Help Family Moving to Clermont (Orlando, Ocoee: sales, apartments, home)

[procelltp1]

Hi,
The family and I are moving to Clermont, we have a son 14 years old, could I get some advise on the areas to live in, schools and jobs.

Thanks

[MovedfromFL]

Be aware that much of Clermont is fomer orange groves which were paved over, so there are very few large trees in some areas. It can get very hot in the summer (and humid too).
Jobs - there aren't that many in Clermont (esp. now). It is a commuter town where folks drive to Orlando. (not an easy commute, with traffic and tolls. Allow at least 45 minutes, probably more)
Schools - I used to teach at one of the local elementary schools and found it to be very good. (there used to be real issues with overcrowding, but 2 new schools opened and a new wing was built on one of the schools.) Lost Lake is great - great parental involvement. South Lake Charter is also in the area. I do not consider it to be as good as the public schools, based on test scores and its letter grade from the state of FL. (check greatschools.net, and the Lake County Schools website). The charter school does not pay as well as the public schools (with less benefits) so it was not able to recruit the best teachers.
At the middle school and high school level, the situation is not as good. Avoid South Lake High. East Ridge is the main school but it is very large and that leads to some discipline problems. Windy Ridge Middle is also very large. I don't know much else about it, but it's probably better than Clermont Middle.

Neighborhoods - Some of the lower priced neighborhoods are having issues with unruly youth, vandalism, and crime. In fact, on our last night there, someone siphoned the gas out of our U-Haul truck. But that's FL... you learn to live with it. If you are coming from somewhere else in FL, I'm sure you understand. If you are coming from up North, you are in for a culture shock for sure. Home prices are very low right now (back to Earth) but property taxes are sky high. You will need to wait at least another year for the taxes to come back down (when the assessed value falls, but I wouldn't count on taxes coming back to reasonable levels right away).
The Legends is a nice neighborhood and it is very close to Lost Lake Elem. As for others, it depends on your price range. If you provide that, I'm sure many of us on here could recommend some nice places for you. Check the Lake County Property Appraiser website (Yahoo search) and you can find sales and tax data online for a certain address. You can see what the home last sold for and what the current taxes are.

New shopping/ dining has recently opened in the area: Red Lobster, Olive Garden, JCPenny, Michael's crafts. A movie theater is also being built. There is also a new plaza near by called Fowler Groves in Winter Garden. Before that, we had almost no shopping in town (other than SuperTarget and Super Wal-Mart). Avoid the West Oaks mall at all costs. (in Ocoee) It has become very dangerous.

[Johnny Davis]

What kinds of things are you looking for in an area? If I know these things, I could help you in finding what part of Clermont you might be interested in. As for jobs, what kind of job are you looking for? What are your skills?

[LisaJonz]

The schools in the area have good ratings. As far as neighborhoods go, it depends on what your look for (i.e amenities, distance to turnpike, etc.) and your price range. Regardless, there's a whole lot to choose from.

[sherrigreeneyes]

I lived on the south end near 27 and 192. The community I lived in was great but it was surrounded by low cost apartments and cars would speed through at all hours of the night, and groups of kids bothering my son. So I wouldnt live on the south end unless it was gated.
It will be easy to make friends for your 14 year old, it seems everyone in Clermont is from somewhere else, so the kids have a bond. My son had so many friends.
Be aware that it takes a while to drive anywhere from Clermont, but it is worth it, because Clermont has a small town feel.
It may take a while to find a decent job, but because the area is so transient, if you are a good worker you will excel quickly.