Orlando Florida Neighborhoods
Hey BP fam. Moving to Orlando soon and am looking to gather more information from locals.
What sides of town are known for what? I know the resorts are west and the campus is east. Aside from that I know nothing lol.
What are some good areas for living, not just investing?
What are some things to keep in mind, also what are some benefits?
Looking forward to hearing all the feedback!
@Jake Mackenzie those are pretty open ended questions. If you are going to live here, we need to know about you too. Where will you be working, are schoold important (kids?), do you travel alot (near airport), are you Disney 'freaks', do you like to bike/hike/outdoor, house/condo/townhome...are you trying to house hack? What is your social scene..foodie, clubs, fitness. These are just some of the questions I would have to give you some direction. And that's not even getting into budget. Our median price for SFR is over $400 until you get pretty far away from Orlando. We have tolls roads everywhere, so just getting around town can be expensive, so that should play into look if you do any commuting at all.
This is 'the city beautiful' so lots of good areas for living, but since I'm licensed, I can't get into suggesting where not to go--LOL. Feel free to reach out if you want some more specific insight because some areas are just more known for being family friendly or full of renters or known for higher crime. So this will depend on where you are in your life, what is the plan to stay in the home, will it eventually become a rental etc.
Best of luck!
Fair enough, I should have added more context. The plan is to find a home that needs some work and has room for added value. Later down the road I may turn it to a SFR. My budget is 550k. I'm looking for areas that are young and lively yet have that neighborhood feel. We dont have any kids, so schools arent as important. However we do want to be close to shopping and entertainment areas. Also, being close to outdoor activities is a huge plus. Ideally somewhere within 30 min drive of dt is manageable. I'm a GC so I will be all throughout the city, mostly downtown. We are not interested in theme parks so there's no motivating factor there. @Shawn McCormick
@Jake Mackenzie you have a solid budget so you will be able to pretty much pick any area of orlando and find something suitable. If you plan to take work all over, I would suggest staying around the 408 as it gives you access to the turnpike, I-4 and other expressways easily so you can navigate the entire city pretty well. Looking at some areas that will continue to grow and offer appreciation play would be Clermont/Minneola, Apopka, Winter Garden, Lake Nona, Davenport, St. Cloud, Sanford/Deland and a few others.
All of those areas are within 30 minutes of DT, not all have entertainment districts, but nearby areas would. Let me know if this helps and if I can answer anything else for you.
@Shawn McCormick Do all these areas have restrictions on STRs? I know you cant mention what areas to avoid, but can you tell me where the higher crime rates tend to be? Im trying to get an overall grasp on the whole city. Ultimately, we will look to get into STRs as well.
STR can be tricky in a area that is based on tourism. It is ever-evolving. Orange county (most of greater Orlando) does not allow it, there are very few exceptions. All other areas allow it, but you still have to keep up on local ordinances of individual cities/municipalities and of course every individual community HOA. You can do very well with just a 'regular' house in an average neighborhood. With the growth we are experiencing, not all STR are tourists..so lots of opportunities to capture IT, infrastructure, nurses etc that need longer term housing. Then of course we have the tourist corridor near Disney that has many exclusive resort communities that are literally built to be STR communities complete with impressive amenity centers. I have sold many homes like those and most do very well, but it is more competitive and you do have to stand out.
As far as crime goes, use sites like city-data or trulia. They give a pretty good picture of whats going on. Honestly you can go to google street view and get a good idea of if it looks like an area you would want to live in, own it and if families would find it appealing to rent short term.
@Jake Mackenzie great choice on Central Florida. To keep it simple, if I were you I would look to Lake Nona or Winter Garden (both within 30 minutes of DT) but you wont find too may fixer uppers. You may have to navigate to Clermont/Apopka for that.
Regarding STR, I have lived in that world for 14 years running different vacation rental companies as well as focusing Real Estate in the STR market. Happy to chat about that when you are ready. Let me know if I am able to help in anyway.