The decision to move to another state can be overwhelming and leave you crippled with anxiety and doubt. You can do all of your homework and prepare yourself for every scenario. Since you are reading Part 3 of this post series, we can only assume you have pushed on past the details about climate, pests and gardening. You have studied the statistics and considered all the facts to determine if this is the right state for your family. Now that you’re moving to Florida, you need to choose where you want to live. Which city in the Sunshine State is the best fit for you? This may not be of concern if you already know based on a job. But for those of you looking for your perfect home, this is for you.
Your perfect home is going to come down to location, cost and other factors such as population, schools, crime and amenities available. This will require some research on your part. There are a ton of resources available and as we mentioned in Part 2 of this series, we use BestPlaces as well as the books we recommended on the topic. This is where you will find the median home price, population, education information and more. You will be able to compare several cities to each other and finally decide what area you will call home. Since our desired area is around or near Walt Disney World, we were able to find a city that best suited our needs for distance to the parks, home costs, crime rate and nearby amenities. For us, that place is Davenport.
Davenport was not our first choice when we started our search. We were more interested in Windermere and Celebration. Windermere is idyllic, full of amenities and close to the parks. It is also 104.2% higher for housing. The median home cost is $435,100 verses $213,100 in Davenport. The population of the two cities is similar but Windermere has a slightly higher crime rate. Celebration is even closer to WDW than Windermere and offers quaint, picturesque living. Housing costs are 86.3% higher than Davenport with a median home cost of $396,900. Surprisingly, Celebration has double the population and a much higher crime rate. The crime in both Davenport and Windermere is well below the U.S. average. Davenport was an easy choice for us based on the low home costs and still only 20-25 minutes to WDW.
Among the costs you may not be aware of are those that come with home ownership. Florida has beautiful weather almost year round, and with that weather comes things such as lawn care, pool care and pest control. We briefly discussed these expenses in Moving To Florida: Part 1. If you haven’t read that post, we highly recommend you read it. The rainfall makes for lush, tropical vegetation that while nice to look at, is a beast to maintain. With the sunny weather comes the desire to cool off in a nice, fresh pool and many homes in Florida have them. They do require a lot of cleaning and maintenance, which can drastically cut into splash time. Some homeowners choose to have lawn care and pool care handled by hired professionals, which are both additional expenses you may not have counted on. If you decide to live in a Homeowners Association, some of these may be taken care of by them.
If you choose to buy a townhome or condo, you will more than likely have monthly association fees. These fees cover a miad of things, including fitness center, pool and lawn. Surprisingly, many single family homes are also part of an HOA and have an on-site pool, clubhouse, and fitness center. Monthly HOA dues cover these amenities. Make sure you figure these fees into your budget when deciding where to live. HOA fees can reach amounts up to $1000 and must be added onto your mortgage cost when planning a budget as they reoccur each month. We mention HOAs in length here because they are so uncommon in most states but very common in Florida. They can make a neighborhood that seemed perfect suddenly be out of your price range.
The location of your home is always a factor in the cost. But did you know that where you choose to live could not only cost you money, but time? Because we have chosen to live on the Southwest side of Walt Disney World, we could work in Orlando but would most likely need to take I-4. The I-4 is very busy and traffic jams occur often. Driving through the Disney area to Orlando and back would be a huge mistake. If your job is in Orlando, you should be looking for homes between Disney and Orlando or other areas surrounding Orlando. Basically, you do not want to drive through Disney to get to Orlando. It would also be a mistake to live on the east side of Orlando and travel through Orlando to get to Disney.
One of the things we love most about Davenport, besides its proximity to Disney, is that Lakeland is close by. Lakeland is a thriving city with colleges, hospitals, and many businesses. There are also many shopping and dining spots, which is high on our list of wants. The close proximity to Lakeland will not eliminate our need to go to Orlando all together, but will suffice for many of our needs. We highly suggest that you look at a map to acclimate yourself to your areas of interest and how close you are to larger cities, airports, and of course Disney.
Speaking of maps, get ready to look at them a lot as you plan for your future move. Maps are going to be one of your most important resources during this process. Google Maps are a great way to acclimate yourself to a specific area of interest. Zillow will show you homes that meet your criteria and where they are located on a map, along with surrounding amenities. Once you find homes of interest, Google Earth will bring you up close and personal to see if the area is up to your standards. This may seem like a lot of back and forth to go through, but for times when you can’t be there personally, they really are a game changer. With that said, being there is obviously your best option.
This leads us to our final advice to all of our readers. Plan on making at least 1 research trip to Florida to check out all of the desired areas. Many of you may have vacationed in this area and already know where you want to live. But for those of you who are not familiar with the greater Orlando area and still need to decide on an area to move, plan a trip. Make sure you have a vehicle and a list of areas to check out. This might be a great time to meet your realtor and pick his/her brain for information, as well as give them your final criteria so they can keep looking for you. A second research trip would be invaluable, but we know not always possible.
We hope we have left you with some useful information and tips to get you started on the path to your Florida dream. Just remember that there will be some give and take to getting your new home. That’s ok because where you choose to live and the home you choose are just the first stepping stones in this journey. Keep dreaming, do your research and don’t give up! Let us know what areas you find appealing or do not like at all. You can comment below or contact us on our email page. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.