Should we move to Disney World????

[ORD2KOA]

Aloha everyone,

I'm picking up this thread again because we're preparing to seriously explore living in Orlando, and will be there in a little over a week.

There are quite a few developments and communities we'll check out with the intention of building, but we'd like to see some existing homes as well, so I was wondering if anyone knows a Realtor that they'd be willing to recommend to me.

Thanks for your help (past and future),

Nancy

 

[Metro West]

Where (else) in Florida is there a smallish town, with decent schools, and with relativeley affordable housing? "Affordable": We're coming from a small community next to a lagre city in the Midwest where our 2200sq. ft. home (not including bsmnt.) with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, on a huge lot would go for about $220-240,000

Thanks!

If you want to stay in the Orlando area, you can look into Lakeland (about half way between Tampa and Orlando), Kississmee which is right near Disney and on the Eastern side, check out the Deland/Deltona area. I have some friends who live in that area and you get "more bang for your buck" on real estate out there than in Orlando proper. I live in Metro West (hence my name on here) which is over near Universal. The Dr. Phillips area is very nice but pricey. The homes around me usually sell anywhere from $250K and up. I don't know about the schools since I don't have any children. Hope that helped a little. Oh..and you might want to check out www.realtor.com to see listings in this area.

 

[srcrmcky#1fan]

Ok, I have to admit...about a year ago, my husband and I were totally serious about making the big move from Indiana to Florida. After much debate, we decided to at least delay the move (I will finish my degree in business this August.) After reading the posts, I am tempted to reconsider again. Finishing school and family/friends were the two biggest factors keeping us up here, but career opportunities, the weather, and everything Disney keep urging me to move!
Last June, we spent about 4 days scouring the Central Florida area. It truly is amazing that not everywhere in Florida is "tourist" area. My aunt lives in Clermont and it is a beautiful city without all of the tourism hype...(and fairly resonable housing costs!)
Now, I'm back pondering the idea of relocating. I know my husband would do it in a minute, it's just all a matter of details!
Thanks to everyone for all your helpful information! There is a lot to consider when relocating anywhere. Now, back to thinking....

 

[phamton]

Disney World is in Osceola County, Orlando is in Orange County.

Actually, Disneyworld is split in half between Orange and Osceola Counties. All of the major attractions (MK, MGM, Epcot and AK) and onsite hotels (except for All Stars) are in Orange County. This was done because of tax issues. Orange county was willing to give Disney some tax breaks and Osceola was not so the major money making venues for WDW were placed in Orange county.

 

[SoThisIsLove]

Hi,

I was just reading thru this thread and want to thank everyone for sharing all this information. My Dh and I are thinking of relocating to the Orlando area within the next 2 years. We are looking into the Clermont area. Is this area nice esp. for a young couple w/o kids? Also, I am a teacher and while I know that finding a job wil not be an issue I am worried about the pay cut I'd be taking. (Almost if not a little more then 50%). DH works for the phone company as a customer service rep and we are unsure of his job opportunities there and what the salaries may be. For those of you living in Fla, can we live on such a reduced salary comfortably? I know the cost of living is about 50% less then that of Long Island, but do you think a teachers salary and a cust. service salary are good for Florida? I guess what I'm trying to weigh is....if I buy a house here in NY for 400,00 or more with the market these days. and taxes up around 6,000-9,000....I would be living "for the house". And if I bought a house in Florida for 250,000 and taxes ? would we be comfortable? Our goal is to be living "in a house not for a house."
I would love any insight and opinions. We are trying to weigh all the options but honestly have no idea of typical cost of living expenses in florida and what a good salary is down there.

Thanks in advance,

Heather

P.S. One last question.......We also own DVC. Does the timeshare aspect of Disney lose its appeal when you live so close? or does it make it that much better because you can take lots of weekend trips? (Just another thought going thru my mind! LOL

 

[SusanDK]

Heather,

My husband and I just purchased a condo in Celebration for a winter residence. While I cannot answer your questions regarding salaries vs. cost of living yet, one thing I can tell you is that the prices of homes in the Orlando area is rising constantly and steeply.

If you are thinking of relocating within two years, I would recommend you start looking for a house now. If there is any possible way you could afford to purchase now, without giving up your home in Long Island yet, I would recommend it.

That way, when you are ready to move in two years, you will not be faced with the higher prices at that time, but if you are selling a home in Long Island in two years, you will benefit from the appreciation.

Perhaps if you look at one of the interest-only loans, you could make the interest payments only until you leave Long Island permanently. I would still lock in a fixed rate for a longer term, but perhaps paying interest only would keep your payment low enough for a couple of years so you could buy your home in Florida now while still living in Long Island.

With regard to DVC, if you bought in Clermont I couldn't imagine packing up and moving to DVC, even for a weekend. You will only be 15 or 20 minutes from home! But perhaps you will want to hang onto DVC for guests. I think it would be brilliant to be able to put guest up in DVC when they came to visit.

Susan

 

[floridagirrl2]

Hi,

I was just reading thru this thread and want to thank everyone for sharing all this information. My Dh and I are thinking of relocating to the Orlando area within the next 2 years. We are looking into the Clermont area. Is this area nice esp. for a young couple w/o kids? Also, I am a teacher and while I know that finding a job wil not be an issue I am worried about the pay cut I'd be taking. (Almost if not a little more then 50%). DH works for the phone company as a customer service rep and we are unsure of his job opportunities there and what the salaries may be. For those of you living in Fla, can we live on such a reduced salary comfortably? I know the cost of living is about 50% less then that of Long Island, but do you think a teachers salary and a cust. service salary are good for Florida? I guess what I'm trying to weigh is....if I buy a house here in NY for 400,00 or more with the market these days. and taxes up around 6,000-9,000....I would be living "for the house". And if I bought a house in Florida for 250,000 and taxes ? would we be comfortable? Our goal is to be living "in a house not for a house."

I think the only differences in the cost of living in Florida vs. New York are the real estate and commuting costs. Expect everything else to be the same (for instance, the money you save on heating bills will be used on air conditioning bills).

In Florida, teachers' salaries are set county by county. This article says that teachers start at about 29,000 to 32,000 in Central Florida.
http://www.lobbytools.com/article.cfm?5019549

In general, customer service representatives don't make a lot of money in Florida as most places hire at low salaries and do on-the-job training. I can't give you a salary range, though. Here's a website with some telecommunications jobs in Central Florida:
http://telecommunications.jobs.net/Florida-Orlando.htm

I personally think FLorida is paradise but I've lived here since I was 4 years old and perhaps I just don't know better.

 

[kerrynic78]

I just found this thread tonight but it is so interesting...wish I saw it before we moved down here!!!

My DH and I moved down in Jan. from CT and I have to say I do not miss the NE for a minute. I have enjoyed every second of living in Orlando and going to the parks every weekend and never being bored!! I was always so bored in CT, there was just nothing to do on the weekends but that is not the case here at all. I know it will be hot and humid come June but I can deal with that anyday over driving to work in an ice storm with 2 feet of snow on the ground!

We are in the process of building a house in the SE area of Orlando and are renting a house in the same neighborhood while ours is being built. We LOVE the neighborhood we are building in and we feel so lucky to have found it. The house that we are building we would NEVER have been able to afford in CT.

We had to leave all of our family and friends to move down here but I have to say that we are so happy here and feel like we are finally living

 

[missymouze]

I made the big move almost 3 yrs ago from Buffalo NY to Tampa. I originally was going to move to Orlando but ended up in Tampa. I was just in disney this week and am going back next weekend. It is a 1 hr.drive everytime I want to go to disney and I am 20 min from the Gulf of Mexico....Disney and the beach...couldnt ask for more!!

 

[debsway]

We also just moved here to orlando from Virginia Beach VA. It took about six months of planning. We had to sell our house and find my husband a new job. He worked for the city as an electrician. Everything finally came together in Jan. We have never been happier. I must admit it is great having Disney so close. We went to Blizzard Beach today. I miss all of our family, but the visits are great and we have lots to do. For anyone thinking about it just do your research and know that it isn't the "Disney Magic" everyday.

 

[Moosysmom]

I finally moved from Minnesota to Florida in 2003. I was laid off in 2001 and that's when I made the original decision to head to Florida. I figured I spent enough time flying down here to go to WDW, I might as well move here.
I wanted to live in Orlando (Davenport) area, but ended up finding a job in Lakeland. So I bought a house and love Lakeland.
The I4 drive is a pain, but if the traffic is moving, I can make it do Disney in 40 minutes.
I miss the snow, but not the shoveling, and can always go back and visit it in the winter. My parents snowbird down here so I have family here in the winter.
At first I was nervous about making the move, but truly believe it was the smartest thing I have ever done. I love it here, even with the hurricanes, (7 months of winter--4 hurricanes, yep I'll take the hurricanes.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Oops double post

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Anyone suggest any nice areas where the homes are still reasonable? We're also so tired of the NY winters and always dreamed of moving down some day, my husband has 20 years in his job next year. We just love that area. Ahhhhh to dream

 

[SamRoc]

We were considering moving to the Disney area in 2 years but on a recent trip ended up buying a house! It will be built by December. We live in NY now and with the kids graduating in 2 years, it will be the perfect time to move. The real estate in Orlando has been going up every month since the past 5 months when we first starting looking.
The moment I really decided was on a early morning walk alone in Downtown Disney, while all the cast member were setting up their booths and opening their stores (this whole scene could have come right out of Beauty and the Beast) I almost expected someone to say to me "Good morning Belle". We had the appt. with the realtor that afternoon, ended up buying a lot, picking out tiles for the house and pool, paint for the house and all the appliances. Can't wait to see the house completed in December!

 

[campingcorgi]

I'm on my way! Our house hasn't sold here yet, but we have found a house to rent in the neighborhood we want to build in and hopefully our house will sell soon and we can get started on our home.

We have had this dream for years and now is the time. I don't have any family there but will when I get there--there are 7 of us going! Me, my mom, my sister, and all her kids and her grandbaby!! We'll have one retired, two teaching, two in college, one working and one starting kindergarten.

We are going down right after school gets out here to sign the lease, start looking for teaching jobs (I already got my Florida temporary teaching certificate and my application online is done!!!!!!!) and I get to enjoy my 49th birthday at Disney!! Can you tell I'm excited?!?

So in a couple of months if you have any questions about the Avalon Park area of Orlando--just yell!

 

[Metro West]

That's great news! Welcome to Central Florida! I hope you find a house that you will enjoy. BTW..just wait until you go to the tag office and driver's license offices. NOT FUN!

 

[ForTheLoveofDisney]

DH and I are so serious about moving that we are starting to put our plans in writing. This step always makes things more concrete for us.
And we are looking for jobs on the computer everyday. We've been researching different areas. I've learned alot about the Clermont area but do any of you, who live down there, know about the Ocoee area? How far away is Clermont from this area? How far away is Disney from here? DH has a lead in this town. Their "Official Website of The City of Ocoee, Florida" is nicely done if it is true to their town. It looks like a very nice place. The other place we're fairly interested in is Deland but the job lead is definately in Ocoee.

I have some family in the Ft. Myers area and at first we thought we'd like to move down that way but after considering many things we don't think we want to do that anymore. It will be nice to have family in the state, though. It will be sad to leave family and friends here but like so many others have stated, I feel it will change our lives for the better.

We also feel very good about the fact that we would make about $100,000 on the sale of our home here and with that we would be able to afford a fairly nice home in Florida.

Please chime in with any advice or opinions you may have about what I've posted.

TIA!

 

[aeryn]

That's great news! Welcome to Central Florida! I hope you find a house that you will enjoy. BTW..just wait until you go to the tag office and driver's license offices. NOT FUN!

Heh... It took me 4 hours to get my tag, I'd already had my license from when I lived here previously. Man, if only I'd known how long it was going to take, I'd have had atleast a drink and a book with me. Make sure you take something to entertain yourself with...

 

[safetymom]

In our area here you need to make an appt. otherwise you could be sitting all day. I have never seen so many people waiting to get a license.

 

[lovethattink]

In our area here you need to make an appt. otherwise you could be sitting all day. I have never seen so many people waiting to get a license.

Same with us, we made an appointment to get driver's license. Since we live in Polk County, as for the tags, we went to Bartow, small town so small wait.