In my opinion, this is an utterly asinine thread for a site like FR. Just my opinion. I usually don’t go to any of these types of threads. I’m doing it just this once, because once in my life I want to vote against all such asinine threads.
Well, if you only want a 30 minute commute, you need to live pretty close to your job, arrange your hours to avoid rush hour, or figure out a route where you can avoid I-4. If you have to get on I-4 for any length of your commute, you could get stacked up in traffic. But north of Orlando is definitely better than south or central Orlando, so you should be okay.
We’re having a property tax and insurance crisis right now, so when you figure the cost of living, even though we don’t have a state income tax, make sure you take that into consideration. When you move into a property, your taxes could be significantly higher than the taxes of the previous owner because the house will be reassessed. Just be aware of those things.
Property values, insurance and taxes have been skyrocketing and have made Florida unaffordable for many.
We aren’t really sure that Orlando is still part of Florida, damn sure don’t look like it!
2nd, if you got school age kids, try to get into the Winter Park area, has the better public schools, is also a safe area for the most part.
If working in Maitland, save yourself the headaches and stay to the east of Rte 4 and North of 408. Winter Park, Baldwin Park, Interlachen Lake areas are really nice. Seeing that you are paying 10k a year in property tax, you can get into the more established “posh” (relative term) areas w/o a problem. But I only know the area in Winter Park, I haven't spent much time in Maitland, Longwood, and Casselberr.y
Orange County/Orlando Metroplex has the 2nd highest level of foreclosures (# of housing in foreclousre/total housing units) in the country, but mostly at properties at lower value than what you’ll be looking for. BUT, there are some insane deals on pre-foreclosures and foreclosures in the area. Also realize that no matter when you buy within the next 6 months, you could have saved 3% to 5% by waiting another month. The market is in freefall.
Make sure you have property insurance policy in place BEFORE you sit down to closing. That means give yourself at least 3 weeks before closing to search for a carrier. Incredibly vital, it’s been a deal breaker for over a year there.
IF you need a real estate agent, freepmail me, my family has a broker we trust who works that area.
But seriously consider paying to join one of the foreclosure property listing services, and/or going to Florida banks and asking for their list of bank repossessed properties, the market has 9 months of foreclosed property backlog inventory, and then you got 2 months of pre-foreclosure inventory, then regular market, then those who gave up on selling and just have empty houses sitting there.
Yes, Winter Park is great too.Its a separate city in Orange and not in the Orlando school system but a bit more pricey.
“Any advice or suggestions folks can offer...”
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Learn to speak Spanish.
And what ever you do, vote against Rep. Ric Keller in the republican primary.