Anyone know anything about central Florida?

Question

We are looking to move to central Florida. We want a friendly place that we can raise our child with good schools, low crime rate etc. We are considering New Port Richey and Lake Wales. Does anyone have any comments to make about these and surrounding areas? Thank you

Answer 1

New Port Richey and Lake Wales both are nice place to live. It all depends where you want to be. Do you want to live near the beaches or lakes. As for school, I can't say much about it, we do have one of the worst school in the country. For a good school you will have to put your children in a private school. Crime? well now, like all cities and towns it has it's ups and downs, both of these two cities have low crimes, but then it all depends where you live and who you talk to. Lake Wales is centrally located east of Tampa and not quite as populated as New Port Richey. You wouldn't have a problem with housing and/or insurance for that matter. New Port Richey on the other hand is on the west cost of the state, you can find housing, but, you may find it hard to insure you home because of the hurricanes and sink holes.

Wherever you decided to go, good luck to you and your family.

Answer 2

Yeah. New Port Richey is a great town. i do not know about that lake wales area. It will be like growing up in southern calif on the coast. very few problems with race or drugs etc. small friendly place. schools not so good academically. It is easy commute to Tampa on the tollway.( 20 minutes) Not much traffic.
very muggy in summer so plan to take vacations in colorado or something. Taxes on homes are getting higher here and the cost of home insurance is way up due to some past hurricane activity.
This may get better or worse. Home prices have been affected but they were going up too fast anyway and needed to come down it is a good buyers market now.

Answer 3

You are an optimist I will give you that. Good Schools, low crime rate, friendly and Florida are oxymoron's. I moved away from Florida because it was so unfriendly, because the schools were so bad and because the crime rate was unbelievable. Florida is a state of transitory neighbors. Hardly anyone down there is from there, hence there is no sense of community. When I lived there I said the state motto should be "No one knows you and No one wants to". Their schools rate at the bottom of the list in comparison to the other states. When they don't have enough room for students they set out a few crappy trailers and those are your child's classrooms. They can't keep good teachers because they don't pay them enough. And don't let anyone tell you its cheaper to live there because there is no state income tax. Baloney!!!! The rent is outrageous, gas costs the same as in New York and they may not call it a tax but they will collect your money just the same.

Do you read the paper or watch the news, every heinous thing imaginable happens down there, from people getting pulled off the jogging tracks by alligators, to sexual predators roaming the street (HEY CRIMINALS LOVE WARM WEATHER). I was embroiled in a custody battle to get our little one out of Florida before she started school there.....we love New York.

Answer 4

I'm from the Jacksonville, FL, area, having relocated from upstate NY. Although I haven't spent a ton of time in Central Florida, I do know there are many wonderful places to live there. My best recommendation to you would be to contact a few real estate companies and request a dossier for the different areas where you're looking. This was very helpful to my family, as it provided comprehensive information regarding everything from school systems, crime rates, rentals v. home ownership, the flavor of the different neighborhoods, and other pertinent statistics. The best dossier we got was from Watson Realty Corp (http://www.watsonrealtycorp.com/content/homepage.asp), and I think they deal with Central Florida as well.

Our cost of living significantly decreased here, because we don't have a sky-high heating bill every year, I'm able to walk and bike year-round to many locations where I previously had to drive (e.g., grocery stores, post office, even work), and the property taxes are significantly lower. There are a number of other financial benefits too.

I'm also a teacher and college professor here, and it's true that some of the schools aren't as good as those up north (although I'll say, for my part, the school I attended in NYS was horrible). However, that doesn't mean that you won't find the same number of dedicated teachers who are able to make fun, safe, educational environments for their students, in spite of being strapped financially. Just do your research, as what might be good for some students isn't good for others.

It's difficult to relocate, but as long as you're willing to put in the time to research, it makes everything go more smoothly. Best of luck to you in planning your family's future! :)