Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am retired living in Plano, Texas. I am tired of the high property taxes here and exploring options. I have focused on Tn now with its low overall taxes for retirees but wanted to give Florida a look too. We are not beach fans and have lived in flooding prone areas and hurricane impacted areas like Houston and want to avoid that as much as possible if in Fl. I know Tn is better for this concern but wanted to see if there is a non coastal area that is higher elevation where no flooding concern might exist. We need good medical as my wife has several auto immune health conditions. We are use to being near restaurants, Costco and Sames and shopping conveniences. Is the winter park or other areas west of Orlando ones that meet my needs?
Thanks in advance. My home budget is $600k to $1000k. A one story home of 4000 sf would meet our needs well. Access to good medical is needed too what is the best option in the Orlando areas for top flight medical including concierge Internal medicine and Rhuematologist, Infectious disease Docs?
By the way property taxes are over 2% of property value in most of Texas and where I live now even with a senior exemption. I am seeing property values of up to half lower in parts of fla vs where I am now
There are many non-coastal areas in Florida that would meet your needs.
The Winter Park area is certainly one of those, but the property taxes are also higher there
(compared to some other cities).
Some other areas to look at are Winter Garden/Ocoee or even the Clermont area, which as
rolling hills (rare for FL).
Northeast of Winter Park is Seminole County with some nice bedroom communities in Oviedo/
Winter Springs (and even a little further to Lake Mary).
Do your homework on the taxes, as some cities you wouldn't expect have surprisingly high
taxes.
The medical care in general is quote good around the major cities (Orlando, Tampa, etc.). I
can't speak for the care as you get further from the cities.
There are many non-coastal areas in Florida that would meet your needs.
The Winter Park area is certainly one of those, but the property taxes are also higher there
(compared to some other cities).
Some other areas to look at are Winter Garden/Ocoee or even the Clermont area, which as
rolling hills (rare for FL).
Northeast of Winter Park is Seminole County with some nice bedroom communities in Oviedo/
Winter Springs (and even a little further to Lake Mary).
Do your homework on the taxes, as some cities you wouldn't expect have surprisingly high
taxes.
The medical care in general is quote good around the major cities (Orlando, Tampa, etc.). I
can't speak for the care as you get further from the cities.
Good luck.
6
@movetoorlando
Thanks for the helpful response. I will check the other areas out.
i would like to be close to Orlando or another good sized city for the food and other shopping options. I have found that a location near a Sam's and a Costco tend to also have good restaurant options as well. I am 4 miles from two Sam's clubs and my town has a third one 7 miles from my home, three costcos are near me one 2 miles, and two 6 miles so the food options are incredible which id like to find in Fla as well to consider.
Medical is usually my greatest challenge to replace because my wife's condition requires not just specialist but those who run clinical trials or new meds or have done other research of the RA field and the infectious disease experience on how to avoid repeated C Diff events due to her conditions.
For example, I am considering Nashville, Tennessee because of size and Vanderbilt access but may have to find a RA specialist at University of Alabama Birmingham where Rheumy issues are a focus for their complex. Its only around a 2 hour drive from Nashville so do able for the limited times we need to see the Rheumy Doc.
But given the size of Orlando I suspect I can find it all there if everything else lines up for us. I currently drive 30 to 45 miles to our specialists which is fine even though we see the Internist maybe 20 times a year. Crime is an important consideration of course and the tool I use provides that with the map.
I am retired living in Plano, Texas. I am tired of the high property taxes here and exploring options. I have focused on Tn now with its low overall taxes for retirees but wanted to give Florida a look too. We are not beach fans and have lived in flooding prone areas and hurricane impacted areas like Houston and want to avoid that as much as possible if in Fl. I know Tn is better for this concern but wanted to see if there is a non coastal area that is higher elevation where no flooding concern might exist.
There is no avoiding the hurricane/flooding aspect given the FL is a peninsula and while inland Orlando is just a bit over 50 miles from the Atlantic coast and 85 miles from the Gulf not to mention mostly at sea level with some "elevation" as high as a mere 100 feet. The four hurricanes in 2004 that crisscrossed the state caused fairly significant damage across the Central Florida area, as did Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Thanks, I landed on Orlando after searching for higher elevations in Florida which were not on the coast. The area I mentioned looked like the best lower risk location due to elevation to minimize flooding risk and further from the coast where hurricanes land at their peak winds typically. I know the risk is not zero and that it is higher than Nashville area and where I am now. Life is full of trade offs. I was surprised to find the highest elevation in Fla was around 300 Feet above sea level. My Houston home was 70 feet above sea level and one of the higher elevations in Houston metro.
We have tornado risks here in DFW, which I judge to be lower than flooding or hurricane risks in most places as they are small in terms of area hit and not present in any single area very frequently. I will check flood history, which is only a a guide, my home in Houston was in an area that never flooded before too.
My top concerns about Orlando at this point is the one you mentioned and a medical specialty concern after doing some medical research online last night. Another lower level concern is the economy being tourism dependent where resale price risk can vary with the state of the leisure economy. However we have no kids so resale in the ideal world is not my issue. We plan this next move if we make one to be our last planned move. We are getting too old to go through this even paying for lots of moving help.
The positives for Orlando are warmer climate where my wife's health and RA pain is less. I like what the shopping area options where Sams and Costco both are not too far as we currently benefit from here. I had Orlando larger in my mind than it is... it is near the same size as nashville metro but both feel like a good option size wise for us.
The positives for Orlando are warmer climate where my wife's health and RA pain is less. I like what the shopping area options where Sams and Costco both are not too far as we currently benefit from here. I had Orlando larger in my mind than it is... it is near the same size as Nashville metro but both feel like a good option size wise for us.
Nashville is actually a much larger city than Orlando (668K versus 280K), the metro area population difference levels out via suburban sprawl with Nashville's MSA much less dense in terms of population per square mile. The Orlando MSA's core population is much smaller but more dense overall population-wise with 2300 residents per square mile, versus Nashville's MSA which has just 250 residents per square mile and showcases how much more of a central core is present there.
Thanks, I landed on Orlando after searching for higher elevations in Florida which were not on the coast. The area I mentioned looked like the best lower risk location due to elevation to minimize flooding risk and further from the coast where hurricanes land at their peak winds typically. I know the risk is not zero and that it is higher than Nashville area and where I am now. Life is full of trade offs. I was surprised to find the highest elevation in Fla was around 300 Feet above sea level. My Houston home was 70 feet above sea level and one of the higher elevations in Houston metro.
We have tornado risks here in DFW, which I judge to be lower than flooding or hurricane risks in most places as they are small in terms of area hit and not present in any single area very frequently. I will check flood history, which is only a a guide, my home in Houston was in an area that never flooded before too.
My top concerns about Orlando at this point is the one you mentioned and a medical specialty concern after doing some medical research online last night. Another lower level concern is the economy being tourism dependent where resale price risk can vary with the state of the leisure economy. However we have no kids so resale in the ideal world is not my issue. We plan this next move if we make one to be our last planned move. We are getting too old to go through this even paying for lots of moving help.
The positives for Orlando are warmer climate where my wife's health and RA pain is less. I like what the shopping area options where Sams and Costco both are not too far as we currently benefit from here. I had Orlando larger in my mind than it is... it is near the same size as nashville metro but both feel like a good option size wise for us.
Thanks for your input it is much appreciated
Bear in mind, the climate will be more humid in Orlando.
I've read that dampness and humidity has a negative effect on RA patients.
Gainesville has the University of Florida and Shands Medical Center which is the teaching hospital and one of the best in the state.
I mention this because if medical is paramount focusing here might be good. It's about a 90 minute to 2 hour drive to Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville if you need access to big cities but Gainesville has most essential shopping, restaurants. The metro is about 600,000 with Ocala.
Also, mayo clinic is nationally renown in Jacksonville and shands also has a Jacksonville facility. There are many nice new home communities inland and away from storm surge. Historically, this part of Florida has a decreased hurricane threat because the coast juts inward as well.
Bear in mind, the climate will be more humid in Orlando.
I've read that dampness and humidity has a negative effect on RA patients.
We lived in Houston for 30 years before I retired to DFW. Houston is much more humid and warmer year around than DFW. Houston is more like the Florida Panhandle so I expect Orlando to be slightly warmer and probably more humid overall than Houston. She did better in Houston then now but she is older now and her RA is more active too. She has lupus and suffers from constant pain all over from fibromyalga these days.
If Orlando makes it through my screening from afar we will come visit for 10 days to see things on the ground. We were Orlando for a conference for 5 days three years ago and liked it but we stayed at the Peabody and restaurants and events around it and did not see much of the area. We have been there at few times over the year but do not know the area well.
Gainesville has the University of Florida and Shands Medical Center which is the teaching hospital and one of the best in the state.
I mention this because if medical is paramount focusing here might be good. It's about a 90 minute to 2 hour drive to Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville if you need access to big cities but Gainesville has most essential shopping, restaurants. The metro is about 600,000 with Ocala.
Also, mayo clinic is nationally renown in Jacksonville and shands also has a Jacksonville facility. There are many nice new home communities inland and away from storm surge. Historically, this part of Florida has a decreased hurricane threat because the coast juts inward as well.
Thanks for the info, very very helpful. I know Mayo so will check Jacksonville again for this reason. My former boss retired to a beach condo just east of Jacksonville. He had vacationed there for 10 years and had a building picked out he wanted to be in and bought a top floor end unit sight unseen when it came up while he was working. He spoke highly of the area and had lived all over the globe working for the same energy company that I spent 38 years working as well.
My wife's sister and her husband, who was my college room mate, lived in Coral Springs for a number of years. We visited them weeks at a time but are not big fans of being that deep into Florida.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
