Reviews & Comments
Oviedo, FL
To live in Florida or not? -
2/24/2013I've been in Oviedo since 2001 and it is a nice place to live as far as family goes. Seminole county schools are considered better than the others in Central Florida. Go for Hagerty High School district :) and yes I'm a bit biased on that one. Keep in mind they are still FL schools, and definitely not as good as schools up north or other parts of the country. Competitive colleges: UCF, UF, FSU. UF considered the best of the offerings in the state as far as public universities go -- although I can't speak to U of Miami. If you like tons of heat and humidity year round and no change of seasons whatsoever (except for perhaps a couple weeks in Jan/Feb for cooler weather) then by all means, come to FL. Bugs, spiders, cockroaches...ick. Get a good exterminator and don't bother trying to conquer them with your own spray bottle. Beaches are typically crowded and not as nice as other parts of the east coast. Surfers like hurricane season as it brings decent waves, rest of the time the waves are miniscule. Yes, Disney & Universal & Sea World are here for your entertainment...but very expensive with a 1day pass just under $100 and that's just for one person. FL resident passes to Universal are about $165 for 1 person and a lot of people I know do those for Christmas presents for the family :) Disney is great for little kids, Universal more for the middle school and high school age and Sea World is easy to do in a day! I'm not an attractions kind of gal, so I've been once or twice and that's enough for me. Culture? Pretty non-existent. Large hispanic population....many employers embrace that which is great to see. So if you're bilingual that's a bonus down here. Payscale for jobs - unless you're an engineer at Lockheed Martin or Siemens - is low. Cost of living seems much higher than other places I've lived. Friendly? I wouldn't say so. This is a very transient state and people come and go all the time. No real sense of neighborhood togetherness unless you start it yourself. Definitely not the South! Housing? You can pay a whole lot and keep up with the Jones' or you can get some great deals. Still lots of foreclosures and bankruptcy going on (2013) although it does seem to have slowed down greatly. I bought a 4br/2ba home in 2010 that's just under 2000 sq ft for $140k. At peak market, it would be $225-250. If I sold now, I'd maybe get what I paid for it because there are others still out there for a good deal (o, and mine was a great deal!). If you are looking at Oviedo specifically, I personally like the neighborhoods off Lockwood; Live Oak and Sanctuary neighborhoods are off 419 (which is really just a 2-4 lane road).