AREAS TO LIVE

[Ray9]

I will bite my tongue and not say one word..

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Ray9
I will bite my tongue and not say one word..
[/quote]

Ray.....you're getting so good at this not saying stuff....I think you're going soft in your old age...[xmas1][xmas1]......

[esprit]

If you have kids, live in an area that has full time residents so they have friends not a rental community which are pretty lonely places if you live there full time. Celebration is lovely because it has the feel of an English small town. It also has a fair number of UK expats and that is nice when you first get here and feel a bit homesick ( only a bit!) Great schools too and a real sense of community. Not the cheapest of areas but the prices go up nicely. Other than that. there are other similar communtites around such as Baldwin Park ( very similar to Celebration but in Orlando) and Harmony on 192 east going towards Melbourne. Bella Collina up on Lake Apopka is also getting good reviews, that is a Mediterranean styled community. Windermere, anywhere on Lake Butler or Lake Nona, Bay Hill, Dr Phillips, Winter Park, Hunters Creek.

Ray would say not in Orlando at all I guess?

[lisasranch]

Kinch, we are in the same position as you! We are over in January loking to identify a business and area to settle with all the same criteria affecting us. I will keep you posted as to how we progress. I would be keen to know of your findings and research also.
Andy and Lisa

[kinch]

Thankyou all for your advice and opinions lots of investigating to do, once again thanks.Good luck Andy and Lisa will keep in touch.[clap]

Kinch

[flyrr100]

Kinch... Chrizzy100 is right.
Your number one consideration (as was ours when we moved here fcrom Ohio) must be schools. Unless you are thinking about private schools, forget Orange County (City of Orlando) Schools. Oceola County Schools are a little better, but then you are close to the parks. Thats great if you are on vacation, but a headache if you live there. In June-September the traffic is horrible. Also you'd probably have to deal with I4. And belive me you don't want to deal with I4!
Seminole County on the other hand is north of the city. I4 goes through here but look at Winter Springs, Cassleberry, Oviedo, even up in Sanford and Lake Mary. To get to town or the parks you have the toll roads. A little bit of money for a clear modern expressway? Money well spent in my view! We have annual passes for Disney and it takes us about 40 minutes from my driveway to the Magic Kingdom.
Seminole County Schools are probably the best in the region. My kids go to Red Bug Elementary and Tuskawilla Junior High. Both good schools. Also, Seminole County has some great magnet schools. My neighbor's kids (Brits) both go to a magnet school in Sanford.
Amy is a teacher and before we moved here she did alot of reaserch on Central Florida Schools.
Please contact me if you are serious about relocating here. And think seriously about where you live. There are some great established neighborhoods here and many new developments going up all the time. I bought a 25 year old house and it went through the hurricanes without a scratch. Charley passed right over us!
Good luck......

[esprit]

I would agree about the schools. There are some bad ones and even the good ones, well, if I tell you my son got C, D, D at AS level in the UK and then entered Celebration, s good school, as a grade A student and continued along that path, does that tell you something. It is Florida more than the US generally apparently.

[flyrr100]

It's the South! In general schools below Tennessee are sub standard. By that I mean the pay is alot less for teachers, therefore all the good ones live in the North. Also the counties give more funds to northern schools. As an example, my wife tought 6th grade in Ohio. She earned around 42k a year. In Florida she'd earn around 25k. A huge difference.
If she had her MS she'd maybe earn 30k. So she subs and does private tutoring.
Both my kids went from being B students in Ohio to straight A students here in Florida. That's why we are looking at magnet or private schools for both of them.

[chrizzy100]

The same thing happened to my son until he went to the Tech high school......where they have to work really hard to get good grades......

[esprit]

My son is now in US college doing the first year of a degree and it is about the same standard as UK A levels or even AS. British kids who come to Florida generally do very well at school, one of the perks, but I am guessing it doesnt work well for anyone who has to go back home.