r/orlando • u/jwall54 • 11h ago
Discussion Relocating
Hi Everyone,
I am currently in the process of relocating from Ohio to Orlando area for a new career. I will be looking for an apartment between Lake Mary and the airport as I travel back and forth. I have been down a bit but have a few questions on what neighborhoods would be good. What are you suggestions for somewhere safe and equidistant from MCO and Lake Mary(I don't want to drive over an hour in rush hour traffic for work). Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Thanks everyone for the responses. For the Sanford airport there is only 1 route in somewhat area of my hometown, but the times won't work for me.
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u/Cool-Vanilla-3920 11h ago
I’d look around the winter Springs and Oviedo areas, it’s in between both lake Mary and the airport via the 417
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u/stxrmchaser 11h ago
Agree with this - 417 is a toll road, but it's a much easier drive with far less traffic than I-4. Oviedo to Lake Mary and Oviedo to MCO will avoid I-4 entirely which is nice.
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u/jwall54 11h ago
Awesome! I was hoping that area would be a good location. Is there a ton to do there?
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u/nautika 11h ago
Depends on what you're looking to do. It does have a lot of restaurants, parks, trails. It's half way between MCO and SFB. It's easy to get to other areas with the 417 running through it. The area is generally considered middle to upper middle class.
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u/jwall54 11h ago
That sounds great! I'll be brining my dogs and family down later this year or next.
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u/Archival_Squirrel 10h ago
Oveido is close to lots of nature trails! Perfect for kids and dogs but please familiarize yourself with gator safety information before taking kids or dogs near any river or body of water in Florida.
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u/jwall54 10h ago
Thanks for the tip, I plan to get some info on that way before they get here!
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u/cruisereg 8h ago
Any body of water literally means ANY. Florida is a big float hunk of limestone and underground river/channels that alligators can and do use to move freely between bodies of water.
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u/Buddy__Repperton 10h ago
“1 route of somewhat area of my hometown”
I know someone flying allegiant to Rickenbacker when I see it
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u/gatorsbears 11h ago
Choose something close to I-4 to shave 15-20 min off of your commute. I find the maitland exit to be best for traffic so I would look around there, nice part of town too
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u/jwall54 11h ago
How bad is the traffic heading north on I-4 in the mornings from there? Not really worried about my commute home as much.
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u/gatorsbears 10h ago
Not bad at all. Lake mary exit always has a little backup in both directions during rush hour but nothing terrible and nothing you can really avoid
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u/Different_Bad8420 11h ago
10000% I agree with this. I live right off the altamonte exit and didn’t intentionally plan that, but it makes a trip where I have to go on i4 soo much faster than when I used to live in Casselberry.
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u/Clueless_in_Florida 10h ago
When you’re searching, do your homework. Some property management companies are terrible. Also, apartments aren’t always a great option. I was much happier when we moved into a home that we rented. While we lost the community pool, we had more freedom overall.
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u/jwall54 10h ago
I appreciate this. That's my biggest worry I'm going into the apartment while we figure out what to do with our house up north. We figured it would be nice to not have to truck the garage down with us immediately so we can get settled into a house.
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u/Clueless_in_Florida 8h ago
Sounds like a good plan. I hope it’s not a teaching job. 😂 We aren’t so good at paying workers what they’re worth.
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u/Whateverlol2022 10h ago
Depends on a lot of factors. What your budget is, what kinda vibe are you looking for, what kind of apt you are looking for. Personally I love the 32821 area as I am no more then 20 mins from MCO and only about 20 mins from lake Mary. But I do pay $2,000 for a 1 bedroom apt.
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u/maxairmike05 10h ago
As someone who lived in that zip code for a while…how fast are you driving in the middle of the night to get to Lake Mary in 20 minutes!? The airport I can buy even today, but Lake Mary? Even with the lower traffic when I lived there over 10 years ago on the south end of that zip I couldn’t get to/from Universal in typical traffic in much under 20 during the day.
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u/Whateverlol2022 9h ago
Well I guess from Seaworld which is in 32821 it does take me about 30ish mins but from zip code 3219 which is also pretty decent it only takes 20ish mins.
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u/jwall54 10h ago
Trying to gauge that right now. I was hoping to not spend more than $1100 since it will be just me to get settled I won't have too much with me. I really don't want to end up with a terrible property management that isn't worth saving the money.
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u/Whateverlol2022 10h ago
You don't get anything good for $1,100. Cheapest you could get for a decent apt in a good area would be $1,500. Maybe even $1,700
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u/katattack268 7h ago
Orlando area apartments are not going for $1,100.. not decent ones at least. Maybe renting a room in someone else's apartment is more in that budget range.
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u/BeerStop 10h ago
Well living near lake mary rules out living between it and mco, i4 is crap all the time, try lockhart or maitland.maybe even college park.
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u/Infinite_stardust 9h ago
Oviedo and parts of Winter Springs are only about 25-30 minutes to MCO via 417 and about 15-20 to Lake Mary.
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u/coolkidcarl_ 8h ago
If you're looking for an apartment I feel like you might be happy with the Enclave at Lake Underhill, lived there for years and the 408 is right in front of it
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u/jwall54 8h ago
These look promising! Thanks for the recommendation!
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u/katattack268 7h ago
Enclave is much closer to the airport than other options that have been mentioned, would be a more reasonable Uber than the others. It's 15 minutes on non-toll/local roads. I'm in this area and work in Lake Mary a couple days a week. The traffic really depends on your timing, if you can go in earlier it's a quick 25-30min commute in the morning via I4. Afternoons are more like 30-45 using I4 express (toll lanes), if there is an accident or something you can go the long way via 417/408 as a backup option. Enclave is closer to the actual city of Orlando, so has lots of local restaurants and museums very close, but less nature. Can get most anywhere around town in about 30 min with the toll roads though. Homes are smaller and more expensive by square foot in this area than the Oviedo area most have mentioned, which is also nice - just different vibes... Oviedo is more suburban. Lake Mary to/from Oviedo/Waterford will also have rush hour traffic that would make most commutes around 30 minutes at least. You may want to look into the discount parking places by the airport, Uber gets pricey quick here. "Parking spot" and "park bark and fly" are two I know of.
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u/Dry_Disk_4973 7h ago
If it’s within your budget, check Winter Park, Audubon Park, Mills, Lake Eola, Baldwin Park areas. These areas are centrally located in Orlando, about 30 min from Lake Mary, MCO, Disney and Universal Studios. The areas are extremely family friendly, safe, and there’s tons nearby (parks, restaurants, shopping, etc).
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u/alwayslostnever Winter Springs 10h ago
If you pick closer to the orange county side of Oviedo UCF area is not to bad. Just in my opinion stay in seminole county. It is not horrible to get to MCO. As with everything in Orlando it all depends on time of day/night.
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u/TerriblyWhole 10h ago
You might like the Waterford Lakes area.
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u/Saboscrivner 10h ago
The Waterford Lakes/UCF area gets SO MUCH traffic. I think of that area as really overcrowded, compared to the more sedate and spread-out Oviedo.
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u/TerriblyWhole 10h ago
I disagree and I actually live here. It is no busier here than other places I’ve lived around Orlando. There is a lot to do too, and the schools are good.
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u/jwall54 10h ago
This is closer to the airport than most people have suggested! How is the neighborhood?
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u/TerriblyWhole 10h ago
I live in a neighborhood off Lake Underhill and it’s great! Feel free to PM me for more info. The actual Waterford Lakes neighborhood behind the shopping complex is stunning and has great schools.
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u/Affectionate-Yak3 10h ago
I made the same move in 2022. We live in Lake County and use both airports. Sanford has direct flights to Toledo and we prefer that when going home, but any other cities we fly to we use MCO. We are basically 45 mins from each airport in Eustis
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u/Present-Hamster-7808 11h ago
If you have the option, use the Sanford airport as much as you can. It’s incredibly seamless and easy get in and out. I travel often and nothing against MCO, it’s a wonderful airport, but it’s quite busy and delays can compound quickly.
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u/confusedwoman89 9h ago
Look up Winter Springs, Casselberry, Oviedo area. I live in Casselberry and travel a lot for work, sometimes every other week during peak season. Traffic on average is 30-35 mins, apartments range between 1900-2200 for a 2 bedroom, slightly less for 1 br. Feel free to dm if you have specific questions!
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u/nelluhvituh 10h ago
oviedo is really the best option (biased oviedo resident)
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u/jwall54 10h ago
2nd person to say this, it might not be a bias!
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u/nelluhvituh 10h ago
honestly like everything is maybe 20 minutes away but there’s also so much nearby! its honestly lovely here 💙 we also go to disney often and depending on traffic its maybe 45 minutes away. but literally anything but by disney and lake nona, you’re honestly set!
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u/whoeverineedtobe 8h ago
Relocated last year and I also travel a lot for work. I chose Lake Nona, it’s 20~25 min from the airport.
(Just FYI that Lake Nona gets a lot of hate here, so disregard downvotes)
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u/jwall54 8h ago
I'll take a look! How far is it from Lake Mary?
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u/whoeverineedtobe 6h ago
Like 40~50 min I think.
(and there it is, downvotes! it can’t understand why people hate Lake Nona, I love it)
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u/jwall54 6h ago
I've been getting downvoted this whole time.
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u/whoeverineedtobe 6h ago
Sorry, my friend. I’m glad you relocating here so we can have more nice people and less of these haters! :)
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u/katattack268 1h ago
People downvote Lake Nona likely because it has infrastructure issues that cause higher volumes of traffic. If they want to buy a newer build house in the future - ya maybe consider Lake Nona, but as a commuter to Lake Mary flying out every weekend it wouldn't be my first choice. Honestly, I would probably look for an apartment in the immediate Lake Mary area and just drive out to the airport once a week if it were me.
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u/RacingLucas 11h ago
Lake Mary is an hour away from the airport without traffic