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scamhammer
03-01-2004, 17:27
From January 1 drivers over 80 have to take an annual eye test. The age limit is set to come down to 70 before too long.

This prompts thoughts on how older people and others who might be prevented from driving can survive in Central Florida without a car. There is discussion elsewhere on this site about how expensive it can be for expats to run a car here.

I was about to buy a house in Polk County, south of US 192 when I had an experience that changed my mind. It took me an hour and a half and $30 to get back a taxi back the three miles from the “local” supermarket to the house in which I was staying while looking for a house.

The first two taxi companies the supermarket contacted refused to even consider a pick-up in Polk and I realised that there were absolutely no public bus services in the area. If I was ever not able to operate a car, I would be stranded in my new house. (The nearest convenience store was two miles away.)

I decided not to even consider buying in Polk and on my next trip looked only in Osceola and bought there.

In many ways, Polk is very much for the adventurous. It is prospecting country.

There is talk of a Walmart on Highway 27, but no sign yet. The only apparent bus service terminates just west of Disney. Taxis are expensive and hard to come by. I guess the nearest nightlife is 20 miles away from the vacation home communities.

Polk is reported to have poor schools and is running out of water.

Most of the vacation homes seem to be built on what my map still calls the “Green Swamp”. However, for the builders, it is an attractive proposition as there are plenty of cheap orange groves there to knock down.

You will notice that I have a prejudice against Polk, where I spent the first several days of my buying trip being shown round the communities with high agent commissions.

It would be interesting if any fans of Polk would advise why I should be less negative about it. How exactly would a person with limited mobility survive in the area?

esprit
03-01-2004, 18:44
Running a car is expensive for expats as my inusrance premiums ( with little driving record previously in the US) bear witness.
Polk - well it is pretty with the orange groves etc and not so built up as the 192 strip. But you are right about the schools. I elected to buy another house in Osceola rather than live in my Polk villa and send my son to Haines High. There is nothing wrongh with Polk with transport but yes you do need a car. Whilst I would say you could manage (just) in a house say in the Formosa developments without one, I think you would be hard pushed in Polk. That may change when the WalMart and Lowes complex opens. That will be very near the junction of 192 and 27 so will be great for the developments around there such as Esprit, Davenport Lakes and Lake Davenport as you will just about be able to walk to it.

steph_goodrum
03-01-2004, 19:43
Don't forget that the whole area will change over the next few years. with the abundance of developments the other services will surely follow. There are so many major chains of restaurants etc, and independants that it won't be long before they start to tap into the market there, especially bearing in mind that as many are aimed at tourists they have a whole new batch of customers every couple of weeks whereas those in a purely residential area have to compete even more to make the same people want to come back time and again.