re: Living in the Orlando area

Winter Park, Maitland, Altamonte Springs

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Is this in reference to Orange Blossom Trail? Back when I was stationed there for bootcamp, A-School and Power School, this is where most of the titty bars and hookers were.

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Howya doin Nuke?

Nuke waste here: 96-98 Orlando was tGOAT

OBT was banned for sailors so we hung out at the clubs on Orange ave and at Disney World's Pleasure Island

Kissimmee

Oviedo isn’t bad. Plus houses in and around Orlando are not too pricey.

Stay away from anything SE of 408 & I-4. SW has some decent areas but you will be battling with tourists when it comes to restaurants and stores (and pay that suck the tourist dry premium they tack onto everything.) I think Windermere is in the Dr Phillips school district and if you have an athletic kid they are very into their sports. Winter Park is nice. If your job is north of downtown you have Maitland/Altamonte Springs and Lake Mary/Heathrow. But there is a caveat. Lake Mary Blvd runs from Heathrow to the airport. To the north of it starting with I-4 on over to the airport is part of Sanford. The parts closest to those roads are quite nice. So you have some idea, the Zimmerman-Martin showdown occurred about a mile east of I-4/1.5 miles north of LMB. Don't live anywhere up by Deltona/DeLand a that's just a cesspool of problems whether it's weather, the people, or the carbon copy homes built by a bunch of illegals. As for the east side, Oviedo was awesome and a far away from tourist as you can get while still being close to metro stores/restaurants/nightlife. Of all the places for middle class I would pick Oviedo if I wanted to have money to play with on weekends and Windermere if I didn't care about being house poor a long as my kids got the best education. There's always a third alternative and that's private school in a different area from where you live.

DO NOT DISCOUNT the traffic while considering your options. 417 isn't bad but 408 and I-4 suck during rush hour. When I first started to work in Maitland I had to hit 417 down to 408 and then up I-4. A 15 mile drive took over an hour.

Winter Garden

I spend a lot of time staying in the Winter Garden and Clermont/Mineola area. I like it.

Can you give us a ballpark of $/sq ft?

Best known places for families, Windermere, Dr Phillips, Winter Garden.

I do construction for the parks. My wife works at Lake Nona for the children’s hospital. We currently rent in Celebration. It’s okay.

If I could have my choice, I’d pick College Park, or the area around or below Lake Eola (Delaney Park). The trick is to live around there and get your kid in the lottery system for the charter schools. The charter schools in Orlando are essentially free private schools.

ETA: to the OPs update, Winter Garden is nice. Like the brewery. But frick driving on the turnpike everyday if you work in Orlando.

I’m staying in an apartment first year until the housing market settles but we will look to stay in Horizon West/Winter Garden area for sure