible to going downhill over time. There are also a lot of nice newer areas in Seminole county and in SW Orlando that do not seem to have the same issues. I get this same consensus of east Orlando from people who post on this site and some of my friends who live in the area. You can still find really nice areas of Waterford (Stoneybrook, Eastwood) that do not have this problem but they are much more expensive. I throw that in there, because I did not want the east side retaliation. =)

[Orlando Bound]

I appreciate your feedback. Waterford Lakes, Eastwood and Stoneybrook were areas we were most interested. We were hoping that by moving into one of those developments there would be more sense of a neighborhood feel - gatherings, socializing.... considering we don't have kids (and are in our 40's) we figured it might be harder to meet people. Never thought about downtown, might be worth a look.

[Wilshire81182]

There is a lot of those events and things going on in Winter Park and Lake Eola. Loch Haven Park is right there on Mills with 3-4 museums where they often do events and gatherings. Dr Phillips is good in this respect too as there is what is referred to as Restaurant Row and there are great eateries with good crowds and live music, etc. Winter Park also has a lot of these little restaurants, wine bars, etc.

[lpstudio2]

I moved here from Westchester a little over 4 months ago. I personally love it here, once we exclude the aforementioned traffic and economy. Perhaps it's just hearing friends and family back home ***** about the snow, perhaps it's just a fresh start, but it's a very geographically diverse area (2/3 of my co-workers are from cities elsewhere) with plenty of non-touristy stuff to do. I used to be a touring musician and absolutely hated Florida anytime I was here, but my opinion has changed in a short tenure here.