Moving to Florida assistance thread.

[Jannephotog]

Glad I found this thread too....I'm thinking about 2 years out (after I finish up work on my special education masters & the work I have to do right after for the grant I'm on) about moving down to the Orlando area with my (probably soon to be) future DH... (crazy to write that! We'll see how this summer goes...).

My Disney passion has been awakened since my trip back and I'm looking to find a job with Disney, hopefully being able to put my masters to use somewhere with the company (we'll see!). So for that we'd move down from TN...we'll keep up with these threads and find out what else I can learn about moving down to this lovely area.

 

[prplgiraffe89]

Just subscribed to this thread. My husband and I are moving to Florida probably around October/November of this year and I've been researching places to live. He hopes to get a job with Disney (within food service/banquets) and I'll be looking for anyplace that will hire (same industry but I also have degree in baking and pastry).

We have a friend that works for disney and lives in Clermont so I know that would be a nice place to live, but we will need an apartment to start out. Anyone have any advice on some good complexes around the disney area that aren't shady?

 

[cousinorville3]

Look up:

Camden World Gateway
Abaco Key
Alexandria Parc Vue

These are all apartment complexes near Disney and majority of the residents are cast members.

 

[prplgiraffe89]

Look up:

Camden World Gateway
Abaco Key
Alexandria Parc Vue

These are all apartment complexes near Disney and majority of the residents are cast members.

I looked up all three on apartmentratings.com and 1st looks good, if not a little expensive, but the other two have terrible reviews! Thank you for your help though! Do you live in any of these?

 

[snjmorrison]

Loving this thread. It is so exciting to hear about those of you who have moved or are planning to move. My husband and I have been wanting to move for several yrs, but our children didn't want to leave friends. We only have one left in high school, and he has decided he would like to move...woohoo. I'm a speech language pathologist and hope I don't have to take a pay cut. We live in Louisiana, so I think salaries are probably very comparable. I work for home health companies and see private clients also. My husband can live anywhere with his job. I'm looking into dual enrollment programs bc my son would like to participate in one that offers computer/gaming/technology programs.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

DH and I are planning to move to FL in about 6 years. We are waiting for both girls to graduate from HS then we will retire and move. I grew up in NY and absolutely hated the winters there, now live in VA which is where DH is from and the winters here are still really cold with some snow. I want so badly to live where it is warm year round. I struggle with arthritis, so the heat will be good. I don't worry too much about humidity; I had it in NY and the hot humid days of summer in Williamsburg are brutal, so no worries there. And as far as dealing with tourists ~ Um HELLO, I live in Colonial Williamsburg!!! Already dealing with them!!! Just so ready to move.

 

[loveysbydesign]

DH and I are planning to move to FL in about 6 years. We are waiting for both girls to graduate from HS then we will retire and move. I grew up in NY and absolutely hated the winters there, now live in VA which is where DH is from and the winters here are still really cold with some snow. I want so badly to live where it is warm year round. I struggle with arthritis, so the heat will be good. I don't worry too much about humidity; I had it in NY and the hot humid days of summer in Williamsburg are brutal, so no worries there. And as far as dealing with tourists ~ Um HELLO, I live in Colonial Williamsburg!!! Already dealing with them!!! Just so ready to move.

We live in PA and I would love to move to FL! If I could talk dh into it we'd be there fater then a heartbeat!
On a different note we are planning to visit CW for the 1st time. Planning to come the end of June. any tips for us?
Our kids will be 14, 10 and 6 when we visit!

 

[Zuzu03]

So excited! I get to reunite with DH in only 10 days! Cannot wait to see our new apartment down in Naples! I haven't told my students yet that I'm leaving at the end of the year, so I'm being particularly vague when they ask me what I'm doing for February break. I'm also going to get my Florida driver's license and take a little drive up to Disney to buy my Florida resident annual pass!

Our kitty, Zuzu, flew down on Delta last Sunday like a champ and is settling in just fine. The downside is that it's awfully quiet around here without DH, the dog and Zuzu! Thank goodness DD came home last weekend from college for a visit.

These next 10 days are going to DRAG by!!!

 

[L-Harper]

So excited! I get to reunite with DH in only 10 days! Cannot wait to see our new apartment down in Naples! I haven't told my students yet that I'm leaving at the end of the year, so I'm being particularly vague when they ask me what I'm doing for February break. I'm also going to get my Florida driver's license and take a little drive up to Disney to buy my Florida resident annual pass!

Our kitty, Zuzu, flew down on Delta last Sunday like a champ and is settling in just fine. The downside is that it's awfully quiet around here without DH, the dog and Zuzu! Thank goodness DD came home last weekend from college for a visit.

These next 10 days are going to DRAG by!!!

Aww! How exciting for you! I hope these next 10 days are super speedy for you!

 

[Zuzu03]

Aww! How exciting for you! I hope these next 10 days are super speedy for you!

Thank you!!! I can't wait to see my DH and my fur babies!

 

[aurora61]

I'm also thinking of moving to Florida so reading all the posts have been very helpful. I'm still researching where to move to. I work from home so finding a job isn't an issue. The heat and humidity won't bother me too much as I'm used to hot summers where I live now. I am single and would probably just move to an apartment. Anyone have any suggestions on finding an apartment in the area?

 

[Zuzu03]

I'm also thinking of moving to Florida so reading all the posts have been very helpful. I'm still researching where to move to. I work from home so finding a job isn't an issue. The heat and humidity won't bother me too much as I'm used to hot summers where I live now. I am single and would probably just move to an apartment. Anyone have any suggestions on finding an apartment in the area?

Where are you thinking of looking?

 

[aurora61]

So far I've been researching St. Cloud, Winter Haven, Auburndale, Clermont and Ocala. Any suggestions appreciated

 

[OKW Lover]

So far I've been researching St. Cloud, Winter Haven, Auburndale, Clermont and Ocala. Any suggestions appreciated

We are currently in the same search. Part of our criteria is to be within 30 minutes of WDW and not in a tourist area. We didn't want to be in a community with lots of short-term rentals because we don't want new neighbors every week.

That leaves out the far parts of St. Cloud (greater than 30 minutes to get to WDW) and the nearer parts may be in a touristy area. Parts of Clermont are also out for the same reason, but the stretch near 27 and 50 is looking pretty good.

 

[sailors_wfe]

we JUST did this-we lived in Va where DH was in the navy, after 14 years he got involuntarily separated with 2 weeks notice. We had a vacation planned that we decided to keep (DVC on points, no parks planned) and I realized I really wanted to move south. DH had no job leads anywhere and no direction to go in (his navy job didn't really translate to a civilian job) so I took my skills and got a decent job in central Fl and moved down, 2 weeks later the rest of my family followed. Now DH is hunting for a job (no luck yet unfortunately) and I have a decent job close to Daytona. Eventually I want to move over to the Clearmont area or somewhere between Orlando and Tampa but right now it's nice to be in Florida living my dream. We did it all in 2 weeks (found a place to live, moved ect) I got lucky with my job and we feel like we're in the right place. Best part: We've been to the parks every weekend since we moved

 

[aurora61]

That's so great to hear you did the move! I keep hearing the Disney commercials and just makes me want to get moved. I'm slowly narrowing down the towns I am looking at. I'm hoping to make a trip to Florida later this year to drive around and scope it all out.

 

[USMelinUK]

I found this thread when looking for some information for my mom and her partner, who are strongly considering a move down from Maine in September. They plan to rent as long as they need to so as to not rush into making a choice on a new purchase, especially since they aren't super familiar with the various neighborhoods/suburbs. Ok, so it has been 4 years since this thread was started although it's had a couple of bumps... I'm just curious how things might have changed for people since then. Did all the people planning on moving do so, or are you still planning on it?

Have the areas that Kevin and others mentioned changed as far as gotten better or worse for people to move to?

Is there any new advice people living there now might have about living in the Greater Orlando area?

I'd really appreciate any opinions or feedback. They don't have any concerns about the heat, it's the cold and snow that's getting to them. They still have the option of going up north during the absolute worst of the summer if it becomes an issue. The humidity isn't a big worry either.

Mel

 

[OKW Lover]

Val & I are still unpacking in our new house. I can tell you something about our search and move experiences.

The first thing we did was to talk about what we wanted and didn't want. For us, the major points were:

• Price point
• Standalone home (rather than an apartment/condo)
• Single level (as we get older we don't want to deal with stairs)
• Garage
• Minimum number of bedrooms 3/bathrooms 2
• Within 30 minutes of WDW, but not in a tourist or short term rental community (we didn't want new neighbors every week)
• Pool, or ability to add a pool
• traffic congestion
• School system was not important to us, but may be for others

We then spent part of our WDW vacations driving around the neighborhoods near WDW in order to get the lay of the land. About a year ago we contacted a local real estate agent. (I'll be happy to share his contact info, just PM me). We met with the agent and outlined our criteria.

Based on this we spent a few days with the agent (spread over several trips to WDW) looking at homes on the market. This was when we realized that we were going to have to re-evaluate our price point. While we had looked at the listings of homes and thought we could get what we wanted in the range we originally thought, it became apparent that the listings were "over selling" the actual property. We found many that we thought would be perfect were in short-term rental areas. Once we reviewed our finances a bit we then went back to the agent with a new number.

Ultimately, we decided that the existing home market wasn't going to work for us. Many properties we saw were bank owned and apparently the banks don't like to put any money into the homes so they look good, or to fix obvious problems. That, combined with a lack of good maintenance by the owners, made many of the homes a no-go.

With our agent, we began looking at new construction. Found several good options and ultimately settled on a development called SummerLake. We signed our paperwork with the builder to construct the house in late June 2013. In late July 2013 we had an appointment at the builder's design center to pick out various options for the interior. Actual site work began in September and we watched the progress over the course of several other visits to FL. We closed on the new house on January 29th, 2014.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Val & I are still unpacking in our new house. I can tell you something about our search and move experiences.

The first thing we did was to talk about what we wanted and didn't want. For us, the major points were:

• Price point
• Standalone home (rather than an apartment/condo)
• Single level (as we get older we don't want to deal with stairs)
• Garage
• Minimum number of bedrooms 3/bathrooms 2
• Within 30 minutes of WDW, but not in a tourist or short term rental community (we didn't want new neighbors every week)
• Pool, or ability to add a pool
• traffic congestion
• School system was not important to us, but may be for others

We then spent part of our WDW vacations driving around the neighborhoods near WDW in order to get the lay of the land. About a year ago we contacted a local real estate agent. (I'll be happy to share his contact info, just PM me). We met with the agent and outlined our criteria.

Based on this we spent a few days with the agent (spread over several trips to WDW) looking at homes on the market. This was when we realized that we were going to have to re-evaluate our price point. While we had looked at the listings of homes and thought we could get what we wanted in the range we originally thought, it became apparent that the listings were "over selling" the actual property. We found many that we thought would be perfect were in short-term rental areas. Once we reviewed our finances a bit we then went back to the agent with a new number.

Ultimately, we decided that the existing home market wasn't going to work for us. Many properties we saw were bank owned and apparently the banks don't like to put any money into the homes so they look good, or to fix obvious problems. That, combined with a lack of good maintenance by the owners, made many of the homes a no-go.

With our agent, we began looking at new construction. Found several good options and ultimately settled on a development called SummerLake. We signed our paperwork with the builder to construct the house in late June 2013. In late July 2013 we had an appointment at the builder's design center to pick out various options for the interior. Actual site work began in September and we watched the progress over the course of several other visits to FL. We closed on the new house on January 29th, 2014.

Thanks for the info! Would love to see some pics. of your new place! Just out of curiosity what does a newly built home go for down there? 200k?

 

[ethanwa]

If you can afford it, move to Windermere. Fantastic area.

We just moved here from Seattle 6 months ago.