Skrepka wrote: Some floor plans we found a bit strange, like for example where 4th bedroom connects to the master suite. Why would I want to share my private bathroom with guests?

I'm not 100% sure, not having seen the houses you're referring to, but my guess is that connected bedroom was meant to be used as a nursery and then later perhaps as an office.

Good Luck with your move, it sounds like you've done all the right research!

That area is very difficult to get into. Start saving your dollars and start saving lots of patience!

ack! you're moving to florida,mid state in the summer!

you're either extremely brave or a little naive.
:0

Best of luck to you!

Quirkyquercus, what do you mean it is very dificult to get into? Both $$ and patiance wise? Are you saing that it very expensive? We see a lot houses listed in our price range. Why patience?

Flyright, I know you are fereting to heat and humidity. Queite franky, we are barely survicing heat/humidity in NYC during the summer. It is not worse in Florida, just for a longer time period. What do you think I am naive about?

Laura, I have to tell you it has never occured to me that those rooms connected to the MBR, might be nurseries. We are past that age, DDs will be 3 and 5 this summer. As for the office, we cannot use this room as an office. Will will need a dedicated guestroom with queen-size bed. That is why we are planning to close off the formal living room.

skrepka, while Orlando would not be my first choice of places to live in the state, there are some very nice communities there and you are located close to every thing else in the state. My brother lived in a community called Heathrow that has houses in all price ranges. Its one of those city in a development places. The nice thing is that its far enough out of Orlando proper that you don't feel like you are living in an amusement park. Winter Haven is also very nice. You could also live closer to the Ocean and commute to downtown. The big negatives that I saw when my brother lived there was the very hot and breezeless summer days and the traffic at rush hour. I have worked in Chicago, Miami and Atlanta and none are as bad as "one-highway" Orlando.

Just curious, did you guys ever look at Jacksonville? I know most ignore it when they come to the state, but as cities go in Florida its on the scale of Miami as far as downtowns go. I have also heard its a very nice and afforable place to live.

Good luck and welcome fellow Floridian.

skrepka wrote: I have to tell you it has never occured to me that those rooms connected to the MBR, might be nurseries. We are past that age, DDs will be 3 and 5 this summer. As for the office, we cannot use this room as an office. Will will need a dedicated guestroom with queen-size bed. That is why we are planning to close off the formal living room.

OK, now I am curious and trying to picture it plus I love to see the interesting (and sometimes bizarre) ways that peeople use the space in their homes...lol

After I posted I wondered if maybe that connected room could have been meant as a sitting/TV room?

Also, do you need a really big office? The office in our old home was 11'7 x 10'1 and even with one whole wall taken up by built-in bookcases it was plenty big enough for a nice computer desk and a large furniture-type file cabinet. Our new office is 11'10 x 15'11 (but only has a half wall of built-ins) and while it is a very nice size I wouldn't say huge, it's smaller than the secondary bedrooms.

At first I thought you were saying that you were going to close off the living room to make a guest room and I was going to say don't do it! That would be a strange location in a house for a bedroom, imo. But making the living rom into an office could work....especially if you used french doors, that would soundproof the room somewhat without completly closing it off.

If you are looking at homes 10 years old or less, you should be able to find plans that were built with dedicated office space, at least in my area (NoVA) many homes that age or less seem to have a specific office space while many homes 15-20 years old do not.

It sounds like you are headed towards the right place for you, which is most important. I lived in Winter Park for about 10 years and have spent the last 8 in Deland. Seminole county is kind of in between and I think many of your assumptions are good ones. I have a good friend with children the same age as yours that live in the Heathrow area and like it alot. The drive even from Seminole County to Downtown Orlando can be a bear a times but there are worse.

I'm just going to give you my two cents about public schools here. I was born in NYC and moved to Florida at the age of 10 and went to public schools. Graduated from UCF. My kids are now 12 and 14 and have always gone to public schools. Like anything else, you get out what you put into it. Look for a school with a good rating and then stay involved. There are excellent programs at the public schools that many of the private schools don't have.

Good luck in finding the right home. Florida isn't for everybody but it really isn't a bad place to live...

...except for the mosquitoes, and the hurricanes, and the humidity and the extremely large roaches and lizards....

Sorry, couldn't resist! :)

I don't live in Florida anymore so I don't have the right to complain about it anymore but if I did, you'd seriously reconsider this decision. For some reason however, NY's flock down there in droves, the stuff that bothers me doesn't seem to bother them so perhaps I am just picky or plain burned out with the florida lifestyle.

Quirkyquercus, what do you mean it is very dificult to get into? Both $$ and patiance wise? Are you saing that it very expensive? We see a lot houses listed in our price range. Why patience?
I have always found orlando a really tough place to locate to on a number of levels but primarily the lack of housing. Now you do have a workable pricerange and I think you said you wanted a ranch so you shouldn't have any problems finding a ranch for that price. I was looking there most recently in early '05 and it was nuts. Something would go on the market at 9am and by 9pm, you'd have 5 buyers in a bidding war. Overall a lack of inventory and some of the most sought-after communities are near impossible to get in. The west side of the city has a lot of land that could be used to build more houses only people are hanging on to that land for dear life. If you're looking for a city lot or a big lot, not subdivision HOA, you're not going to find anything decent. You can forget about building a custom home.

The traffic in Orlando, just FYI is the WORST in America, second only to Miami. NYC traffic does NOT compare. The rediculously sprawled out Orlando "Central Florida" market which you can literally drive for an hour and not get from one side of the city to the other does not lend itself to commuting and it's so overdeveloped and overpopulated that finding a suitable location within a reasonable commute is difficult.

I understand the draw to the area, although I don't understand why anyone stays more than a year once they get there. But I do wish you the best of luck. You did manage to find some the nicest areas and if you do get the house and lifestyle you've dreamed of, then you got a lot farther than I did!

There is one community however that I think has some things going for it. I forget the name of it unfortunately and I doubt there's anything left there now but it was a big development near the corner of 436 and 50 (I think) they were building traditional style homes there like you find in the rest of the country but for some reason not in florida. They were building stuff like victorians. When I was there they were starting around $650k which is absurd for what you get but it is an opportunity to live reasonable close to conveniences, work and entertainment districts and live in an actual house with some style instead of a concrete bunker. There was a grocery store in there and also other stuff and tree lined streets, offices the whole 9. If someone mentioned the name of it, I'd recognize it but I can tell you it's not that similar development way to the east near the powerplant.

Oh and Winter Park. There isn't much not to like about winter park unless you think a million bucks for an unihabitable teardown is unreasonable.

That metrowest area looks nice and not too bad if you're a disney exec and have to commute down there. Celebration is nice if you don't mind having thousands of tourists driving through your neighborhood on a daily basis.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is the things people pay outrageous sums for in ORL... a certain lifestyle, you can find it elsewhere well within reach of your budget. That's the primary reason I left.

Good luck to you! Sounds like you are well on your way. A move to Orlando probably will mean more reasonable property insurance rates than a move to a coastal city, which will make things easier off the bat. Keep in mind that the property tax laws are a bit unusual. Find out ahead of time what your tax load is likely to be -- if you are buying a home that hasn't changed hands in 10 or 15 years, it will have no relation to the taxes the current owners are paying. Research "Save Our Homes Cap" and the Seminole County property appraisers' website for more information.

I agree about the breezeless summer heat and the traffic -- especially the traffic. Make sure your hubby checks out his commute during rush hour on at least a couple of different days. We live in Tampa and my experiences with Orlando traffic have been horrendous, both near the theme parks and especially near downtown.

Sounds like you are doing your homework, which is the most important thing. Best to you and your family!

Tampa... on the other hand, very easy to get into (at least it used to be) but really hard to find work there. Lots of recreational opportunities and not real bad traffic problems. Hillsborough county used to be pretty remarkably functional government. Decent nightlife. Lots to do. Nice population size, good shopping (I think Orl has overtaken Tpa in this department though somewhat recently) not too many tourists.
But it aint worth a hill o' beans if you cant make a living and that's why i left that city.

Jax.... I lived there too. Every minute of everyday I dreamed of the day I would pack my bags and leave that place although it always had numerous opportunities for me there. It has many critical flaws though.

I agree quirky; we love Tampa. There are more professional opportunities here now than there used to be, but Orlando and certainly Miami seem to have much better opportunities. We have an ideal situation because hubby works in sales for a national company and could live anywhere in his territory, but he would have a very difficult time finding comparable work and salary here in a different industry.

Shopping is much improved here, too. Traffic is getting worse but is managable. The competency of the Hillsborough County commission is questionable. :) They seem to think the way to cope with more residents is by adding more major highways. Orlando and Tampa are both going to need light rail systems eventually, and there is groundwork being laid but Orlando is a little bit ahead.

A recent study predicts that the I-4 corridor is going to be wall-to-wall development by 2060. It could start to get a little scary in the next decade or two. For that reason we will probably be retiring in 30 years to the beaches of the Panhandle, where there is LOTS of permanent conservation land. (but very few jobs as of now.)

I lived in Florida for 3 years (from CT) and recently moved back to upstate NY. I lived in Windermere. I would suggest that you start by looking at high school ratings and work your way down. Many communities have A rated elementary schools, but the high schools can be horrible. Windermere was one of these. Winter Park, Lake Howell, Brantley,Lake mary are all good schools and much higher rated than some of the Orange county counterparts. I-4 is a nightmare, as some have said, much worse than NYC. Custom homes are now built to a tougher code, including tie downs on the tresses, so don't worry about that. Be careful with some production homes, the quality can vary from bad to hideous. I love the older homes, especially in Winter Park. Also, you will be hard pressed to find a large pool, except in an older home. Most pools have no diving board, are only about 6 feet deep and are used to cool off. Every pool I ever saw was attached to the patio area. A separate pool is "very northern". Also keep in mind that many Florida homes have a master bedroom on the ground floor. A second story master can be a very hard sell, or resell.
Good luck on your move and get ready to be enjoy a much slower pace than you might be used to.
Jo

I'm usually a lurker here, but since I grew up in Florida and then spent 20 years in NY before moving back to Florida, I thought I would join in.

The one thing I think you have to remember is that while the heat and humidity are "just for a longer period", that period is 6 to 9 months. Orlando is 5 to 10 degree hotter than Tampa, where we are at, and doesn't have the advantage of any sort of breeze for a good deal of the summer. We will do anything to avoid Orlando during the summer months because of the heat, and in the spring and winter because the traffic is incredible.

It's nice in November.....well, except for 2006 when it was in the 80s all month.

We are getting ready for a move to NC. We are tired of running the AC all winter as it is 82 and humid at the moment.

"Queite franky, we are barely survicing heat/humidity in NYC during the summer. It is not worse in Florida, just for a longer time period. What do you think I am naive about?"

Mainly , I was just teasing, but if you believe the heat and humidity in NYC is the same as bad as midstate Florida , you are naive.
It's so much hotter in Orlando.... and the hotter it is the more moisture the air holds (relative humidity)

We use to live in outside Ocala... and went to NYC or DC for weeks every summer to cool down, then on to upstate when we starting adjusting to their lower temps/humidity.

But some people love it... My aunt surely does.

:)

Well I'm also mostly a lurker but had to post my thoughts too. First congrats on your decision. Florida is a wonderful place. We've been in Seminole cty for 19 yrs. We just sold our home and will relocate to NC in the spring. Dh will retire and as all our children have moved and taken the gkids so we're going too. This is a very exciting time for us. We are former NYers and have always missed the change of seasons. I have to tell you as everyone mentioned it does get hot and at times even too hot to go out to the pool. Utilities are not cheap and the cost of living is not as low as some folks up north believe. Our kids sold their homes and purchased beautiful homes in NC that they never would've been able to afford here in Fl. Same for us we couldn't buy our former home back.I wish you and your family the very best of your decision. Continue to read and study different areas and good luck job hunting.

Flyright, you may not have spent much time in New York recently in the summer - thanks to global warming we are likely to have several stretches of 100+ degree days, with 85%-95% humidity, every year. Summers in Upstate New York are now unbearable for many folks, including my husband who was diagnosed with COPD this winter. We always planned to retire to the South, but now must look at arid climates, like New Mexico or Nevada, instead.

well, look at this way..Orlando has 6 months where the average daily high tempature is 85 degrees or higher, 4 of those months average daily his is 90 or better..

NYC has one month where the average daily high is 85 or higher

Orlando has 4 months where the average daily LOW is above 70

NYC has none.

....... for me,it's how hot it is in midstate florida in the morning(mid 80s) and when you go to bed(mid 80's) that is so tough for me.

but it's a beautiful state, no doubt about that.

skrepka-
Don't worry, you're not alone. I will be moving to St. Pete in JULY and I'm ready for it to be awful, especially because our "new" 1970-built house doesn't have a pool (yet).
My DH may have "gamed" it a little when he took me back there for house-hunting at the end of October/first week of November when the weather was PERFECT, and he knows it! LOL.
But the area meets our requirements:
(1) Job: I'm retiring from the Navy but my DH does hi-tech/government work; if you haven't been to the area for a while, you might be surprised with the recent influx of hi-tech jobs in the Tampa/Pinellas/Sarasota area. My DH has a large number of choices if the move with his current company doesn't work out, which it looks like will, thankfully.
(2) Schools: We're big believers in the public school system and Pinellas has the strangest system around. Good schools, great schools, awful schools. As long as there are decent schools with good programs, we're fine. There are lots of programs for upper-level kids, magnets, IB, etc.
(3) Boating: Water recreation is our thing. Wanted a place to put our sailboat, where we could fish and kayak. Also, we do a lot of biking, and the 35-mile Pinellas trail is less than 2 miles from our house.

My DH & I have both lived and visited all over FL thanks to our military careers (and we're both aviators). We both lived in Guam (and my DH in Key West), so we're well seasoned after surviving numerous typhoons with no option for evacuation.
I don't care for the panhandle or Jax. I've only visited Orlando on a Disney vacation, and it seemed rather sprawled out to me. I thought Cocoa Beach was a nice place to visit, and I really liked Cape Coral, on the west coast. But I just love nearby St. Pete - reminds me of San Diego. We keep watching "Hoot" to keep the boys motivated! (manatees come up our canal during the rainy season).

Anyway, you might want to look around a bit where the jobs might be available. If you can find a good headhunter, you could end up in a great place!
Good luck!
Lisa A.

c9pilot: Please tell me about the new high-tech jobs that are coming to the Sarasota area. I know of some in Tampa and Pinellas, but Sarasota doesn't seem to have any new high tech jobs coming in. From what I have seen, the miniscule amount of high tech jobs in Sarasota seems to be decreasing.

rom c9pilot: "if you haven't been to the area for a while, you might be surprised with the recent influx of hi-tech jobs in the Tampa/Pinellas/Sarasota area"

PS: I love Seminole county and the OP will be very happy there. It is a real nice area.

Sweet_tea-
I couldn't give you any specifics because that's my DH's territory. I just know that he has several opportunities there now that weren't there many years ago when we looked at the FL west coast. He has a high-level security clearance doing programming/software engineering/development for government contractors.
With two major combatant commands there at McDill, there are lots of projects that need support. Just watch the evening news. That's about all I can say about that. If you're really interested, I'd suggest talking to a headhunter that works specifically with the high-tech industry for more specifics; you'll find very different results than if you talk to a "generic" headhunter.

When I said "recent" I meant in the last 10-15 years, when the area seemed to take that turn from being a retirement community to attracting younger families (since many of the other posters were writing about how things were when they were growing up.)

Good luck!
Lisa A.

Then when on those rare occasions of cool weather, it's uncomfortable after your body acclimates to all that heat. Plus it's a humid cold and feels like it's cooler than it really is. Don't move there because of the weather unless you've done turned elderly and can't take anything less than 80 degrees anymore.

This is so true -
When I lived on Guam, we would have periods of rain and breezes that would cool the island down to the high 70's. All of us acclimated folk would be freezing and we'd be wearing our jeans and sweatshirts!
We all discovered that 86 degrees was the magic number. When you left your house/apartment/condo, you could turn your thermostat up to 86 to save on a/c electricity while you were at work all day and then crank it back down when you got home. If you turned it up any higher, your whole house would mildew.
My mom is 81 and lives in San Diego, the most temperate city that I know of. It's too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer for her. I don't know where she could live and be happy.