Moving to Orange County FL Orlando from McLean to Windemere, schools are bad? Oviedo is better? Help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are considering moving from McLean to the Orlando area.

From my research, the orange county areas of Windemere, Dr. Phillips, and Lake Onano are the best places, but the schools look bad with a lot of poverty.

However, Seminole County Ovideo has ok schools, but the houses are half the price.

What do people in Orlando do with schools? Do the affluent areas go private? How come Seminole County has much better schools than Orange County?

We're currently in a 3.5M house in the McLean area using the excellent public schools

We can afford 2.5M, but it doesn't seem that Oviedo has homes at that price. Only the areas mentioned in Orange County seem to have houses in our higher price range.

what's lake onano?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have lived in Winter Springs for almost 40 years now (they moved when I graduated high school, so I have only lived shorter periods with them). But my mother has been a realtor in the Orlando area for nearly 40 years.

Seminole County schools are good because it is like Howard County in MD. It is less dense and more spread out and there is a higher average wealth in each school. Each school is good to very good, but there are limited exceptional schools (for public). Additionally, not as many students (about 66K) Orange County is more like Montgomery County. It has some very wealthy enclaves and it also has some much poorer areas. So you'll have a handful of exceptional schools (again, on the public scale), but you'll also have some mediocre and some poor schools.

As one PP mentioned, Winter Park is like the W schools in MCPS.

Is the DC area spoiled with good schools? Maybe thats the problem.

And more segregated

It’s full of high income people whose kids do well in school, which is why the schools are better.

Looking at the farms rate in windemere and winter park high school they are in the 35%

And? "FARMS" kids aren't contagious. It most certainly doesn't present any imminent danger, versus majority "whitebread-populated" schools if that's the intent of mentioning. Comfort level for the status-seeking elitist upper-middle class Moms probably isn't on the radar for most, and in this day/age of inflation if unable to avoid sending their little precious to a public school due to private school tuition costs....probably best to figure out a way to get over it.

[Anonymous]

Orlando has actually hit its quota of transplants and won't be accepting any more for some time. May I humbly suggest considering California?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering moving from McLean to the Orlando area.

From my research, the orange county areas of Windemere, Dr. Phillips, and Lake Onano are the best places, but the schools look bad with a lot of poverty.

However, Seminole County Ovideo has ok schools, but the houses are half the price.

What do people in Orlando do with schools? Do the affluent areas go private? How come Seminole County has much better schools than Orange County?

We're currently in a 3.5M house in the McLean area using the excellent public schools

We can afford 2.5M, but it doesn't seem that Oviedo has homes at that price. Only the areas mentioned in Orange County seem to have houses in our higher price range.

what's lake onano?

I assume it’s a typo/autocorrect for Lake Nona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Orlando area? Is this a job related move?

Job-related and we want to move to a more affordable area. The DC area is getting too expensive.

You live in a 3.5M house and DC is too expensive??!!!

Have you lived in Central Florida before? It’s going to be a culture shock. Even private schools are going to be not really that academic, Florida is basically a state of hedonists. Just plan on going private, and still understand it won’t be anything like the education you would get at a DC private or McLean school

Lol, you people are ridiculous. I grew up in Central Florida, went to Winter Springs High School, took the same AP classes kids at McLean take (probably more!), went to an Ivy, moved to DC and had absolutely no culture shock. Winter Springs is a pretty wealthy area and I spent my childhood playing tennis, going to ballet lessons, going to the (fantastic) Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Art Museum, going to performances at the Bob Carr Theatre, taking part in the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and traveling to Europe on vacation. You think you are so above everyone else but sound sheltered, dumb, and unsophisticated.

This, all of it. OP, ignore the clueless DMV people who love to disparage FL despite having no idea what they're talking about. I'm also from the area, and grew up wealthy.

A few tips:

Winter Park High School is an excellent school.

There are beautiful, very pricey parts of WP and Orlando.

There are inexpensive, not as nice parts of WP and Orlando.

Audubon K-8 > WPHS is a great school path. Edgewater HS isn't nearly as good and parts of Audubon feed to both high schools.

Baldwin Park ES> Glenridge MS>WPHS is a great school path.

Brookshire ES>Glenridge MS>WPHS is a good school path, but it's a little less ritzy area. I don't think you'll be happy there coming from a $3.5M home.

Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, and Lake Highland are the top area private schools.

WP and Orlando both have some good public schools, but they're more economically diverse.

You can't beat the in state tuition and opportunity for your child to go to state universities with 50-100% of tuition paid for good grades.

Good luck OP! I love it there and would love to move back, but home values there have skyrocketed at a much faster pace than my NW DC home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Orlando area? Is this a job related move?

Job-related and we want to move to a more affordable area. The DC area is getting too expensive.

You live in a 3.5M house and DC is too expensive??!!!

Have you lived in Central Florida before? It’s going to be a culture shock. Even private schools are going to be not really that academic, Florida is basically a state of hedonists. Just plan on going private, and still understand it won’t be anything like the education you would get at a DC private or McLean school

Lol, you people are ridiculous. I grew up in Central Florida, went to Winter Springs High School, took the same AP classes kids at McLean take (probably more!), went to an Ivy, moved to DC and had absolutely no culture shock. Winter Springs is a pretty wealthy area and I spent my childhood playing tennis, going to ballet lessons, going to the (fantastic) Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Art Museum, going to performances at the Bob Carr Theatre, taking part in the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and traveling to Europe on vacation. You think you are so above everyone else but sound sheltered, dumb, and unsophisticated.

This, all of it. OP, ignore the clueless DMV people who love to disparage FL despite having no idea what they're talking about. I'm also from the area, and grew up wealthy.

A few tips:

Winter Park High School is an excellent school.

There are beautiful, very pricey parts of WP and Orlando.

There are inexpensive, not as nice parts of WP and Orlando.

Audubon K-8 > WPHS is a great school path. Edgewater HS isn't nearly as good and parts of Audubon feed to both high schools.

Baldwin Park ES> Glenridge MS>WPHS is a great school path.

Brookshire ES>Glenridge MS>WPHS is a good school path, but it's a little less ritzy area. I don't think you'll be happy there coming from a $3.5M home.

Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, and Lake Highland are the top area private schools.

WP and Orlando both have some good public schools, but they're more economically diverse.

You can't beat the in state tuition and opportunity for your child to go to state universities with 50-100% of tuition paid for good grades.

Good luck OP! I love it there and would love to move back, but home values there have skyrocketed at a much faster pace than my NW DC home.

DP. Thank you for this information. How would you rate the quality of the infrastructure compared to Northern Virginia? Do they have good roads/sewage/flooding systems?

Also, do they have a good mix of big box stores and local mom and pop shops?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Orlando area? Is this a job related move?

Job-related and we want to move to a more affordable area. The DC area is getting too expensive.

You live in a 3.5M house and DC is too expensive??!!!

Have you lived in Central Florida before? It’s going to be a culture shock. Even private schools are going to be not really that academic, Florida is basically a state of hedonists. Just plan on going private, and still understand it won’t be anything like the education you would get at a DC private or McLean school

Lol, you people are ridiculous. I grew up in Central Florida, went to Winter Springs High School, took the same AP classes kids at McLean take (probably more!), went to an Ivy, moved to DC and had absolutely no culture shock. Winter Springs is a pretty wealthy area and I spent my childhood playing tennis, going to ballet lessons, going to the (fantastic) Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Art Museum, going to performances at the Bob Carr Theatre, taking part in the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and traveling to Europe on vacation. You think you are so above everyone else but sound sheltered, dumb, and unsophisticated.

This, all of it. OP, ignore the clueless DMV people who love to disparage FL despite having no idea what they're talking about. I'm also from the area, and grew up wealthy.

A few tips:

Winter Park High School is an excellent school.

There are beautiful, very pricey parts of WP and Orlando.

There are inexpensive, not as nice parts of WP and Orlando.

Audubon K-8 > WPHS is a great school path. Edgewater HS isn't nearly as good and parts of Audubon feed to both high schools.

Baldwin Park ES> Glenridge MS>WPHS is a great school path.

Brookshire ES>Glenridge MS>WPHS is a good school path, but it's a little less ritzy area. I don't think you'll be happy there coming from a $3.5M home.

Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, and Lake Highland are the top area private schools.

WP and Orlando both have some good public schools, but they're more economically diverse.

You can't beat the in state tuition and opportunity for your child to go to state universities with 50-100% of tuition paid for good grades.

Good luck OP! I love it there and would love to move back, but home values there have skyrocketed at a much faster pace than my NW DC home.

DP. Thank you for this information. How would you rate the quality of the infrastructure compared to Northern Virginia? Do they have good roads/sewage/flooding systems?

Also, do they have a good mix of big box stores and local mom and pop shops?

PP here. I don't recall any issues with infrastructure, but it's been a while since I lived there. If you get solar panels, you can cover your electric needs.

The Orlando/WP area has excellent stores, every box box store you can think of plus tons of mom and pop stores. It's much cheaper there to get real estate to start your own restaurant, open a boutique, etc. Although residential RE has gone through the roof, commercial RE has been hurting. There's a much better local arts scene in FL than here in DMV. I suspect it's because of the COL. You can still get a SFH for $300K or under there. They also have a wonderful fine arts scene. The restaurant scene is fantastic.

The only downside is really hot summers. We had a pool plus a beach house w/ a pool, so it was fine. You can get to the beach in under an hour, so lots of people go for the day too. I love it there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Orlando area? Is this a job related move?

Job-related and we want to move to a more affordable area. The DC area is getting too expensive.

You live in a 3.5M house and DC is too expensive??!!!

Have you lived in Central Florida before? It’s going to be a culture shock. Even private schools are going to be not really that academic, Florida is basically a state of hedonists. Just plan on going private, and still understand it won’t be anything like the education you would get at a DC private or McLean school

Lol, you people are ridiculous. I grew up in Central Florida, went to Winter Springs High School, took the same AP classes kids at McLean take (probably more!), went to an Ivy, moved to DC and had absolutely no culture shock. Winter Springs is a pretty wealthy area and I spent my childhood playing tennis, going to ballet lessons, going to the (fantastic) Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Art Museum, going to performances at the Bob Carr Theatre, taking part in the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and traveling to Europe on vacation. You think you are so above everyone else but sound sheltered, dumb, and unsophisticated.

This, all of it. OP, ignore the clueless DMV people who love to disparage FL despite having no idea what they're talking about. I'm also from the area, and grew up wealthy.

A few tips:

Winter Park High School is an excellent school.

There are beautiful, very pricey parts of WP and Orlando.

There are inexpensive, not as nice parts of WP and Orlando.

Audubon K-8 > WPHS is a great school path. Edgewater HS isn't nearly as good and parts of Audubon feed to both high schools.

Baldwin Park ES> Glenridge MS>WPHS is a great school path.

Brookshire ES>Glenridge MS>WPHS is a good school path, but it's a little less ritzy area. I don't think you'll be happy there coming from a $3.5M home.

Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, and Lake Highland are the top area private schools.

WP and Orlando both have some good public schools, but they're more economically diverse.

You can't beat the in state tuition and opportunity for your child to go to state universities with 50-100% of tuition paid for good grades.

Good luck OP! I love it there and would love to move back, but home values there have skyrocketed at a much faster pace than my NW DC home.

DP. Thank you for this information. How would you rate the quality of the infrastructure compared to Northern Virginia? Do they have good roads/sewage/flooding systems?

Also, do they have a good mix of big box stores and local mom and pop shops?

PP here. I don't recall any issues with infrastructure, but it's been a while since I lived there. If you get solar panels, you can cover your electric needs.

The Orlando/WP area has excellent stores, every box box store you can think of plus tons of mom and pop stores. It's much cheaper there to get real estate to start your own restaurant, open a boutique, etc. Although residential RE has gone through the roof, commercial RE has been hurting. There's a much better local arts scene in FL than here in DMV. I suspect it's because of the COL. You can still get a SFH for $300K or under there. They also have a wonderful fine arts scene. The restaurant scene is fantastic.

The only downside is really hot summers. We had a pool plus a beach house w/ a pool, so it was fine. You can get to the beach in under an hour, so lots of people go for the day too. I love it there.

I’m PP. Thanks for that detailed response!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Orlando area? Is this a job related move?

Job-related and we want to move to a more affordable area. The DC area is getting too expensive.

You live in a 3.5M house and DC is too expensive??!!!

Have you lived in Central Florida before? It’s going to be a culture shock. Even private schools are going to be not really that academic, Florida is basically a state of hedonists. Just plan on going private, and still understand it won’t be anything like the education you would get at a DC private or McLean school

Lol, you people are ridiculous. I grew up in Central Florida, went to Winter Springs High School, took the same AP classes kids at McLean take (probably more!), went to an Ivy, moved to DC and had absolutely no culture shock. Winter Springs is a pretty wealthy area and I spent my childhood playing tennis, going to ballet lessons, going to the (fantastic) Orlando Science Center, the Orlando Art Museum, going to performances at the Bob Carr Theatre, taking part in the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and traveling to Europe on vacation. You think you are so above everyone else but sound sheltered, dumb, and unsophisticated.

This, all of it. OP, ignore the clueless DMV people who love to disparage FL despite having no idea what they're talking about. I'm also from the area, and grew up wealthy.

A few tips:

Winter Park High School is an excellent school.

There are beautiful, very pricey parts of WP and Orlando.

There are inexpensive, not as nice parts of WP and Orlando.

Audubon K-8 > WPHS is a great school path. Edgewater HS isn't nearly as good and parts of Audubon feed to both high schools.

Baldwin Park ES> Glenridge MS>WPHS is a great school path.

Brookshire ES>Glenridge MS>WPHS is a good school path, but it's a little less ritzy area. I don't think you'll be happy there coming from a $3.5M home.

Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, and Lake Highland are the top area private schools.

WP and Orlando both have some good public schools, but they're more economically diverse.

You can't beat the in state tuition and opportunity for your child to go to state universities with 50-100% of tuition paid for good grades.

Good luck OP! I love it there and would love to move back, but home values there have skyrocketed at a much faster pace than my NW DC home.

DP. Thank you for this information. How would you rate the quality of the infrastructure compared to Northern Virginia? Do they have good roads/sewage/flooding systems?

Also, do they have a good mix of big box stores and local mom and pop shops?

PP here. I don't recall any issues with infrastructure, but it's been a while since I lived there. If you get solar panels, you can cover your electric needs.

The Orlando/WP area has excellent stores, every box box store you can think of plus tons of mom and pop stores. It's much cheaper there to get real estate to start your own restaurant, open a boutique, etc. Although residential RE has gone through the roof, commercial RE has been hurting. There's a much better local arts scene in FL than here in DMV. I suspect it's because of the COL. You can still get a SFH for $300K or under there. They also have a wonderful fine arts scene. The restaurant scene is fantastic.

The only downside is really hot summers. We had a pool plus a beach house w/ a pool, so it was fine. You can get to the beach in under an hour, so lots of people go for the day too. I love it there.

I grew up there too, and agree with most of this. But it’s not just the summers — it is insanely hot and humid by most DMV peoples’ standards like 9 months out of the year. There’s no ocean/gulf breeze like you get on the coasts. The joke is that the most humid place on earth is outside of arrivals at Orlando International airport. It’s really not for everyone. A pool is a must there. Winters are nice though.